Don’t Watch Now, But Ron DeSantis Just Suffered a Big Loss

So far, Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to actually announce his candidacy for president, despite the fact that he will almost certainly be in the ring. But his decision to wait until the Florida legislature closes and not attack former President Donald Trump directly has made him uniquely vulnerable to the former president’s verbal abuse.

Mr. DeSantis happened to be in Iowa this weekend, where the former president’s event was canceled due to rain, so Mr. DeSantis took a vacation. This has led politician DeSantis, who is notoriously underskilled in retail politics, to: press the meat Don’t be haunted by the ghost of the former president.

But DeSantis kicked him twice in the jaw on Tuesday night. First, in Jacksonville, the 12th largest city in the United States, DeSantis endorsed Republican mayoral candidate Daniel Davis.

Jacksonville was the largest U.S. city to have a Republican mayor.But Democrat Donna Deegan won Come back Mr. Davis She also became the city’s first female mayor.

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump waged a proxy war in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Trump endorsed Attorney General Daniel Cameron. This was done despite the fact that Cameron is known as the protégé of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who Trump despises but controls state parties. DeSantis also endorsed former Trump ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft in the primary.

In the end, Mr. Cameron won, and Mr. Trump couldn’t help but chuckle at Truth Social, calling the governor an “unholy” and saying, “The unholy-backed candidate was a distant third. Ron’s magic is gone!” Trump also added, “DeSanctimonias lost Jacksonville and Kentucky last night.

Of course, support alone doesn’t determine the outcome of the election, and multiple factors contributed to the outcome of Jacksonville and Kentucky, both of which had significantly lower voter turnout in off-year elections. However, Mr. DeSantis still chooses to participate in both races to exercise his political clout, and now has little to show for it.

for polling It is shown DeSantis has seen a steep decline since campaigning heavily for double-digit re-election in November, he said. And DeSantis faced the ire of MAGA for trying to subtly attack the former president, as Trump tried before he was arrested in connection with paying hush money to Stormy Daniels. .

What’s more, any attempt by Mr. DeSantis’ agents to fight back against the former president will do more harm than good to Mr. DeSantis. At Trump’s CNN town hall last week, DeSantis’ backing super-PAC, Never Back Down, posted a tweet mocking Trump.but semaphore report Super PAC now regrets posting the tweet, which one called a “grave mistake.”

Trump and DeSantis are also currently arguing over abortion, with Trump attacking DeSantis for signing a six-week abortion ban.he I was told it was newly released Exit messenger“Many in the pro-life movement feel that’s too harsh,” DeSantis said, while “protecting the fetus if a heartbeat is detected is supported by nearly 99% of pro-life activists.” It’s about being there,’ he said.

All of this was done before Mr. DeSantis threw his hat on the race. But he’s pinned his best hopes on the possibility of Mr. Trump’s collapse, and he risks being significantly weaker soon after.