(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DeSantis Campaign Reminds Me Of A Badly Damaged B-17 Bomber During WW2. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-08 If you have ever seen any of the movies of a WW2 B-17 Bomber flight crew, there is a harrowing scene of the plane being hit with anti-aircraft fire or bullets from a German fighter. The crew valiantly try to keep the damaged plane from crashing as one and then another of the four engines catch fire. What saves the day is the leadership and courage of the pilot, co-pilot and rest of the crew to keep the plane together until it lands in England. And believe it or not, the Ron DeSantis campaign for president reminds me of those action scenes. Only the pilot is Ron DeSantis, and he just fired his co-pilot. And this was after he threw several of the crew out of the plane to lighten the load. In his third staff shakeup in less than a month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced his embattled presidential campaign manager with one of his most trusted, and most conservative, advisers: his gubernatorial office’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier. Outgoing campaign manager Generra Peck will remain as chief strategist on the campaign as part of the restructuring. Peck guided DeSantis’s blowout reelection bid last year, but she quickly became the subject of criticism from DeSantis advisers and donors in mid-July after his presidential campaign stalled and money dried up. The campaign then twice cut staff and expenses and retooled DeSantis’s press strategy to make him more available to the mainstream media. But donors and some outside advisers weren’t satisfied, leading DeSantis last week to ask Uthmeier to diagnose problems with the campaign and see if he could fix them. Ultimately, it led the governor to ask Uthmeier to take the job. Who is Uthmeier? I’m so happy you asked: Over the years, Uthmeier earned a reputation in Florida political circles as the governor’s always-on-offense conservative fixer. He has had a key role in nearly every conservative and controversial policy that built the DeSantis brand with conservatives. Uthmeier led DeSantis’s legal efforts to prohibit local government mask mandates, ban private business vaccine passports and reopen schools quickly in response to COVID. That earned DeSantis national condemnation from health experts and widespread negative mainstream media coverage but the support of Florida voters, who went on to reelect him by his historic margin in 2022. It also propelled him into the top tier of GOP presidential contenders. Uthmeier also helped direct the controversial effort by DeSantis to redraw Florida’s congressional maps and eliminate a Black-held congressional seat. He also helped recruit legislative and school board candidates favorable to DeSantis’s conservative pro-business tax-cutting agenda. During the fight over Florida’s law limiting the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, Uthmeier managed the state’s strategy to remove Disney’s special treatment under Florida law, earning DeSantis more criticism and legal challenges. Closely involved in the establishment of the governor’s Faith Office, which liaises with numerous state agencies, Uthmeier helped ensure that the “heartbeat bill” 6-week abortion ban made it through the legislature. Did I mention Uthmeier has never lead a presidential campaign before? Well, it doesn’t matter. He has the ear of both Ron and Casey. And he was involved with ALL those culture war issues and killing “wokeism.” The stuff that doesn’t seem to matter to Republican base voters, at least for now. By the way, this latest move is NOT A REBOOT! NO, NO, NO! It’s a RELOAD! Which brings me back to that damaged B-17 Bomber. No one has the temerity to mention that the pilot sucks. The “reloaded” campaign believes that the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire need to see MORE of Pilot Ron DeSantis. He has to do retail. And by all measures, DeSantis SUCKS AT RETAIL POLITICS! Frankly, I don’t think this plane is even going to make it to the proverbial English Channel. My guess is that when the “bailout!” message flares, Ron will be the first one out of the door with his parachute. The rest of his campaign workers will be left stuck in the plane as it spirals down to a fiery crash. Probably in an Iowa cornfield. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/8/2186003/-DeSantis-Campaign-Reminds-Me-Of-A-Badly-Damaged-B-17-Bomber-During-WW2 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/