Alas, poor Ronnick!

It happened just before I went to bed last night: Ron DeSantis has signaled that he's dropping out of the presidential race, and per a promise he'd made, he's endorsing President Trump. I breathe a sigh of relief—the man can go back to doing what he does best: governing Florida, with all of its gators, Florida men, and fucked-up big cities. Ron hasn't been perfect for Florida, but he's been a more-than-competent governor, and the people in the state undeniably like him. And luckily for Florida, the state has no gubernatorial term limits, but according to Ballotpedia, if a person has governed for two terms in a row, s/he cannot run for a third term in a row, so the people have to suffer a term with an interim governor before they can bask in DeSantisness again.

Headline:

BREAKING: Ron DeSantis Suspends Presidential Campaign, Makes Endorsement

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign on Sunday, ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.

“Over the past many months, Casey and I have traveled across the country to deliver a message of hope, that decline is a choice, and that we, in fact, can succeed again as a nation,” DeSantis said in a video message to supporters. "Nobody worked harder. And we left it all out on the field."

"Now following our second-place finish in Iowa, we have prayed and deliberated on the way forward,” he continued. "If there was anything I could do to produce a favorable outcome — more campaign stops, more interviews — I would do it. But I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign."

"I am proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises and I will not stop now,” DeSantis continued. "It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge."

The timing of this announcement may come as a surprise to many, but DeSantis had seemingly conceded New Hampshire in order to have a strong showing in South Carolina—Nikki Haley’s home state where she served as governor. A second place finish for DeSantis in the state might have ended Haley’s campaign, but it was still quite clear that Republican voters overwhelmingly wanted Trump to finish what he started in his first term, and a viable path to winning the necessary delegates was too much to overcome. By dropping out now, it is likely that DeSantis' supporters will back Trump over Haley, crushing her chances in New Hampshire.

[ ... ]

“[Trump] has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear -- a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism -- that Nikki Haley represents,” DeSantis said. "The days of putting Americans last, of kowtowing to large corporations, of caving to woke ideology, are over."

DeSantis’s dropping out now should clear an easy path for Donald Trump to win the nomination. Despite his endorsement, it remains to be seen whether DeSantis will join Trump on the campaign trail to help unite the party behind him.

[ ... ]

"Winston Churchill once remarked that 'success is not final, failure is not fatal — it is the courage to continue that counts,” he said. "While this campaign has ended, the mission continues. Down here in Florida, we will continue to show the country how to lead."

As long as you keep busing illegals to "sanctuary" cities, Ron, I'll still love you.

My inexpert assessment is that DeSantis wasn't ready for prime time, and his campaign was poorly managed. Too few people really knew about him outside of Florida, and in terms of optics, he had a stiff and somewhat artificial way about him in situations where he wasn't being confronted by a reporter. There's a brief, second-long video clip of him trying to smile while simultaneously grinding his teeth—what I'd call DeSantis's "Dean scream" moment, arguably undoing his campaign. The man can be a pit bull with reporters when they're busy accusing him of something; I kinda' love watching his press conferences. But put him in a situation where most normal folks would be comfortable, and the man seizes up (as an introvert, I get this). Policy-wise, DeSantis's heavy-handed, government-first approach to handling corporate giant Disney might not have sat well with many conservatives, but with that being said, DeSantis's anti-woke credentials were largely unassailable. "Where woke goes to die" is how DeSantis once described Florida to cheering crowds. He is bolstered by a Cubano community that has not forgotten the harsh lessons of the poor, oppressive, leftist country it abandoned, and plenty of other demographics—not just Cubanos—appreciate the man for their own reasons.

If DeSantis chooses to run for president again in 2028, I won't begrudge him his ambitions, but my recommendation would be to stay home. They say you have to be at least a little sociopathic to run for high office; the problem this year may be that RonDeSantis, to his credit, wasn't insane enough to make it. That could be a point in his favor, and maybe a sign that the decision to run for president should never be made lightly. Go home, decompress, enjoy a gator steak, and get back to doing that thing you do, Ron. It was a decent run.

ADDENDUM: Styx with his take:

ADDENDUM 2: "Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge." Not exactly a ringing endorsement!