I am guessing that up till now, Ron DeSantis has experienced most of his political success when he was more or less spontaneous, being himself, and had tighter control over who he was going to speak to when, where and about what.
What we are mostly seeing now, is Ron’s attempt to fit a pre-cast mold that “all presidential candidates” are expected to fit into, more or less. I think republicans would be more likely to stick to the ‘by the book’ template except for a few exceptions who refuse to do that. Donald Trump broke the mold (many times!) for what is considered a ‘proper’ republican candidate. Most candidates are not going to be anywhere near that self assured.
You could argue even before Trump ran for President, he was a highly rare breed of person who cultivated his public image to the max -- for decades. Best selling books, constant New York lifestyle exposure, magazine coverage, the Apprentice, etc. Never mind running and being the chief sales person for a multi-billion dollar business with his last name as his trademark.
Wow. And a 40 year old rookie from Florida thinks he can compete with that? It's the height of hubris and political miscalculation. Even discounting the high odds Trump would easily trounce DeSantis in the primary, maybe DeSantis figured he needed a trial by fire to raise his name-recognition and bolster his campaign skills.
Trouble is: he's exposing how wet behind the ears he really is. When you look at his political Youtubes, you get a sense he's such a sophomore.
In one Youtube, he wears a Navy flight uniform as if he's some sort of Top Gun. It's B.S. DeSantis was a JAG lawyer who advised on the treatment of POWs. That's it. He wasn't a Navy Seal hero. He spent less time in Iraq than Buttigig spent in Afghanistan -- about six months. Then somebody awarded him a Bronze Star medal. What did he do to earn it? His handlers will never let us know.
Sorry Ron, we have a country to take back. We don't have time to groom a Presidential wannabe who's making Jeb "Please Clap" Bush look like a professional.
What we are mostly seeing now, is Ron’s attempt to fit a pre-cast mold that “all presidential candidates” are expected to fit into, more or less.
That makes a lot of sense.
I can see that a person would be very nervous trying to act instead of being himself, especially running for such a high office and against Trump.
Then, once ridicule was thrown his way it would have begun a cycle of worsening his anxiety.