WASHINGTON – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis officially launched his 2024 White House bid on Wednesday. He made his announcement on Twitter alongside the company’s owner Elon Musk in an audio-only format. However, the moment was marred with technical glitches, including silence and crackling audio, that lasted about 20 minutes.
Amid the hiccups, Musk was heard talking about the number of people logging in to the site while DeSantis pointed to the “enthusiasm” for his campaign.
His opponents though took the opportunity to pounce. The Trump campaign called the announcement “Ron’s De-Saster” and President Biden tweeted, “This link works,” leading supporters to his fundraising site.
Even before the event, Inside Elections Nathan Gonzales questioned the rollout on CBN’s Faith Nation.
“He had the opportunity to have his moment in the spotlight where he is on stage all to himself and he chose an audio only format sharing it with Elon Musk,” said Gonzales. “We’ll see in the end whether that was the right decision. It’s a very curious choice.”
The conversation did eventually get to policy and culture war issues. DeSantis avoided talking about former President Trump but took direct aim at President Biden.
“Biden has pursued inflationary policies that are hurting working people,” said DeSantis. “We will reverse those policies and will build an economy where working Americans can achieve a good standard of living.”
After the Twitter launch, DeSantis gave his first TV interview to Fox.
“We will never waiver in our defense of families and children. And as a father of a six-, a five-, and a three-year-old, I strongly believe parents should be able to send their kids to school, have them just watch cartoons, or just be kids without someone trying to shove an agenda down their throats,” DeSantis told Fox’s Trey Gowdy.
America is worth the fight… Every. Single. Time. pic.twitter.com/lWNQ3DIXgp
— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) May 23, 2023
DeSantis joins a growing field in the GOP primary, including Nikki Haley who called him a Trump copycat.
“He needs to be his own person,” Haley told reporters in New Hampshire. “He needs to get out there and say what he believes, what he thinks. If he’s just going to be an echo to Trump, people will just vote for Trump.”
All announced candidates still trail Trump significantly. Polling though consistently shows DeSantis as his most formidable challenger.
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