Ron DeSantis melts down at protester with a rambling George Soros rant: analyst

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) lost his composure at a heckler and began screaming about George Soros in a confrontation caught on camera.

Progressive political analyst David Pakman highlighted the moment in a Thursday episode of his David Pakman Show. He marveled at "the anger" from a politician who has "run for president of the United States."

The clip picks up mid-event, with DeSantis touting that Florida has "4 million more residents than New York State" before he turns on a woman heckling him.

"Soros isn't paying you enough because you're not very good at this," DeSantis told her. "You should try again."

He kept going, suggesting the billionaire "needs to pay some better talent instead of having people like you show up."

The governor then leaned on a familiar line.

"This ain't my first rodeo, lady," DeSantis said. "I've seen it all, and you ain't very good at it."

Pakman was baffled by the display. "What is he doing?" Pakman asked, noting that "a lady yells at him and suddenly he's screaming uncontrollably about George Soros."

But the host argued DeSantis' episode revealed "a much bigger story here," one that has little to do with a single heckler. The "2028 Republican primary maneuvering is starting now," Pakman said, with DeSantis and others already testing whether they have "a path back into the top of the Republican Party."

He pointed out that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has traveled to Iowa "three times this year," started working "the podcast circuit," and is quietly asking people whether they might be "interested in working on my 2028 campaign."

Pakman was blunt about Cruz's odds, predicting, "Ted Cruz is not going to be the next president of the United States."

Cruz has already taken shots at Vice President JD Vance, who is "leading early Republican polling," by calling a collapsed Iran agreement "a terrible deal," Pakman noted. Asked about the weight of a Trump endorsement, Cruz said, "It carries weight, but voters are going to make their own decision."

DeSantis, once seen as "the inevitable successor" and "Trumpism without Trump," saw that status crumble after Trump "humiliated him," Pakman said. Now, DeSantis is "back in Florida yelling at hecklers," Pakman joked.