Down and out: How DeSantis tried to fight on two fronts – and cowered in both

Shortly before Ron DeSantis posted a disappointing second-place finish in Iowa, his old friend and colleague from Congress Francis Rooney told me the Florida governor’s major problem and why he could not knock off Donald Trump.

“Trump’s base support kind of doubled when they started all these indictments,” Mr Rooney, former congressman and US Ambassador to the Vatican told me.

Conversely, Bob Vander Plaats, the Iowa evangelical kingmaker, told me shortly before the caucuses that DeSantis “needs to convince those who are supporting Nikki Haley, ‘listen, you want an alternative to Trump? I’m your guy’. And he needs to convince the Trump voters – ‘Hey, if you want all the good of Trump, but without all the drama, then I’m your guy.’”

These quotes offer the perfect excuses for why a candidate who had won re-election by double digits in the former swing state of Florida and at 45, became the conservative golden boy that the right had dubbed “America’s governor” amid his decision to keep his state open during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It also excuses the fact that Mr DeSantis, a notoriously aloof but wonky former congressman who failed to distinguish himself during his tenure in the House, never came off as particularly personable. It elides the numerous stories about him being awkward and, of course, the pudding fingers.

But there’s another quote, one from wrestling great Ric Flair, that encapsulates why Mr DeSantis never really caught fire and why he ended his 2024 White House run with a whimper on Sunday: “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.”

And for all intents and purposes, Mr Trump was the man and instead of throwing a punch, the retired Navy veteran who had a super PAC dubbed Never Back Down never seemed to want to