The real problem with DeSantis is he is totally delusional.
He has been a very good governor of Florida. He has done a fine job. Although most of what you like about Florida he inherited. It’s not like he revolutionized Florida. Everything was already in place, the no income taxes, all that stuff. All the things you like were already there, he just maintained it very well. He was very good on his own about cutting spending. He did a good job there.
But he is NOT presidential. He is like a local, regional “manager.” That’s where he is great. He would be an excellent Secretary of Transportation. But he is not presidential. He has no campaign skills. At all.
Big mistake to enter the race. He should have waited 4 years, maybe 8 years. He is a young guy, he is in his 40s, he should have waited.
But he jumped in totally delusional. And he listened to the big donors. And he doesn’t know his history. Those big donors are ALWAYS wrong about candidates. They always back the wrong candidates. They always do it every single time. It’s been charted out, and documented, the history of this. But he listened to them, the Bush crowd, all of that stuff. He’s from the “Jeb Bush” wing of the Republicans so it was a disaster.
The problem is he delusional. He can’t get out. He is a very nasty guy to everybody in real life. He is a very stubborn guy in real life. So he should have when that hurricane hit, said I have to drop out of the race to deal with that, my state and the problems there and got out that way.
But he is going to stay in til the end.
He was tied with Trump at one point when he started. Then he was 10 points behind, then he was 20 points behind, then 30, even 40, then 50. He’s heading to 60 points behind. In NH he is in 5th place. So he is not only a complete and total disaster, his whole campaign this year is a dumpster fire.
But many believe he has completely screwed up any shot at 2028. Nobody will ever go to him again.
- Mark Simone podcast Hour 2, 9/21/23
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/mark-simone-20809356/
Disagree.
You left out his excellent handling of two hurricane recoveries.
Natural disasters are unexpected emergencies that require nimble response and decisive decision making and action. Look at how Kathleen Blanco handled Katrina in Louisiana; how Gavin Newsom handled wildfires and earthquakes in California, how Hawaii is handling the wildfires there, even how Puerto Rico handled Maria.
Sudden natural disasters are a good test of the executive leadership abilities of people. DeSantis passed this test with flying colors relative to his peers. It's as good a test of Presidential crisis management as anything else out there before taking the job as we can get.
I wouldn't dismiss it so casually.
-PJ