MEGHAN MCCAIN: The DeSantis online launch was a DeSaster. But it’s still GOT to be RON

There’s no two ways about it – Ron DeSantis’ long-awaited presidential campaign announcement on Wednesday night was a disaster.

How fitting that Elon Musk smashed the launch button and we all listened as their clever little Twitter scheme exploded into a million pieces.

There. We’ve had our laugh. We’ve made our rocket puns. But now it’s time to move on because this is deadly serious.

What really matters for every Republican, conservative and otherwise reasonable voter in the country, who is devastated over America’s accelerating decline, has nothing to do with a computer glitch. 

It’s about a stark choice. 

It’s DeSantis or another four years of decrepit Joe Biden.

Election-denying Donald Trump can’t win another general election. The GOP cannot go down that rutted road again. 

 There’s no two ways about it – Ron DeSantis’ long-awaited presidential campaign announcement on Wednesday night was a disaster.

If you don’t remember how revolting Trump can be on the campaign trail? He gave us all a reminder last night.

On Truth Social, Trump posted a spoof video of DeSantis’ Twitter Spaces event featuring Adolph Hitler, The Devil, Dick Cheney, George Soros, and others.

The video ends with an imitation voice of Trump saying: ‘Ron DeSanctimonious can kiss my big beautiful 2024 presidential a**. Trump 2024 baby, let’s go.’

Buckle up GOP. This is just the beginning of the insanity.

Recall the roller coaster from hell that was the 2016 Republican Party primary.

Trump falsely claimed that Ted Cruz’s father cavorted with John F. Kennedy’s assassin. He compared Ben Carson to a ‘child molester.’

He responded to Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s tough questioning at a Republican primary debate by saying, ‘there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her — wherever.’

He insulted my father’s legendary military service with this uniquely deranged statement: ‘He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.’

It’s not lost on me that I’d sooner go blue in the face before I convince Trump’s die-hard army of supporters to abandon him over this rhetoric. So, I won’t waste my breath on them.

But Trump’s base won’t elect the next president. They didn’t in 2020 and they won’t in 2024.

Not convinced?

Trump’s CNN Town Hall in early May was clear proof that he’s talked his way straight out of contention in the general election, rambling on about ‘stolen elections’ and defending his bizarre belief that famous men somehow have special dispensation to molest women.

He responded to Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s (above) tough questioning at a Republican primary debate by saying, ‘there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her — wherever.’

It’s DeSantis or another four years of decrepit Joe Biden. Election-denying Donald Trump can’t win another general election. The GOP cannot go down that rutted road again.

Barring a dark horse Republican candidate, there’s only one way forward at the moment – Ron’s our man.

If there was any redeeming takeaway from Wednesday night’s campaign shuttle disaster it was that hardly anyone was listening.

Only about one in five Americans are on Twitter and of those people there are more Democrats than Republicans.

That means that no matter how well (or poorly) DeSantis’ Twitter adventure went, most voters learned about it through the prism of the mainstream media. And as we know, they’re no friends of DeSantis.

Next week, DeSantis will roll out his campaign in force, and if they’d take any of my advice I’d say: go big!

Showcase strikingly charismatic Casey DeSantis and their picture-perfect family. Pack the risers behind his podium in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida with Americans from all walks of life. Prove to America that there is a bright alternative to the darkly depressingly repeat of Trump v. Biden in 2024.

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter what happened last night, as long as the campaign doesn’t forget.

Never in one-thousand years should a presidential campaign outsource its event to a third party.

Twitter reportedly didn’t do advance testing for ‘site reliability issues,’ and as we know, many of the Blue Bird’s employees aren’t exactly members of the DeSantis fan club. So, it wouldn’t have taken much to foresee a possible problem here.

Though, I also can’t really fault DeSantis’ team for trying to cozy up to the man who is emerging as one of the most important media figures in the 2024 election.

Firing Tucker Carlson has kneecapped Fox News – at least for time being – and if that means Musk’s Twitter is the place for right-wing voices to heard – then so be it. It’s no surprise that Tucker says he’s taking his millions of followers there for a new show.

Firing Tucker Carlson has kneecapped Fox News – at least for time being – and if that means Musk’s Twitter is the place for right-wing voices to heard – then so be it. It’s no surprise that Tucker says he’s taking his millions of followers there for a new show.

And if this experience convinces DeSantis that he can’t just ignore traditional media outlets – then that’s a positive too.

Trump wrote the book on battling the media, even going as far as calling some of his most despised outlets, ‘the enemy of the people.’ But at least he plays ‘the game’ – and wins.

He walked into the lion’s den of the CNN town hall and made them all look like fools. He emerged riding a new wave of enthusiasm.

Trump makes one of his most compelling arguments when he rails against the ‘elites,’ saying, ‘in reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you, I’m just in the way’. DeSantis, on the other hand, just ignores them. That is not a strategy.

So, here’s your dose of reality to counteract the media hysteria over DeSantis’ big mistake last night. DeSantis is not going anywhere and it’s a long campaign ahead.

The top DeSantis super-PAC is fuelled by $200 million and it’s reportedly ready to launch a plan to hire 2,600 field organizers to knock on the doors of every single potential supporter in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina – at least four times. If you live in Iowa, expect to see their smiling faces at least five times, they say.

This is a serious campaign with serious cash. If they can learn from their mistakes, then the future looks bright.

Now it’s up to the voters not to lose sight on the big picture. It’s Ron or bust.