Free Republic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday said he does not believe it will “ultimately matter” when asked if he would personally support former President Donald Trump if he emerges as the Republican nominee in 2024, using the opportunity to criticize the GOP frontrunner. A reporter asked DeSantis about Trump’s attacks against him, inquiring, “Regardless of his attacks, will you 100 percent pledge to support Trump as a GOP nominee?” DeSantis, however, initially refused to overtly state if he would personally support Trump. Rather, he first criticized Trump’s line of attack, particularly on DeSantis’s handling of the coronavirus, only later...

Yeah, he really did that. Folks, I’m not sharing this to be snarky about Ron DeSantis per se’, this isn’t actually his messaging. It’s worth looking at this through the prism of who is operating the management, branding and communication effort. This level of ridiculous religious pandering is stunningly identical to Ted Cruz in the early 2016 GOP nomination. The DeSantis campaign knows they need to target evangelical and faith-based voters. Put a group of people who are not actually centered on the principles of faith in charge of a political campaign, tell them they need to appeal to faith-based...