Why are you so obsessed with me?

The story of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.

Donald Trump has Ron DeSantis on his mind a lot these days.

Over the long weekend, Trump spent oodles of time attacking the Florida governor via his Truth Social site.

"DeSantis is a RINO who is trying to hide his past,” he wrote in one post. “I don’t read the New York Post anymore. It has become Fake News, just like Fox & WSJ!"

“Ron DeSanctimonious wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare, closed up Florida & its beaches, LOVES RINOS Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush and Karl Rove (disasters all!),” wrote Trump at another point. “He is a RINO in disguise!”

And at another: “Florida was doing GREAT long before Ron DeSanctus got there. People are fleeing from New York to Florida (and other places) because of HIGH taxes and out of control CRIME, not because of Governor (thank you President Trump!) DeSanctimonious.”

There’s more — lots more. (Insider counted 10 DeSantis-focused posts by Trump on Truth Social on Saturday alone!)

While Trump has been turning his attention to DeSantis more and more of late, the past few days have felt like a significant escalation in that focus.

The immediate cause of Trump’s ramped-up attention on DeSantis appears to be a lengthy — and decidedly favorable — profile that the New York Post ran of DeSantis over the weekend. (The piece ends on this line: “By the time he leaves, everyone in the place has told him the same thing: ‘You need to run for president.’” Barf.)

But, it is also part of a broader pattern: Trump has become obsessed with tearing down DeSantis.

The question, as always with Trump, is how much of what he is doing is governed by personal pique and how much of it is actual political strategy.

There’s no question that DeSantis’ political rise has gotten under Trump’s skin. He believes he “made” the Florida governor with his endorsement of him during the 2018 primary and that DeSantis has been less and less willing to acknowledge that fact.

(Sidebar: Trump isn’t wrong on that point. DeSantis was a little-known Member of Congress when Trump endorsed him. He immediately shot to the head of the primary after the endorsement. And Trump’s vocal endorsement helped DeSantis over the line in the general election too.)

DeSantis’ unwillingness to engaged with Trump — “I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,” DeSantis has said. “That’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans” — also clearly bugs Trump.

He is someone who views all of life as a battle and relishes a good fight. The worst thing you can do in Trump’s eyes is refuse the chance to throw a few (rhetorical) punches.

Of course, attacking DeSantis early and often may well be more than just Trump letting off steam. As we saw in the 2016 primary race, Trump likes to workshop his attacks on his opponents (and his nicknames for them) as a way to see what voters respond to. Then, as actual votes near, he uses the attacks that had the most resonance with voters to hit his opponent.

So, Trump has suggested that DeSantis is a groomer, a RINO, holier than thou, ungrateful and taking undue credit for Florida’s successes — all within the space of the last few weeks!

Trump could also be trying to do what he can to slow DeSantis’ obvious momentum in the race by throwing out as many negative attacks on the governor as he can think of — as a way to raise questions in Republican voters’ minds about who this guy is really.

As I’ve written, DeSantis has never been properly vetted on the national stage and Trump’s obsessive focus on him could well be seen as an attempt by the former president to soften the governor up before the press comes digging.

Whatever the reason — and I tend to think Trump is acting more out of annoyance and jealousy for DeSantis than any political calculation — it’s not at all clear it’s working.

DeSantis’ poll numbers continue to strengthen — NPR declared him “at least a co-front-runner for the nomination” this morning — and he appears to be in no rush to formally enter the presidential race.

Which suggests that Trump’s intense focus on DeSantis could be having the opposite effect that he intends — elevating the Florida governor to his level, and creating the notion that the 2024 race really is a jump ball between them.

Even if his attacks against DeSantis are backfiring, it’s not at all clear to me that Trump can stop himself. He knows only one way to campaign (and live): Destroy what’s between him and what he wants. Right now, that’s DeSantis.