(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Setting the stage for what promises to be a brutal slugfest to secure the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, the Twitter Spaces launch announcing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s entry into the race either broke the internet with a massive outpouring of interest, or crippled his campaign before it even got started.
The long-awaited announcement, which unfolded live on Twitter Spaces after DeSantis earlier Wednesday had filed the requisite paperwork to make it official, was sidetracked by technical glitches that delayed the event and hampered the presentation, which DeSantis attributed to a record-high audience and voter enthusiasm.
BREAKING: Twitter experiencing severe slowness as large number of users attempt to join Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' presidential announcement Space pic.twitter.com/PkjepGsX8e
— Intel Point Alert (@IntelPointAlert) May 24, 2023
“We had a huge audience. It was the largest they ever had and it did break the Twitter Space,” he told Fox News in an interview after the event. “We’re really excited about the enthusiasm.”
The numbers were echoed by GOP donor David Sacks, who co-hosted the event with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, and wrote that “This was by far the biggest room ever held on social media.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is by a wide margin leading the GOP presidential pack, had a different take. He blistered DeSantis throughout the event with posts on Truth Social, while Donald Trump Jr. tagged the event on Twitter as a “#DeSaster.”
The braintrust behind GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley’s campaign joined the bashing.
“Failed soft launch? Check. Failed announcement? Double check. We look forward to Ron DeSantis’ failed campaign,” cracked Mark Harris, strategist for Haley’s super PAC.
Technical glitches aside, the Twitter Spaces event reportedly reaped rewards for DeSantis, and was a strong enough performance to gain public support from conservative stalwart Mark Levine.
There was so much enthusiasm for Governor DeSantis' vision for our Great American Comeback that he literally busted up the internet. Washington is next.
$1 million raised online in one hour… and counting!
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) May 24, 2023
Shrugging off the tech snafus, DeSantis used the event to plug his national agenda and release a video touting his Florida successes, both legislative and electoral, while taking a shot at President Joe Biden.
“Our border is a disaster. Crime infests our cities. The federal government makes it harder for families to make ends meet. And the president flounders,” DeSantis said in the video.“Righting the ship requires restoring sanity to our society, normalcy to our communities and integrity to our institutions. Truth must be our foundation — and common sense can no longer be an uncommon virtue. In Florida, we proved that it can be done.”
DeSantis said it was accomplished by choosing “facts over fear, education over indoctrination, law and order over rioting and disorder.”
“We held the line when freedom hung in the balance,” DeSantis said of his time as governor. “We showed that we can — and must — revitalize America. We need the courage to lead and the strength to win.”
I’m running for president to lead our Great American Comeback. pic.twitter.com/YmkWkLaVDg
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 24, 2023
While never mentioning Trump by name during the Twitter Spaces event, DeSantis took a swipe at a midterm red wave that the former president had said he would lead, but never materialized.
“There is no substitute for victory. We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” DeSantis said. “We must look forward, not backwards.”
