DeSantis campaign falling apart

Over the weekend, many signs have appeared that the Presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is now collapsing. The governor hasn’t made any statements, but others associated with his campaign, have. Those statements suggest a rudderless campaign that knows it’s losing and doesn’t know how to start winning.

Where DeSantis stands

Ron DeSantis has never ranked higher than second place in polls of the Republican primary field. USA Today once showed the governor polling higher than Trump – in Florida, where he enjoys the Favorite Son advantage. That was last fall. Today that same organ shows the governor “way behind” Trump. (USA Today quotes DeSantis operatives as hoping to wear Trump down during a long campaign, and ask him why he did not, in his first term, do many things he says he will do in a second.)

Real Clear Politics still runs its poll aggregation site. Trump remains far ahead in national and State Republican primary polls. Only one poll shows DeSantis even coming close – the Marquette poll of the Wisconsin Republican Presidential primary. That was on Wednesday of last week (June 28). Furthermore, most Republican primary polls since June 19 show Trump taking more than fifty percent of the vote. That includes a June 29 Fox News national poll showing Trump with fifty-six percent.

The indictment of Trump on charges of unlawful retention of national defense information has not slowed Trump down. Even Politico admitted that three weeks ago (June 17).

The Guardian made a rather mordant joke relating to the governor’s ban of the College Board’s AP African Studies course. They suggested he might want to read Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People.

History of scandal

Before he formally announced his candidacy, Ron DeSantis won an explicit exception to Florida’s Resign-to-run Law. In fact he, or at least his allies, worked on that toward the end of March. In mid-June, a campaign-finance scandal broke, involving the transfer of $82.5 million from a PAC that financed his governor’s race, to the PAC now financing his Presidential race. This raised questions of whether Trump supporters, who supported DeSantis’ second governor’s race, now find themselves supporting a Trump challenger. Laura Loomer broke that story (and the Resign-to-run story) and kept after the governor’s campaign. In her latest report, she raised more questions about:

• Possible Canadian sources of campaign funds, and
• Surreptitious campaign activity by official governor’s office personnel – using assumed names and “sockpuppet” Twitter accounts.

Most recently, Loomer exposed an apparent plot by the California Republican Party to change its delegate allocation rules on the sly, from winner-take-all by Congressional district, to a total proportional slate.

Yesterday more scandal broke, mainly about how he’s running his campaign.

Examples: was DeSantis dishonest?

On Friday, July 7, Trump appeared at a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa. A voter, not immediately identified, asked Trump about his border wall being “not finished.” Trump answered truthfully that he had to seek unorthodox funding because many in his own Party opposed him. He did not mention that many of the gaps are contractor’s pass-through gaps. They remain open because President Biden, immediately upon taking office, order all wall contractors to down tools and go home. That, one cannot blame on Trump.

But Ron DeSantis snidely implied that he could succeed where Trump failed.

That night the Trump War Room account tweeted a stinging rebuke of DeSantis from that same voter. Incidentally she happens to be an Iowa county Republican chairman.

Laura Loomer shared what might have been the worst mistake anyone on the governor’s side has made yet.

The First Lady of Florida did not admit to any lasting damage from her children’s escapades. But Laura Loomer asked an obvious question:

Later when someone suggested she was being too harsh, she replied in detail why it matters:

She also shared stories indicating that the Florida governor’s “anti-woke” program might not be all that he claims.

To say nothing of possible conflicts of interest:

Definite signs of weakness

Then came this, from no other than Erick-Woods Erickson, one of DeSantis’ most ardent supporters:

The National Pulse picked that up:

So did Jenna Ellis, who added more information:

Speaking of spokesmen, apparently Steve Cortes, a big wheel in the DeSantis campaign, now thinks he should quit. Donald Trump said as much on Truth Social:

Steve Cortes, the Ron DeSanctimonious top political strategist, thinks that Ron should get out NOW, while the getting is still good. He also said (thank you Steve!) that Donald J. Trump is the best Presidential debater ever, and can’t be beaten at the debate game. Well, based on that, maybe I should enter the debates – But, then again, when you have a 40 to 50 point lead over the field, maybe I shouldn’t???

If that sounds like someone looking for a job on the winning team, this could explain why Loomer said:

More to the point, all these are serious signs of weakness in the Florida governor’s campaign. His apparent refusal to intervene on Donald Trump’s behalf when the Bragg indictment came down, didn’t help. Nor did his appearance of arranging special treatment for himself, on the Resign-to-run Law or on campaign finance. And when one’s own fervent supporters say things about one like what Erick-Woods Erickson said, that makes a worse problem.

The governor would have done better, not only to “wait until 2028,” but also – and more importantly – to take firm stands as governor on the issues he was facing. On immigration especially, he had the sympathy of at least one Federal judge. True, a good question exists as to whether he could remove immigrants to Mexico unilaterally. But perhaps, given the current state of Supreme Court jurisprudence, he might have challenged that law.

He didn’t, and he’s laid himself open to a charge of political Kabuki theater. That, plus the appearance of “dirty dealing,” has brought him to his present pass.