A look back at Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential campaign and his future in politics
A few hours back, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ended his presidential campaign. DeSantis chose Twitter to make the announcement, the very social media platform where he launched his campaign last May.
DeSantis endorsed President Trump, calling him “superior to the incumbent, Joe Biden.”
It is interesting to note that in his final address as a presidential candidate, DeSantis looked relaxed, natural, and happy, unlike he ever did during his campaign. It was like an enormous weight was lifted off his shoulders, and now he could return to being himself.
The question remains why did DeSantis even contemplate running when it was obvious to even people sitting far away in India that this was not his turn?
It’s quite likely that the idea was suggested to him after the GOP’s underwhelming performance during the 2022 midterms. Back then, most of the mainstream media blamed President Trump for the failures, even though most of his endorsements secured victories for candidates.
What was surprising was that even sections of conservative media echoed that sentiment while alluding that Trump’s downfall was a sign that DeSantis was on the ascendance.
Perhaps DeSantis’s people convinced him that this was truly his time and he was Trump without the “baggage.” Perhaps the Murdochs told him their media would support him; it has to be remembered that the New York Post put him on the cover with the headline: “DeFUTURE.” Readers noticed that the paper suddenly became viciously anti-Trump.
It is interesting to note that Trump nicknamed him Ron DeSantimonious a little before the 2022 midterm elections. This had caused outrage among some Republicans who simply couldn’t fathom the reason behind Trump’s actions. It now appears that he had learned of DeSantis’s intentions to challenge him and engaged in a pre-emptive strike.
Success in politics is not just about running an effective campaign or governing ably, it is about understanding when it’s the right time to launch.
So, let’s look at the circumstances when DeSantis launched his campaign.
Trump’s supporters remember how the D.C. establishment concocted scandal after scandal during his first term to unseat him and block or impede the MAGA agenda.
Trump’s supporters also know the 2020 elections were unfair. They remember the coordinated suppression of the Hunter Biden scandal. They recall how COVID-19 was used as an excuse to allow tamper-prone mail-in voting. They know how Zuckerbucks enabled sacrosanct election infrastructure by pro-Democrat activists.
Trump was most effective during his tenure as president, despite the numerous impediments placed before him by the establishment. Trump supporters remember the widespread prosperity in the U.S. and peace across the world during his tenure and how all of it has been undone by Joe Biden.
Hence, Trump supporters rightly feel their man deserves another chance to become president.
If DeSantis had the right political instincts and understood the MAGA movement, he would have comprehended this.
Irrespective of what he felt, he should have pledged much before the midterms that he didn’t plan to run. He should have built stronger ties with President Trump. DeSantis should have appeared at rallies alongside Trump.
DeSantis should never have uttered a single syllable about his presidential ambitions where there were ears.
By doing so, he would have retained the goodwill of Trump supporters. They probably would have seen him as the only viable alternative to Trump if Trump were prevented from running.
This would have also created a mystery around him and allowed pundits and voters to build “what-if” scenarios of how well DeSantis would have done had he run.
DeSantis could have responded like the aspiring Prime Ministerial candidate on House of Cards.
When President Trump announced his candidacy, DeSantis should have been the one who introduced and cheered him to the stage. He should have been or at least pretended to be Robin to Trump’s Batman.
Perhaps Trump would have made him his running mate, which would have been a big boost and enabled him an easy path to the presidency in 2028.
But instead, he played this sly game of campaigning without declaring.
When he did declare, it was on the audio-only platform of Twitter Spaces, and once again, you wonder why, in the age of audio and visual, he chose live-streaming audio. The platform was new and technically unsound, causing some to suggest that his campaign crashed on the runway even before it took off.
On the campaign trail, DeSantis’s task was more impossible than any mission faced by Tom Cruise.
He was campaigning but could not attack his number one rival, President Trump, brutally and frontally, without upsetting the MAGA base whom he needed to secure the nomination. He often chose to tip-toe while being critical of Trump or use surrogates to do his dirty work, and that made him appear cowardly and petty.
Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry famously told one of his adversaries that ‘a man’s got to know his limitations.’
DeSantis, perhaps because he was surrounded by sycophants, didn’t understand the basic simple fact that he simply doesn’t have the charisma, the communicational brilliance, the comedic genius, and the presence of Donald Trump.
Trump is a superstar, and there is probably no one, not even pop stars or standup comics, who can fill stadiums and regale audiences for over two hours.
Trump quite often thinks on his feet when addressing the audience.
Such is Trump’s talents that won over audiences even in an adversarial forum such as CNN’s town hall.
Then there is the charisma vacuum called Ron DeSantis.
During the debates, DeSantis often appeared awkward and befuddled. His trailing in the polls probably played on his mind as well; all the confidence he displayed as governor seemed to have faded into thin air, and he began looking like a lost loser.
In a moment of desperation, he used the term “listless vessels” to describe some MAGA supporters, and this is the kind of epithet used by the left to describe the movement. It was reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s ‘basket of deplorables’ attack that backfired spectacularly. There may be some who will never forgive DeSantis for his comment because true feelings have a way of coming out during moments of desperation.
DeSantis’s humiliation continued; he looked uncomfortable during an appearance on Bill Maher’s show and laughed awkwardly like Mitt Romney when Maher mocked him.
In Iowa, despite campaigning aggressively, he failed to even win a single county, which clearly led to his announcement today.
Today, DeSantis has the stain of being a loser, but it didn’t have to be this way.
So is DeSantis damaged goods, and will the harm be permanent?
That will depend on how he governs Florida and how he conducts himself henceforth.
Usually, during an endorsement, an endorser either leaves out disagreements or mentions them without being specific. DeSantis, however, couldn’t resist the temptation to explicitly state his “disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of [COVID-19 adviser] Anthony Fauci.”
President Trump has complimented DeSantis and even pledged to suspend the nickname ‘DeSantimonious.’
The ball now is in DeSantis’s court.
If he wholeheartedly campaigns for President Trump and orders his surrogates to refrain from overtly or covertly attacking President Trump, he could redeem himself.
If he is vocal against the establishment’s relentless and baseless attacks on President Trump using the DOJ, DeSantis could win back his lost goodwill.
If, however, he chooses to be a bystander when Trump is attacked or engages in veiled or sly attacks or is seen to be allying with the Never Trumpers or the old guard of the GOP, it will be the end for Ron DeSantis.
Image: Twitter screen shot
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