Fox News hosts John Roberts and Bret Baier compared Republican Florida Gov. Ron Desantisās presidential campaign to that of Jeb Bush on Tuesday.
Former President Donald Trump leads DeSantis in the RealClearPolitics average, 52.3% to 18%, while businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is in a tie with former Vice President Mike Pence at 5.5%, with Trumpās lead being 40% or higher in polls by Morning Consult, Rasmussen Reports and Harvard-Harris. āYou know, when you take a look at governors and their history here, you know, the sense of inevitability thatās built around them, Jeb Bush, you remember him, we talked about Pawlenty, Scott Walker,ā Roberts said to Baier.
āCould Ron Desantis be the latest in that group?ā Roberts asked, noting the layoffs from the DeSantisā campaign and citing three governors or former governors whose presidential campaigns faded relatively quickly in the 2012 and 2016 Republican primaries.
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āThis is a big sign. A third of the campaign staff, we have not even gotten to August as of yet. There were real concerns by big donors, we were told, of the spending, the burn rate, and they were spending a lot of money but not getting a lot of bang for their buck,ā Baier said. āHe is trailing in every poll by 20, 30, sometimes 40 points, depending on the poll, depending on the state and you just havenāt seen the traction for the guy that was supposed to be the guy.ā
Bush, who served two terms as governor of Florida, had been a favorite to win the Republican nomination in 2016, but his campaign struggled and he dropped out in February of that year.
DeSantis announced his candidacy on May 24 in a glitch-filled Twitter Spaces event, which saw over 600,000 people initially try to listen to the announcement and follow-up questions. DeSantis won the 2022 Florida gubernatorial election in a landslide, defeating former Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist.
āThis is a really interesting timeline about the constant reboots here in the DeSantis campaign, or the repeated reboots,ā Roberts said. āIn April, DeSantisā super PAC, debuts its very first television ad, May 24, the announcement, by July 6th, circulation of a confidential campaign memo. July 15th, campaign fires a dozen staffers. July 24th, The New York Times reports the campaign is moving into leaner, meaner operation cutting costs, we now find out they are cutting 38 staffers.ā
āDeSantis says heās going to hold smaller scale events in earlier states and engage more with the mainstream media, which would dovetail into the idea youāve got this interview with him coming up Monday in New Hampshire, but thatās an awful lot of trouble for a campaign thatās barely two months old,ā Roberts continued.
DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporterās byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contactĀ [email protected].