Ron DeSantis LOL The decline and fall of a first-class traveler and third-class presidential candidate DANIEL W. DREZNER JAN 21

It has not escaped the attention of the hard-working staff here at Drezner’s World that a lot is going on in the world. It is an increasingly violent place. Iran seems to have decided to piss off all of its neighbors simultaneously. Kim Jong Un is angry that no one is paying attention to him and is behaving even more menacing than usual. I want to comment on many of these developments in the days and weeks to come, I really do. But first — and this is very important — I want to dance on Ron DeSantis’ political grave. Drezner’s World is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid DeSantis announced today that he is dropping out of the presidential race with a fake Churchill quote. The Florida governor had bet his entire campaign on doing well in that state. He pretty much camped out there, visiting all 99 counties in the state and earning the endorsement of the governor. He finished second, but more than thirty points behind Donald Trump. This is quite the comedown from the fall of 2022, when DeSantis was coming off of a 20-point re-election victory even as Trump had harmed himself by backing candidates who flamed out in the midterms. Many pundits thought this sounded the death knell for Trump and heralded the rise of a new GOP frontrunner. The hard-working staff here at Drezner’s World had its doubts, many of which grew as DeSantis started opening his mouth and saying really dumb things about foreign policy. He also seemed thoroughly ill-equipped to cope with being the target of Trump’s brand of negative political attacks. Mostly, however, DeSantis imploded for two reasons. First, he was bad at, you know, basic human interactions, which kinda matter in places like Iowa and New Hampshire. Second, he and his team managed something I did not think was possible: exist in an even more insular, weird political cocoon than Trump. The disastrous glitch-filled Twitter Spaces campaign announcement was merely the most obvious example. Over time I lost count of the number of stories that made DeSantis sound like the World’s Most Online Politician. Thank you for reading Drezner’s World. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share With his departure, of course, come the political obituaries. Combine the internal turmoil of the DeSantis campaign, with his team’s initial hostility towards the mainstream media, and you have a recipe for some delicious stories of DeSantis dysfunction. Take, for example, this NBC News story by Matt Dixon, Dasha Burns, Allan Smith and Abigail Brooks, which came out even before DeSantis dropped out. There’s so much good stuff in it: In the week before the all-important caucuses, Scott Wagner, the recently installed head of the super PAC, was doing something that aides found puzzling: He was literally doing a puzzle. In the headquarters of Never Back Down in West Des Moines, Iowa, Wagner was, according to some of his staff, spending a significant amount of time in the precious final few days constructing a peaceful 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of a landscape…. “Staffers are putting their dedication and devotion to electing Gov. DeSantis and they come in and the CEO, the chairman of the organization, is sitting there working on a puzzle for hours,” said a Never Back Down staffer who was there. That’s just the opening anecdote. Then we get to the good stuff: It was just two weeks into the campaign, and already the squabbling had begun. The campaign’s top brass, including then-campaign manager Generra Peck, top adviser Ryan Tyson and Christina Pushaw — who was the architect of DeSantis’ communications strategy — held a conference call with those tapped to be the social-media knife fighters on DeSantis’ behalf. The group of roughly a dozen influencers was informally dubbed the “fight club” by the campaign. They were willing to combat members of the media and DeSantis’ political foes, but from the very early weeks of the campaign, many were flummoxed by leadership’s direction, or lack thereof. “The conference call was a s--- show, just an absolute s--- show,” said a former fight club member who was on the call. “People [top staffers] were pressed on the message, and, especially after the failed rollout, they had no answers.” During a particularly bizarre portion of the meeting, Bill Mitchell, a DeSantis supporter with a large social media following, asked the top DeSantis campaign staff if they could call Musk because he was concerned that the site was limiting the visibility of his posts — a practice commonly referred to as “shadow-banning.” “He cut me off — I’ll remember this to my dying day — and asked the top people on the campaign if they could call Elon Musk and ask why he is being shadow-banned,” a second person on the call recounted. “That was the level of people we were working with. It was just kind of embarrassing to a point.” I’m sorry, did that story say Bill Mitchell? Bill Mitchell??!! For those familiar with that name, go ahead and have your laugh, you’ve earned it. For those of you unfamiliar with Bill, count yourselves lucky. Let’s just say it’s a bit nuts that any serious political campaign would take him seriously. If you think I’m exaggerating… let’s just quote the next few paragraphs from the NBC story: In a statement, Mitchell said he had been “shadow-banned” as a DeSantis supporter, arguing that he has over 400,000 followers “yet it is not unusual for my posts to have fewer that 2000 views each.” “I believe the leftists at X are doing this because they want Trump to be our nominee as he is very beatable in the general,” he added. “DeSantis terrifies them as he is far more competent without the baggage.” That last sentence sounds a little like one of my occasional pro-DeSantis commenters, who has gone dark as of late. If it’s you Bill, thanks for reading! In dropping out, DeSantis endorsed Trump, which completes his circle of debasement. Maybe he has a political future: he is only 45 years old. Stranger things have happened. For today, however, I look across DeSantis and his terminally online staff, and take solace in the notion that not every arrogant asshole succeeds on the presidential stage. Leave a comment You're currently a free subscriber to Drezner’s World. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2024 Daniel W. Drezner 160 Packard Ave. Medford, MA 02155 Unsubscribe Get the appStart writing

NeoCon Nikki Haley Is Fading But Do NOT Underestimate the UniParty Swamp's Desperation

NeoCon Nikki Haley Is Fading But Do NOT Underestimate the UniParty Swamp's Desperation Winning is not enough in New Hampshire. Trump needs a resounding victory to extinguish any "momentum" they try to manufacture for Haley going into South Carolina. JD RUCKER JAN 20 (Conservative Playbook)—In the old days, elections were fairly predictable. Well, they seemed predictable. Some would argue they've been controlled by the Deep State or the New World Order or the UniParty Swamp or demonic powers or whichever bad guy group you favor for attribution. Compared to today, the powers-that-be at least portrayed a stronger illusion of choice for We the People. If the current GOP primaries were happening in the old days, we would look at it all and know with a 98% or more certainty that Donald Trump is going to be the nominee. But this is 2024 and nothing can be taken for granted. If you support Trump, now is not the time to get complacent. Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are running to be the safety net. They strive to accumulate delegates in hopes that if any of the various manufactured charges against Trump stick, then someone will have to slide into the nomination. Otherwise, the race was over before the Iowa Caucuses. Now we're faced with a game of chicken as the two remaining challengers vie for crumbs and hope the other drops out first. As with all elections, this is a money game. We live in a society in which campaign fundraising and spending are signs of viability. The one who spends the most is not necessarily the winner as we've learned repeatedly, but the ability for someone to continue running hinges on their ability to raise money and spend it. If they raise it without spending it, they have a harder time raising more. If they spend it and struggle raising more, they're out. The DeSantis campaign has been struggling since before the Iowa Caucus after their big-dollar backing started evaporating. Haley's troubles started at the Iowa Caucus when she could only manage a third place finish, prompting more concerns about her viability. She has been hit hard since then with reports of infidelity, a big endorsement loss, and body blows from Trump that have landed. Both remaining contenders are banking on the other dropping out first. Both also know that even when the other drops out, their prospects are nearly nil. They need one or more of the lawfare gambits to hit paydirt. This leads me to the point of today's column. The powers-that-be seem to consider Haley as their best bad option. A big loss in New Hampshire will decimate her chances of winning her home state. A win or even a close loss in New Hampshire could boost her just enough to take South Carolina as well, especially if DeSantis drops out. Anyone who thinks it's impossible for her to beat Trump in New Hampshire hasn't been paying attention since 2020. The people who stole the last presidential election and the subsequent midterm elections are going to try to do their thing in New Hampshire. If anything, it'll be easier for them to manufacture votes through Democrats in the open primary. They won't have to wait until 3am the next day. They can pull off a "fair" win for Haley just by driving enough Democrats to vote for her. The worst thing Trump supporters in New Hampshire could do is to think Trump is going to win. They need to go into next week thinking his lead is razor thin, that every vote counts, that the UniParty Swamp is going to try to steal the state, and that Nikki Haley is an existential threat to both the MAGA movement and the America itself. They need to rally their friends and family to vote by debunking any notions that Trump has this locked up. It isn't just about winning the state. HOW he wins is important. A single-digit win for Trump will be portrayed as a loss as NeverTrump pundits will claim it demonstrates vulnerability. A solid win for Trump will deflate both opponents. More importantly, it will deflate their donors; the sooner they run out of money, the sooner we'll move on to the general election. A landslide for Trump could launch general election season next week. I'm cognizant of the fact that many of our readers are not Trump supporters and I have no intention of insulting them. I actually like DeSantis as a governor and I think despite the rhetoric that he hasn't completely blown his chances in 2028, but his prospects in 2024 are essentially nil. Haley, on the other hand, is untenable and must be stopped. That's why I would encourage DeSantis supporters to come home to Trump. The sooner that DeSantis drops out and backs Trump, the easier it will be for him to recover for another run at it in 2028. Nikki Haley is adored by the UniParty Swamp because she's one of them. She's Dick Cheney in high heals. She's a brunette Hillary Clinton. She puts the "Con" in NeoCon. She's dangerous. Pledge your support The Liberty Daily is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell The Liberty Daily that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments. Pledge your support © 2024 The Liberty Daily 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe Get the appStart writing He puts the Tea in Liberty ! No ? He puts the Lib in Liberty ? No ? He puts the Er in...