“If a picture paints a thousand words…”
Sometimes real life sends us some powerful hints. Hints? Hell, this SCREAMS at wannabe President Ron DeSantis he’s got more than he can handle down there as Gov. of Florida. They eye of hurricane Idalia hit well away from Tallahassee but as this report from CBS notes it still had enough force to topple a 100 year old oak tree onto the FL Governor’s Mansion. Casey and the kids were inside, and thankfully were unhurt. Still, if there has been a better metaphor for DeSantis’ Presidential campaign since its formal, disastrous launch (thanks to Musk’s trashing of twitter) I haven’ seen it. I doubt anything more apt. will come along either.
Ron DeSantis it once seemed was poised as the heir apparent. The guy (a while male of course – this is after all the GOP) who would help ease the Party past Trump without incurring the wrath of the MAGAs. “Trump without the baggage” and all that. Except anyone who thought Trump was going to finally step aside and cede the limelight to someone new who would sing his praises in a manner that would make onetime GOP worship of “St. Ronald, the Reagan” seem weak in comparison was kidding themselves. Still, down there in FL where the legislature and GOP officials all the way down to the county level had become as terrified of DeSantis as the rest of the GOP is of MAGAs DeSantis seemed like someone big money folks could get behind.
GOP mega donors and even Fox/Murdoch desperately wanted to move on from Trump and given his rule in FL which was a Florida version of autocracy, MAGA dreamworld on steroids DeSantis, Gov. of a large and influential state with a big chunk of electoral votes seemed a good bet.
Seemed. From afar, DeSantis might have looked good but up close and personal, the more mega donors and more importantly voters got to know Ron the more they loathed him.
Still, the hope was there and DeSantis raised a decent amount of money. Once he got the law changed by his lapdog legislature to allow him to remain Gov. and still officially begin a Presidential campaign he had his big “Launch.” On Twitter as Musk still called it then. NON-Launch was a better way to describe it. It was one big technological glitch and it was like a giant dump truck of egg was poured over both Musk and DeSantis. And those mega donors, already getting nervous after DeSantis few unofficial forays into campaigning outside FL started taking a cold, hard look.
It long ago became apparent that all the campaign shakeups in staff and strategy weren’t the problem. DeSantis himself, along with wife Casey who is the only person he takes advice (always bad) from were. “Wooden” Al Gore was a fully juiced up live wire compared to Ron DeSantis. Add in that Ron DeSantis simply doesn’t like people, even it seems sometimes those who kiss his ass (a trait he shares with Trump) and has less charisma as than a wet mop and donors started backing out. Most rich people are rich for a reason and one is that they don’t continue throwing good money after money that turned out to be poorly spent.
DeSantis once polled well enough that even Trump started to trash him to keep him from getting close. Still, he was way the hell out front in second place and everyone else was in low single digits. But then he started campaigning, and it’s been downhill ever since. Jokes about when he’d become the next Scot Walker started making the rounds. DeSantis is so far proving a bit more durable but we are still months from Iowa and New Hampshire. If he’s still in the race by then he won’t be afterwards.
How bad are things getting for him? There was reporting, such as this from CNN that on the day of the debate DeSantis held a meeting to plead with major donors for 50 million to get them through the next four months, and then another hundred million through March. It would go on to note how important it would be for DeSantis to shine during the debate and as we know he didn’t. At best he held his ground, if only because other candidates including notably Chris Christie didn’t bother much with him. That will change. But it gets better. Or rather worse if you’re Ron DeSantis.
Earlier today as this article in Vanity Fair reports the largest donor (20 million, ten times that of the next biggest donor) to DeSantis’ Super PAC Never back down has closed his wallet! True, the article note donor Robert Bigelow has cut off DeSantis “for now” but come on! From where I sit the chances “for now” will turn into “for good” are a hundred percent. If that’s not bad enough, there’s this tidbit that Never Back Down founder Justin Thomas is shutting it down! AND flipping his support to Trump.
So yeah, I think a hundred year old oak tree crashing down onto DeSantis’ current residence, the freaking FL Governor’s mansion is an apt a metaphor for his Presidential campaign as can be imagined. Hell, a Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t come up with as perfect and ending for DeSantis’ campaign and ultimately his political career. If the loss of such an old, beautiful tree wasn’t so sad I’d be laughing my ass off over this.
Still, I can’t resist a smirk…
Logged!
Just imagine him trying to turn this into a photo op. Ron “everyman” “logger.” Out there using his chainsaw to cut the tree up for removal. Wearing his WHITE boots of course. And for work gloves he can borrow a set of those past the elbows white gloves Casey wears when she’s trying to imitate Jackie Kennedy.
I’m trying to imagine him with a chainsaw and I cannot picture anything other than him managing to cut off an arm or leg.
A YouTube creator, Farron Cousins, a lifelong resident of The Sunshine State, predicted that once exposed to the harsh light of day and interacting with “normal” humans, DeSantis would crash and burn. Having experienced him as his governor, he accurately predicted his political career would be short-lived.
I laugh when Gov. AntiWoke says he wants to “Make America Florida” when our goal should be to “Make Florida America”.
I will repeat what I said about Very Abbott (and got banned for 3 days from.WaPo):That tree had *one* job and it failed.