Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis’ 2024 campaign continues to implode & these latest blunders prove it

Ron DeSantis axed handfuls of his campaign staff last week. Politico says the move comes after his campaign failed to hit fundraising targets.

The Florida Governor’s long-anticipated campaign has not soared in the way he and his team surely hoped it would. An anonymous insider on the campaign said around a dozen staff members were let go on Thursday. Some may pick up new roles in ‘Never Back Down’ and other super PACs affiliated with DeSantis.

Another Republican source told NBC that DeSantis’ possibly hired too many people at the start of his campaign.

“They never should have brought so many people on; the burn rate was way too high. People warned the campaign manager but she wanted to hear none of it.”

DeSantis fundraising slowing

DeSantis raised an impressive $20 million in the second quarter, according to new filings. The ‘Never Back Down’ PAC told Fox News it also raised $130 million since March.

However, there are signs that DeSantis’ fundraising has slowed in recent weeks. A third of the $20 million he raised came in the ten days after he announced. Also, only around 15 percent of his donations came from small-dollar donors. His main rival, Donald Trump, raises significantly more from small donations.

At the end of June, a video the DeSantis campaign put out, in which he sought to portray Trump as an LGBTQ+ friendly candidate, was particularly poorly received. Even gay Republicans such as Richard Grenell and George Santos denounced it as homophobic. It was later quietly deleted from social media.

DeSantis reportedly had 92 staff in the early days of his campaign. That’s more than any other GOP Presidential candidate. It’s believed he’s focussing a large chunk of funding to campaign in Iowa, which might explain the decision to cut the campaign’s employee payroll figure.

“Americans are rallying behind Ron DeSantis and his plan to reverse Joe Biden’s failures and restore sanity to our nation, and his momentum will only continue as voters see more of him in person, especially in Iowa,” said DeSantis spokesperson Andrew Romeo to Politico. “Defeating Joe Biden and the $72 million behind him will require a nimble and candidate-driven campaign, and we are building a movement to go the distance.”

Former DeSantis donor pledges to support Trump

Last week, CNBC reported that Ike Perlmutter, a billionaire ex-Marvel and Disney executive, was planning to donate to Donald Trump. Perlmutter is Disney’s largest individual shareholder, with a net worth of around $3.6 billion. Perlmutter has donated to DeSantis in the past. He gave the Florida politician $250,000 in 2018 and also donated to his re-election campaign in 2022.

A spokesperson for Perlmutter told CNBC the billionaire plans to make a “meaningful” donation to help Trump win the Presidential primary. It is undoubtedly more bad news for Ron DeSantis, who has been at war with Disney since the corporation criticized Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law last year.

Perlmutter was formey chairman of Marvel Entertainment. However, he was laid off in April after repeatedly clashing with Disney CEO Bob Iger.