Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis latched onto former President Donald Trump’s debate absence Wednesday evening.

“Where’s Joe Biden? He’s completely missing in action from leadership, and you know who else is missing in action: Donald Trump,” DeSantis chided.

DeSantis’ dig came during a riff on the looming government shutdown fight raging in Washington, DC.

For months in the run-up to the 2024 campaign, DeSantis had been somewhat restrained in the face of Trump’s steady stream of slings and arrows his way.

But on Wednesday, the governor took the gloves off.

“[Trump] should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record, where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt that sets the stage for the inflation that we have,” DeSantis said.

The Florida governor crowed about how he ran budget surpluses in the Sunshine State, vetoed “wasteful spending” and “paid down over 25% of our state debt.”

Trump skipped the second GOP debate like he did the first, citing his overwhelming lead in the polls.

The 77-year-old former president has a 42.2 percentage-point edge over DeSantis, his closest rival, per the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.

As the highest-polling candidate to take part in Wednesday’s debate, DeSantis was placed in the center of the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

DeSantis also blamed politicians in Washington for the shutdown row and deeper problems with the ecomony.

“People in Washington are shutting down the American dream with their reckless behavior,” he said. “They borrowed, they printed they spent and now you’re paying more for everything.”