Trump unleashes sophomoric DeSantis deepfake. GOP should support a grownup for president.

In case it wasn’t completely obvious that former President Donald Trump is scared about a challenge from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he made it crystal clear last week.

After DeSantis’ official launch of his presidential campaign, Trump countered with several bizarre posts. On social media, he posted a deepfake video of DeSantis’ Twitter Spaces event co-hosted by Twitter boss Elon Musk.

It’s alarming that the parody didn’t make bigger news, considering how appalling it is coming from a former president of the United States − and someone vying to be president again.

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The deepfake video with artificial intelligent-generated voices mimicked DeSantis and Musk. Also making “appearances” were Democratic donor George Soros, Adolf Hitler and the devil.

The clip ends with a voice that sounds like Trump saying in part, "Ron DeSanctimonious can kiss my big, beautiful 2024 presidential a--."

No thanks, Trump

As journalist and essayist H.L. Mencken famously observed, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

These are the kind of sophomoric stunts that Trump pulls. And it’s what he’ll continue to do in the months ahead.

Conservatives need to think hard about what they want heading into 2024.

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In addition to the deepfake, shortly after DeSantis’ announcement, Trump wrote the following on his site Truth Social: “ ‘Rob,’ My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!), yours does not! (per my conversation with Kim Jung Un, of North Korea, soon to become my friend!).”

It sounds unhinged and nonsensical, but the Trump campaign reportedly later shared it in an email to supporters.

Did DeSantis’ Twitter launch have hiccups? Yes. It took about half an hour before it actually got started. It reflects more poorly on Musk than DeSantis, however.

‘Big demand’ for Ron DeSantis

DeSantis’ team has smartly played up how the more than 630,000 initial listeners “broke” the internet.

Others have, too. Political consultant Liz Mair, who has worked with Republican candidates, observed that this speaks to the “big demand” to hear DeSantis – and that it’s why Trump, President Joe Biden and much of the media fear a DeSantis run.

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Once the announcement got underway, DeSantis covered a lot of issues, including education and immigration, in a live discussion that lasted more than an hour.

“He did 75+ minutes on pure policy,” wrote former Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. “Trump could never do that.”

In the past week, more than 4 million people have listened to the Spaces event.

For an opening rally, that’s not too shabby. And the fundraising numbers are in DeSantis’ favor: His campaign says it raised $8.2 million in the first 24 hours – nearly $2 million more than Biden raised in the first day of his 2020 bid.

Meanwhile, the Trump clan posts fake videos

Not to be outdone by his father, Donald Trump Jr. recently shared another fake video.

This one superimposes DeSantis’ face on that of Steve Carell’s character Michael Scott from “The Office.” The clip is one where the character is made fun of for mistakenly wearing a woman’s suit.

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It’s really not funny (although the actual TV show is).

Trump’s in the entertainment business, and he has used his talents in that arena to create a cult following around his personality. His core supporters will be loyal to Trump no matter what.

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But do we, as the greatest country in the world, want an immature, schoolyard bully in the White House again?

I hope Trump will find out that a lot of Republicans don’t appreciate him taking such a low road to go after DeSantis − a proven winner and someone who can deliver on his promises.

That’s something Trump hasn’t done in a long time.

Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques 

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Trump afraid of DeSantis in 2024 campaign? It sure looks like it.