First Rule of Politics: Connect With Voters, DeSantis Can't

(Editor's note: The following column does not constitute an endorsement for any political party or political candidate on the part of Newsmax)

"Ronnie, we hardly knew ye."

This writer arrived in Florida in 1990, and loves living here!

Florida is a former Confederate state dominated by Democrats for approximately 150 years. I got involved in Republican politics in 1995, shortly after "Jeb!" lost his first gubernatorial run.

However, in 1998 Jeb prevailed.

In 2002 he prevailed again; that made him the first twice-elected Florida governor in the state’s history. Then came Charlie Crist, Rick Scott, and Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis currently in his second term.

Add it up.

When Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., terms out in 2026 we will have had 28 consecutive years of Republican governors. Then add in 28 consecutive years of a Republican dominated legislature.

And, yet, Florida has never had a candidate on the national ticket. No presidents. No vice-presidents. No nominees. Until now.

DeSantis is different. He takes everyone on; Democrats, Disney, "woke" and every variation of "progressive" known to man.

Ron DeSantis first got elected with a 300,000-voter registration deficit and now sports a 500,000-voter registration surplus. The culmination of the DeSantis ascendancy was reached on Election Day (and night) last November, 2022.

The 30,000-vote victory in 2018 became the two million vote slaughter of now Democrat Charlie Crist. The almost 20-point victory was so overwhelming that president Trump never mentioned his name on election night at Mar-a-Lago.

This writer well-knows, he was there.

A star was born. And so was a presidential aspirant. The battle lines had been drawn.

And the Sunshine State's 46th chief executive couldn’t pass up the run if he wanted to.

Here we are in the Summer of 2023 and we all have the same question: What happened

Month after month Gov. DeSantis’ poll numbers slip while President Trump’s poll numbers solidify. It started on announcement night as an anxious Republican Party waited to hear DeSantis.

He proudly announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Republican Party for the exalted position of president of the United States.

How did that go?

Let’s just say it was a double fault, a term commonly used by we tennis players. The medium, an Elon Musk website, was too small for such a big announcement.

The website crashed, taking the "competency" theme right off the table.

But the worst was yet to come.

What DeSantis wanted to talk about, nobody was interested in.

• Who cares about COVID lockdowns and openings?
• Who cares about childish back and forth comments between DeSantis and Trump?
• Who cares whether slaves benefitted from being forced to learn new skills? Well, then, what do Republicans care about?

If you read my posts on Newsmax, you already know the answer.

Republicans care about who can rip out the deep state fastest, deepest and most permanently.

• Who will punish every government employee who saw the Hunter Biden laptop and said nothing?
• Who will punish the 51 "Russian Disinformation" liars the fastest and the harshest?

You get the picture.

Then tell the DeSantis people. Actually, never mind. It’s almost certainly too late.

Most recently DeSantis has ping-ponged from one issue to the next, like a buoy in the ocean. He's searching for a way to resonate with voters.

I have a soundbite I’m forced to use all too often.

It goes like this: "The average political consultant is slightly below average."

That’s what happened to DeSantis. He picked the wrong people with the wrong messages.

Instead of reading Chris Christie and Mike Pence he should have read Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and me! (It’s not modest but it is true).

We’ve come full circle.

Ron DeSantis remains one of the most effective leaders of our time.

He was a strong congressman and he’s a truly great governor.

And, yet, the national stage has not been a good one for him.

Let me repeat: "Ronnie, we hardly knew ye."

(This line is taken from a popular traditional song entitled: "Johnny, we hardly knew ye." It was written in 1867 by Joseph B. Geoghegan and published in London.)

And we hardly knew ye, because you didn't surround yourself with the best and the brightest, and you couldn't connect with average voters on national issues, of the greatest importance to them.

Back to the drawing board. For 2028 perhaps?

Sid Dinerstein is a former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. Read More — Here.