Conservative slams DeSantis’ 'failing, fumbling campaign' as it goes from bad to worse

18 August 2023

Reelected by 19 percent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was arguably the MAGA movement's greatest success story of 2022. Democratic strategists breathed a huge sign of relief when the 2022 midterms, on the whole, turned out to be much better for their party than expected, but they had little reason to celebrate in Florida.

Many pundits argued that Florida had gone from swing state to deep red. And DeSantis' right-wing cheerleaders — including author Ann Coulter and the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro — greeted his presidential campaign with great enthusiasm. To DeSantis' supporters, he represented the GOP's best chance to move on from Donald Trump in 2024.

But DeSantis' presidential campaign hasn't lived up to expectations. The Florida governor has trailed frontrunner Trump by sizable margins in countless GOP primary polls. And DeSantis was bombarded with scathing comments when, on August 17, an outline of his debate strategy was leaked online. Pundits slammed that strategy — which included tips like "defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack" and "hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response" — as proof of how dysfunctional DeSantis' presidential campaign is.

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That dysfunction is the focus on Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes' August 18 column for The Bulwark. The column's headline, "Ron DeSantis: Real Man of Political Genius," is obviously meant to be ironic — as Sykes offers a scathing analysis of a campaign he believes has gone from bad to worse.

"I had hoped today to write about anything except the Florida governor's flatulent, failing, fumbling campaign," Sykes explains. "That sad nag has been pummeled to death. But you really can't avert your eyes from this, can you?"

The Never Trumper continues, "Let's take a moment to consider the position Ron DeSantis finds himself in: He's trailing Donald Trump by 39 points, shedding donors and voters alike. He's reset his campaign, fired staff, and had to undergo the indignity of flying commercial. His attempts at simulating a normal human being have flopped, and he's being mercilessly trolled by Trump. Next week's debate in Milwaukee may be his last chance to turn this around…. His strategy? Defend Donald Trump."

Sykes views that debate strategy as terrible in light of the fact that Trump is now facing four criminal prosecutions.

"On Thursday," Sykes notes, "the NYT reported on a cache of memos posted online by DeSantis' super PAC that are chock-full of the sort of brilliant insights that helped inspire his shambolic campaign launch with Elon Musk…. It also urges DeSantis to deploy Trump-like nicknames like 'Fake Vivek' or 'Vivek the Fake.' Really, this should go well, especially the part about telegraphing his plan to go after Christie — the most formidable debater on the stage — and the Hindu guy."

Polls released in mid-August offer no good news for DeSantis' campaign. According to those polls, Trump leads the Florida governor by 37 percent (Fox News), 39 percent (Quinnipiac University and The Economist/YouGov) or 38 percent (Trafalgar Group).

Read Charlie Sykes' full Bulwark column at this link.

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