DeSantis defends Trump without using his name and accuses Manhattan DA Bragg of ... trends now

Republican Governor Ron DeSantis accused the Manhattan district attorney of weaponizing the law against Donald Trump, but avoided using the former president's name in a one-hour campaign-like speech on Saturday. 

It illustrates how likely candidates for the 2024 Republican nomination have been put in the awkward position of having to fall into line behind the frontrunner.

And it shows how DeSantis has had to grapple with trying to keep the Trump base onside after being slammed for a half-hearted defense of his rival when reports of a looming indictment first loomed.

DeSantis tried to thread the needle by focusing his fire on Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor behind the case.

'His whole platform when he got elected was that he was going to downgrade as many felonies as possible to misdemeanors,' he told the Pennsylvania GOP Leadership Conference. 

'Now he turns around, purely for political purposes, and indicts a former president on misdemeanor offenses that they’re straining to convert into felonies. 

'That's when you know that the law has been weaponized for political purposes.'

It was the only mention of Trump. And he avoided using his rival's name.

Bragg was elected Manhattan district attorney in 2021. He reheated the probe into a $130,000 hush money payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels after the case was dropped by federal prosecutors.

Yet in office he promised to drop certain misdemeanor crimes because 'over-incarceration' had not made the borough safer.

That has made him a target for the right who blame him for rising levels of crime.

DeSantis has not yet declared that he is running to be president. But he is widely expected to announce a campaign within weeks.

After his star rose last year following a landslide reelection win, his poll numbers have fallen back and he has lost ground to Trump.