DeSantis Out, Endorses Trump

After running a Rudy Giuliani-like disaster of a campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis bowed out Sunday afternoon, apparently deciding it was better to go out after a decent 2nd-place showing in Iowa than after the disastrous 3rd-place finish he faces Tuesday in New Hampshire.

Like Giuliani did in 2008, DeSantis killed himself before he even got started, failing to grab the brass ring when it came around to him in December of 2022, based on terrible advice from a bunch of the same people who led Jeb Bush to disaster in 2016.

Instead of getting in while he was hot, DeSantis spent 5 months showing what a great Governor he is - and he is a great Governor - giving Trump and the media 150 days to spend hundreds of hours and millions of dollars defining him with the public. By the time he got in following the end of the Florida legislative session, it was too late, as the brass ring had long since passed him by.

He never recovered, something that I predicted here would be the case as early as January of last year.

In announcing the suspension of his campaign, DeSantis did the sensible thing, endorsing Donald Trump as the certain GOP nominee.

"I am proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises and I will not stop now,” DeSantis continued. "It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge."

“[Trump] has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear -- a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism -- that Nikki Haley represents,” DeSantis said. "The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology, are over."

So long, Ronnie, we hardly knew ye.

That is all.