What Went Wrong for Ron DeSantis?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the GOP primary race on Sunday, drawing opinions across the spectrum.

Good Too Late: Scott Jennings (Lean Right bias) writing for Los Angeles Times (Lean Left bias) argued DeSantis “was a technically good candidate for the last couple of months… But by the time he found his groove, it was too late.” Jennings noted the early corporate media push against DeSantis, and a Trump base largely motivated by indictments supporters see as unfair as things that made it harder for DeSantis to gain ground on the former president.

Pseudo-Trumpism: Michael Lind, writing for UnHerd (Center bias), called DeSantis’ platform “Pseudo-Trumpism” and said with his exit, the race has become “a choice between two ideological visions” for the future of the Republican Party: “Trumpism and pre-Trumpism.” Lind attributed DeSantis’ failure to “thinking that America’s culture wars matter as much to Republican voters as they do to Republican pundits” and called rival candidate Nikki Haley “a pre-Trumpist tasked with putting the old band of Bush-era libertarians, neoconservatives, and corporate globalists back together.”

Lacking Personality: Michelle Cottle of New York Times (Left bias) argued that DeSantis’ personality was “the kiss of death” that sunk his presidential hopes. “Popular policies, a savvy campaign strategy, a message that speaks to the moment — these things matter…” wrote Cottle, “But if the messenger has a likability problem, the rest tends to get overshadowed.” Cottle also argued many of DeSantis’ mannerisms and intrapersonal interactions on the campaign trail felt stodgy or unhuman.