Posted on 09/22/2023 2:08:29 PM PDT by conservative98
Ron DeSantis’s struggles on the campaign trail have eroded his influence back home in Florida, and even once-close allies are revolting against his control.
DeSantis was crowned early on as the natural successor to Donald Trump: A demagogic culture warrior, but younger and more disciplined—he was a figure who could appeal, in theory, both to MAGA diehards and Trump skeptics. When he launched his campaign, he was fresh off a series of victories at home. The Republican-controlled Florida state legislature had helped him pass multiple draconian measures limiting LGBTQ rights, educational freedom, and abortion access. While candidates backed by Trump struggled in the 2022 midterms, DeSantis romped to victory, winning by nearly 20 points.
But he has plummeted dramatically in the polls recently, and Florida Republicans are ready to move on, Politico reported Friday.
“You don’t get the assumption they are measuring drapes anymore,” a Republican consultant in Tallahassee told Politico, speaking anonymously. “They are waiting for him to drop out.”
And even if DeSantis does drop out and return to his gubernatorial duties, he may find his power in the Sunshine State has been dramatically curbed.
Republican state Representative Daniel Perez told his colleagues this week to be careful going forward, warning that the “problem with wielding the power of government like a hammer is that the people start looking like nails.”
Perez has denied that he was indirectly speaking to DeSantis, but another Tallahassee lobbyist said it was a signal to the governor that the legislature would no longer act as a “conveyor belt” for whatever laws he wants.
Meanwhile, the state Republican Party revoked a DeSantis-backed pledge to endorse whoever the Republican presidential nominee is. Front-runner Donald Trump’s supporters have been calling for such a reversal.
At Pasco-Hernando State College, the board of trustees—stacked with DeSantis allies—passed over a DeSantis official for the college president.
Even one of DeSantis’s former biggest donors, billionaire Ken Griffin, has yet to back DeSantis for president. Griffin cited the governor’s weird feud with Disney and said he doesn’t know who DeSantis is trying to win over.
“There’s no love lost between the legislature and DeSantis,” a third Tallahassee lobbyist told Politico. “They are waiting long enough to see the king drained of all his power. It’s a slow-motion coup.”
"PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE HATES ROB DESANTIS NOW" 🤣 true story pic.twitter.com/769Hv2TUp3— miguelifornia (@miguelifornia) September 22, 2023
Lesson: Don't backstab people that help you.
It's pretty simple.— 🇺🇲BuckBrushed...🇺🇲 (@americanoxpress) September 22, 2023
I don’t hate Ron De Santis. I just don’t want him as President right now.
I will however reserve the right to vote for him in 2028.
I just feel sorry for him. He made my former in laws in Florida suffer so that’s a really good thing.
I don’t hate him but he has the same annoying voice of the Rabbi on Seinfeld.
Exactly.
Now is not his time.
I know I’m outnumbered here but I like Reagan’s 11th commandment.
I don’t see why we have to hate other candidates because we prefer a certain candidate.
But that seems to be where we are at, at least here on Free Republic.
Poor guy really made a stupid decision when he stabbed Trump in the back. Most of MAGA will not trust him again.
If a candidate's value is defined by the establishment's hatred of him, then nobody's resume is as strong as Trump's.
He jumped the gun. Were he a better politician, he’d have known that this is not his time. His ingracious campaign has transformed him into the Prince Harry of the GOP primary.
He should avoid catastrophe and step aside to endorse Trump and the war on the Elites, but he can’t and won’t because he is one. He’s a Bush beanie.
Damn shame.
No ‘hatred’ .. the guy just jumped the gun and screwed the electoral pooch.
Poor guy really made a stupid decision when he stabbed Trump in the back
———————
And the folks who voted for him to fulfill his duties as governor in Florida.
But his strategic sense is awful. Now was not his time. He tried to run against Trump when he should have been Trump's ally. He stalled. Went into a flat spin and is augering in. Really sad.
There is so much more DeSantis could have gotten through the FL legislature, but instead he had to run against Trump. All of that may be out the window now.
Such a waste.
The left and Trump-only Republicans aren’t “pretty much everyone.”
The left and Trump-only Republicans aren’t “pretty much everyone.”
demogogic... draconian... amazing how conservatives now get their talking points from Free Republic.
He smells like the Lincoln Project team, no thanks
So now it seems he lost his whole political career and may not even get re-elected? This is the way conservatives treat their own. While Menedez had multiple terms doing what he’s been caught again doing now.
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