There is one thing Ron DeSantis is succeeding at admirably, and that is providing a master class in how not to conduct a presidential campaign. On June 30 he released that dreadful anti-gay video (the one where he was spliced in between oiled body builders and Brad Pitt’s Achilles) and today he doubled down on that. He told right-wing interviewer Tomi Lahren that he agreed with the ad.
“Yeah look, I think identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream, where he was having men compete against women, I think that’s totally fair game,” DeSantis told Tomi Lahren.
DeSantis said Trump’s previous statements are at odds with his current position.
“He’s now campaigning, saying the opposite, that he doesn’t think that you should have men competing in women’s things like athletics,” he continued.
If you hear screams in the background, one of them probably belongs to Steve Cortes, a Trump adviser turned national spokesman for the DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down super PAC. Even before DeSantis took to the airwaves to defend the indefensible, Cortes was quoted as saying, “I believe in being really blunt and really honest. It’s an uphill battle.” He added: “Right now, in national polling, we are way behind. I’ll be the first to admit that.”
What DeSantis’ homophobia does to improve polling, don’t ask me. Even the Log Cabin Republicans called his ad “divisive and desperate” and I’m dying to hear what they call doubling down on the ad.
Bess Levin at Vanity Fair elaborates:
Despite apparently understanding how poorly things are going for DeSantis, Cortes nevertheless insisted that his candidate has a shot, albeit a very, very long one. “In the first four states—which matter tremendously—polls are a lot tighter. We’re clearly still down. We’re down in double digits. We have work to do. We have wood to chop,” Cortes said Sunday. He also theorized that prospective voters simply don’t know Ron well enough, and will start changing their tunes once he becomes less of a mystery to them. “I’m of the belief that once we really get his story out there—and thankfully, we have the resources to do that, he’s campaigning with just frenetic pace already—so I think once we get that out there, my view is that we’re going to close this gap. I’m of the firm view that this is a two-man race,” Cortes said.
(Of course, the flip side of that argument is that people have already gotten to know DeSantis, and don’t like him, hence his dwindling poll numbers. And it’s possible they don’t like him because of (1) his stupid fight with Disney, (2) his highly restrictive abortion ban that has reportedly even given GOP mega-donor Ken Griffin pause, (3) his obsession with attacking the LGBTQ+ community, (4) his migrant-shipping political stunts and (5) the fact that, in the words of one former GOP lawmaker, “He’s an asshole.” Among, y’know, many other things.)
Hilariously, during the event on Twitter, Cortes pointed to Trump’s recent state and federal indictments as explanations for his lead (which he’s probably not wrong about).
In response to a request for comment from CNN about his remarks, Cortes said: “The former president has debated through two successive presidential cycles, so of course he possesses a lot of experience in that arena. But I am convinced that Governor DeSantis will outperform expectations and inform large audiences about his amazing life, political record, and winning agenda for the presidency.”
We’re waiting. Because so far, to know Ron is to hate Ron. But looking at this from a 10,000 perspective, what a freaking race: a twice-impeached former president found liable of sexual assault, under indictment and hanging fire in other indictments, versus a gay-hating, COVID-denying, enemy of Mickey Mouse. And this is the cream of the GOP crop in the Year of Our Lord, 2023.
As stated here ad nauseum, you can’t make it up.
Log cabin republicans? Ah I guess money trumps… preservation? Ffs
Log cabin republicans = turkeys for thanksgiving.
You noted (correctly) that to know DeSantis is to hate him. I’ll bet even Floridians who are getting the full “DeSantis the Dictator” treatment in their state hate him as much as the rest of us do, and that like us the more they learn the more they hate him! He was better off before he ever declared and actually tried to campaign. Or even started with some “campaigning” before he was officially a candidate. Back when he was just being an a-hole Gov. and doing stupid stuff in his own state and just “teasing” a 2024 run as “Trump without the Trumpiness.” I’m convinced that will have been his high water mark. Just running while staying in FL and not admitting he was running when everyone knew he was.
If you’re not old and a lifelong (serious) baseball fan you probably don’t know who Joe Gargiola was. He was a journeyman level player for a while for the St. Louis Cardinals, a franchise with a long and storied history. (including some serioius racism and awful actions towards Jackie Robinson and the old Brooklyn Dodgers I should add) Even being a journeyman for an organization that seldom was out of the mix for decades starting well before WWII meant some glory. Joe milked it for all it was worth after retiring from baseball but like Bob Eucker was self-depracating about it. Gargiola once commented that he seemed to have gotten better year by year after retiring. At first when he’d be the invited speaker to some group he’d be introduced as “Former Caridnal (or Major League) player”, and as time went by it eventually became “Former Cardinal (or Major League Great”, and finally “One of baseball’s immortals” – joking I’ve finally realized the biggest career mistake I ever made was actually playing!
When, mercifully the whole DeSantis for President campaign is consigned to the “what a clueless idiot he was thinking he ever had a chance” dustbin of Presidential campaign history that will be the story of the DeSantis campaign although with a twist. Yes, it will be noted that he tried. And like a journeyman pro athlete failed to become a “star.” But, instead of his stature growing in political retirement every year AFTER he left politics his career will have gotten WORSE!
DeSantis seems to be doing his best not only to take himself out of contention for the ‘pube nod for prez but also for any chance of being governor again. Everything he does manages to piss off a hell of a lot of people, many of them in FL.
A ‘man’ with this lack of character is a disgrace to all good men everywhere.
The last line of this article may well go down in history – for stunning succinctness or political comedy perfection, is as of yet unknown – but I won’t be done laughing this week. Well done, well played.
“And this is the cream of the GOP crop in the Year of Our Lord, 2023.” Dayam!
I did sort of raise an eyebrow at his poster depicting himself between what could well be a pair of gay pin-ups
DeSantis may face his own legal troubles over some of his pay-to-play grifts that are coming out. probably not fast enough, though.