10 TERRIBLE lines for Ron DeSantis in a blockbuster New York Times story

It's getting worse, not better.

(Ron DeSantis)

Look, I don’t want to pile on Ron DeSantis too much. After all, I’ve written this week about why he’s the problem with his campaign and why that campaign is actually much, much worse than you probably think.

But, sometimes the situation demands a pile-on. This is one of those moments.

The New York Times published a blockbuster piece on Thursday detailing why the DeSantis reboot isn’t, um, going well. (I made this same point yesterday in this space.) The piece is an absolute debacle for DeSantis — documenting why his campaign is in deep, deep shit. (That’s a technical term.)

I plucked out 10 lines from the piece that stood out to me as particularly terrible for DeSantis. They’re below.

1. “On the day his presidential campaign said it had laid off more than a third of its staff to address worries about unsustainable spending, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida began his morning by boarding a private jet to Chattanooga, Tenn.”

Uh oh. Remember that DeSantis is already facing major criticism for using private air travel — and luxury accommodations — during his first few months as a candidate. Continuing to fly private even while your campaign is laying off 40% of its staff? Not a good look — and a suggestion you very much have not learned your lesson.

2. “The choice was a routine one — Mr. DeSantis and his wife, Casey, haven’t regularly flown commercial for years — but also symbolic to close observers of his struggling presidential campaign.”

There’s no better way to cast yourself as the candidate of the average Joe than flying in private planes everywhere — for years! I get that candidates — once they reach a certain level — have their own planes. But DeSantis isn’t at that level yet. And man does this make him look out of touch.

3. “Some prominent vendors did not show up on the first Federal Election Commission report, raising questions about how much of the spending has been deferred and whether the campaign’s total reported cash on hand for the primary — $9.2 million — was even close to accurate.”

So, DeSantis is spending money like a fiend — $8 million in the first two months of his campaign alone. But, it might actually be worse than it looks! Read deeper into the story and the Times notes that DeSantis hasn’t paid his pollster ANYTHING, according to his recently-filed report with the Federal Election Commission. Uh, what?

4. “The campaign’s concerning financial situation prompted an all-hands review of the budget in recent weeks.”

This line suggests to me that the campaign’s finances are not only a) bad but b) no one really knew how bad until very recently. Again, DeSantis has been in the race for two months! How did it get this bad this quickly???

5. “Advisers say the governor will be promoting his vision for a ‘Great American Comeback’ — a phrase they hope will also apply to his spiraling campaign. Mr. DeSantis, a big-state governor with little love for glad-handing, will have to prove he is up for the challenges.”

“With little love for glad-handing” says it all! It’s also worrisome that this whole pivot is based on the hope that he will somehow figure out how to relate to people — and do it while under intense pressure to perform after a very slow start. No problem!

6. “In talking points provided to donors on the day of the layoffs, the campaign described the operation as ‘leaning into the reset.’”

What would you guess “leaning into the reset” means? It’s gobbledygook that people write when they write strategy memos — but it really means nothing. I suppose DeSantis is now going to try to run like an underdog. But, like, what was he before?

7. “But Mr. DeSantis himself has yet to adopt his campaign’s newfound frugality. On Tuesday, he flew multiple trips on private planes to fund-raisers around Tennessee.”

See #1. This guy just doesn’t get it.

8. “In an interview with the radio host Clay Travis that aired Wednesday, Mr. DeSantis said that he would consider picking Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine candidate running as a Democrat, to work at the F.D.A. or the C.D.C.”

What the actual hell? This, to me, absolutely reeks of desperation. DeSantis knows that some in the extremely online right love RFK Jr. and just sort of tosses this idea out there. It’s probably worth mentioning here that Kennedy is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. And that he recently said the Covid-19 virus was made to avoid targeting Ashkenazi Jews and the Chinese. (There’s a LOT going on in that claim.) DeSantis seems to have floated RFK just to get attention — which is what bad and desperate campaigns do.

9. “Later in the day, Mr. DeSantis’s campaign aide Christina Pushaw, who is known for fighting with reporters online, attacked the popular Republican Florida Representative Byron Donalds, who is Black, for criticizing his state’s new required teachings on slavery. By night’s end, the feud over Mr. Donalds devolved to the point where another DeSantis aide, Jeremy Redfern, got into a fight with a random Twitter user and posted her photo prominently in a tweet.”

Ok, this is technically two sentences so I am breaking my own rule — but WHAT a two sentences! So, as they try to re-set the campaign, DeSantis’ top aides are feuding with one of the only black Republicans in Congress (who’s from Florida no less!) and a “random Twitter user”?

10. “Ms. Peck also has harshly criticized Never Back Down in private, according to a person with direct knowledge of her remarks.”

So, Generra Peck, DeSantis’ campaign manager, is blasting the DeSantis-aligned super PAC in private conversations? Amid reports that the campaign and the super PAC are feuding for control over the candidate and the campaign? I am sure that all of this will end well!