Ron DeSantis is the GOP’s biggest success story coming out of the midterm elections. And you know what? He earned it. He kept his head down and kept his eyes on the prize, and it paid off for him. Quite handsomely, in fact.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of genius pundits out there who are weirdly obsessed with downplaying DeSantis’ victory. Despite the GOP’s disappointing performance, the Left and the Resistance are pretty clearly terrified of DeSantis.
As we told you, Adam Kinzinger was very emphatic that just because DeSantis ran away with the Florida gubernatorial race doesn’t mean that DeSantis is the future of the Republican Party. University of Florida Prof. Michael McDonald is taking a similar approach to those results:
Florida Democrats ran a Republican-lite candidate who ran a tepid campaign for Gov against DeSantis, who has a $100+ million war chest and the power of incumbency. Democrats clearly said…meh I’m not voting
— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) November 9, 2022
What about DeSantis as a politician (since we likely will have to hear much about him for the next 2 years)? So far, he does not inflame Dems in the same way Trump does. He gives the same policies that please Reps, but is less personality driven. That’s why Rep donors love him
— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) November 9, 2022
So, takes like this about Florida are wrong. I suspect we’ll hear more about how DeSantis changed Florida to be a solid red state, when the real story is how his brand of politics manages to activate Republican voters without strong backlash from Democrats https://t.co/R2SQa0S7AD
— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) November 9, 2022
Can DeSantis’s political style continue to be successful once he is the focus of the harsh spotlight of the national media? We’ll see…
— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) November 9, 2022
OK, that’s enough. You guys get the idea. “Once he is the focus of the harsh spotlight of the national media”???
I feel like you may have missed a few things…
— SoxFanWifey (@nivratsmom) November 9, 2022
Where have you been?
— ⚔️Austere News & Opinion ⚔️ (@commanderdata85) November 9, 2022
Safely ensconced in the academic bubble, no doubt.
That’s you living under a rock: https://t.co/fpvtEFcr9A pic.twitter.com/xuUUFPqdHE
— Rocky (@wavechaser2024) November 9, 2022
No kidding.
Yes, he’s definitely had it easy when it comes to national media. Good call
— N.A.R (@loscontrarian) November 9, 2022
Siri, how did the term “Don’t Say Gay Law” become a thing? https://t.co/ZJk5Ekiujd
— B.T. Mattison (@BT_Mattison) November 9, 2022
Ahem.
When is DeSantis NOT the focus of harsh media coverage? https://t.co/xORGzD3JE9
— Nicholas Barry (@NicholasJBarry) November 9, 2022
Never.
He has been the focus of harsh media spotlight since really 2020, and he just delivered a ~20 point victory last night. https://t.co/p7tNYpmhRw
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) November 9, 2022
I mean, come on. Gaetz’s opponent last night was 100% a creation of harsh media coverage.
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) November 9, 2022
Rebekah Jones is a certified lunatic. This was immediately obvious in 2020. But the press kept giving her time of day, elevating her eventually to a House bid, simply because they thought (and then kept hoping) she had the goods on DeSantis.
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) November 9, 2022
Perhaps DeSantis’s success doesn’t translate nationwide. Entirely possible! But he *has* been the focus of intensely critical (and often absurd) press coverage for at least two years straight. And his margin of victory increased exponentially last night from 2018.
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) November 9, 2022
Would it literally kill pointy-headed clowns to just admit that maybe — just maybe — Ron DeSantis is actually up for all this and is actually pretty darn good at it?
Once?
You must not have paid attention to the national media’s already existing harsh spotlight on DeSantis.
No reason for you to have done so, what with being a blue check professor specializing in electoral politics. https://t.co/i61swx29m3
— Laurel Van Driest (@lvandriest) November 9, 2022
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