Ron DeSantis wrongly diagnoses why his campaign failed
It's you, dude.
Ron DeSantis knows he’s not going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. And that realization has turned him reflective.
Asked by conservative radio talk show Hugh Hewitt what errors he made as a candidate, DeSantis said this:
“I came in not really doing as much media. I should have just been blanketing. I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything. I started doing that as we got into the end of the summer, and we did it. But we had an opportunity, I think, to come out of the gate and do that and reach a much broader folk.”
Which is true! (Also, “corporate” shows? Come on, man.)
DeSantis and his team thought that he could burnish his anti-woke credentials by not engaging with the mainstream media.
“I’m not going to sit there and humor them and treat them as some neutral arbiter,” he told conservative journalists John Stossel shortly before announcing his campaign. “What bugs me, and I think a lot of Republicans... is they pretend that somehow they are objective.”
From the get-go, DeSantis’ strategy did not work. In May 2023, he tried to end-run the media by announcing his presidential bid on Twitter — alongside the site’s owner Elon Musk. It was, to be kind, a disaster — glitch-filled and amateurish.
And, even with his aggressive courtship of conservative media, it became clear — after a few months of DeSantis as a candidate — that those outlets (and the people who watched them) were sticking with Donald Trump.
DeSantis acknowledged as much last week — when, in another fit of honesty, he said that Fox News “don’t hold [Trump] accountable because they’re worried about losing viewers and they don’t want to have the ratings go down.”
So, DeSantis isn’t wrong. He thought he could become the candidate of the right by ignoring (and making a mockery of) the mainstream media. But that group was never, really, up for grabs. They were always for Trump. And, by refusing to play ball with the mainstream media, DeSantis ensured that he would never grow outside of that narrow band of already-spoken-for conservatives.
But, here’s the thing: That’s not why DeSantis is losing. Or why his campaign never took off.
As I have written in this space before, Ron DeSantis has always had a Ron DeSantis problem. He is not personable. He is not charismatic. He lacks a sense of humor. He doesn’t, really, know how to smile. He is quick to anger when challenged. He’s thin-skinned.
Those traits — and realities — wouldn’t have just disappeared if, from the start of the campaign, DeSantis had sat down with MSNBC and CNN and anyone else who was asking.
In fact, I would argue, they would have been made more apparent. Exacerbated.
You don’t need to just trust me on this. Go back to the first Republican debate. DeSantis was, by turns, angry and seemingly disinterested. Here’s how a body language expert assessed his performance:
As Trump’s closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke first. He was a little nervous, as to be expected from the opening candidate: His lips quivered. He also looked almost angry. His voice was forceful and lacked modulation, which made it hard for viewers to distinguish his most important points. And throughout most of the event, he failed to smile. That may not seem like much, but part of leading is showing all sides of your personality.
I mean, DeSantis’ awkward smile(?) may wind up being his lasting legacy in the race!
Look. I get what DeSantis is doing here. He’s sorting through a campaign gone wrong — I know he is still technically running but let’s be real — and looking for scapegoats.
And, because of human nature being what it is, no one likes to blame themselves for losing. If only we had done more mainstream media sooner, this would have all been different. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
But, the hard truth of the DeSantis campaign is that it never got off the ground because the guy at the core of it simply did not have what it takes to be a successful candidate for president.
It wasn’t any one strategic decision. Or staff shakeup. Or message choice. It was the candidate at the beating heart of the campaign.
And that fact is why I am very skeptical that DeSantis’ end game — positioning himself to get out of this race in a way that sets him up for 2028 — will work. Ultimately, candidates — not strategies or money or anything else — win presidential races. And DeSantis is simply not a good candidate.
Those comments are oh so true. As a resident of Florida, I know how he looks on television. He always looks angry and he does take offense very quickly. I really feel that he was elected governor because just a few months prior to the election, his Democratic opponent became wrapped up in a legal scandal from which he couldn't recover. He lost a lot of votes because of that. It really left us in the state with no other viable choice. I'm hoping that changes this election year. Lol
He’s an angry bully. He picks on the vulnerable and the Happiest Place on Earth. He is also oily and smarmy. He wore white go-go boots in public, in front of people. He is a racist and homophobic and bans books. Even classic books. He hides behind his wife. Yuuuuuuccckkkkk.