Conservative Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis has seen enough of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to believe that he shouldn't even bother to challenge for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
In his latest column, Lewis argues that a DeSantis presidential campaign would be a "fool's errand" given the Florida governor's apparent weaknesses as a candidate on the national stage.
Lewis writes that videos he's seen of DeSantis interacting with ordinary voters are more than enough to make him believe that he doesn't have what it takes to run a successful presidential campaign.
"Take, for example, the video where a supporter tells DeSantis that he drove an hour to see him," writes Lewis. "DeSantis thanks him, and then promptly turns his back on him. In another video, DeSantis (who reportedly is a gross eater) seems to wipe his nose with his hand, before patting a guy on the back. And yet another video shows him guffawing weirdly (in a manner reminiscent of Vice President Kamala Harris). Lastly, there is a video that shows DeSantis asking a guy what his name is. When the guy says his name, DeSantis responds, 'OK.'"
READ MORE: Trump's 'overwhelming insecurity' could cost him a lot of money in new legal twist: Morning Joe
Lewis also takes DeSantis to task for being totally unwilling to take on former President Donald Trump in a direct fashion, which he said was simply not sustainable for anyone who hopes to be the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee.
"On March 20, DeSantis criticized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for indicting Donald Trump, while simultaneously getting a dig in on Trump, saying that he doesn’t know anything about paying off porn stars," he argues. "Here, we learned that DeSantis would not use the indictment against Trump in an overt fashion. Instead, he would try to furtively weaponize it in a way that was too cute by half. This suggested to me that DeSantis lacks the killer spirit."
