Ron DeSantis has built his campaign on a platform of competence, setting himself apart from the impulsive nature of Donald Trump. He aims to be the candidate who gets things done, boasting about his success in transforming Florida into a Republican stronghold while fighting what he calls “the war on woke.”
However, his recent announcement of his presidential candidacy on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk and David Sacks turned out to be a complete and total disaster.
The audio feed experienced frequent disruptions, users were constantly being kicked off the app, and for the initial 20 minutes, there was nothing but feedback, waiting music, and scattered conversations as Sacks and Musk tried to figure out the technical issues.
After relaunching the Twitter Space, the event eventually attracted around 300,000 listeners at its peak.
DeSantis primarily read from a prepared speech and engaged in a somewhat stiff conversation with Musk and Sacks.
The bungled rollout overshadowed the audience size, as both the Biden and Trump campaigns seized the opportunity to mock DeSantis over the failure, turning it into the dominant theme of the night.
Afterward, DeSantis attempted to do some damage control in a Fox News interview with Trey Gowdy. He discussed various policy topics, shared his views on abortion, the environment, and Ukraine, and even made pledges regarding FBI Director Christopher Wray and the Federal Reserve.