The Disaster of DeSantis

I hadn't been paying too much attention to Ron DeSantis' presidential campaigns because quite honestly there wasn't much there to begin with.

I could have kept up with all the reporting about how mismanaged and unfocused his organization had been. I could have spent a lot of time focusing on DeSantis' many failures to even pretend to be a normal human being, given all the reports out there of how he can't even smile properly at rallies and debates.

I did spend time headdesking over how DeSantis - supposedly with this great Ivy League education going to Harvard and Yale - didn't have enough brain cells to spot the word FASCIST in a snowflake a stealth protestor gifted him at an early rally. How the hell did he even get out of Dunedin High with that lack of awareness?

What did matter about DeSantis' presidential ambitions was how he used his role as bully (not governor) to get the Florida Legislature to pass increasingly obscene legislation to ban abortion; attack trans and gay teens across the state; decry studies of racism and slavery as woke even trying to rewrite history to claim slavery had "benefits" (that was particularly offensive); and even go after corporations like Disney because they refused to roll over and play to his anti-gay agenda.

All so DeSantis could pander to the extremist Far Right voting base of the Republican Party and steal them away from donald trump.

Well, guess what Ron.

Those MAGA morons sold their souls to trump ages ago, and they ain't giving him up for some unhappy, wallowing mental midget trying to pretend he's a Machiavellian mastermind. Anybody thinking they were going to steal away trump's support have to be morons themselves. The best chance was to outlast the primaries, keep your name on the ballot at least, and pray to God trump ended up convicted in any of the criminal trials happening this year (or gets barred from the ballot for inciting insurrection under the 14th Amendment).

DeSantis spent apparently $130 million on his presidential bid, and all he got was a terrible second-place finish in a barely-attended Iowa caucus and every sign he was going to lose New Hampshire to Nikki Haley. (this begs the question for a campaign as mismanaged as this where the hell did that $130 million go?)

So of course DeSantis decided today to suspend the campaign and support the monstrous trump (via Jeongyoon Han at NPR):

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose hardline right-wing policies in his state garnered much public attention and made him an early favorite for the 2024 presidential race, suspended his bid for the Republican nomination on Sunday in a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. Gov. DeSantis also endorsed the former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination...

DeSantis' exit from the Republican presidential nomination field creates a path for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as the only conservative alternative to Trump's candidacy left in the race. Trump and Haley will square off in the New GOP Hampshire primary on Tuesday...

There have been real questions about DeSantis' campaign after his distant second-place finish in Iowa. He pledged to continue and focus on South Carolina, but his campaign and super PAC supporting him, which had spent tens of millions supporting him, has spent nothing on campaign ads since Iowa.

DeSantis' main campaign message was that he would be better at delivering the same kinds of policies that Trump would be in favor of, because he doesn't have the same baggage that Trump carries from his numerous indictments and federal charges. He vowed to rid the country of "wokeism," a term he often used to criticize liberal policies, win the presidency by a wide margin, and deliver on issues that Republicans care about — much like how he says he has in Florida...

It turned out attacking "Wokeism" didn't appeal in other states where racism is not as controversial a topic. It didn't help DeSantis that in half of his battles fighting "The Woke" he's lost - or is losing - in humiliating fashion. Getting outmaneuvered by Disney lawyers using British-era "Rules Against Perpetuities" to deny DeSantis' takeover of their Reedy Creek oversight board didn't look good either.

All DeSantis has really done for the state of Florida is mismanage it all - much like his national campaign - focusing on appearances instead of creating actual solutions. While DeSantis has been attacking gays and trans and women and Blacks, he's ignored the growing home insurance crisis. While DeSantis has been warring against Woke, he's been dismantling what had been a growing and successful public university system even turning the honors-level New College institution into a virtual paper mill.

If you think DeSantis' ending his failed presidential bid will make him let up on his arch-conservative governing, don't. He's still a petty little tyrant hoping to get his revenge on all the people who humiliated him on his climb to the top (and arguably thinking about running in 2028 if - Gods help us - trump fails to steal 2024).

All this disastrous campaign proved is that trump is an unstoppable juggernaut within the Republican Party. trump pretty much owns the GOP now. It's just a question of how many Republican voters who haven't bought into the MAGA madness are willing to turn away from that.

Just stop voting Republican, America. Doesn't matter if it's DeSantis or trump or Haley or any of the other would-be dictators waiting in the wings.