OPINION:
BEDFORD, New Hampshire — It started on Twitter. It ended on X.
Never before has a political candidate dipped his toe into the waters of a presidential campaign with a longer record of accomplishments and more promise than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
And now he is out, even before the first Republican primary ballot is cast.
The man whose political action committee was named Never Back Down has officially backed down.
At least Mr. DeSantis can say that he performed better than the much-heralded presidential campaign of then-Sen. Kamala Harris, who failed to receive a single vote after the experts declared her “the one to beat” in 2020. Mr. DeSantis at least earned eight delegates in the Iowa caucuses last week.
To say this is a spectacular flameout is a political understatement for the ages.
After notching historic electoral wins in the former swing state of Florida, Mr. DeSantis announced his campaign for the presidency in May after quietly getting the state Legislature to allow him to remain governor while campaigning for president.
The launch itself was a catastrophe. It was some kind of audio-only, radio-style broadcast on the platform known as Twitter, which is favored by political nerds in the media.
If the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is the Oscars for ugly people, Twitter is Snapchat for political dorks. Instagram for losers.
Yet as low as the bar is set for audio-only, radio-style broadcast campaign launches on Twitter, the DeSantis campaign managed to screw even that up, with people unable to log on to the nerdfest webinar.
The launch was one giant glitch. And it was all downhill from there.
At that moment, however, it was possible to imagine that beleaguered Republican voters might be ready to give up on former President Donald Trump.
They loved his policies and many still loved him. But he had been impeached twice. The horrifying Jan. 6 riots were the last many conservative voters had heard from Mr. Trump. The media were in a blinding froth of hatred toward him. And the indictments were piling up all around.
It was entirely possible that Mr. Trump’s bionic energy reserves had sapped those of regular Republican voters. And Mr. DeSantis was the perfect step-in to take over the America First movement.
He had earned tremendous policy successes in Florida and won reelection by a historic margin. Just as importantly, he had been hand-picked by Mr. Trump. He was Trump royalty.
When he first ran for governor of Florida in 2018, Mr. DeSantis ran entirely on the Trump agenda and Mr. Trump’s endorsement. One famous ad showed Mr. DeSantis teaching his young children how to “build the wall” and say “Make America Great Again.”
In that election, he squeaked to victory. But like the good servant in the parable who was given talents, Mr. DeSantis did not bury the Trump agenda. He invested in it and cultivated it in every corner of Florida.
Four years later, Mr. DeSantis proved the popularity of the Trump agenda in what was once a swing state by annihilating former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist by a staggering 20 points.
Even today, polls show that while Mr. DeSantis trails Mr. Trump badly everywhere, he triumphs as Republican voters’ second choice. In other words, Mr. DeSantis very well may still be the future of the America First Trump agenda.
But last week in Iowa, Mr. Trump rose like a phoenix from the ashes in a frozen tundra. Republican voters have caught yet another wind and are ready to run with Mr. Trump again.
Mr. DeSantis returned Sunday to the geek platform formerly known as Twitter — since renamed X — to dissolve his lifeless campaign. Wisely, he endorsed Mr. Trump. But more importantly, he acknowledged the obvious.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” he said.
And most important of all, Mr. DeSantis channeled actual Republican voters by taking a flamethrower to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
“We can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear — a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents,” he said. “The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology are over.”
These wounds will heal. And in the meantime, Mr. DeSantis can take solace that he did not perform as badly as Kamala Harris.
• Charles Hurt is opinion editor at The Washington Times.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.