On Tuesday, the biggest announcement of the 2024 primary season so far finally made its way into the news. Ron DeSantis will formally launch his presidential campaign on Wednesday night, giving Donald Trump his first (and likely only) real challenger as we head into a contentious but necessary primary season.
I’m firmly of the belief that primaries make the eventual nominee stronger. We saw that in 2016, and I think 2024 will bear out the same general election fruit. In other words, I’m not at all worried about the primary being a waste of resources or any of the other complaints being put out by the Trump camp. Donations are not linear and open primaries are not coronations. Fight the good fight, earn the win, energize the party, and everyone will be better for it.
With that said, DeSantis’ method of announcing is already causing a collective freak-out among those outside of Mar-a-Lago as well. Here are just a few of the headlines after news broke that the Florida man would be dropping the initial news in a Twitter Space with Elon Musk.
The media has lost its mind. pic.twitter.com/j9awsApaY2
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) May 24, 2023
I've heard from lotsa GOP strategists who think DeSantis and his team are way too obsessed with right-wing keyboard warriors at the expense of actual primary voters' concerns. This… won't help. https://t.co/rMxaJ7dSLo
— Cameron Joseph (@cam_joseph) May 23, 2023
Get it? Elon Musk is exactly like David Duke. What an absolutely astute observation by Vanity Fair. Clearly, DeSantis is now Hitler for daring to even speak to Musk in what will be a setting with millions of people.
But I digress. It’s that second article from The New York Times I really want to focus on. It’s worth noting it came from Maggie Haberman, who has billed herself as a “Trump whisperer” and obviously wants him to be the nominee so her gravy train continues. Past that, though, the content is no better and can be summarized thusly: The consultant class is really angry DeSantis isn’t paying them to screw up his campaign.
DeSantis does not need the same old “GOP strategists” to guide him because he’s doing things in a novel way, which is typically what’s required to break through the malaise of a presidential primary. Does anyone even remember Tim Scott’s announcement? I didn’t think so, and it happened less than two days prior to this writing. How about Nikki Haley’s? Heck, I forget she’s even in the race at times.
Returning to DeSantis, the buzzphrase for his announcement has been that it’s going to be “too online.” The notion there is that he’s too focused on reaching a segment of the population that doesn’t add up to much electoral girth. Of course, that’s nonsense. What is everyone, including every news station, talking about right now? They are talking about DeSantis announcing his campaign with Elon Musk, perhaps the most visible person in the country outside of Joe Biden himself.
In fact, the whole Twitter Spaces thing causing such an uproar was probably the point all along. It got people talking, and that’s what you want leading up to an official presidential announcement. It also got Bill Kristol to defend Donald Trump because that’s where we are now.
DeSantis entering the race leads to Strange New Respect for Trump from the most unlikely places, huh? pic.twitter.com/rmztOCu3wc
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) May 24, 2023
Yep, I’m pretty confident DeSantis is over the target.
You do not beat Donald Trump by doing the same old consultant-class stuff. I’m not saying DeSantis will ultimately win the primary because no one can know that yet, but I am saying that if he is going to have a chance, he’s got to chart a new path and make some noise. That’s what he’s doing.
Besides, the Twitter announcement is just part of a rolling plan. He’s got an interview with Mark Levin lined up and a town hall ready to go. DeSantis is also doing a formal rally at a baseball stadium soon to capstone his kickoff.
After DeSantis announces tonight on Twitter, he's going on Fox for an interview with @marklevinshow, then doing a tele-townhall with voters across the country and then a media call. Doesn't seem that "online."
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) May 24, 2023
The bed-wetters can rest assured that DeSantis is playing for keeps, and if anyone should be trusted to make the right moves, it should be the guy who just won a purple state by 19 points. May the best man who runs the best campaign win.
