Terrible candidate with terrible political strategy combined with passing super vindictive Florida state laws and going after Disney too! The guy’s been a total trainwreck from the start. It’s Karma time!!
All the Republican candidates are terrible candidates. The guy in the lead, Donald J Trump, is a terrible candidate. Still, Trump will be the nominee. To pretend otherwise is absurd. If we don’t unite around Joe Biden, the lead Republican candidate will win a second Electoral College victory and be back behind the Resolute Desk. The media should stop focusing on the candidates yapping around Trump’s swollen ankles and begin in depth reporting on the mental decline and utter unsuitability of Donald J Trump for a second term.
I met Bill Clinton one on one once. Even if you were a lion that hadn’t eaten in a month, you would be sitting at Bill’s feet in 2 minutes. He’s that charismatic. DeSantis is just the opposite. You could be a sheep and you’d be trying to bite him in 10 seconds.
“Why would you vote for Diet Trump when you could have regular old Trump”.. is the best and most truthful summary of this Republican primary race I have seen
Both items a) & b) still seem plausible outcomes in American politics in 2024. But we remain in 2023 and Chris is spot on: DeSantis is a remarkably bad candidate with an amazingly bad message. He has been revealed as an unpleasant person attempting to sell the bad dog food.
Once you understand the structure of the Republican nominating contest, it becomes clear why DeSantis has no chance. I didn't really grok this until I watched the first Republican debate, but then it became clear as day: there are two pretty clear lanes in the Republican nominating contest.
One lane is the traditional Reagan Republican lane. These are the voters who still embrace American exceptionalism, are pro-business and corporations (job creators!), see the US as a positive and active force in the world, still believe in small government, lower taxes, and a muscular foreign policy. Nikki Haley is in this lane, so is Christie and Hutchinson and Bergum.
The other lane is the MAGA lane, and for the voters in this lane Reagan is not only not an inspiration, he's (at best) ancient history and more likely a closet RINO, part of the long history of Republican establishment perfidy and weakness. Those in this lane reject Reagan's sunny optimism, embrace an isolationist, Fortress America worldview, and domestically see the country as careening down a path into a liberal hellscape, either don't really care or actively like that Trump is a big spender who will dole out the dollars for right-wing MAGA populist causes. One of the most noteworthy moments in that first debate was when Ramaswamy (my Trump nickname for him: Ramasmarmy!) shouted out, “It’s not morning in America [right now]!,” implicitly dissing Reagan's legacy as the province of naïve fools and Democrat-loving RINOs.
Once you get that there are two clear lanes, it becomes obvious that no one running in the MAGA lane -- DeSanctimonious and Ramasmarmy in particular -- have any chance of displacing Trump, who is of course the godfather of MAGA. The only chance someone else could beat out Trump for the nomination will have to come from the Reagan lane, from, say, Nikki Haley. Even this seems like a longshot, because it's not at all clear that, even if one of the candidates is able to consolidate the Reagan lane, there would be enough voters in this this lane to outpoint Trump and his MAGA hordes. But it's nonetheless the only viable play.
Which also exposes why DeSantis foundational campaign strategy, of out-MAGA-ing the MAGA king and stealing away his voters, was doomed from the get go. His play should have been to position himself as the standard bearer of Reagan conservativism, and build outward from there, layer on the "where woke goes to die" culture war MAGA populist stuff as icing on the Reagan cake. He did the opposite, and the results are entirely predictable.
Excellent analysis....leave the race Ron while you still have a shred of dignity. Go back to Florida and start fixing some of the multiple problems facing your state. Running for President has blinded you to the fact you are still Governor.
A superior analysis of his twin fatal problems: DeSantis the candidate and DeSantis' message... While the Scott Walker analogue increasingly made is obvious on one level, would argue Walker was far more hamstrung financially; Walker's decision to pack it in was partially based on avoiding campaign debt -- but also his prescience as a first-rate strategist himself that the Trump phenomenon (and Ted Cruz to a lesser extent, esp in IA), doomed his success.
I found it difficult to determine who had the more visual "fingernails on the blackboard" smirk...the Caudillo de DeSantistan or Marionette Mike.
The longer the Caudillo stays in the race the greater the opportunity for him to stack more gaffes, ignorant statements, and just plain insipid blunders to be used against him in 2028.
I’ve watched enough horror flicks to know that you can never trust the monster to really be completely dead. He can jump out and bite (or maul or slash) you in the next scene (or election cycle).
As a Floridian, I've been maintaining that DeSantis was doomed, because the more you know DeSantis, the less you like him. Regardless of political alignment.
When he first declared his candidacy, he was a national cipher upon which (R) voters could project all their hopes of a dream candidate. But as they see more of him, his numbers have predictably declined. And he's not capable of improving himself.
Terrible candidate with terrible political strategy combined with passing super vindictive Florida state laws and going after Disney too! The guy’s been a total trainwreck from the start. It’s Karma time!!
He has all the charisma of a 3 week old dog turd on your lawn
A classic Chris Cillizza analysis with an Hall of Fame short and concise description which says everything:
“DeSantis is the dog food.”
No truer statement ever written...
BTW, Chris, word is if you step foot into Florida again while GRD is still Governor, expect to end up in Martha’s Vineyard...
All the Republican candidates are terrible candidates. The guy in the lead, Donald J Trump, is a terrible candidate. Still, Trump will be the nominee. To pretend otherwise is absurd. If we don’t unite around Joe Biden, the lead Republican candidate will win a second Electoral College victory and be back behind the Resolute Desk. The media should stop focusing on the candidates yapping around Trump’s swollen ankles and begin in depth reporting on the mental decline and utter unsuitability of Donald J Trump for a second term.
I met Bill Clinton one on one once. Even if you were a lion that hadn’t eaten in a month, you would be sitting at Bill’s feet in 2 minutes. He’s that charismatic. DeSantis is just the opposite. You could be a sheep and you’d be trying to bite him in 10 seconds.
I worked for a hedge fund manager in the 1990s, who was as egotistical as you can imagine becuase he ran a billion dollar fund.
A staunch Republican, he said that Clinton may have been the most intelligent and financially keviev and charismatic "outsider" he ever met.
My ex met him at the debate in Richmond and chatted for a bit. He said that Clinton made him feel like they were the only two people in the room.
Exactly!!
“Why would you vote for Diet Trump when you could have regular old Trump”.. is the best and most truthful summary of this Republican primary race I have seen
Both items a) & b) still seem plausible outcomes in American politics in 2024. But we remain in 2023 and Chris is spot on: DeSantis is a remarkably bad candidate with an amazingly bad message. He has been revealed as an unpleasant person attempting to sell the bad dog food.
That story about his lifts in Politico was hilarious. As a short person, just own it.
The fact he is doing more mainstream interviews (a MTP hit on Sunday went poorly) is very telling of his desperation
Once you understand the structure of the Republican nominating contest, it becomes clear why DeSantis has no chance. I didn't really grok this until I watched the first Republican debate, but then it became clear as day: there are two pretty clear lanes in the Republican nominating contest.
One lane is the traditional Reagan Republican lane. These are the voters who still embrace American exceptionalism, are pro-business and corporations (job creators!), see the US as a positive and active force in the world, still believe in small government, lower taxes, and a muscular foreign policy. Nikki Haley is in this lane, so is Christie and Hutchinson and Bergum.
The other lane is the MAGA lane, and for the voters in this lane Reagan is not only not an inspiration, he's (at best) ancient history and more likely a closet RINO, part of the long history of Republican establishment perfidy and weakness. Those in this lane reject Reagan's sunny optimism, embrace an isolationist, Fortress America worldview, and domestically see the country as careening down a path into a liberal hellscape, either don't really care or actively like that Trump is a big spender who will dole out the dollars for right-wing MAGA populist causes. One of the most noteworthy moments in that first debate was when Ramaswamy (my Trump nickname for him: Ramasmarmy!) shouted out, “It’s not morning in America [right now]!,” implicitly dissing Reagan's legacy as the province of naïve fools and Democrat-loving RINOs.
Once you get that there are two clear lanes, it becomes obvious that no one running in the MAGA lane -- DeSanctimonious and Ramasmarmy in particular -- have any chance of displacing Trump, who is of course the godfather of MAGA. The only chance someone else could beat out Trump for the nomination will have to come from the Reagan lane, from, say, Nikki Haley. Even this seems like a longshot, because it's not at all clear that, even if one of the candidates is able to consolidate the Reagan lane, there would be enough voters in this this lane to outpoint Trump and his MAGA hordes. But it's nonetheless the only viable play.
Which also exposes why DeSantis foundational campaign strategy, of out-MAGA-ing the MAGA king and stealing away his voters, was doomed from the get go. His play should have been to position himself as the standard bearer of Reagan conservativism, and build outward from there, layer on the "where woke goes to die" culture war MAGA populist stuff as icing on the Reagan cake. He did the opposite, and the results are entirely predictable.
Interesting analogy between Desantis and dog food...
It fascinates me that at this stage in his campaign, DeSantis has lower approval ratings than when he began. It is not easy to fail that hard.
And he has proven to Floridians that there is no need for a full time governor.
He is violating the law of holes: when you are at the bottom of a hole, stop digging.
Excellent analysis....leave the race Ron while you still have a shred of dignity. Go back to Florida and start fixing some of the multiple problems facing your state. Running for President has blinded you to the fact you are still Governor.
"Dignity? Dignity? I don't need no stinking dignity! I've proved that over-and-over again at the Iowa State Fair."
A superior analysis of his twin fatal problems: DeSantis the candidate and DeSantis' message... While the Scott Walker analogue increasingly made is obvious on one level, would argue Walker was far more hamstrung financially; Walker's decision to pack it in was partially based on avoiding campaign debt -- but also his prescience as a first-rate strategist himself that the Trump phenomenon (and Ted Cruz to a lesser extent, esp in IA), doomed his success.
He probably will linger like a fart in church until after Super Tuesday.
RE: The Smirk
I found it difficult to determine who had the more visual "fingernails on the blackboard" smirk...the Caudillo de DeSantistan or Marionette Mike.
The longer the Caudillo stays in the race the greater the opportunity for him to stack more gaffes, ignorant statements, and just plain insipid blunders to be used against him in 2028.
I’ve watched enough horror flicks to know that you can never trust the monster to really be completely dead. He can jump out and bite (or maul or slash) you in the next scene (or election cycle).
As a Floridian, I've been maintaining that DeSantis was doomed, because the more you know DeSantis, the less you like him. Regardless of political alignment.
When he first declared his candidacy, he was a national cipher upon which (R) voters could project all their hopes of a dream candidate. But as they see more of him, his numbers have predictably declined. And he's not capable of improving himself.