Is it just us, or is Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on kind of a roll? It feels like he just keeps racking up wins wherever he goes. It’s almost like he could be a pretty formidable GOP presidential nominee against Joe Biden if he makes it to that stage of the 2024 election.
And it’s almost as if that scares the ever-loving you-know-what out of the Principled Conservative™ crowd. Ron DeSantis’ ascension threatens to derail their master plan to have Joe Biden face off against Donald Trump on the debate stage next year. And so, in their desperation, Never Trump luminaries like Daily Beast senior columnist Matt Lewis have to latch on to whatever anti-DeSantis narratives they can find, even if the narratives are weak AF.
Matt saw this tweet about a new Politico piece contending that Ron DeSantis is flailing:
Writes @SallyGold, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis values being in control. Presidential candidate-in-waiting DeSantis is losing it. https://t.co/yXsUb5ZKIH
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) April 19, 2023
And he couldn’t help but be struck by the featured photo, which is obviously the one thing that should determine DeSantis’ political viability:
Everyone (including me) takes bad photos. But I think this one below is emblematic of a larger problem. Lately, DeSantis doesn't *look* like a president. I can't define it; maybe it's body language? But there is some charismatic aura that he suddenly seems to be lacking. https://t.co/8dPpfWnBoY
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) April 19, 2023
More to the point, he looks scared and tentative. It's like the video of Jerry MaGuire at his wedding. Maybe it's nothing. Or maybe he's showing us that he doesn't really want to go through with this.
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) April 19, 2023
Recommended
Or maybe it’s just an unflattering photo, Matt. You work in political media … surely you’ve seen how bad photos come into play.
Photographer snaps 9,000 photos.
Photo editor unsurprisingly chooses unflattering photo.
People in the media who literally know these things: https://t.co/iWeEjbnhyQ
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) April 19, 2023
photo editor purposely picks unflattering photo…
Journo that knows better…
“omygosh see how unpresidential and scared he looks, this is not good.”
JFC this is hack stuff
— JRP (@JRPSD) April 19, 2023
Come on, man. You work for The Daily Beast. Surely you know the editorial staff carefully pick the photos that tell the story they want.
— Dr. Redneck, Ph.D. (@Gwenbors1) April 19, 2023
LOL. My first job was in a major daily newspaper editorial department. Among my duties was to find photos that fit a story – they didn’t have to be accurate. They were “art” to amplify the headline. Example: “Doctor Says 78yo Trump Not Physically Fit for 2nd Term” pic.twitter.com/XC6SfFTbRJ
— BearFlagFan (@BearFlagFan) April 19, 2023
The entire point of the photo and piece is narrative building. Everyone knows this so it’s telling who chooses to go along with it.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 19, 2023
Well, it’s definitely quite telling that Matt is choosing to go along with it.
You seem overly invested in insisting DeSantis can't win. I am not sure what you're trying to get out of that
— Ananth T Sarathy (@asarathy) April 19, 2023
I'm *invested* in analyzing the state of the race. As recently as a month or so ago, I was pretty bullish on DeSantis. But it seems to me that he has had a very bad month. I have recently come to have serious doubts about whether he's up to this challenge.
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) April 19, 2023
“Serious doubts.” Yes, these doubts are obvious very serious:
If you were to imagine this same photo with Biden, or Trump, or anyone else, they’d be smiling and pointing at the photographer, or something like that. Even if a photo is bad, you can see if someone likes being around other people by their body language and facial expressions.
— Jess (@Jess_Sassenach) April 19, 2023
agree
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) April 19, 2023
He looks like a scared child.
— Gerri Carr (@gmcsonny) April 19, 2023
exactly
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) April 19, 2023
OK, buddy.
Based off of an unflattering photo? What an analysis…
— Reagan rolled over (@ldsgolfer13) April 19, 2023
If this is your “analysis” of the race, do a better job. https://t.co/UlsvPigMs0
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) April 19, 2023
Or, better yet, just go home and leave the analysis to the serious people.
Sorry bro this is just silly
— NotThanos (@ThanosTotally) April 19, 2023
Silly, but illuminating.
The Daily Beast is scared of DeSantis and prefers Trump. That’s what I took from this tweet.
— The Savage Wolfe (@SavageOnTheSun) April 19, 2023
The Never Trump crowd needs Donald Trump to survive and especially to keep their bank accounts afloat, Matt included. They want him so bad.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 19, 2023
They really, really do.
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