Once upon a time there were a couple of deluded political types in the Sunshine State. One was named Ron and the other was named Casey. Casey decided that her goal in life was to become the next Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis although the two women had nothing in common other than their passion for opera gloves. Ron decided that being JFK suited him just fine, even though the only thing he had in common with the 35th president was the fact that they put their pants on one leg at a time.
Nevertheless, Ron and Casey decided that they were made for a big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue and so they set about making their dream come true. And someday, some political insider with a great sense of humor, say one of the Lincoln Project folks, is going to write a Not To Do book about how to screw up a presidential campaign every which way to Sunday. Tonight, another chapter was written when Jeff Roe, DeSantis’ PAC chief strategist, resigned on the spot Saturday night. Team DeSantis is a complete bust and an utter fiasco. And the only two people who can’t see that are Ron and Casey. New York Times:
Since the day before Thanksgiving, the pro-DeSantis super PAC, which is called Never Back Down, has seen the resignation of one chief executive and one board chairman; the firing of a second chief executive, along with two other top officials; and now the late-night quitting of Mr. Roe. All have come after intense infighting and finger-pointing as Mr. DeSantis has slipped in the polls.
“I can’t believe it ended this way,” Mr. Roe wrote in a statement he posted on X on Saturday night. The news of Mr. Roe’s resignation was first reported by The Washington Post.
His decision to quit followed comments from the new chairman of the super PAC’s board, Scott Wagner, a DeSantis loyalist and appointee in Florida. Mr. Wagner had explained to The Washington Post why the previous chief executive and two others — all of whom had worked for Mr. Roe — had been fired.
Never Back Down is comically named because all it has been is one resignation after the next. It’s been described as, “something of a Frankenstein’s monster in its composition, with Mr. Roe and some of his top lieutenants forced to coexist with a decision-making board comprised primarily of longtime friends and loyalists of Mr. DeSantis.” And even the long time friends and loyalists have left. Adam Laxalt, who was DeSantis’ roommate in the Navy for a while, quit about a week ago, right after the campaign manager left. (Well, the one with the title Campaign Manager. The one and only real campaign manager is Casey DeSantis.)
You won’t see a lot more of the DeSantis campaign, but do not be surprised if there are legal problems in the not too distant future. From what can be ascertained, rules barring coordination between a campaign and a super PAC have come into question (or at least that’s the reason that so many people are leaving, to get away from potential legal liability) and that simply is not going to fly.
DeSantis has to wash out soon, but he’s so deep in his fantasy life of the campaign actually being real, that who knows what that will take? It’s rumored now that Trump will be officially deemed the formal GOP candidate no later than March 5, which is Super Tuesday and quite possibly long before that.
Other candidates are showing signs of giving up the ghost. Nikki Haley has not registered with the Nevada GOP, for its primary, most likely because she sees the futility in it. Who knows what Vivek Ramaswamy intends to do? He’s attending a MAGA convention this weekend, so he’s gotten his dream of becoming a right-wing media personality. Chris Christie will stay in the game as long as he can find a venue where he’s allowed to speak and take down Trump.
That leaves DeSantis and nobody knows what he will do next. The time to fold was weeks ago, but he didn’t see it that way. DeSantis is depending upon winning the Iowa Caucus, which he may or may not do, as Ted Cruz did in 2016, for all the good that that did him. But his chances of also winning in New Hampshire, South Carolina and then out west are non existent.
But he can’t seem to cope with this reality. The end of the DeSantis saga is going to be wild. Nobody is quite sure what it will look like or when it will come, but it will be noteworthy and unusual, on that much people who predict these things seem to be agreed. Whatever the end of Team DeSantis is going to look like, “normal” will not be the descriptor which is applied. Or, if it is, it will be the first time that word has been used in this campaign.
Stay tuned.
Angry little Ron and Casey go well together, just like pineapple and rum. In the shaker and mover of reality politics they’ve been given a convincing shake, haven’t they – looks like their end game is not looking too good. So, rum and pineapple have effectively been dumped out of their political shaker and mover, and are now looking like a failed Piña Political Collider. ¡Salud!
Recent history shows the GOP Iowa winner is NOT the nominee (including Trump himself, 2016). However, after his shock election, convention has been tossed to the curb. A close second won’t cut it for DeSantis to limp along to NH. He might….but he won’t be able to keep the big donors giving. The writer is often spot on, but my view is Haley will catch fire. A close 2nd to Trump, or very close 3rd behind DeSantis will keep her run alive. DeSantis is gone no later than NH.
“Casey decided that her goal in life was to become the next Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis although the two women had nothing in common other than their passion for opera gloves.”
Not really sure why Jackie Kennedy (she wouldn’t become “Onassis” until 1968) is described as having a “passion for opera gloves.” Mrs Kennedy only wore them to appropriate functions as that was the fashion in that era; she would’ve never thought of wearing opera gloves to a function where her husband was dressed in a regular suit (opera gloves are only worn to formal–usually highly formal–events). There’s a good picture of Mrs Kennedy in “evening gloves” at the Wiki article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evening_glove).
And, technically, Mrs DeSantis isn’t wearing “opera gloves.” Those are generally intended to be worn so the top is between the elbow and mid-bicep (the above link shows other images of proper “opera gloves”). What Mrs DeSantis is wearing is closer to what burlesque performers wear in the “gown-and-glove striptease.”
That cape dress
looks like a gown worn by Arena the Target town in Game of Thrones. But Ronnie is no Syrian or Jon Snow. More like Ramsay Bolton with out the starving dogs.
Daenarys Targaryen
Tyrianor Jon Snow