Assessing the Prospects of a Ron DeSantis Presidential Run

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has reduced governance to performance art, focusing on political stunts rather than serious policy. He has flip-flopped on COVID-19 restrictions and interfered with municipalities' pandemic responses. DeSantis boasts about Florida's economic success but ignores the role of federal stimulus dollars. He avoids tough questions and grants interviews mostly to far-right journalists. DeSantis champions controversial laws that violate citizens' constitutional rights and have been held unconstitutional. He has reduced serious political discourse to the public policy equivalent of the class clown.