Republican primary candidate Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race after placing second in the Iowa caucus as he ”doesn’t see a clear path to victory,” according to his suspension address.
The suspension of his campaign came along with a tepid endorsement of America’s Dr. Evil, Donald J. Trump.
DeSantis’ campaign has been a slog at best. Early in the campaign, he received glowing reviews from the mainstream media as a rebuke to Trump, a rising star if you will. Unfortunately, for Ronny D. the Republican base just was not buying what he was selling. Leaning into the online ultra-right’s culture war grievances did him no favors, trying to be Trump minus the baggage.
That is the real problem with the DeSantis campaign and all of the other campaigns, they view Trump as a serious problem yet they cannot attack him. As the Trump trials moved along and charges were brought, DeSantis did not defend him and his poll numbers dropped. Come the next Trump legal issue, DeSantis comes to his defense and his poll numbers drop.
DeSantis did not even have a fighting chance, the Republican party has coalesced as a Trump personality cult. The most difficult part is that this is the beast they created, their Frankenstein.
Trump would never have been the issue he is now, if all of these party leaders such as DeSantis and Co had disavowed him as a political third rail, something to look at but never touch. Yet, something so simple was done so poorly, all he and political elites like him had to do was complete it well. Just go all the way and make Trump a pariah, but here we are and the Teflon Don is stronger than ever and, miraculously for him and unfortunate for the rest of us, has a decent chance of beating Joe Biden this November.
Ronny D’s campaign has withered to a close with the N.H. primary, taking a whopping 2,241 votes, Dean Phillips got 6 times more votes than that and people barely know who the guy is. But that may be the key to his next presidential run in 2028, just becoming more obscure. Dean could even give him some pointers.
Now DeSantis can just go back to Florida and make sure they continue doing whatever Fla. does. It was a well fought race Ron, you were beaten by the most beatable man in the race. Better luck next time, if there is a next time, we shall see.
Timothy Fitzpatrick can be contacted at
tfitzpatrick@kscequinox.com
