Trump ready to troll after DeSantis’ glitchy launch
Technical issues hit Florida governor’s chaotic campaign event on Twitter
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has suffered a chaotic start to his 2024 presidential election race when glitches marred an online forum hosted by Twitter owner Elon Musk that was meant to showcase DeSantis’ fitness for the role.
The Twitter broadcast of the hour-long interview, which had been intended as the formal launch for the DeSantis campaign, lost sound for extended stretches and thousands of users were either unable to join or were dropped. It was an inauspicious start for a campaign predicated on the governor’s executive competence.
“We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” DeSantis said in the event with Musk once the problems were largely resolved.
The hashtag #DeSaster was trending on Twitter.
DeSantis’ entrance in the Republican contest sets up a showdown with his one-time ally, former president Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.
The Florida governor framed himself as a get-it-done executive who stood up to the federal government over Covid policies and who has put an indelibly conservative stamp on his home state.
He defended his efforts in Florida to prohibit the teaching of concepts such as gender identity and systemic racism as protecting young children and pushing back against progressive ideology.
With a rising national profile and what are expected to be deep financial resources, DeSantis, 44, immediately became Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican nomination.
“Government is not about entertainment, not about building a brand,” DeSantis said, taking a veiled swipe at Trump. Notably he never mentioned Trump by name during the event.
Trump, 76, did not hesitate to mock DeSantis on his social media platform, Truth Social, over the stumbling start to his campaign. “My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!),” Trump posted.
That appeared to be an oblique reference to a war of words he once had with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
Musk conceded there had been “technical issues because of the sheer scale” of the event, but added “it’s just really great for the people to hear directly from presidential candidates”.
At one point, the Twitter event drew more than 600,000 listeners. By its conclusion, there were fewer than 300,000. DeSantis’ campaign spokesman Bryan Griffin said on Twitter that enthusiasm for DeSantis had “literally busted up the internet”.
The campaign raised US$1 million in an hour, he said.
Biden’s team was quick to capitalise on the glitches, tweeting a link to a fundraising page and stating: “This link works.”
Later, Trump’s camp launched another attack on DeSantis, accusing him of plagiarising Trump’s 2020 State of the Union speech. Trump in the speech said: “Three years ago, we launched the Great American Comeback. Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results.”
DeSantis appeared to have ripped off the phrase in his campaign announcement, saying: “I’m Ron DeSantis, and I’m running to lead the Great American Comeback”. It was also the title of his first official campaign video on Twitter.
Polls show Trump with more than a two-to-one edge over the Florida governor, who has long been considered a Republican rising star and the herald of a new generation of leaders in the party.
Mainstream Republicans will be watching DeSantis carefully to see if he can recover from his missteps on foreign policy, such as his initial reluctance to express support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. But he is seen as lacking the natural charm needed to peel away some of the 14 million voters who backed Trump in the last competitive Republican primary, in 2016.