Couldn’t happen to a nicer fascist:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is losing his clout in Florida.
College boards, stacked with DeSantis appointees, are rejecting job candidates with ties to the governor.
The chair of the Republican Party of Florida urged executive committee members to attend all GOP candidate events — giving cover to party faithful who want to attend a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with former President Donald Trump.
And the board that oversees many of Florida’s affordable housing programs this month placed on leave its executive director, who was helped into the job by a top DeSantis adviser.
Interviews with nearly two dozen lobbyists, political consultants and lawmakers revealed that DeSantis’ struggles as a presidential candidate have already eroded his influence in Florida. There is a widespread expectation that his candidacy will end in failure. His standing at home may depend on how long he slogs forward in the presidential campaign — and how he will manage his exit from the race if he eventually drops out.
Now, it may be just a matter of time before Florida Republicans, once unflinchingly loyal, seek distance from DeSantis and his hardball governing methods.
“You don’t get the assumption they are measuring drapes anymore — they are waiting for him to drop out,” one long-time Republican consultant in Tallahassee said of those working for the governor. The consultant, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to freely discuss the sensitive situation.
State Rep. Daniel Perez, the Miami Republican in line to become the next state House speaker, urged his GOP colleagues this week to move more carefully in the future, saying that “the problem with wielding the power of government like a hammer is that the people start looking like nails.”
Perez insisted his comment was not a “message to the governor,” but added, “That being said, the Legislature can’t work alone, the Legislature works with the governor.”
And no matter how he framed his comments, Perez’s words were being viewed as a rejoinder to DeSantis. One Tallahassee lobbyist said it was a signal that the “conveyor belt” Legislature that passed whatever DeSantis wanted is coming to an end.
[…]
Yet some state lawmakers are still bitter that DeSantis’ campaign asked Florida lawmakers to fundraise for him ahead of the GOP debate in August, according to a former Republican officeholder who spoke with them.
“Few members of the Legislature have a relationship with Ron DeSantis,” the person said. “He’s like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. You can’t get to him. All you hear about is the great and powerful Oz.”
I guess being a cold, insular weirdo doesn’t really get you a lot of support when the campaign falters. But I won’t count DeSantis out. He’s very Nixonian and I could see him making a comeback in 2028. But if he decides to do it I would look for him to make a major change in political philosophy (if you want to call the “war on woke” a philosophy.) If he expects any kind of success in the future he much realize that there’s only one Donald Trump — and he isn’t it. Considering how inflexible he seems to be I’m not sure he can make the leap.
Here’s the latest from the 2016 Great Whitebread Hope:
Stallions are biological. I want to be a stallion! https://t.co/eTHIpYuhA8 pic.twitter.com/heiqL1KCeO
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) September 22, 2023
Yeah… that’s the caliber of people these Republicans keep throwing at the American people.