DeSantis 2024 is melting upon contact with reality

People imagine that the real world is similar to the dark side of the TV show Succession. For some reason we enjoy thinking that media barons and tech tycoons pull the strings of global power, creating the election-deciding narratives which the bovine public then swallows whole. 

But the truth, as Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis showed so spectacularly with their disastrous campaign announcement on Twitter last night, is much more like the funnier bits in Succession. It’s cock-up not conspiracy. 

His candidacy makes so much sense in theory. But he’s slipping further and further behind Trump in the polls

People mocked Elon Musk last month when his big SpaceX launch misfired by noting the similarity to that hilarious scene in the first Succession season, when Roman Roy watches his space rocket launch explode on his phone at the end of season one. 

Something similar happened on Twitter Space last night, as DeSantis’s much-hyped “I’m running” moment turned into a hilarious tech-fail. The broadcast kept glitching. It was exquisitely painful for DeSantis and Musk and therefore hilarious to everyone else. 

DeSantis, a successful governor of Florida, is the great right hope for conservatives who want to move past Donald Trump. He also appeals of millions of Americans who — while they may find him dangerously right-wing — just want to avoid a repeat of the horror Biden versus Trump choice of 2020. His candidacy makes so much sense in theory. He’s Trump but intelligent, tick. He’s fought the culture wars and won, tick. He’s a proven election winner, tick. 

The only problem is that his presidential ambitions seem to be melting upon contact with reality. 

DeSantis’s campaign is backed by billionaires and, famously, by Rupert Murdoch and his giant media empire. But he’s been slipping further and further behind Trump in the polls. He’s awkward in public and his endless boasting about his record in Florida doesn’t seem overly to impress the rest of America. His recent trip to Iowa went wrong when a clip of him fake laughing went viral. 

His surprising decision to team up with Musk, the world’s richest man, to announce on Twitter was quickly interpreted as a possible masterstroke: a potential turn around moment. With Musk and Murdoch behind him, he could dominate our screens and therefore take on the formidable Trump machine. But then last night the big Twitter fail happened and nobody thinks that anymore. 

None of this is to say that DeSantis can’t win. There’s a long way to go before the Republican primaries begin next year. A lot can change and will. For now, it’s clear that the tech-media-industrial complex doesn’t decide elections. The comedy of life does — and Donald Trump is laughing that hardest. 

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.