It was supposed to be a unique, game-changing event: Ron DeSantis was going to announce his bid for the presidency on Twitter. With Elon Musk, too. But technical glitches got in the way with the numbers of people attempting to log in, and Donald Trump used the failure to launch as an opportunity to ridicule his rival. It looked like curtains for DeSantis’s nascent candidacy.
At his Truth Social site, Trump quickly posted this video:
WATCH: Trump posts video to Truth Social mocking DeSantis' botched Twitter announcement pic.twitter.com/RlyY55dm6Q
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 24, 2023
He also posted this:
Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!
Trump also boasted of his, uh, “red button” being bigger than DeSantis’s.
Screenshot: @RichSaluki/Twitter.
Yeah, the Twitter launch was bad — even Elon Musk admitted as much. Joe Biden, or more likely, a Biden staffer, got into the Let’s-Pile-On-Ron act too, with this tweet:
This link works: https://t.co/9PzIJkseYI
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 24, 2023
Does Joe remember how the Obamacare website crashed on its launch when he was Vice President? Oh, that’s right, Joe couldn’t even remember that he was in Ireland last month.
So was this an early death knell for DeSantis? Don’t count on it. Jeffrey Blehar at National Review, in an article simply titled “It Didn’t Work,” concluded:
There will be a wild rush by all the usual suspects — Trump operatives and social-media influencers, Biden Democrats, the media — to paint this as some sort of fatal blow, like the DeSantis campaign came into the world stillborn. That’s nonsense: Anyone who suggests as much to you is either emotionally unbalanced or selling you a narrative with ulterior motives. It is instead a missed opportunity.
Plus, Erick Erickson told Leland Vittert at NewsNation’s “On Balance” that this, too, will pass.
Meanwhile, Bonchie over at Red State commented:
What can’t be denied, though, is that DeSantis is going to command a ton of attention going forward. People can debate why, but he is the center of the political universe as of this moment, and politicians, from Biden to Trump, are left reacting to him.
Yet while Trump and his minions, like racist Nick Fuentes, were trolling like high schoolers, DeSantis raised $1 million dollars an hour after the campaign launch. Apparently the donors didn’t find DeSantis to be the big loser that Trump said he was.
Despite the glitchy Twitter launch, Ron DeSantis immediately held his first live post-announcement interview. He appeared with Trey Gowdy on Fox News, and, unlike Donald Trump, held a cogent, intelligent discussion on policy issues.
During the interview, DeSantis identified his first three priorities as president: 1) securing the border, 2) reversing Biden’s energy policies, and 3) “re-constitutionalizing the administrative state.” He also promised to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, while adding that the FBI and Department of Justice are not independent agencies. “They answer to the elected President of the US,” he told Gowdy.
DeSantis also criticized the Federal Reserve, saying that it was contributing to inflation. “We need the fed focused on a stable dollar. Don’t worry about trying to manipulate the rest of the economy,” he said.
On the hot button issues: Ron DeSantis defended signing Florida’s six-week ban on abortion, telling Gowdy that “protecting a child with a detectable heartbeat” was right and “humane” thing. Compare that with Donald Trump, who recently criticized DeSantis for signing the ban, adding that “many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh.” A claim that is, for dedicated pro-life supporters, total bullshit.
Finally, there’s the issue for which Gov. DeSantis has gained the most notoriety: the Culture Wars. Calling the “woke” philosophy “a form of cultural Marxism,” he told Gowdy:
Trey Gowdy: What is the role of the President in the culture wars?
DeSantis: "The woke mind virus is basically a form of Cultural Marxism… we have no choice but to wage a war on 'woke'" pic.twitter.com/vad5q1KHP5
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) May 25, 2023
There’s yet another aspect of Ron DeSantis that makes him shine: his military service.
DeSantis joined the Navy during the height of the Iraq War, serving as senior legal advisor to the SEAL who commanded Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah. He also was awarded the Bronze Star. (Contrast that with his rival Donald Trump, who avoided military service due to alleged bone spurs, and who also told Howard Stern that avoiding STDs was his “personal Vietnam.”)
After the ill-fated Twitter launch, Andrew C. McCarthy penned his first impressions of Ron DeSantis:
DeSantis is really excellent on policy. Well-spoken, presents lots of facts but marshals them well, has good grasp on how government is supposed to work, what legislation is pending … how to rein in the administrative state, etc.
He continued:
I also think the governor is going to do very well if he’s challenged — he is well prepared and knows how to interject without being rude.
“Without being rude …” unlike You-Know-Who. And speaking of that person, McCarthy referenced the “orange elephant” as a possible downside for the governor:
It’s what people need to be confident about: that he’s going to go after Trump, be ready to hit him between the eyes (it’s not like there’s a lack of material), and not pull punches out of concern about the Trump base. The attitude has to be: I will kick his ass, and the base will come along — and whoever doesn’t, who cares?
I would disagree with McCarthy here about his description of Trump as the “orange elephant.” He’s more like an orange orangutan, flinging poo at his enemies.
However, McCarthy is right: DeSantis will need to hit back, but with facts and intelligence. Many of us are eager for a serious, thoughtful contender. We’re done with a candidate who would rather pick fights and call his rivals infantile names than preside over policies of state.
Featured image: pixelant/flickr/cropped/altered/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Cameron says: We’re done with a candidate who would rather pick fights and call his rivals infantile names than preside over policies of state.
Personally I prefer a candidate who punches back. And from what I’ve seen, DeSantis does that AND he breaks out facts like a Tetsubo of Truth.
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