‘Staggering Political Malpractice’: CNN Panel Eviscerates DeSantis for Disney Spat, Flubbing Endorsements as Trump Trolls Him

A CNN panel absolutely shredded Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Wednesday, over his escalating squabble with Disney and his trouble preventing his fellow Florida Republicans from endorsing former President Donald Trump in the 2024 nomination contest.

“The big Ron DeSantis trip to Washington was a big win — for Donald Trump,” said anchor John King to introduce the segment, reporting how the Florida governor had traveled to D.C. “looking to make friends for his likely 2024 presidential run.”

But instead of scoring some support, three more Florida House Republicans announced they were endorsing Trump instead, said King, bringing Trump’s scorecard to seven out of the 20-member delegation, and “just one” for DeSantis, Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL), whom DeSantis previously appointed as Secretary of State.

Screenshot via CNN.

King brought up some recent reporting on the “personal touches” Trump was using to win these endorsements, including private dinners at Mar-a-Lago.

One source, said King, told CNN “if DeSantis wants endorsements, he, quote, should be picking up the phone and calling directly instead of having an aide doing the reach out, end quote. You know who calls for the Trump endorsement? Trump himself.”

Endorsements from House Republicans were “not going to be the determining factor in who wins the Republican nomination,” King acknowledged, but this string of endorsements was “proof” that Trump had a campaign organization that was “strategically thinking” and “looking to embarrass Ron DeSantis.”

CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona agreed, saying Trump was making it a “personal priority of his” to get these Florida Republican endorsements “because his team really wants to build this narrative that even DeSantis’ own constituents are backing Trump.”

Trump was having these dinners, and “personally making calls,” she continued, “really leaning into the loyalty angle” and showing “such a big contrast” with DeSantis, “who’s known as a bit of a loner — he’s more aloof. He’s more hands-off.”

Zanona brought up Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who told CNN he had heard from Trump’s campaign team, has met Trump, taken pictures with Trump, the ex-president has been friendly with his family, and so on, but Burchett “tried to get in contact with DeSantis multiple times last year” and said that DeSantis’ team “blew him off.”

Adding insult to injury, she said, “he helped do a fundraiser for DeSantis in his own district, and then they left him off the list.”

Endorsements don’t necessarily determine elections, but this was a “very clear window” into the two candidates’ “operating styles,” said Zanona.

King noted how DeSantis had been touting that he was going to have a team of “experienced people” to guide his campaign.

While he did win a decisive re-election victory last fall, said Politico associate editor Alex Burns, “Where is the evidence that Ron DeSantis has done anything particularly clever to seize this moment that he has — or had, right?”

Burns highlighted how many commenters were already referring to DeSantis’ window to challenge Trump in the “past tense,” and called the governor’s endorsement stumbles “staggering political malpractice,” adding that like Zanona, he too had heard stories from congressional Republicans about Trump’s personal outreach while they never heard from DeSantis.

DeSantis was supposed to be the more “disciplined” candidate, said Axios senior contributor Margaret Talev, but what was playing out was seeing the Trump camp “actually much more strategically disciplined.”

“We’re all watching what’s going on with Disney,” Talev said, calling how Trump was using the spat to attack DeSantis “quite interesting,” and an example of “policy versus personality” and “the limits of the kind of anti-woke approach.”

Talev wasn’t sure if Trump was “just completely trolling DeSantis” or was looking at polling that was showing that the Florida governor had overplayed his hand, but he did seem to be pursuing a “strategic advantage” by going after DeSantis on this issue.

Watch above via CNN.

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