The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Launching a presidential campaign on Twitter is an innovative way of doing it, especially since he will be using Twitter Spaces in a virtual audio event. That’s right – sound only.
I admit, when I first heard what he was going to do, I pondered what he might be thinking. An online event, even with Elon Musk, will have a smaller audience than a big blow-out style event carried on cable news networks, wouldn’t it? It’s clever to merge with Musk on the effort, that’s a given, since Musk can draw a crowd. Then I read a thread on Twitter that explains why DeSantis may have made the decision to do it this way. DeSantis will have a conversation with Elon Musk and it will be moderated by David Sacks, a Musk confidant who supports DeSantis. It will happen at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time and then at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, DeSantis will be interviewed by Trey Gowdy on FNC. So, he may not do the official announcement in a televised appearance but he will go do an interview that will draw a very large audience in prime time just an hour or so after his Twitter conversation with Musk. Not too shabby.
A former Republican Chief of Staff in the House during the 117th Congress offered up an explanation as to why he was using Twitter as a vehicle at such an important time. It makes sense so I will use his tweets.
I can tell you why DeSantis is going to use twitter. I was a GOP Chief of Staff in the House during the 117th Congress. After Youngkin won the VA Governorship different elements of his team spoke to us all to help us learn the lessons of his campaign. His comms people…
— Kenneth Monahan (@Foudroyant) May 23, 2023
They never held another press conference for the entire campaign. They won. If you are a Republican candidate, it makes absolutely no sense to try to communicate with the voters through the traditional media.
— Kenneth Monahan (@Foudroyant) May 23, 2023
That explanation makes sense. No one should doubt the talent DeSantis has on his communications team. They are top-notch talent and they are quick to respond to all the incoming shots taken at DeSantis every day. They know how to use social media. They bring receipts and they are really good at it. DeSantis is known for having a quality staff around him and that speaks to his executive skills. Contrast that to Trump who boasted about only hiring the best people and then brought in some less than stellar picks.
It’s smart to avoid legacy media outlets as a Republican candidate. How many times have you watched an interview with a Republican politician on any network other than FNC or maybe Newsmax if your cable provider offers it, and thought, why did he or she go on that network in the first place? They are always met with some level of hostility just because they are Republicans. Legacy media and cable news outlets are extensions of the DNC. They coordinate messages and they cover for Democrats in office, especially the feeble and inept Joe Biden. So, DeSantis is bypassing them all but FNC where he has the best shot of at least a fair interview.
It must be driving Trump nuts because he likes to think of himself as a big player on social media and he is. He started his own platform to compete with Twitter when Twitter kicked him off. Unfortunately for Trump, though, Truth Social doesn’t have anywhere near the audience that Twitter has.
This is a big win for Elon Musk. It’s a win – win for both men. Twitter is becoming the go-to platform for conservatives since Elon Musk bought the company and began treating conservatives fairly. Tucker Carlson recently announced he will do some kind of show or something on Twitter, for example. No one in cable television had a bigger audience than Tucker had before FNC stupidly let him go. Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist.
Will Musk endorse DeSantis as his choice in the GOP primary? Maybe. But not today. During the Wall Street Journal’s 2023 CEO Summit Council on Tuesday, Musk confirmed his participation in DeSantis’ announcement but said he was not going to be formally endorsing DeSantis at that time. Musk noted that DeSantis is interested in the future and he’s interested in winning again.
The midterm elections and the speculation that a big red wave would materialize to produce Republican majorities in the House and Senate never happened so now Republicans have made a top priority in winning.
Democrats are criticizing the decision to appear with Elon Musk because they demagogue him as a right-wing activist on Twitter. He’s a Libertarian and he voted for Biden in 2020. The left cannot tolerate any opinions that are different than theirs. Who’s the threat to democracy? Yeah, it’s not Republicans. Progressives no longer run Twitter. That’s a good thing for those who advocate for free speech.
Musk recently said he’d like to see “just a normal human being as president.” Seems like a reasonable thing to say. There is nothing reasonable with a feeble and frail 80-year-old at the helm of the most powerful country on earth. Trump isn’t showing the signs of old age as Biden is but he’s not getting any younger, either. He is only four years younger than Biden. It’s time for the next generation to rise.
We’ll see how this all plays out tonight as DeSantis launches his much-anticipated campaign. Team Trump is nervously continuing to attack DeSantis as they have done since Trump announced his own campaign last November. Nikki Haley is joining in with Trump and attacking DeSantis as Trump-lite. Let the games begin.
Who will stand? pic.twitter.com/4MFC5iI557
— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) May 24, 2023
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