After two months of weaker than expected campaign gains, it seems the Ron DeSantis camp is shifting gears.
Ever since his glitchy campaign announcement on Twitter back on May 24th, the runner-up to Donald Trump in the Republican primary has been trying to gain ground by circumventing traditional media and going straight to voters via social media.
This strategy has not seemed to work as well as his strategists had hoped.
Ron DeSantis addressed his lackluster polling in a radio interview.
“This is a state by state process. We don’t have a national primary. We’re going to have Iowa, we’re going to have New Hampshire, we’re going to have South Carolina. There’s two candidates that can win the nomination, Trump and me and I would say that I’m the only one that could win both the nomination and the general election.”
However, even in the most important states, DeSantis is lagging behind, although not by as large of margins as the national polls show.
The most recent University of New Hampshire poll shows Trump leading DeSantis by 14%. However, just five days ago, an American Greatness poll had Trump ahead of Florida’s governor by 24 points which suggests that DeSantis could be closing the gap, and quickly, in some key states.
Earlier in the moth, an AG poll demonstrates Trump with a 20+ point lead in Iowa, but this was before the popular Family Summit Leadership conference this past weekend, where
Tucker Carlson interviewed all the leading primary candidates, except Donald Trump.
Iowa Summit
The crowd seemed to support Ron DeSantis cheering when, in response to Carlson’s question on the war in Ukraine, he proclaimed:
“My critique of the D.C. foreign policy elite is that they are doing a blank check policy without telling us when we will have achieved our objective. I’ve always thought Putin’s a bad guy, I still think he’s a bad guy, but that’s a separate question for a leader who’s got to look at the world and very clear-eyed glasses … you know that it’s not all peaches and cream out there, and you have to make a judgment about what’s in America’s national interest. I wish the D.C. elites cared as much about our border as they do about the Ukraine-Russia border.”
He continued full steam ahead regarding the policies, or lack thereof, at the southern border ending his rant with, “Stop the invasion. Yes, build the wall but most importantly authorize the border patrol, authorize our military to deal with the cartels. If they’re breaking into our country bringing product … if I’m in charge that’s gonna be the last thing they do because they’re gonna end up stone cold dead.”
Ron DeSantis almost literally dropped his mic. The crowd went wild with Carlson proclaiming a hearty, “Amen.” Proving DeSantis does have personality – and a fierce one at that.
Shift of Direction For Ron DeSantis
Despite a positive performance in Iowa, the DeSantis campaign is restructuring its strategy, firing close to ten staffers who had been involved in event planning. However, it’s not because the operation is cash-strapped. Florida’s fearless leader pulled in more cash through his principal campaign committee than any other candidate including Donald Trump: over $20 million.
In addition, DeSantis will appear in a one-on-one interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper later this week.
Next week, Megyn Kelly, who has been critical of DeSantis and his campaign, will be traveling down to Florida for a podcast interview which she says she’s been pursuing for months.
Both signal a willingness to embrace those DeSantis once shunned.
I believe this will be a positive for DeSantis. As the Morning Wire reported, “some of DeSantis’s best viral moments are him going back and forth with critical reporters. That’s an arena where he competes very effectively so to deny him those opportunities on the basis of punishing corrupt media … it may have been cutting of his nose to spite his face.”
If DeSantis can capitalize on his appearances and deliver some of those fiery clips that have made him popular, he may make up some lost ground. This, along with the primary debates that begin next month from which Trump will most likely be absent, may help the number two gain traction and close the gap between him and his once friend, now nemesis.
It seems, like electric energy, people are just not ready to cut ties with the old ways, nor are the new ways sufficient to displace them. While many have adapted to increased activity online, they are still looking to legacy media for the interviews, appearances, and press conferences that only appear on social media in snippets and soundbites. They display the raw, unfiltered personalities of the candidates, and something voters need to see more of from the candidate that many claim is not charismatic enough.
DeSantis can use both the legacy media to prove them wrong and social media to spread the word.
Jennifer Galardi is the politics and culture editor for 19FortyFive.com. She has a Master’s in Public Policy from Pepperdine University and produces and hosts the podcast Connection with conversations that address health, culture, politics and policy. In a previous life, she wrote for publications in the health, fitness, and nutrition space. In addition, her pieces have been published in the Epoch Times and Pepperdine Policy Review. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
From 19FortyFive
Joe Biden Is Starting To Scare Everyone
