Gov. Ron "Bootsie" DeSantis' home state paper, the Miami Herald, gave a proper obit to perhaps the worst presidential campaign/ candidate in modern American history. Here are a few choice excerpts:
... He failed.
His trademark culture wars, anti-COVID vaccine stance and opposition to government-mandated school closures weren’t enough to persuade voters in other parts of the country to back him. With his presidential pitch gone, and Trump’s reemergence after his 91 criminal charges, DeSantis became a candidate without a cause.
In the video his campaign released announcing his decision he fell in line with the party of Trump: “Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge. He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear.” It’s not just that he was steamrolled by Donald Trump. DeSantis never appeared to want to save the GOP. He was more interested in making it a more ravenous, angrier and intolerant party. That worked for Trump, but didn’t work for the governor with all the charisma of burned toast.
So now DeSantis’ presidential campaign has ended. But the damage of the laws he has pushed through in Florida, as he landed more appearances on Fox News, will live on. Without his political ambitions, there likely wouldn’t be “Don’t say gay,” woke wars and the waste of state resources to fight meaningless battles against drag queen bars. These were efforts to appeal to Trump’s base but his supporters refused to leave the former president, especially after he was indicted. DeSantis’ hard-right stances on issues like abortion and the Ukraine war — which he once called a “territorial dispute” before walking that comment back — alienated moderate voters. In the end, DeSantis became a candidate without a lane. What an outcome for a Florida governor who established himself as the dominant figure in state politics and who had the Legislature under his thumb. In the past two years, lawmakers have given DeSantis most of his priorities, often with little vetting, resulting in laws that are ambiguous and confusing, perhaps by design... (our emphasis)
By conservative estimates, Bootsie spent more than $53 million to get 23,420 votes in the Iowa caucus. That's an historic FAIL.
We might not have seen the last of Bootsie (or his ambitious and purportedly more competent wife Casey). Certainly he'll continue to wage the culture wars in Florida for the remainder of his three years in the Governor's office, as the editorial points out. He's an intolerant charlatan like most of the intolerant charlatans shot through his party, and that won't change as long as there's some group, some "other" on which he can punch down.
Well, we've already wasted enough electrons on him. All there is to say in the end is that the man "with all the charisma of burned toast" is toast today, an outcome we can applaud and savor.
(Photo: Bootsie's candidacy died with his boots on/ DeSoto Co. (Fla.) Sheriff's Office.)
