Posted on 10/21/2023 12:16:05 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Desantis has been the biggest waste of campaign funding in primary history.
Just another facet of the never-Trump deep state movement. DeSantis sullied himself by accepting the deep state RINOs’ aid even before he announced his candidacy.
Do you really, genuinely understand your own personal desperation, bEagle? Is there anything I can do to make that worse?
If the Times is working hard against him, you know he’s great!
2) Traumatic Brain Injury 'throw-your-head-back-and-vomit-laughter' -- this was so bad that you have to wonder if Casey advised him to do this on purpose.
3) Ignoring the guy who drove from Minnesota to meet Greasy.
4) Meatball's Greasy goombahs roughing up Quinn Mitchell in New Hampshire.
Fixed.
True,. I think thr crowds are CGI too
From a purely messaging point of view it was always doomed. Think .about it. “I’m like Trump. Vote for me instead of Trump”. That’s a fatally flawed message.
“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”
In other words, he wanted them to attack Trump for him so he could sit back and be “above the fray”. Well, that didn’t work, so now he has to do the dirty work himself and it hasn’t been pretty. One thing you can say about Trump is that he leads from the front. He tells you where he stands and is not afraid to take the heat for it. He doesn’t hide behind surrogates.
DeSantis’s doublespeak and word games are designed to keep him from ever having to commit on the most important and politically risky issues. Ten years ago he might have been able to get by on that, but the voters are getting smarter.
I don’t think you understand.
Angry Trumpers are playing right into the democrats hands. The left wants Trump gone, right?
And because AT’s are doing everything possible to eliminate DeSantis, there will be no one left for conservatives if Trump is taken out.
But, if you’re like the average AT, it won’t matter if an elderly man with insurmountable legal problems is out of the picture; the USA will simply cease to exist.
When the Trump eventually comes to a close and he’s out of the picture, so will be the Republican party. Trust me.
People have got a belly full of this good cop bad cop charade from these two beltway parties.
The Republican party has been backstabbing the country and bumping bellies with the Communist left far too long. They’ve been riding shotgun and driving this country over a cliff for 40+ years, while America has incrementally declined in every direction.
If and when Trump is gone, DeSantis will be next. IOW, America is already gone.
“The campaign has struggled to build a network of influencers and surrogates that could inject Mr. DeSantis’s message into online conversations and podcasts dominated by supporters of Mr. Trump.”
well, the desantis warroom has definitely managed to inject a half a dozen paid anti-Trump trolls here on FR ...
“Its tactics are either counterproductive or annoying or both,” he said.
yep, that DEFINITELY describes desantis’ paid warroom trolls here on FR ...
Not anywhere near convincing.
Thanks C98!
Desantis has already shown he is a liar and deceiver. Desantis is too connected to Rino’s and Repubs that are dirty and anti american.
If you see him as something to support, you are supporting the further destructionof USA
Desantis didnt do much of anything great in his govt jobs before election to governor. He himself has done nothing tohelp people,he’a only signed papers the legislature gives him and done what others suggested to him. The guy isnt even in charge of his family, seems he takes orders from wife.
Puppet will do as told, not a leader. Obvious current useful fool for those who hate USA.
The nevertrumpers/desantis soon to be haley supporters are all grasping at straws...
much like desanctimonious is.
as such, they mostly lie and mis-represent things to attack Trump now, and people just shouldn’t believe anything they say, anymore....
For instance, Trump getting few individual contributions.. to his direct campaign committee...
Yes he did...
Because if you go almost anywhere where money changes hands, money goes through the Save America JFC, not directly to the Trump campaign....
And donations would show up as individual donations there....
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