Rep. Nancy Mace hits back at DeSantis' 'listless vessels' remark: 'Beyond me'

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace joined "Lawrence Jones Cross Country" on Saturday and hit back at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his "listless vessels" comment about supporters of former President Donald Trump. 

DeSantis described followers of the former president as "listless vessels" during an interview with the Florida Standard. 

"We have a strand in our party that views supporting Trump as whether you are a RINO or not so you can be the most conservative person since sliced bread unless your kissing his rear end, they will somehow call you a RINO. So you are not rooted in principle, if all we are listless vessels to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on Truth Social every morning, that’s not going to be durable movement," DeSantis said during the interview.

The Florida governor's press secretary responded to critics on Saturday and wrote in a post that "Trump and DC insiders feel he is entitled to your vote." 

Rep. Nancy Mace joins Lawrence Jones on Saturday to react to Gov. Ron DeSantis' "listless vessels" comments. (Fox News)

RAMASWAMY HITS DESANTIS BACK, SUGGESTS HE'S A ‘SUPER PAC PUPPET’ AFTER LEAKED MEMO HINTS GOV'S DEBATE ATTACKS

Jones asked Mace to react to DeSantis' comments. 

"I don't know why anyone running for president would put down half of the electorate and identify them, call them listless vessels because they support the former president. And you're right, he and I don't always see eye to eye but I call it like I see it. Why Ron DeSantis would do that while his numbers are tanking is really beyond me," Mace said, reacting to the comments. 

Mace said it was one of the reasons Republican candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott were on the "rise." 

Jones also asked the Republican congresswoman to respond to DeSantis' comments about Trump supporters in Congress. 

Former US President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Windham High School in Windham, New Hampshire. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: THE FRONTRUNNER AND CONTENDERS IN THE 2024 GOP PRIMARY FIELD

"I know the governor has this philosophy of never backing down but if you want people to vote for you, if you want people to endorse you, maybe you shouldn’t attack them, congresswoman?" Jones said. 

"Probably not, he probably shouldn’t question the principles or their values or how conservative they are and again, Donald Trump and I don’t always see eye to eye, but I call it like I see it, I’ve been able to see these indictments for what they are and put our past behind us because we have to move our country forward and when someone's been treated wrong, I call it like I see it, and we really shouldn’t put down one conservative over the other," Mace said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, on August 19, 2023  (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)

"I want politicians to tell the truth, and we have to, if we want to rebuild the Republican Party, we have to support one another, we have to support conservatives, and we have to recognize that we have very diverse conservative principles, a lot of people come from a lot of different backgrounds, they support different candidates. We have to respect the process and respect the people and the vote they're going to take during this primary," she continued.

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.