https://www.wsj.com/articles/ron-desantis-campaign-trump-republicans-c129381e
The Florida governor’s support is flat in national and early-state polling.
Archive link: https://archive.ph/qeIBS
I feel like over the span of a few months , DeSantis went from the golden child to carry the torch from Trump to a one trick pony candidate of no substance focused on “wokeism” (whatever the fuck that is).
DeSantis tried doing what Trump does where he rails against something and threatens action, but rather than doing what Trump does which is talk big and then declare victory. DeSantis actually went through with the fight. The fights drag out and he takes harder and harder positions to defend. People dont want the fight, they want to talk big and declare victory without doing anything.
DeSantis is not helped by his campaign team either, as they seem to be perpetually online to where some of his ads are completely unintelligble to anyone that is not online all the time.
Finally, while petty, I think a lot of people liked DeSantis until they heard him actually speak. His voice is not what you would expect from a culture warrior strong man. He is also terrible at interacting with people too. Like really bad, those clips of him around other people are just hard to watch.
This appears to be a very accurate take. Thanks for taking the time to think through and write out this comment. I'm far too lazy to put in the effort, but agree whole-heartedly.
Keen take, I totally agree.
He hasn’t been having much success expanding his base, and this article points out that it’s because he’s playing up key conservative issues to capture one audience, while also aiming for moderates. There’s just a contradiction there.
one trick pony candidate of no substance focused on “wokeism” (whatever the fuck that is).
The definition of "woke" is easy. It's a catch all term they means whatever the right decides they don't like. If tomorrow the right decides that they don't like puppies and kittens, then puppies and kittens will be "woke."
When DeSantis says he hates "woke," all he's really saying (to paraphrase Futurama) is ""I'm against those things that everybody on the right hates!"
I heard that his own lawyers gave this definition last year in a court case and I’ve actually come to respect it: woke is the recognition that there are systemic injustices in America and the need to do something about it.
It gets right to the point and includes a call to action.
I think DeSantis would be close to a front runner, but he’s too Trumpy in his appeal and Trump is already in the race
Let's pretend Trump abruptly dropped out of the race (willingly or unwillingly) before January.
Do you think DeSantis would absorb the voter base?
I appreciate your integrity.
I gotta say though - I don’t know how anyone could see it any other way after 2016.
Republicans would vote for a plastic shopping bag if it ran against a Democrat.
They’re childish people fighting an invisible enemy of “wokeness” and all these other bullshit buzzwords and culture wars.
If Trump isn’t the nominee, they will vote for DeSantis. If DeSantis isn’t the nominee, they will vote for a plastic shopping bag with an “R” Sharpie’d onto it.
I'm not so sure. Everyone is far enough behind trump that there I don't think there's a clear number 2. DeSantis might be in second place, but it's so far behind he's still with the rest of the pack. If trump suddenly wasn't in the race, it would be an absolute slaughter as they all fought tooth and nail in the dirtiest way possible to be next. Though I agree no one should get complacent.
Not meaning to be rude at all but - do you remember the 2016 election?
These people will vote for anyone who is not a Democrat.
They don’t care about policy, they don’t care about honesty, they don’t care about personality.
All they want is to be able to say “we won!”
They’ll polish that turd DeSantis right up in their minds and pull the lever for him.
Make no mistake.
Except you're presuming DeSantis will win the primary if Trump isn't in it. I fully agree, whatever turd refuses to be flushed during the primaries will be polished to a kissable shine. I just wouldn't call the primaries for him unequivocally at this point.
Doesn't seem likely to me. He's good at finding outrageousness but doesn't have the personality for it, he's too cold and dead inside. (Illustrated by the vid of him laughing while watching a guy being tortured at Guantanamo)
I have always felt Desantis wanted to campaign as the heir to Trump and hoped Trump would quietly fade away. Trump didn’t do that and Desantis has refused to change tactics . At this point his strategy seems to be hoping Trump’s legal problems catch up to him and leave Desantis as the Trump alternative.
A word of caution... My definitely not woke family member said he doesn't sound that bad.
So..... While I don't support him and I feel he won't win the popular vote, many people will still vote for him and he's still very much a real candidate.
The spam text messages I’ve received this weekend are so bad I’m not sure if they are actually from DeSantis or a smear campaign by his opponents.