As Ron DeSantis struggles to gain momentum in the polls even with Donald Trump facing a series of damaging indictments, his top donors have been calling out the Florida governor’s bumbling campaign.
In addition being a disaster in public and sparking intra-party fights with his inflammatory stance on slavery, DeSantis has been routinely criticized for being “too online.” That criticism reached a fever pitch after a Semafor report implicated a now-fired campaign staffer for tweeting out a pro-DeSantis video loaded with Nazi imagery. Turns out, the DeSantis team is reportedly dropping considerable amounts of money on memes, and his donors are pissed.
Via Rolling Stone:
Following publication of the Semafor report, one major GOP donor who contributed to Team DeSantis tells Rolling Stone: “If they keep blowing money on f*cking memes, I’m out… [He] better deliver the greatest debate performance in the world [in August] or… I can promise you, a lot of people won’t be giving Ron another nickel.”
Another DeSantis ally told Rolling Stone that they heard rumors of the “meme factory,” but hoped it wasn’t real. Meanwhile, a top GOP donor who has backed DeSantis had a much more blunt response: “For f*ck’s sake.”
The backlash to DeSantis’ online messaging has grown at a steady rate all through July. The Florida governor was dragged by his own party after an anti-LGBTQ video that essentially criticized Trump for not being homophobic enough. Since then, the message from donors to the embattled candidate has been very clear: Stop doing “stupid stuff.”
(Via Rolling Stone)