If DeSantis isn’t the front-runner, why is everyone treating him like he is?
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
While the establishment media pundit sphere obsesses over declaring Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) campaign launch a disaster, everyone has made it clear that DeSantis is the front-runner in their mind.
DeSantis’s initial Twitter Spaces room suffered from technical problems after more than 700,000 people joined, the largest Twitter Spaces room on Twitter the platform has seen. Yes, the big pie-in-his-face moment for DeSantis’s campaign launch is apparently that there was too much enthusiasm. You got him right where you want him, guys.
BIDEN AND REPUBLICANS BLAME EACH OTHER FOR DEFAULT THEY INSIST WON’T HAPPEN
In reality, no one is going to remember this “disaster” in about eight months, when the Iowa caucus takes place. No one is going to remember it over two months from now, when the first GOP presidential debate is. Really, no one who isn’t terminally online likely even cares right now. But establishment media, President Joe Biden, and former President Donald Trump care because all three of them are focused on defeating DeSantis more than anything else.
Ask yourself why that is. While terminally online pundits and politicians were obsessing over Twitter, DeSantis raised $1 million just one hour into his campaign. For comparison, Trump raised $850,000 on the day he launched his campaign in December 2022 and raised $4.1 million in the two weeks after his launch. The enthusiasm among GOP voters for DeSantis is there, and it’s worth far more than what the New York Times thinks about Twitter Spaces.
The only thing not there yet for DeSantis is the polling numbers. He’s polling at 21% in the RealClearPolitics polling average for the GOP primary, behind Trump’s 54%. (No one else is above 5%). In Iowa, he trails Trump 47%-25%. Is that super important right now, eight months from the first primary contest and with all those polls coming before DeSantis even declared? Not particularly. It is far more telling that, despite that lead, Trump and his team are doing everything they can to try and run DeSantis out of the race.
It is even more telling that Democrats, from Biden to Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA) to establishment media, have focused their fire on DeSantis far more than they have on Trump in the five months since the latter launched his campaign. Again, why do you think that is?
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump knows DeSantis is a real threat to his candidacy, which is why he cheers other candidates getting into the race while praising Democrats over DeSantis. Democrats know DeSantis is the bigger threat to Biden, both because of the age difference and because general election polls show DeSantis outperforming Trump against Biden. Even the minor GOP candidates spend more time attacking DeSantis than Trump.
DeSantis may not be the front-runner, but everyone is treating him as such. Twitter Spaces not being able to handle the magnitude of his campaign launch isn’t going to change that.