Former Rep. David Trott (R-MI) on Meatball Ron: “I sat right next to DeSantis for two years on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and he never said a single word to me. I was new to Congress, and he didn’t introduce himself or even say hello… He’s got an ability to size up the electorate and figure out what issues and hot buttons he needs to press to advance his political ambitions. There’s no question there’s a talent there. No taking that away from him. If you’re going to go into politics, kind of a fundamental skill that you should have is likability. I don’t think [he] has that. He never developed any relationships with other members that I know of. You’d never see him talking on the floor with other people or palling around. He’s just a very arrogant guy, very focused on Ron DeSantis. He wasn’t really liked when he was in Congress. And now it’s coming home to, you know, prove out as some of the Florida delegation endorsed Trump and and some of the donors, you know, think he’s kind of awkward in terms of how he interacts with them. If his pre-presidential campaign was playing out differently, then I’d say, ‘Well, maybe he just didn’t like me.’ But I think there’s something more at work here. I think he’s an asshole. I don’t think he cares about people.”
Hannah Knowles, Josh Dawsey, Maeve Reston and Isaac Arnsdorf reported that Meatball Ron is stumbling. Imagine someone who can’t even run an effective campaign against the Orange Mussolini, someone even Joe Biden beat! But “donors, activists and other supporters,” they wrote, “are increasingly voicing worries that DeSantis has made unforced errors or embraced extreme positions that could hurt him in a general election, including the abortion ban he signed last week. He’s had to clarify comments on Ukraine that prompted some criticism in the party. He has struck some Republicans as distant in personal interactions. And Trump has relentlessly attacked DeSantis and expanded his lead over the governor in national polls, while accruing a string of influential endorsements in Florida and beyond. But even as he faces head winds, DeSantis remains in a clear second place to Trump, with a cluster of other current and prospective candidates mired in single digits and showing no signs of gaining traction— and the only candidate that Trump and his team regularly focus on.”
DeSantis has tried to win endorsements from Florida members of Congress— and has failed spectacularly. He’s begged members of the delegation to hold off endorsing Trump— and, again, failed spectacularly. The only member who endorsed him is freshman Laurel Lee, his former Secretary of State. 9 Republicans have endorsed Trump against the favorite son now— and not just Nazis like Matt Gaetz, Byron Donalds and Anna Paulina Lunatica. Relatively mainstream conservatives Cory Mills, Greg Steube, John Rutherford, Brian Mast, Gus Bilirakis and Carlos Gimenez have jumped on the Trump train. It was part of a great big Trump mindfuck. Meatball better get used to them.
Of the 53 current GOP representatives who have endorsed so far, 45 have thrown their support behind Trump— with nine of the 20 GOP members of the Florida delegation backing him over their own governor. “Stuebe's explanation for his decision touched on concerns some Republicans have had about DeSantis' interpersonal skills. He told Politico in an interview that DeSantis never reached out to him during his five years in Congress or responded to his multiple attempts to connect. He recalled a news conference on the damage caused by Hurricane Ian where the governor's team invited him to stand with DeSantis but also told him he wouldn't be a part of the event when he arrived. Stuebe contrasted that with a call he said he received from Trump while he was in the ICU from injuries he sustained in January falling off his ladder.
Many are beginning to conclude that DeSantis’ only chance to win the nomination would be if Trump dies. Sally Goldenberg reported that “Some donors and supporters are starting to worry about DeSantis’ viability. They’re worried about Trump’s apparent strength, bolstered by backlash to the Manhattan district attorney’s indictment. And in one unusual instance, top GOP donor Thomas Peterffy told the Financial Times he is withholding monetary support for DeSantis’ bid, due to ‘his stance on abortion and book banning.’ The move is not just a financial blow; it undercuts DeSantis’ argument that only ‘woke’ Democrats are troubled by his support for legislation that removes flagged books from school library shelves until the book is either banned or deemed appropriate.
Yesterday, Shane Goldmacher was also reporting that the bloom is off the rose. Electability is no longer the strong card DeSantis thought it was going to be. His ability to win over the independent and suburban voters who delivered the White House to Biden has been all but obliterated by the hard-line stances he’s taken as governor, including on abortion, his homophobia, his book-banning and his feud with Disney. And now Trump has turned the tables and is pushing the electability case against Meatball Ron. “A Trump super PAC has run ads warning that DeSantis would go after Social Security and Medicare, touchstone issues that Democrats have used to defeat Republicans nationwide.
And he’s about to hit his next big speed bump: Jared Smith, an extreme right judge who was defeated by Florida voters after denying a teenage girl an abortion citing her poor school grades. DeSantis, who continually shows he doesn’t care what the voters think, wants to appoint him to the state supreme court. In fact, 4 months after voters rejected Smith, DeSantis appointed him to the newly established sixth district court of appeal in December.
Smith said the 17-year-old was unfit to obtain an abortion as he questioned her “overall intelligence, emotional development and stability.” The decision was overturned by a three-member appeals court that said Smith abused his judicial discretion.
DeSantis’s decision to disregard that rebuke was the second time he had looked favorably on Smith, having first appointed him to the circuit court in 2019.
The Florida supreme court seat opened up last month when the long-serving justice Ricky Polston announced he was standing down. Filling the vacancy will mean DeSantis will have picked five of the court’s seven members, a potentially crucial factor for the future of abortion laws in the state.
