There was a time, even if it feels far away now, where Florida governor Ron Desantis was considered the likely successor to Donald Trump—both in the Republican Party and the 2024 presidential race. Well, at least according to the political press he was. As DeSantis halted his campaign this week, did you feel just a twinge of whiplash? Maybe not, his polling numbers have been mediocre for quite some time. But the Florida political star feels like he had a particularly painful slip out of the spotlight.
This week, Micah speaks with: Nick Nehamas, politics reporter for The New York Times; Mary Ellen Klas, opinion writer at Bloomberg; and Tom Scocca, longtime political observer and the creator of the Indignity newsletter, about how the election media machine artificially built Ron DeSantis up for a candidacy that was always going to fall, and what the governor lost, and gained, in the process.
This is a segment from our January 26, 2024 show, DeSantis' Failed Campaign Has Lessons For the Political Press. And A Public Radio Parody.