How Ron DeSantis Lost the Internet

NY Times ^ | Oct. 21, 2023, 5:01 a.m. ET | By Ken Bensinger and Nicholas Nehamas

[conservative98]

The G.O.P. contender’s campaign tried to take on Donald Trump’s online army. Now it just wants to end the meme wars.

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In early May, as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida prepared to run for president, about a dozen right-wing social media influencers gathered at his pollster’s home for cocktails and a poolside buffet.

The guests all had large followings or successful podcasts and were already fans of the governor. But Mr. DeSantis’s team wanted to turn them into a battalion of on-message surrogates who could tangle with Donald J. Trump and his supporters online.

For some, however, the gathering had the opposite effect, according to three attendees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to damage their relationships with the governor or other Republican leaders.

Mr. DeSantis’s advisers were defensive when asked about campaign strategy, they said, and struggled to come up with talking points beyond the vague notion of “freedom.” Some of the guests at the meeting, which has not previously been reported, left doubtful that the DeSantis camp knew what it was in for.

Four months later, those worries seem more than justified. Mr. DeSantis’s hyper-online strategy, once viewed as a potential strength, quickly became a glaring weakness on the presidential trail, with a series of gaffes, unforced errors and blown opportunities, according to former staff members, influencers with ties to the campaign and right-wing commentators.

[conservative98]

Congratulations, SoconPubbie and all the rest who did their little part.

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To MAGA accounts both large and small, congratulations on defeating team DeSanctimonious on the internet. His paid for army made up of grifters, morons, foreign agents, and freaks, never stood a chance against the organic and powerful patriots that make up the MAGA movement. Keep… pic.twitter.com/fTSQ5BZb6K— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) October 21, 2023

“The G.O.P contender’s campaign tried to take on Donald Trump’s online army. Now it just wants to end the meme wars.”

We broke @DeSantisWarRoom pic.twitter.com/cx30bi0U60— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) October 21, 2023

A real man doesn't wait until the enemy is on the ground to get in the fight.

I called my teams shot when DeSantis was polling dead even back in January.

I know who backed me. I know who ran from the fight.

I got a list of you pussies that hedged...https://t.co/YZURpsHFvS pic.twitter.com/pfYNlyAB2f— Brenden Dilley (@WarlordDilley) October 21, 2023

[conservative98]

NY Times: "The campaign has failed to snuff out memes mocking the governor for supposedly wiping snot on constituents, having an off-putting laugh and wearing lifts in his cowboy boots"— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) October 21, 2023

SHOW THESE LOSERS NO MERCY! pic.twitter.com/dMx6Gy1Y5E— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 21, 2023

How it started, how it’s going.

Ron’s “secret weapon” ended up blowing up right in his face. Way to go, @ChristinaPushaw. pic.twitter.com/FZz4PMys06— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) October 21, 2023

[Reverend Wright]

The Conservative Treehouse has this story a year ago.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/01/reminder-the-foundation-of-desantis-2024-is-built-on-a-ridiculous-lie/

[conservative98]

The #DilleyMemeTeam, lead by @WarlordDilley and backed by the #Dilley300 warned the DeSanctus campaign what we were going to do on January 30, 2023.

Most conservative influencers sat on the sidelines and stayed neutral or backed DeSanctus.

We did this https://t.co/ZAshhozSet— MAGS (@TAftermath2020) October 21, 2023

MAGA Republican Issues Stark Warning to Ron DeSantis: https://www.newsweek.com/maga-republican-issues-stark-warning-ron-desantis-1777660

"Full Warning: If Ron DeSantis announces his run for president in 2024, I will not show him or his supporters any quarter," Dilley tweeted Sunday. "We will meme that disloyal dog into oblivion and make him permanently unelectable just like Ted Cruz."

[Drew68]

The polls are fake. Look at individual contributions.

[Macoozie]

“DeSantis’s team wanted to turn them into a battalion of on-message surrogates who could tangle with Donald J. Trump and his supporters online”

Therein lies the problem for NeverTrumpers.
“Turn them into” . . . Pay ‘em, bribe ‘em, lie to ‘em. Do whatever it takes to AstroTurf your way into some “Support”.

MAGA support comes from the simple notion that Our PDJT, The GOAT believes in us, We The People, so we support him. It’s not the other way around. We are not blind followers.

NeverTrumpers would rather run their Grifts under Dem rule, than support the people. America and it’s Citizens are done with all that crapola.

It’s MAGA now Baby!

[Recovering_Democrat]

yeah, I’m not going to be persuaded by a NY Times piece.
The last time the NY Times had the best interest of Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis in mind was...well, never.

The Slimes has motives designed to discourage conservatives. So I do not take it seriously.

[alstewartfan]

Trump got arrested unjustly. RDS did little to nothing wrong.

[Alberta's Child]

"The campaign has failed to snuff out memes mocking the governor for supposedly wiping snot on constituents, having an off-putting laugh and wearing lifts in his cowboy boots.”

LMAO.

[Responsibility2nd]

Right.

Angry Trumpers better hope the Rats don’t get Trump.

[Golden Eagle]

The polls are fake. Look at individual contributions.

Exactly. Do the math on those numbers.

80% of all contributions to DeSantis are small dollar individual donations.

0.5% of all contributions to Trump are small dollar individual donations.

[Drew68]

0.5% of all contributions to Trump are small dollar individual donations.

And if you look further, you'll see Trump is playing a shell game. Moving money from one place to the next.

This is why he's so desperate for DeSantis to drop out before Iowa and New Hampshire. He knows the polls are BS.

[Garden Island]

It’s The NY Times, where the opposite is always the truth.

What I’m implying is the RDS is a much bigger threat to communism because he has demonstrated that he is much more competent to eradicate a leftist bureaucracy than the guy who recklessly signed the CARES act, posts about not being in Forbes magazine when Israel is under attack, and hired a who’s who of Rinos like Wray, Kelly, Bolton, Miley, and Barr.

[Golden Eagle]

Trump is playing a shell game. Moving money from one place to the next.

Probably the money he collected way back in 2020 to "stop the steal" but was never used for that. He wants to use it now to look like people are donating to his current campaign.

[Berlin_Freeper]

How could anyone know that those who worked with Team Trump would plea-bargain against Trump?!

[MotorCityBuck]

You two Homo's should go to Priceline and get a room up front for election night so you can hold each other, and cry in your Box wine. TRUMP / PUTIN 2024.

[Cats1]

Lol! High-5

[joshua c]

nyt?

the hamas propagandist?

that nyt?

[MotorCityBuck]

I call ‘em as I see them. Ill probably be in time out for that. Copy, and paste GOP Bots, are running out of B.S. memes to go after The Trump. Truth be told. I love 'em. Like shooting fish in a barrel.