The DeSantis Team is adjusting its strategy. It has let go a number of staff as it tries to recapture momentum. That’s smart. The media has rapidly suggested the DeSantis Team is headed towards financial disaster, which is silly. The campaign outraised President Trump’s campaign on a daily basis. But it does seem they were heavy with staff and are going to have a harder slog than they anticipated.
YES. THIS. I hope the DeSantis campaign pulls it together because I cannot vote for Trump again (and I voted for him reluctantly twice, as he was the eventual nominee). However, if he is again, I will be sitting out 2024. I refuse to vote for either of two awful candidates. The GOP and GOP Trump supporters need to realize Trump cannot win a general election (due to his own big mouth and missteps, not any of the stolen election nonsense). He cost us two midterm cycles. And I am about as far right as you can get. No more Trump! I'd love to see DeSantis as the nominee.
Also, as I will retire sometime in the next ten years I am deeply concerned about the viability of social security but practically no one is talking about it. I think Nikki Haley is the only one who has thus far. We cannot kick this can down the road. The next president WILL have to address it. I'd like to know how this person plans to.
Last, I have deep respect for DeSantis' efforts in Florida and in the culture wars, but we Republicans are well aware of his accomplishments there (aside from those who believe whatever bastardization of those achievements Trump claims from one day to the next). I trust him with those issues. He's demonstrated mastery there. But yes, please tie national concerns/issues to your core message and address what you will do for people EVERYWHERE, not just in FL. Use FL as a reference point from time to time to prove your executive skills, but the word 'Florida' shouldn't be buried in every sentence he utters.
I've read DeSantis' book. I am very impressed with his background and achievements but he needs to pivot to the national stage, and quick. His message is a very good one and slightly reframed for a national audience, would be very powerful.
and yes, these people need to find a lane...the one lane nobody outside of a lukewarm Chris Christie is pursuing is to boldy go after Trump. Quit worrying about the Trump voters who supposedly will never give up on their guy. Give them a reason to peel away from him. Give a vision of a good policy platform without all of the chaos of Trump's personality, and I think you might be surprised how many drift away from him. Right now they have no reason to. Otherwise a candidate is leaving something on the table. Candidates having nothing to lose by being bold.
"Handing the launch day over to two of Russia’s biggest apologists, Musk and Sacks, on an unstable platform to nerd out on policies excluded tens of millions of Americans from participating..."
As a former corporate journalist and now a Republican communications strategist in Florida, I appreciate so much of your political analysis (and unabashed Christianity) even when disagreeing at times. But the above statement is deeply unfair and inaccurate. Sacks is a Russian apologist? This perfectly apes how the dishonest corporate media frames anyone who suggests that we probably played some role in provoking Putin with all the talk of NATO for Ukraine, always a red line for Russia, and then stopped sending the military equipment before the war and then speaking of maybe a small amount of territory would be OK. Biden did all those things. Doesn't justify Putin's invasion, but those are real points. Alas, any sort of nuanced look at what we could learn from mistakes leading up to Russia's invasion, is immediately labeled "Russian apologists."
As for the second part, you should probably look at the views on his Twitter Spaces launch. Last I knew it was in the mid teens of millions, which would swamp anyone else's. True, it is just Twitter, but the platform is influential. The media, which we can all be too influenced by, focused exclusively on the glitches, but that was caused by the massive number of people. Not the worst problem. And DeSantis did do a campaign video, which at this moment has 27 million views on Twitter. (I don't know of metrics for other SM sites or TV.)
The fact that we don't remember Scott's or Haley's is a pretty telling point. You claim they controlled the media, but by going through the media, actually the media controlled their narrative. That is something I counsel all my clients to avoid whenever possible. (So I like DeSantis' upcoming live interview with Jake Tapper. Live is always the way to avoid their partisan narratives.)
As to the Great American Comeback. Absolutely right. Weave it in everywhere. It's called branding and it is essential. He actually does have some plans to do it, but I agree it is not being articulated in any branding way.
He has said intends to dismantle the FBI and DOJ and reform them (something I have written about for American Greatness) and do the same with the IRS. That can be woven into "I will protect average Americans from the daily fear of the IRS or FBI coming to their door if they say the wrong thing. The Great American Comeback includes returning individual freedoms to every American and future generations."
He also has said he will put the military on the border until the wall can be built it and it is fully secured, and he will use the military if needed on the cartels. He has identified the fentanyl epidemic as a priority and the border and cartels as the choke point. "I will use the military and a secure border to stop fentanyl from pouring into our country and killing Americans, particularly young Americans. The Great American Comeback means ridding our nation of the poison and freeing our people from it."
There are so many more, but you are right about the need to brand it in every speech, which he is not doing.
Nobody bears any responsibility for Russian aggression against Ukraine except Putin and his cronies. If we hadn’t sent minimal defensive weapons before the invasion, Ukraine May well have fallen and we might be fighting in the Baltic states today.
Someone from the DeSantis team should be reading this and devising a plan to use your examples. If I were a member of his team I would sit down with you and seek further advice. Better yet, DeSantis should meet with you and have a long talk about your ideas.
No one threatens the left like DeSantis; the attacks on him by both the left and Trump shouldn’t obscure his record and accomplishments. Yeah, he needs to get better but we would be doing ourselves a huge disservice by not nominating this guy.
Come on, Philip and Erick! It's time to hire me as your proofreader.
Other than the typos, this is a great piece. I definitely don't think we should be discounting Vivek, though. He kicked some butt at The Summit on Friday. Vivek is my dream candidate for 2024.
Mr. Erickson, you did a brief interview of him when he first launched his campaign. Why not interview him again and ask him all of these questions? If you did something that was absolutely wonderful and it changed the lives of a great many people for the good and you wanted to help a lot more people, would you not explain how changed those people’s lives? If I fixed something I would want to tell people how I fixed it and that I could fix it for them. I have seen some of his interviews and I think he is telling the public what he can do for them. I’m tired of Trump dumping on him and the press dumping on his wife.
Why is the liberal media spending so much energy attacking Mrs. DeSantis? I heard the slow talking white liberal woman on The Georgia Gang compare her to Lady MacBeth! Does she scare them?
of course she does. Nobody is more hated than a conservative woman (trust me, I'm aware from personal experience in local politics). Also, she's a former news journalist, and the left considers both women and journalists sellouts if they are not Democrats.
YES. THIS. I hope the DeSantis campaign pulls it together because I cannot vote for Trump again (and I voted for him reluctantly twice, as he was the eventual nominee). However, if he is again, I will be sitting out 2024. I refuse to vote for either of two awful candidates. The GOP and GOP Trump supporters need to realize Trump cannot win a general election (due to his own big mouth and missteps, not any of the stolen election nonsense). He cost us two midterm cycles. And I am about as far right as you can get. No more Trump! I'd love to see DeSantis as the nominee.
Also, as I will retire sometime in the next ten years I am deeply concerned about the viability of social security but practically no one is talking about it. I think Nikki Haley is the only one who has thus far. We cannot kick this can down the road. The next president WILL have to address it. I'd like to know how this person plans to.
Last, I have deep respect for DeSantis' efforts in Florida and in the culture wars, but we Republicans are well aware of his accomplishments there (aside from those who believe whatever bastardization of those achievements Trump claims from one day to the next). I trust him with those issues. He's demonstrated mastery there. But yes, please tie national concerns/issues to your core message and address what you will do for people EVERYWHERE, not just in FL. Use FL as a reference point from time to time to prove your executive skills, but the word 'Florida' shouldn't be buried in every sentence he utters.
I've read DeSantis' book. I am very impressed with his background and achievements but he needs to pivot to the national stage, and quick. His message is a very good one and slightly reframed for a national audience, would be very powerful.
and yes, these people need to find a lane...the one lane nobody outside of a lukewarm Chris Christie is pursuing is to boldy go after Trump. Quit worrying about the Trump voters who supposedly will never give up on their guy. Give them a reason to peel away from him. Give a vision of a good policy platform without all of the chaos of Trump's personality, and I think you might be surprised how many drift away from him. Right now they have no reason to. Otherwise a candidate is leaving something on the table. Candidates having nothing to lose by being bold.
Only Obama got to enjoy everyone self defining what "Change we need" meant. It was fitting for the liberal revolution.
"Handing the launch day over to two of Russia’s biggest apologists, Musk and Sacks, on an unstable platform to nerd out on policies excluded tens of millions of Americans from participating..."
As a former corporate journalist and now a Republican communications strategist in Florida, I appreciate so much of your political analysis (and unabashed Christianity) even when disagreeing at times. But the above statement is deeply unfair and inaccurate. Sacks is a Russian apologist? This perfectly apes how the dishonest corporate media frames anyone who suggests that we probably played some role in provoking Putin with all the talk of NATO for Ukraine, always a red line for Russia, and then stopped sending the military equipment before the war and then speaking of maybe a small amount of territory would be OK. Biden did all those things. Doesn't justify Putin's invasion, but those are real points. Alas, any sort of nuanced look at what we could learn from mistakes leading up to Russia's invasion, is immediately labeled "Russian apologists."
As for the second part, you should probably look at the views on his Twitter Spaces launch. Last I knew it was in the mid teens of millions, which would swamp anyone else's. True, it is just Twitter, but the platform is influential. The media, which we can all be too influenced by, focused exclusively on the glitches, but that was caused by the massive number of people. Not the worst problem. And DeSantis did do a campaign video, which at this moment has 27 million views on Twitter. (I don't know of metrics for other SM sites or TV.)
The fact that we don't remember Scott's or Haley's is a pretty telling point. You claim they controlled the media, but by going through the media, actually the media controlled their narrative. That is something I counsel all my clients to avoid whenever possible. (So I like DeSantis' upcoming live interview with Jake Tapper. Live is always the way to avoid their partisan narratives.)
As to the Great American Comeback. Absolutely right. Weave it in everywhere. It's called branding and it is essential. He actually does have some plans to do it, but I agree it is not being articulated in any branding way.
He has said intends to dismantle the FBI and DOJ and reform them (something I have written about for American Greatness) and do the same with the IRS. That can be woven into "I will protect average Americans from the daily fear of the IRS or FBI coming to their door if they say the wrong thing. The Great American Comeback includes returning individual freedoms to every American and future generations."
He also has said he will put the military on the border until the wall can be built it and it is fully secured, and he will use the military if needed on the cartels. He has identified the fentanyl epidemic as a priority and the border and cartels as the choke point. "I will use the military and a secure border to stop fentanyl from pouring into our country and killing Americans, particularly young Americans. The Great American Comeback means ridding our nation of the poison and freeing our people from it."
There are so many more, but you are right about the need to brand it in every speech, which he is not doing.
Nobody bears any responsibility for Russian aggression against Ukraine except Putin and his cronies. If we hadn’t sent minimal defensive weapons before the invasion, Ukraine May well have fallen and we might be fighting in the Baltic states today.
I'd rather fight Russia via a proxy war in their backyard than with our own soldiers there, or worse, in OUR backyard
Someone from the DeSantis team should be reading this and devising a plan to use your examples. If I were a member of his team I would sit down with you and seek further advice. Better yet, DeSantis should meet with you and have a long talk about your ideas.
Outstanding example interview at the end Erick.
No one threatens the left like DeSantis; the attacks on him by both the left and Trump shouldn’t obscure his record and accomplishments. Yeah, he needs to get better but we would be doing ourselves a huge disservice by not nominating this guy.
"It’s a dozen or so candidate that"
"Tie is all together."
Come on, Philip and Erick! It's time to hire me as your proofreader.
Other than the typos, this is a great piece. I definitely don't think we should be discounting Vivek, though. He kicked some butt at The Summit on Friday. Vivek is my dream candidate for 2024.
I hope the DeSantis team is listening
I remember Reagan saying “are you better off now than four years ago ?”. Someone should say that now.
Mr. Erickson, you did a brief interview of him when he first launched his campaign. Why not interview him again and ask him all of these questions? If you did something that was absolutely wonderful and it changed the lives of a great many people for the good and you wanted to help a lot more people, would you not explain how changed those people’s lives? If I fixed something I would want to tell people how I fixed it and that I could fix it for them. I have seen some of his interviews and I think he is telling the public what he can do for them. I’m tired of Trump dumping on him and the press dumping on his wife.
Why is the liberal media spending so much energy attacking Mrs. DeSantis? I heard the slow talking white liberal woman on The Georgia Gang compare her to Lady MacBeth! Does she scare them?
Yes she does!
of course she does. Nobody is more hated than a conservative woman (trust me, I'm aware from personal experience in local politics). Also, she's a former news journalist, and the left considers both women and journalists sellouts if they are not Democrats.
I hope DeSantis reads this.