(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Megadonor dumps drowning DeSantis [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-17 The Billionaire Thomas Peterffy is a billionaire player in Republican politics — but the game is not shaping up to his satisfaction. His boy, DeSantis, fumbled the ball. Peterffy decided to cut his losses and ax DeSantis’s cash. He explains, “I have put myself on hold. Because of his [DeSantis’s] stance on abortion and book banning … myself, and a bunch of friends, are holding our powder dry.” Peterffy is a Republican, a rich man, and a realist. The first two are music to GOP ears — the last a knife to its heart. Because, while the base will go along with anything, the flint-eyed plutocrat expects results. And in politics, the only result that counts is winning. There are no moral victories. Now Peterffy is telling his friends DeSantis is a loser. Peterffy has said aloud what many Republican backers think in private. The GOP is pursuing suicidal policies on abortion and social issues. He could add their absolutism on guns in the face of dead children is also a millstone. To a rational analyst, the series of losses in purple states like Wisconsin and red states like Kansas is a neon warning saying: “Keep this up, and 2024 will be as uphill for Republicans as 2022”. But DeSantis lobbied for and got a 6-week limit on abortion in Florida. DeSantis did realize his abortion extremism will hurt him nationally. He made no fanfare over the bill's passage — signing it privately in the almost midnight darkness at 10:45 pm and announcing it on Twitter 15 minutes later. Hardly the act of a man who thinks he is backing a political winner. The ad DeSantis has yet to declare his candidacy for 2024. But he has been visiting the states that prospective candidates do. And this weekend, a pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, dropped an ad attacking Trump . It was pathetic. At 44, Ron is young for a presidential candidate. But this commercial is from the last century. A white male voice-over presented the boilerplate attack with memorable forgettability. The ad was cluttered. There was something about a Democrat [sic] prosecutor, Pelosi, social security, and most excruciatingly, a monotonic offering from America’s least charismatic politician. In the age of autotuning and deep fakes, can nothing breathe life into this emotionless robot? DeSantis's message was essentially, “Please do not attack me, Mr. Trump.” It echoes the pathetic plea of a former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush, “ Please clap .” If this is the best DeSantis’s supporters have, he should quit. With his softening poll numbers — and an opponent who has no boundaries and loves ad hominem attacks — DeSantis’ only winning play is to go after Trump’s every flaw. Ron should call Don a traitor, a man who sucks up to dictators, an ignorant bastard, who is all gas and no substance, and a con man who takes the base's money and deserts them. DeSantis should use the Karl Rove strategy of attacking his opponent's strengths. Let him put out an ad excoriating Trump for abandoning the Jan 6 “patriots” while raking in a fortune off their plight. Ron should slam Don for playing the prison choir’s music while not spending a dime of his millions on their defense. That kind of thing. Disney DeSantis took on Disney, and Disney ate his lunch. It started when Disney, Florida’s largest employer, spoke up against Ron’s “don’t say gay” laws. A good politician would have ignored it. Or, if he had to say something, he could have gone to his safe space and railed about “woke” corporations and their diversity & inclusion ( D&I ) and environmental, social, and governance ( ESG ) policies. Instead, the thin-skinned DeSantis had to go to DEFCON 1. He rammed an ill-considered bill through Florida’s compliant legislature, canceling Reedy Creek, Disney’s autonomous business district. When the dust settled, the bean counters realized Ron's rash act had left local taxpayers on the hook for millions or more. Disney then out-maneuvered the Governor. When the new board, comprising five DeSantis acolytes, took over the renamed ‘Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’ in March, they discovered the previous board had stripped them of their power by approving a development agreement and “declaration of restrictive covenants” limiting their authority. DeSantis failed to quit while he was behind. Seething at looking like an idiot, he now threatens to build a prison near Disney World. Trump has already attacked him for being bested by the Mouse. Ron is offering him more ammunition. Bye-bye Ron DeSantis does not have what it takes. When he controls all the levers — as he does in Florida — and he faces an eviscerated opponent in Florida’s Democratic Party, he is the clear winner. But on the national stage, against a ruthless opponent who will say anything, Ron is out of his depth. If his political acumen matched his intelligence — and he is a book-smart guy — he would have sat out in 2024. He would have said so as soon as Trump declared. Then supported Trump and reaped the reward in 2028. 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