DeSantis’ doomed presidential campaign 'already feels like a fool’s errand': conservative

23 May 2023

This Wednesday, May 24, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to officially enter the 2024 GOP presidential primary. DeSantis' ardent supporters — a group that includes firebrand author Ann Coulter and the Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro — will no doubt welcome the announcement, as they view DeSantis as the primary candidate who will have the best chance of defeating former President Donald Trump.

But Never Trump conservative and Daily Beast opinion columnist Matt Lewis has a very different perspective. In his May 23 column, Lewis argues that DeSantis' presidential run "already feels like a fool's errand."

DeSantis was clearly among the GOP's biggest success stories in the 2022 midterms, which found Democrats — much to the Republican National Committee's disappointment — flipping a GOP-held U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania and winning gubernatorial races not only in the Keystone State, but also, in important swing states like Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Although MAGA Republicans suffered numerous disappointments in 2023, DeSantis was hardly one of them; he ran a far-right campaign in what was once considered the ultimate swing state and was reelected by 19 percent. But Lewis stresses that what worked well for DeSantis in Florida won't necessarily work for him in a national election.

"DeSantis made some fundamental miscalculations based on what worked for him in Florida," Lewis argues. "His heavy-handed approach to the media allowed him to maintain message discipline and appear to be in control, but it also deprived him from learning on the job and making mistakes on a smaller stage."

Lewis adds, "On top of that, it was never scalable to a presidential bid…. By tightly controlling DeSantis' image in Florida, his team — which lacks the sort of presidential veterans or long-time loyalists who normally populate successful presidential campaigns — succeeded in making him a hot commodity as governor. However, in doing so, they also raised expectations, while failing to prepare him to run a presidential campaign. This part of the problem was years in the making."

Many of the Republicans urging DeSantis not to run for president are Trump loyalists like Kari Lake, the far-right conspiracy theorist who Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs defeated in 2022. But Lewis is no Trump loyalist; he has been a scathing critic of the former president and the MAGA movement in general.

"The two most likely possibilities are: (1) Either Trump is inevitable, in which case, this is all a moot point, or (2) DeSantis may have already blown his narrow chance of ousting Trump as the GOP nominee, in which case, DeSantis would probably be better off not running," Lewis explains. "The other options involve either DeSantis taking the gloves off and finally taking on Trump or, conversely, Trump collapsing under his own weight, allowing DeSantis to inherit his voters."

The conservative columnist continues, "While hope is not a strategy, it might be all DeSantis has left to cling to, which is the last place you want to be the day you launch a presidential bid."

Matt Lewis' full Daily Beast column is available at this link (subscription required).

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