Ron DeSantis is putting on a brave face. It must have felt like a body blow. DeSantis is everything conservatives said they wanted in a candidate. He checks every box. Fiscal and social conservative. Family man with a lovely wife and three children. Successful governor of a major state. A state he turned from purple to red. If it weren’t for DeSantis’ coattails in 2022, the GOP would have never gained control of the House of Representatives.
It must have felt like a body blow. Losing to Trump who added $8 trillion to the national debt; called Florida’s Heartbeat Abortion bill “a terrible thing”; said to “take the guns first” and then worry about due process; deported less people than Barack Obama; pushed Operation Warp Speed and gave Fauci a commendation for his handling of COVID; and not a family man (no need to add more).
There are those who say that Ron DeSantis never had a chance. That no one could ever defeat Trump. I disagree. There was a window of opportunity, albeit brief, but DeSantis failed to capitalize.
A CBS poll conducted in April 2023, showed that nearly half of Republican voters were considering Trump and other candidates while the other half was split between Never Trump and Only Trump. Therefore, there was a pool of 75% of voters to whom DeSantis could make his case. And in June a couple of polls showed either DeSantis neck-and-neck or slightly ahead of Trump.
Unfortunately, DeSantis did not take advantage of the opening. He made the mistake of believing that if Republicans were presented the option of the MAGA policy agenda without the never ending Trump drama, a majority would seize on it. A mistake that, frankly, I also made.
After several policy reversal, it was clear to me that Trump was not going to deliver on the agenda that gained my support. In April 2018, I wrote an article urging Republicans to “Leave Trump Behind and MAGA On” – even went as far as registering a domain name and creating social media accounts for MAGA After Trump. But I soon learned that it is impossible to separate MAGA from Trump. The movement is personality cult. It is not based on policy stances or, even less, results. How else can one explain Magadonians (term coined by Trump) claiming to despise Fauci and, yet, support Trump who empowered him? DeSantis needed to create his own lane, brand, coalition within the GOP and never did.
The second mistake was betting everything on Iowa. I fully understand going for the early knockout but, as he travelled across the 99 counties, didn’t he notice running into a brick wall? He came into the race with a large war chest. Certainly enough resources to last through March. Why didn’t he change strategy? DeSantis would have been better off focusing on New Hampshire and Super Tuesday.
In terms of presentation, DeSantis made several mistakes. Nothing wrong with wearing cowboy boots but do they have to be ugly? Ditch the dumb campaign vest. Are you running for president or selling merch? Casey is a very polished speaker who outshined the candidate every time they spoke at the same event. Moreover, Casey seemed to want the White House more than Ron. That’s never a good look. And then the children. Every time I saw them, I couldn’t help think that they should be playing with their friends instead of being on the campaign trail.
If there is another run, get a stylist, leave the kids at home and please no more Mamas for DeSantis.
