DeSantis Launches 2024 Bid on Twitter
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Facts
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday on the Twitter Spaces forum that he will be running for the Republican ticket for the 2024 US presidential election. The announcement experienced technical difficulties on the platform that immediately drew fire from GOP rival Donald Trump and US Pres. Joe Biden.1
- In DeSantis's launch video released earlier in the day, he said things such as 'Crime infests our cities,' 'Righting the ship requires restoring sanity to our society,' and argued that he 'chose facts over fear, education over indoctrination, [and] law and order over rioting and disorder.'2
- During his audio-only interview with co-hosts [and Silicon Valley icons] Elon Musk and David Sacks — which reached 600K-plus listeners after first enduring technical issues — DeSantis touted his resume of banning critical race theory in schools, his legal battle with Disney, and touched on issues such as fighting gun control.3
- The interview came as DeSantis, who leads all GOP contenders other than former Pres. Donald Trump in the polls — yet still trails Trump considerably — also filed his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. He is set to meet with top financial backers in Miami beginning Thursday.4
- DeSantis won re-election for Fla. governor by a landslide last year and has since implemented many right-wing policies regarding race, gender, concealed carry gun rights, and LGBTQ+ rights.5
- The Twitter campaign launch comes as Musk has recently dipped his feet further into politics, including tweeting last year that he previously supported Democrats but would vote GOP in the 2022 midterms and potentially support DeSantis in 2024.6
Sources: 1FOX News (a), 2Washington Examiner, 3NBC, 4FOX News (b), 5Guardian and 6Wall Street Journal.
Narratives
- Democratic narrative, as provided by New York Times. The Twitter tech issue debacle sums up perfectly the disorganized nature of both the DeSantis campaign and the GOP race in general. The governor is trying to tout his culture war accomplishments while simultaneously seeking the approval of the Trump base, though it doesn't help that he polls better among college-educated voters than non-educated. As for distancing himself from Trump, DeSantis also promised to build the wall, a clear imitation of the former president. The GOP is still stuck between a rock and a Donald Trump.
- Anti-Trump narrative, as provided by Newsweek. The most important question to ask when running for president is can you win the general election, and the answer is certainly in DeSantis' favor right now. Donald Trump may be leading in the primary polls, but only DeSantis has proven capable when it comes to defeating the incumbent Biden in swing states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. The GOP needs a big comeback win in 2024, and DeSantis is the shrewd, next-generation administrator to lead the party into the future.
- Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Revolver News. After months of 'experts' claiming Trump could only win the primary, the tide seems to be shifting. Trump will undoubtedly crush DeSantis in the primary, but recent polls suggest he could even beat Biden by four points in the general election. This is because voters understand that, under Trump, the country was strong economically and from a security standpoint. We all know Biden only upholds the deep state and woke policies — the numbers also show rust belt voters are too unsure of rookie contender DeSantis to give him their full support.