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Ron DeSantis will announce today that he's officially running for president in 2024. And he's going to do so in the form of a "conversation" with Elon Musk, to be broadcast on Twitter. We'd give you a link, in case you want to tune in, but we can't do so. The event will be hosted on Twitter spaces, and so can only be accessed from Twitter's iOS or Android app. If you have the correct tech, and you want to watch, it's at 6:00 p.m. ET today.
Forgive our judgmental tone, but this seems... kind of pathetic. We understand that by going on Twitter, DeSantis pokes the once-banned-from-Twitter-and-now-self-relegated-to-a-dinky-platform Trump in the eye. Similarly, we understand that Tucker Carlson is setting up shop on Twitter spaces, and this could be the beginning of a beautiful "friendship." But last we checked, the Venn diagram circles of "people who might vote DeSantis" and "people who use Twitter and know how to install and use a somewhat complicated app" don't overlap all that much. Further, for someone who has BIG political ambitions, isn't a platform that reaches something like 6% of the American public on an average day a little SMALL? And finally, is the Governor so frightened of adversity that he needs to be isolated from everyone except Musk (and David Sacks), two people who are 100% in the bag for him?
Predictably, the Trump campaign has already launched its slings and arrows, and they noticed the same thing we did. "Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. This way he doesn't have to interact with people and the media can't ask him any questions," said one Trump campaign advisor. "This is one of the most out-of-touch campaign launches in modern history. The only thing less relatable than a niche campaign launch on Twitter, is DeSantis' after party at the uber elite Four Seasons resort in Miami," said another. Even if this is a pretty clear case of people who live in glass Mar-a-Lagos throwing stones, we can't say they're wrong here.
Also predictable is that Nikki Haley has written and circulated a lengthy memo in which she argues that DeSantis is just a "mini-Trump" but "without the charm." Her staff even cherry-picked photographs of the two men to make this point:
This seems like a fun game. We'd like to play, too:
Hm, interesting. In any event, if Haley focuses her withering fire on DeSantis, then she's just playing Trump's game. (Z)