A scathing New York Times review has blasted the new book by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as an excruciatingly flat "mechanical try-hard" — hinting at a charisma vacuum that could harm DeSantis' chances in a presidential race.
Reviewer Jennifer Szalai found the book, "The Courage to Be Free" — which is due out Tuesday — as so stiff that it "reads like a politician’s memoir churned out by ChatGPT." The book is "courageously free of anything that resembles charisma, or a discernible sense of humor," she wrote in the review Monday.
DeSantis can rail all he wants about "wokeness," but it can't distract from the "dull coldness at the book's core," Szalai noted. Even the title is an "awkward feint at boldness while clinging to the safety of cliché," she wrote.
That doesn't sound like campaign fire, and underscores concerns that DeSantis' personality only plays well in his home state.
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Szalai even pointed to the book's likely negative impact on a portion of his political supporters, who have encouraged DeSantis to “humanize himself” for a national audience. They'll be "sorely disappointed," she warned.
It's not the first time concerns about DeSantis' personality in a national campaign have been raised.
New York Magazine wondered just last month if DeSantis has a prayer against Donald Trump's "sinister charisma." Columnist Ed Kilgore characterized the heart of Trump's appeal as "the savagery of his assaults on Democrats and 'establishment' Republicans ... leavened with just enough crude humor and bad-boy charm."
DeSantis quickly "mastered the negative side of MAGA politics," but he decidedly lacks "people skills," Kilgore wrote.
Politico’s Jonathan Martin even more bluntly stated that DeSantis simply "lacks charm," and isn't keen on the "retail" side of selling his politics to the public that Trump seems to crave.
