DeSantis On The Ropes!

Soaked.

Despite being the closest opponent to Washed Up 45, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has struggled to win over MAGA. Even Florida man, rapper Forgiato Blow (aka Vanilla Lice) said that he ain't riding with him.

Establishment Republicans and anti-Washed Up 45 conservatives were hoping to find a viable opponent to take on the former president. It turns out that DeSantis is not fulfilling the job.

While Washed Up 45 is facing criminal indictments by the feds and state of New York, his poll numbers are rising and Republican lawmakers are still riding with him.

Since launching his campaign in May, DeSantis has struggled to distinguish his policy positions from the former president. Some of his plans match what Washed Up 45 has already proposed, and others echo what he already did as president.

It’s a particular challenge for DeSantis, whose substance-heavy pitch to voters relies more on policy than most Republican candidates. And it’s contributed to a growing sense that, at least in the early going of the 2024 primary, the governor is struggling to gain traction against a former president who polls show continues to hold a huge lead in the race.

“Let’s put it this way. What I see is a campaign floundering, trying to find a purpose to run,” said Bryan Lanza, who worked on the former president’s 2016 campaign and remains close to the former president’s team. “He’s saying, ‘I’m Trump without the drama,’ but voters aren’t looking for Trump-light. They’re looking for Trump.”

DeSantis again encountered the problem last week, when he visited the U.S.-Mexico border during a campaign stopover in Texas to unveil his proposal to stop illegal immigration. The agenda included a pledge to complete Washed Up 45’s wall along the country’s southern border, reinstate the former president’s so-called “Remain in Mexico” policy and end “catch and release,” the practice of releasing migrants into the U.S. while they await court dates.

Even if the proposals were far-reaching and aggressive by traditional conservative standards, they largely matched Washed Up 45’s own agenda, both the one he implemented as president and what he proposes to do if given another term.

DeSantis running as a culture warrior is troubling even for his closest allies.