Thursday night in Montana President Donald J. Trump predicted Andrew Gillum as Florida governor would be a disaster for “one of the most successful states in our union.”

Gillum responded with a tweet in which he questioned the president’s courage and used the incident in a campaign fundraising letter to supporters.

The Tallahassee mayor is riding a fundraising surge since winning the Democratic nomination to be governor.

In the first days of the general election, he raised more than $4 million through both his campaign for governor and Forward Florida, a political action committee that has no contribution limits. Those numbers mark the highest amount he has ever raised since he announced his bid for governor.

His opponent Republican Ron DeSantis has had trouble keeping up in the same time period, which covers contributions through Aug. 31. He has raised a total of $521,879 through his PAC, Friends of Ron DeSantis, and his campaign. According to the latest campaign finance reports, Gillum has $4 million compared to DeSantis’ $1.5 million.

At a campaign-style rally in Billings, Montana, Trump called DeSantis a "great candidate" and went after Democrats in general, and Gillum in particular, saying they want to turn the U.S. into Venezuela.

Trump apparently had heard Gillum's criticism of federal immigration and health care policies.

“In Florida, the Democratic nominee for governor, wants to abolish ICE and release hundreds of criminals onto our streets,” said Trump. “He also wants to take care of their Medicare and every other thing that you can take care of. You name it. He wants to take care of it. And Florida will be a disaster.”

Medicare is a federal program that provides health care to senior citizens. Gillum had endorsed a bill sponsored by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in Congress that would provide Medicare to all citizens.

Gillum has criticized the direction the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has taken under the Trump administration and called for the agency to be replaced.

Gillum responded to the Trump attack on Twitter. He didn't engage the president on federal policy but commented that Trump's rambling remarks featured scare tactics.

The Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee was among those Trump criticized. His other targets included Democrats in Congress, California Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland.

The Gillum campaign:

In his response, Gillum wondered why Trump failed to mention his name.

“Heard @realDonaldTrump went after me again tonight — in Montana — but still didn't have the courage to @ me by name,” Gillum tweeted. “Mr. President, my name is Andrew Gillum and I'm going to be the next Governor of Florida because lies and scare tactics don't vote, people do.”

The president concluded his remarks on the Florida race with an endorsement of Republican candidate Ron DeSantis.

Friday morning, the Gillum campaign sent an e-mail blast to supporters about the Trump Billings’ attack.

“Last night at a rally in Montana, President Trump falsely attacked our campaign with lies and scare tactics,” stated the message. It requested a $5 donation to continue a fight against what the Gillum campaign called an “ugly brand of politics.”

Anna Ceballos contributed to this report. James Call can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com.