High Energy

Ron DeSantis, with his wife Casey, speaks during a campaign event in Salix, Iowa, on May 31, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty images)

Today marks one week since … the incident, making this an opportune moment to take stock. How has Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign fared in its first seven days?

Was “the DeSaster” a sign of things to come or a DeParture from what will be seen in time as a smart and effective effort?

More likely the latter than the former, I think. That’s not to say the governor will win, which remains improbable. It is to say that he’s running the sort of campaign so far that seems to have the best chance of overtaking Donald Trump.

In 2016 Trump dubbed another (former) governor of Florida “low energy.” That was unfair to Jeb Bush, who was enviably audacious while in office at dragging policy in his home state toward conservative priorities. But the term did efficiently capture certain uncomfortable truths about Bush’s presidential candidacy.

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