“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!
“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.