In an email flagged by Spectrum News 13 Orlando anchor Greg Angel on Monday, disgraced former President Trump’s political action committee largely misrepresented themselves as from Napoleonic Florida Gov Ron DeSantis’s non-existent campaign to solicit donations and ask if DeSantis should run. Only in the fine print at the bottom does it specify that the email originated from Trump’s PAC.

Though we at National Zero subscribe to Trump’s obnoxious and ceaseless appeals for money through stupid sweepstakes contests, pointless “polls,” and other sundry bullshit, we did not receive this particular message (extra special thanks to Angel for tweeting the screenshots) leading us to speculate it was targeted only at Floridian subscribers to the Orange God Emperor’s missives.

Of course the email helps siphon money away from DeSantis, but probably even more important to Donald’s campaign data operation is donors’ identities. A Trump 2020 voter who receives this email and responds “Yes” to the question in the subject line by contributing to what they think is DeSantis’s presidential campaign (or even just clicking on the button) is going to find themselves bombarded with emails trashing the Florida governor and trying to get them back into the Trump column if and when DeSantis officially enters the 2024 GOP primary. It’s a pretty sophisticated scam by Trump’s standards. It also fairly blatantly telegraphs Trump’s fear of DeSantis, and it’s hard to imagine whatever gain will outweigh exposing an apparently weak position.