It has long been standard practice for presidential candidates to provide teasers about who they might pick to be their running mates. This gives them the chance to pander to various constituencies by suggesting that the final choice might represent them, while also encouraging those who think they have a shot at it to stay loyal and support them.

Serial sex abuser Donald Trump (SSAT) has followed that pattern. He has said that there are at least six people on his list: Sen. Tim Scott, Rep. Byron Donalds, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Gov. Kristi Noem, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Ron DeSantis. There are two Black men (Scott, Donalds), two women (Gabbard, Noem), two Asians (Ramaswamy, Gabbard), one white man (DeSantis), and one white woman (Noem). There is no Hispanic person, surprisingly, considering how large that voting bloc is, unless one of them also has that heritage that I am not aware of.

DeSantis’s inclusion is a bit of a surprise. While he endorsed SSAT after dropping out of the race, he has not been actively campaigning for him. And then just after this list was revealed, SSAT’s campaign attacked DeSantis.

Here was senior advisor Jason Miller: “We looked past Rob’s [sic] half-hearted endorsement and the bullshit trip to South Carolina to try to stay relevant, but if his popping off continues, Thor’s hammer will return.”

Here was Trump spokesman Steven Cheung: “Ron tucked his tail between his legs and he should have scurried off into the shadows of obscurity. Now that he’s dipped his high-heeled toes back in the water, he might just find out our shovel can dig a lot deeper.”

And here was senior advisor Chris LaCivita: “Chicken fingers and pudding cups is what you will be remembered for you sad little man.”

It was a remarkable amount of ire to direct at a guy who dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Trump more than a month ago—not to mention one who remains hugely popular with Republican base voters.

What did DeSantis do to earn this displeasure? He told supporters on a Wednesday call that he wouldn’t be interested in serving as Trump’s vice president, one day after Trump had confirmed to Fox News the Florida governor was on his shortlist for the job. More than that, he suggested Trump might make his choice based on “identity politics.”

Lists like this are not to be taken seriously, so others who have been campaigning hard to be selected but did not make the list, like Elise Stafanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene, will continue to suck up to SSAT in the hope of being chosen.