Trump, Biden and Others Troll DeSantis’s Twitter Announcement
Former President Donald J. Trump called it a “disaster,” President Biden’s campaign played a trick to raise a little extra cash, and low-polling Republicans blamed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ botched, delayed campaign rollout. tried to use it to steal some attention for himself. .
As technical difficulties Derailed Mr. DeSantis’ splash attempt. With Elon Musk, the platform’s billionaire owner, appearing on a Twitter live stream, much of the Internet couldn’t resist the fun — including two leading presidential candidates and other trailblazing wannabes.
A 26-minute mix of mostly dead air, followed by Mr. Musk’s intermittent celebration, made the live stream “feel a little like a Twitter ad,” said Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump administration official who has taken a strong reaction against Mr. Musk. Trump wrote on Twitter. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Trump ally, called his governor “The Deflector.”
But perhaps no one enjoyed the stumbling start to Mr. DeSantis’s presidential bid more than his current and possibly future rivals.
Mr Trump – still eschewing Twitter in favor of his truth-telling social platform – called DeSantis’ announcement “devastating”. He added that his entire campaign would be a disaster. “Watch!”
Not surprisingly, Mr. Biden’s campaign took a more unusual approach: “This link works,” he wrote, pointing to a site where supporters can make donations.
Mr. DeSantis received support from some corners of the right-wing media universe. Ben Shapiro, the podcast’s host, who has more than five million followers on Twitter, suggested the technical glitch was a distraction from what Mr. DeSantis was trying to say.
“If you’re obsessed with the optics of a Twitter space malfunction, you probably won’t vote for DeSantis.” Mr. Shapiro wrote. “If you’re interested in political substance, DeSantis is probably your candidate.”
And some other lackluster, low-polling Republican White House candidates tried to grab some attention for themselves.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson took a similar approach to Mr. Biden, writing — on Twitter, of course — “Like my policies, this link works,” along with a link to his donation page. And Vivek Ramaswamy Mr. DeSantis was accused of sitting for softball interviews and reading prepared remarks.
“Challenging the GOP Field,” Mr. Ramaswamy wrote on Twitter. “No pre-written speeches. No teleprompters. No pre-scripted interviews. It will be good for authenticity, good for America. I promise to abide.”