Ron DeSantis definitely won something when he launched his candidacy on Twitter on Wednesday night. A new nickname on Twitter: Ron DeSaster ("Ron DéSastre"). Supporters of the Florida governor have been saying for months that his lag behind former President Donald Trump will narrow once he officially enters the 2024 presidential race.
In the latest Quinnipiac University poll, Republicans polled say they want to vote for Donald Trump at 56% and Ron DeSantis at… 25%. This difference of about thirty points is in the average of all the other polls. Wednesday night's fiasco is unlikely to help reduce it.
The medium chosen for the big announcement was a Twitter Space, imageless chat feature, reminiscent of the Clubhouse app, a network whose popularity plummeted after the pandemic. She welcomed Elon Musk in person, whose increasingly conservative positions are aligned with those of Ron DeSantis and who probably saw it as a way to revive a Twitter whose quality has deteriorated considerably since he took over. .
But for more than twenty minutes, technical problems made the conversation inaccessible: the sound skipped, some participants were ejected, sometimes they were replaced by elevator music or silence. Absolute humiliation. We heard Elon Musk's nervous chuckle: "Okay, great...so let's say we have a huge number of people online so, uh, the servers are rowing, a little... Anyway, so we're to reallocate capacity to manage quantity…”
The connection was restored when the number of participants dropped to around 90,000 – a flop, compared to the 500,000 who were trying to connect at the start. "Governor DeSantis, are you there?" Can you hear us? I think you're here…I think you've broken the internet…,” quipped moderator David Sacks, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, podcast host, friend of Elon Musk and donor to Ron DeSantis.
Basically, the usual points of his policy, conducted in his far-right laboratory in Florida, and which he proposes to extend to the whole country, were there. He basically wants to "tackle the woke virus," the culture war he has made the center of his message, close the southern border with Mexico, end inflation, secure "energy independence for America ".
After his Ukraine blunder - he wrote to then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was asking Republican candidates the same questions, that it was a simple "territory dispute" that the United States should not meddling – he carefully avoided the subject, as did China, while he usually attacks the Chinese Communist Party.
Nothing about the six-week abortion limit he pushed through, which he knows is unpopular. But there is another topic, which he has not addressed, which is the most significant obstacle to his candidacy: Donald Trump. Not once did he say his name and no one told him about it. However, his political orientations are none other than those of Trump, in more extreme since he wishes to beat him.
This is where another factor comes in: personality. It deserves attention on the form of the announcement. Twitter, reputed to be a bastion of the left under the former leadership, has, under Elon Musk, let emerge more and more conservative contributors. Ron DeSantis, in launching his candidacy there, saw in it the promise of a risk-free interaction.
The governor of Florida is notoriously ill-at-ease in public. On TikTok, where language habits have developed, young hosts say it lacks rizz, an abbreviation of charisma. As he develops at length in his campaign book, he hates the media.
The only solution to see it is to watch for joint events with Republican candidates in other states who announce them in advance. And to see him interact with potential voters, we understand that Ron DeSantis or his team fear this exposure, in the era of social networks.
In Iowa, mid-May, a video showing a few seconds of forced laughter played on a loop. In another, a man tells her he drove an hour to see him, and Ron DeSantis just replies, "Thank you for doing that," before turning his back on him.
His campaign video shows him stepping onto a stage, in front of a gigantic American flag, as we hear the cheers of a crowd… that we never see. He utters, strangely alone, in front of the camera, phrases such as "decline is a choice, and freedom is well worth fighting for" or "righting the ship requires restoring common sense to our society".
I’m running for president to lead our Great American Comeback. pic.twitter.com/YmkWkLaVDg
In comparison, the campaign video of Joe Biden, who does not need to be known, shows him addressing Americans or shaking hands, or in the company of his vice -President, Kamala Harris.
Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours. That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job. https://t.co/V9Mzpw8Sqy pic.twitter.com/Y4NXR6B8ly
As for Donald Trump, in November 2022, when his ratings were at their lowest after the disappointing results of the Republican Party in the midterm general elections, he had summoned the faithful and some media to his residence in Mar-a- The girlfriend.
It was a modest event and the former president seemed to lack energy. But he had been covered by the televisions and his delighted worshipers were there. The images broadcast have always reached more people than the 200,000 people who managed to connect after an hour to Ron DeSantis' Twitter Space.
The effect on DeSantis' image was disastrous. Joe Biden's team was the first to respond, tweeting a call for donations, introduced by the short phrase: "This link works. »
This link works: https://t.co/9PzIJkseYI
Others posted a video of a rocket launch falling and exploding, a photo of dismayed Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis with the caption "failure to launch" or a montage showing Mickey Mouse, character from the Walt Disney Company with which Ron DeSantis is at open war, pursuing the Governor of Florida.
FAILURE TO LAUNCH. pic.twitter.com/6IMDQQHSX3
Donald Trump's communications team tweeted a video showing a fictional Twitter Space between George Soros, Elon Musk, Adolf Hitler, the devil and Ron DeSantis failing to speak, before Trump invited himself in and s 'imposed.
https://t.co/sy4I3TViHL pic.twitter.com/pbPJDPWLId
So far, no Republican candidate has dared to directly attack the former president, not even Ron DeSantis, who is his most credible opponent. Next week, he was scheduled to hold a traditional event, summoning fans and media to a stadium in his childhood town of Dunedin, in northwest Florida.
He canceled it - his campaign team claims it was never planned and scoffs at the "fake news". Nothing is yet decided for the Republican primary which must begin in February 2024, but Ron DeSantis attacks a Donald Trump who is an absolute master of the rizz.
In the United States, this matters, not only for the grassroots, but also to inspire trust in donors. Ron DeSantis and his team have a few months to try and instill that in him, if that's a teachable quality.
