Ron DeSantis’ Presidential Campaign Launch Flops As Technical Difficulties Abound

Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign launch was doomed from the start. Technical difficulties caused the sound to cut out and the link to repeatedly crash, taking 20 minutes to get going. With this being an important moment for the campaign, Elon Musk will be looking for scapegoats to blame and it is likely that someone will be fired.

Ron DeSantis must be regretting listening to the adviser who convinced him that this was the way to launch a campaign that requires rocket boosters to propel him to the level of support the polls suggest his biggest rival, Donald Trump, currently enjoys. While campaign volunteers at the Four Seasons hotel in Miami tried to put a brave face on it and dismissed the technical difficulties as “unimportant” and “insignificant,” the embarrassment was palpable.

But, some pointed out that the technical difficulties were “more embarrassing for Elon Musk than for Ron DeSantis.” They claimed that no voter in Iowa would remember this in January, let alone care about it.

Once the Twitter session got going, Mr DeSantis spoke about his “war on woke,” his legal battle with the Walt Disney Company, and how he would reduce immigration. Even though the other contributors all agreed with him, it was not a challenging forum.

However, Mr DeSantis’ biggest problem remains how he will interact with people and the press. He has a reputation for avoiding journalists and behaving awkwardly with voters, leading some to question whether he has the charisma required for a successful presidential campaign. Rival Nikki Haley’s campaign has gone so far as to describe him as “Trump without the charm” in an internal memo leaked this week.

Judging from his recent appearance in the key state of Iowa, where he addressed a room of 600 mostly Republican voters at a barbecue lunch in Sioux Centre, Mr DeSantis may not be comfortable interacting with the press. He fared well but only “by showing up and not committing any significant gaffes.” He also did a rare photo call for the cameras, cooking a large pork chop while wearing a personalized apron.

However, Mr DeSantis was excruciatingly uncomfortable with journalists trying to ask him questions. If he wants to avoid reporters, he needs to find a way to gracefully brush them off.

After the disastrous Twitter launch, Mr DeSantis appeared on the Republican-friendly Fox News network where he was not asked a single tough question. But he will need to embrace a media strategy that goes beyond only giving occasional interviews to supportive outlets or platforms if he wants to succeed as a presidential candidate.

Because he has had relatively little interaction with the mainstream media so far, Mr DeSantis may find himself struggling just when the stakes could not be any higher. A presidential run is a hell of a moment to do your first really challenging prime-time interviews.

Credit: bbc.co.uk

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