Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis says he regrets tanking his own campaign in embarrassing new interview

Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis’ presidential run was doomed from his first failed Twitter space. Filled with technical glitches, he stumbled through his announcement with Elon Musk, setting the tone for a disastrous nine months.

Now, the Florida governor’s campaign is essentially over, and he has some regrets.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, DeSantis lamented his self-induced lack of exposure. The anti-gay pol only appeared on conservative outlets at the start of his campaign, bypassing traditional mainstream stops.

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And it didn’t work. DeSantis kept sinking in the polls, reaching single digits in some states.

“I came in not really doing as much media,” said DeSantis, via the Daily Beast. “I should have just been blanketing. I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything.”

How times have changed! When he launched his presidential bid, he sold himself as a brave cultural warrior garnering revenge on liberal elites.

Now, he’s wishing he appeared more often on CNN.

Speaking of which, DeSantis agreed to CNN and ABC debates in New Hampshire this week, but both events were canceled when Nikki Haley pulled out.

Without Trump involved, Haley says she doesn’t see much of a point. And she’s not wrong.

Haley is trouncing DeSantis in the Granite State. A poll released Wednesday shows “Meatball Ron” with just 5% support, compared to 34% for Haley and 50% for the disgraced ex-president.

As a result, DeSantis is abandoning New Hampshire, with the primary just four days away. Apparently, moderate voters up north didn’t take well to his extreme rhetoric, such as when he recently claimed without evidence that people with COVID booster shots are more likely to contract the virus.

Though DeSantis barely placed second in Iowa, he still finished 30 points behind Trump.

And suffered plenty of embarrassment along the way.

Towards the end, he couldn’t even defend himself against hecklers. That duty fell to his wife, Casey. When somebody tried to hand DeSantis a “participation trophy,” she stepped between them.

The governor can’t handle a heckler, but we’re supposed to think he can stand up to Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping???

The real Alpha had to step in to defend Ron.— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) January 13, 2024

Luckily Casey was there to protect him from this emotional assault.— Kevin Washington (@KevinSixx13) January 13, 2024

His wife put the last nail in his candidacy.— Joel Zamboni (@joelzamboni) January 13, 2024

Despite a second place finish in Iowa, DeSantis’ beleaguered Super PAC, Never Back Down, laid off more employees.

It’s a sign that his campaign is just sputtering to its inevitable end. He’s even blasted Trump in recent days, correctly declaring that Fox News protects him to juice its own ratings.

DeSantis hitched his hopes to the right-wing media, but as it turns out, they already had their darling in mind.

He’s orange, loud and full of criminal indictments!

DeSantis, meanwhile, is full of nothing but disappointments. He’s now pinning his futile campaign on South Carolina, even though polling shows him a distant third.

At this point, it really feels like he’s just delaying his campaign’s official postmortem.