'Malevolent clowns': Criticism of DeSantis campaign 'reboot' intensifies as scandals, missteps mount

The Orlando Sentinel, examining the “reboot” of Governor Ron DeSantis‘ presidential campaign, reports the Republican candidate had a “difficult weekend on the culture war front,” and was “re-doubling his defense of the state’s controversial new Black history standards as a new report revealed a now-infamous anti-LGBTQ ad was actually made within the campaign itself.”

That last bombshell was first reported by The New York Times on Sunday, which called it “more of a self-inflicted wound than was previously known: A DeSantis campaign aide had originally produced the video internally, passing it off to an outside supporter to post it first and making it appear as if it was generated independently, according to a person with knowledge of the incident.”

The Sentinel also adds that in a separate instance last week, a “pro-DeSantis account also tweeted a video that included alleged imagery of a Nazi symbol. Though reports that it had been retweeted by a DeSantis campaign staffer before it was deleted were unconfirmed, Florida Democrats pounced.”

Among those Florida Democrats pouncing is U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, who tweeted, “Calling DeSantis a fascist isn’t hyperbole, it’s defining what he is.”

Frost also tweeted a screenshot of the alleged Nazi symbol.

Meanwhile, Governor DeSantis’ new education standards that “include teaching ‘how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit’,” according to instructions, has also caused the campaign major problems.

DeSantis first strongly defended the new standards, but as MSNBC reports on Monday, DeSantis is now “denying any personal responsibility” for them. DeSantis’ latest line (video below) is now, “You should talk to them about it – I mean, I didn’t do it, I wasn’t involved in it.”

These controversies and more have led one former GOP consultant to call the DeSantis campaign a “clown car.”

“What’s happened is what might be expected, and I did expect,” Mac Stipanovich, a former Tallahassee Republican consultant and “frequent critic of DeSantis” told the Sentinel. “The campaign is proving to be a clown car. Malevolent clowns, but clowns just the same.”

Last week NBC News reported DeSantis had fired “roughly a dozen staffers in a campaign shake-up,” but to Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch, it’s not enough.

“There can be no reset … there can be no ‘Let Ron be Ron’ unless and until the @RonDeSantis campaign fires at least half of its communications staff,” Schorsch tweeted.

In addition with struggling to manage his campaign, DeSantis is also struggling in the polls. The current Real Clear Politics average puts Donald Trump in first place among GOP presidential candidates, with 51.8%. DeSantis is in second place, at 18.5% – 33.3 points below Trump.