Going scorched earth on Byron Donalds — at Memorial Day, of all times — is instead scorching Paul Renner’s own earth
Renner is positioning himself to be next on President Donald Trump's revenge tour.
Paul Renner — at this moment in time — can best be described as a good man making a self-destructive bet by going scorched earth against
Donald Trump-backed
Byron Donalds ahead of Memorial Day Weekend.
Or maybe it’s just desperation.
In any case, the political committee backing Renner’s bid for Governor launched
an ad in the Tampa Bay area attacking Donalds for “missing hundreds of congressional votes” and, among other allegations, “making money hand over fist,” as
POLITICO Florida first reported.
The ad directs viewers to
an opposition site attacking Donalds on six fronts: stock trades, AI and profit, crime, criminal past, racial policies and his record in Congress.
Renner has an esteemed career in politics, punctuated by his time as House Speaker where he served as an effective leader who didn’t waste time mugging for the cameras. He’s also a decorated Navy veteran who served in two wars.
That record is what makes Renner’s decision to go so negative against a political foe who sits in the President’s good graces, at a time when Trump’s retribution has been kicked into high gear, so surprising.
POLITICO this week positioned the President’s “
revenge tour” against those who have crossed him as being “completed.” He came out on the winning side of his opposition to U.S. Rep.
Thomas Massie of Kentucky when he was defeated in the state’s Primary this week.
It’s almost as if Renner hasn’t been watching the news this week, because it doesn’t stop there. In Texas, Trump is giving incumbent U.S. Sen.
John Cornyn the proverbial finger, backing his GOP challenger,
Ken Paxton, over a perceived lack of loyalty from Cornyn.
Then there’s U.S. Sen.
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who faced Trump’s wrath over his vote to remove Trump from office after he was impeached over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Cassidy
lost this week in the GOP Primary to a Republican that Trump recruited to challenge him.
The point is: Republicans who go against Trump are dropping like flies. By attacking Donalds, Renner is essentially attacking Trump. And if he thinks that will improve his already insignificant showing in Florida’s Governor’s race, we may have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell him.
But that may, indeed, be the gamble. As it stands, Donalds looks unbeatable.
A recent Fabrizio, Lee & Associates poll of the race showed Donalds with 54% support among GOP Primary voters. No other candidate in the race even enters double-digit support and Renner is dead last among all of them — at just 2% support.
His support is lower even than the poll’s margin of error.
And what is perhaps worse for any Republican gubernatorial candidate not named Donalds — especially anyone directly attacking him — is that the pollsters credited Donalds’ continued growth in support to Republicans learning that he has Trump’s backing.
What’s more, Donalds is a fundraising machine, with $67 million raised so far, including $22 million in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
Then there is this: Renner should know better than to use what is otherwise a somber holiday to go on the offense against a political opponent. Memorial Day is a time to honor and remember those who paid the ultimate price in defense of our nation’s safety and values. The attack, paired with poor timing, may do more harm than good for a candidate already struggling to find relevance.
And for what?
A Texas businessman who supports Cornyn posed a question to POLITICO this week about Trump’s support for Paxton: “What’s the return on investment?”
While that question centered more on the risk Trump was taking — if Cornyn does lose, he’ll have about six months left in office to vote without fear of retribution against myriad Trump policies — the sentiment is directly attributable to Renner’s attack play against Donalds.
It is clear Renner is not going to outraise Donalds, and it’s even more clear he can’t out-Trump him either. What that leaves as the most likely scenario is that rather than boosting his own campaign, Renner’s attacks will instead aid
David Jolly, the leading Democrat in the Governor’s race.
By launching a website drawing on Donalds’ negatives, Renner is building Democrats’ Fall ad reel. And a Republican who aids the opposition has no future in the GOP.
