Free Republic

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. ---------------------------------- 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...

"Winning Iowa requires understanding Grassley." Gov. Ron DeSantis is back in Iowa, following the footsteps of one of the state’s most influential politicians. The DeSantis campaign told media Saturday night that the GOP candidate is back on track to go “full Grassley,” an homage to the strategy employed by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a longtime sitting Republican lawmaker from Iowa. The game plan? Visit all 99 counties in Iowa before the caucuses. Grassley has a legacy of spending time in each county on a yearly basis, and as the longest serving Republican in the Senate, it’s a no-brainer for GOP...

link only: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-30/desantis-super-pac-cuts-back-iowa-new-hampshire-tv-ads-in-shift#xj4y7vzkg

There was an eight-point swing to former President Donald Trump away from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) among likely Republican primary voters after Wednesday night’s second debate. Two days before Wednesday’s debate, Trump had 58 percent support in Morning Consult’s poll. After the debate, where he did not appear, Trump’s support surged to 63 percent.On the other hand, DeSantis fell three points in the poll, down to 12 percent from the 15 percent he held on Monday.Trump now holds a 51-point advantage over DeSantis, according to Morning Consult’s poll.“The sizable shift from Monday to Thursday is notable compared with what happened...

Former first lady Melania Trump has reportedly renegotiated her prenuptial agreement with Donald Trump ahead of his potential second term. The updated terms reportedly involve finances and property, and seek to increase a trust fund set up for the couple’s only son, 17-year-old Barron, Page Six reported. It is believed to be at least the third time the couple has renegotiated the agreement, which was initially drawn up around the time they married nearly two decades ago in 2005. Moreover, sources familiar with their matter spilled the alleged amendment seeks to create 'a substantial trust' for their teenage son, as...

'Trump has expanded his lead over DeSantis. DeSantis continues his backwards slide.' A new survey shows Ron DeSantis may be no threat to Donald Trump in Iowa, but the Florida Governor is at least holding on to the second-place spot. Otherwise, though, the pollsters note it’s a “very bleak picture” for DeSantis’ campaign. The survey of 500 likely voters, conducted Sept. 17-19 by the Trump-friendly Fabrizio Lee, shows DeSantis at 15%, 30 points behind Trump. It’s the second poll in recent days showing DeSantis at 15%. DeSantis has lost 3 points since the July administration of the poll, and he’s...

desantis supporters have been attacking Gov. Noem based on unsubstantiated allegations of having an affair with Lewandowski... Noem certainly has been getting talk, about being a possible V.P. choice.... So, what if this allegation being spread now, is another disinformation operation of jeff roe? We certainly know he was behind the text that said Carson was dropping out of the iowa race. And recently roe said he was behind a disinformation campaign against ramaswamy. People may want to believe the allegations are true... But what if they had already been dismissed.... in 2021?

Ted Cruz likes to say “personnel is policy” but the single most important personnel decision he’s made on the 2016 presidential campaign has become his most controversial. Cruz has carefully built his brand on trustworthiness — he stands almost daily in front of signs that read “TrusTED” — but in selecting his campaign manager, Cruz tapped a take-no-prisoners operative well practiced in political dark arts. Those who have crossed Cruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, say things like he’s “mean” and a “master of sleazy politics.” He’s also an indisputably talented tactician who has guided Cruz from an asterisk early in...

Flyers claiming that Melania Trump is “missing” along with a phone number for the Mar-a-Lago Security Office have been scattered around the Iowa versus Iowa State football game that former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are attending. The security office said that no one else had called about the flyers and that they were unaware of them on Saturday afternoon.“WHERE IS THIS WOMAN???” the flyers read, with a photo of Melania Trump. “WHERE IS OUR FIRST LADY? WHY IS DONALD TRUMP HIDING HER? WE MISS HER.”The flyer then provided the phone number for the Mar-a-Lago security office...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) slammed former President Donald Trump for claiming he was not "allowed" to fire former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. DeSantis's comments come after Trump was asked on Hugh Hewitt's radio show Wednesday why he hadn't fired Fauci, who angered Republicans over his approach to masking and other pandemic-era guidance. "First of all, you’re not allowed. He’s civil service, and you’re not allowed to fire him," Trump told Hewitt. "But forget that, because I don’t necessarily go by everything. But Dr. Fauci would tell me...

The DeSantis Super PAC issued an urgent plea to donors that the campaign needs $50 million by the end of the year, during a private meeting on August 23 in Milwaukee right before the last Republican primary debate, according to reports. During the meeting, chief strategist for the Super PAC, Jeff Roe, told donors, “Now let me tell you a secret — DON’T LEAK THIS,” according to a recording reviewed by the New York Times. “The day after Labor Day we’re launching and we need your help to stay up and go hard the rest of the way. We need...

A super PAC set up to back Ron DeSantis with $50 million is closing as donors backed out - while its founder said the Florida governor's campaign was guilty of 'rookie s**t' mistakes and he will now back Donald Trump. John Thomas, a Republican strategist known as the 'Billy the Kid of Political Battles' set up 'Ron to the Rescue' in November and had secured financial commitments from mega-wealthy donors. But he said the donors began having second thoughts after the botched DeSantis campaign launch on Twitter Spaces in May.

It seems like the Ron DeSantis “reboot” is placing its bets on a somewhat risky scenario: the prospect of President Trump ending up behind bars, rendering him incapable of campaigning. That’s what a recent report from NeverTrumper’s at The Bulwark claims. According to the report, the DeSantis Super PAC “Never Back Down” is taking a strategic approach, gearing up for a potential delegate battle should President Trump face legal challenges that will render him unable to go on.

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec Florida politico tells me this meme is being passed around Tallahassee, sent me a copy 2:05 PM · Aug 8, 2023

The super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida spent nearly $34 million in recent months, pouring money into voter outreach, advertising, polling, consultants and other expenses as his standing in the polls steadily slipped.[cut]Mr. DeSantis and his allies, however, are testing the limits of the campaign finance system. Never Back Down isn’t just supplementing the campaign’s work; it has taken over nearly every aspect of the DeSantis campaign — staging events that the candidate attends as a “special guest,” running a bus tour through Iowa and paying people to knock on voters’ doors to...

South Carolinians have been bombarded in recent weeks with massive door hangers from a political action committee affiliated with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. These missives encourage them to consider the second-term Sunshine State governor as an alternative to Donald Trump. A paid employee leaving these “door hangs” for the Never Back Down PAC wants a particular voter in Charleston, S.C. to consider something else that dangles, though. Specifically … his balls. “#### you, get off my ####### lawn,” the door-knocker is heard saying on a Ring door camera, mimicking a property owner in the area who apparently confronted him for...

A front group being linked to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign is being charged with a “desperate” dirty tricks attempt to portray former president Donald Trump as a “transgender trailblazer,” with leaflets “thanking” him for having “allowed a biological male to compete in the Miss Universe competition in Canada” over a decade ago appearing in Iowa mailboxes.“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” wrote Iowa blogger Laura Belin, who first reported the delivery of the gay leaflets on Saturday. It is unclear how many homes the leaflets have been delivered to, but the imprint reads ‘Paid for by Advancing Our...

cardillo/unofficial team desantis media person published a link to a washpo desantis campaign article.

The Florida political committee once controlled by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis transferred $82.5 million last month to a super PAC supporting his presidential campaign, according to information posted to the committee’s website. The shift of the funds has been anticipated ever since DeSantis entered the race with tens of millions of dollars left over from his 2022 reelection bid. However, the move nevertheless makes official an unprecedented effort by DeSantis allies to test the limits of campaign finance laws to benefit a presidential contender. The Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group, has already filed a complaint with the Federal Election...

On Thursday, a June 5th video resurfaced from the official “DeSantis War Room” Twitter account that uses fake AI-generated images showing President Trump “embracing” Dr. Fauci. The ad aims to attack Trump for not firing Dr. Fauci sooner, and they use the fake images to attempt to make their point.