Six months ago, many pundits (your correspondent included) saw a dazzling future for Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor and a Republican presidential hopeful. With his million-watt smile, picture-perfect nuclear family, record of military service, and distinguished Ivy League education, smiling Ron attracted more donations than any other Republican candidate bar Donald Trump. The most influential conservatives were especially enthusiastic – seeking as they were a candidate free of Trumpian baggage. Hence, a myriad of appearances on Fox News and big wodges of money from 42 separate billionaire benefactors.
Now, DeSantis’ prospects look less rosy. Through 2022, DeSantis burnished his right-wing credentials by enacting legislation across Florida that attacked initiatives such as critical race theory, sex education, and the like. That wave of policies has now faded: DeSantis seems to have run out of new ways to combat what he calls the “woke mind virus” in Florida. He has also shied away from painting himself — levelheaded if an unabashed America Firster — in contrast to the chaos which surrounds Trump. Yet DeSantis’ reluctance to attack Trump has left him unable to distinguish himself from the ex-president in any meaningful way. Unlike Trump, the Florida governor is not a natural demagogue. For all of his polished looks and radiant CV, DeSantis speeches are flat and uninspiring. His political record – from far-right firebrand in the House of Representatives to Trump sycophant through a stretch of reasonable moderation and then back into culture-warring – suggests that DeSantis’ convictions are more fluid than Trump’s. It shows. DeSantis simply cannot ignite popular interest in the way that Trump does: he lacks the charm and strength of conviction to win over Trump loyalists.
DeSantis had a singular opportunity at the beginning of this year to position himself as a viable Trump alternative. The two were neck-and-neck in polls: DeSantis seemed to be positioning himself effectively as a responsible, less erratic Republican populist. Now, DeSantis’ support among Republicans has collapsed to 17%, whilst Trump’s number hovers over 50%. The New York Times has reported a high rate of attrition within the DeSantis campaign: jobs change hands frequently. It probably doesn’t help that DeSantis has a reputation for mistreating his acolytes. In short, the allure of the ex-president has proven difficult to resist and DeSantis is only lagging farther behind.
In an attempt to keep up, DeSantis and his associates have apparently been unsustainably plowing money into advertisements that they hope will help the Floridian compete with Trump. In one, a doctored image shows Trump kissing Dr. Antony Fauci, the public-health expert much reviled in conservative circles. The picture was so salacious that FOX 61, a branch of the right-wing TV network, blurred out details. The notoriously conspiratorially-minded Marjorie Taylor Greene, a House Representative, scoffed at the image. Such tactics rival the vitriol and underhandedness of even Donald Trump’s pronouncements. They also serve to undermine DeSantis’ appeal to those seeking a more stable and trustworthy figure than Trump. Now, four months after DeSantis’ campaign kicked off in earnest, faith in the campaign is running low.
How the saga of DeSantis ends remains unclear. Will Trump leave the Floridian’s campaign to shrivel slowly into irrelevance or seek to deliver a death blow? More to the point, will Ron DeSantis exit the 2024 race quietly? Or could he seek to endorse another candidate with ambitions of felling Trump? Although the precise details of what is likely to be a protracted endgame remain a mystery – and shall remain so until presidential primaries are well underway – Trump’s position as the Republican candidate now seems all but assured.
