DeSantis Is Trailing Haley In One Poll As His Race Sputters To Its End

The silver lining to the DeSantis cloud is that his race, so far at least, is proving to be a textbook example of what not to do in a political campaign. It is truly one for the books and this is why even GOP strategists are laughing at it.

Here’s the latest poll from Fox News, along with commentary from Jonathan Last at The Bulwark. Last is favorably inclined towards Tim Scott. My take on Scott is that he’s another Trump defender, i.e., a coward, and very likely Trump might put him on the ticket as VP. Scott knows that and so he’s going to remain a Trump defending coward, out of self interest.

Here’s what Last had to say:

It’s just one poll but Good Lord this is tough stuff:

That’s right: The Precious, the Chosen One, the Fighter God Made is only up 5 points on Tim Scott in Iowa. And in South Carolina he’s third, with Scott nipping at his heels.

Here is a thing I have never understood about the people who insist that anyone who does not want Trump must support DeSantis: They simultaneously argue that,

1. It’s not a big deal that DeSantis trails Trump by >30 points because there’s so much time and anything could happen. And also,
2. No one else can possibly be viable except for DeSantis because this race is locked into a two-man dynamic.

Well, my friends: Tim Scott is officially viable.

So if you’d prefer a non-Orbánist conservative who has not yet attempted a coup d’état, then I’m not sure you have any excuse not to be on #TeamTim.

And if you’re still riding with DeSantis today, then maybe it’s probably not in spite of the Orbán stuff.

I think both DeSantis and Scott are pathetic candidates, but for different reasons. Of the two, Scott is the lesser deranged and toxic, I’ll give him that.

Another GOP strategist, Rick Wilson, has an interesting take on DeSantis and his so-called “reset.”

2/ In instrument flying you use a display that shows you how high or low you are relative to the glideslope and how far left or right of the runway you are.

A stable approach means you fly the glideslope down to the airfield. If you get off the glideslope or localizer…

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 24, 2023

4/ In my IFR training, I thought I could goose the plane on to the needles and save a bad approach. When you're under the hood (a view limiting device that makes you rely on the instruments only) it's not just hard, it's stupid.

"Go missed" and reset for real.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 24, 2023

6/ …he keeps trying to meme his way into the hearts of the post-alt-right natcons.

QED, his defense of the indefensible "slavery had its good points" argument.

He's chasing the needles into the ground.https://t.co/vBgBfoGBLi

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) July 24, 2023

The ground is where DeSantis is headed. The New York Times has a good synopsis of where things stand with the DeSantis campaign.

Second-guessing from political donors has intensified as Mr. DeSantis traveled this week from the Hamptons to Park City, Utah, to see donors. Records show the DeSantis campaign made an $87,000 reservation at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Utah for a retreat where donors were invited to cocktails on the deck on Saturday followed by an “investor appreciation dinner.” It’s the type of luxury location that helps explain how a candidate who has long preferred to fly by private jets burned through nearly 40 percent of every dollar he raised in his first six weeks without airing a single television ad. […]

Ms. Peck, who has never worked at a senior level on a presidential campaign but made herself a trusted confidante of Mr. DeSantis and his wife, Casey, has found herself under fire from both inside and outside a campaign that has been defined by silos, with various departments unaware of what is happening elsewhere. That the campaign did not hit expected fund-raising targets — and spent exorbitantly — caught the candidate and his wife by surprise, a person with knowledge of their reactions said.

The gist of the article is that Ron and Casey DeSantis had a lavish time campaigning for governor. The money flowed, they borrowed the private jets of friends and they thought this would be an extension of that. Wrong. Federal election rules are different. DeSantis has a campaign comprised of friends, sycophants and amateurs and that is why he is where he is.

DeSantis has counted on Trump being knocked out of the running by legal calamity and he may be right. But he may be wrong that donors and Republicans in general will overlook his shortcomings. He may not make it and somebody like Tim Scott or Nikki Haley might. We don’t know. This is as strange a fact pattern as anybody in politics has ever seen, for the most part. Everybody is just watching this like a movie, wondering where the next strange reveal or unexpected plot twist might occur.

For instance, how long do you think Mike Pence will last? He’s not exactly blazing a red trail these days, how long before he cries uncle?

Stay tuned.

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