I feel like over the span of a few months , DeSantis went from the golden child to carry the torch from Trump to a one trick pony candidate of no substance focused on “wokeism” (whatever the fuck that is).
DeSantis tried doing what Trump does where he rails against something and threatens action, but rather than doing what Trump does which is talk big and then declare victory. DeSantis actually went through with the fight. The fights drag out and he takes harder and harder positions to defend. People dont want the fight, they want to talk big and declare victory without doing anything.
DeSantis is not helped by his campaign team either, as they seem to be perpetually online to where some of his ads are completely unintelligble to anyone that is not online all the time.
Finally, while petty, I think a lot of people liked DeSantis until they heard him actually speak. His voice is not what you would expect from a culture warrior strong man. He is also terrible at interacting with people too. Like really bad, those clips of him around other people are just hard to watch.
This appears to be a very accurate take. Thanks for taking the time to think through and write out this comment. I'm far too lazy to put in the effort, but agree whole-heartedly.
He hasn’t been having much success expanding his base, and this article points out that it’s because he’s playing up key conservative issues to capture one audience, while also aiming for moderates. There’s just a contradiction there.
one trick pony candidate of no substance focused on “wokeism” (whatever the fuck that is).
The definition of "woke" is easy. It's a catch all term they means whatever the right decides they don't like. If tomorrow the right decides that they don't like puppies and kittens, then puppies and kittens will be "woke."
When DeSantis says he hates "woke," all he's really saying (to paraphrase Futurama) is ""I'm against those things that everybody on the right hates!"
I heard that his own lawyers gave this definition last year in a court case and I’ve actually come to respect it: woke is the recognition that there are systemic injustices in America and the need to do something about it.
It gets right to the point and includes a call to action.
Doesn't seem likely to me. He's good at finding outrageousness but doesn't have the personality for it, he's too cold and dead inside. (Illustrated by the vid of him laughing while watching a guy being tortured at Guantanamo)
I have always felt Desantis wanted to campaign as the heir to Trump and hoped Trump would quietly fade away. Trump didn’t do that and Desantis has refused to change tactics . At this point his strategy seems to be hoping Trump’s legal problems catch up to him and leave Desantis as the Trump alternative.
A word of caution... My definitely not woke family member said he doesn't sound that bad.
So..... While I don't support him and I feel he won't win the popular vote, many people will still vote for him and he's still very much a real candidate.