Ron DeSantis Never Should Have Run for President
He was the savior, the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Trumpier than Trump in ways that were good, less Trumpy than Trump when it came to late-night tweets and outlandish proposals and bromances with dictators like Kim Jong Un. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was the dream of a Republican establishment that wanted to move beyond Trump while retaining Trump’s supporters.
Now the dream is dead, with DeSantis announcing on Sunday that he was suspending his campaign after a dismal showing in Iowa, where his vaunted door-knocking operation came up short. New Hampshire and South Carolina were not looking any friendlier. Not a candidate usually known for his self-awareness, DeSantis somehow sensed that it was time to call it quits.
The conventional wisdom is that the dream of a DeSantis presidency has merely been deferred until 2028—maybe even preserved by his decision to forego weeks of humiliation that would have culminated in a Super Tuesday trouncing. But I am not so sure. After all, the factors that doomed DeSantis in 2024 will still be around in 2028.