There’s a standard move for presidential candidates when launching their campaigns: They and their team pick a location that has something to do with the candidate, find a nice backdrop, invite supporters, hand them signs, and deliver a rousing speech. It’s Campaign Management 101.
There are, of course, occasional exceptions. Some modern candidates have kicked off their candidacies by releasing videos online. Some have turned to Sunday shows such as “Meet the Press.” A few have turned to late-night comedy shows to make their announcements.
But given the circumstances, it seemed likely that Gov. Ron DeSantis would choose a more traditional route. After all, he’s a Floridian: The Republican could’ve held a rally filled with adoring supporters, against a backdrop of palm trees and beaches. It would’ve made for great visuals, both for broadcast media and newspaper front pages.
Or, alternatively, the far-right governor could make the announcement in an audio-only Twitter gathering while hanging out with the platform’s controversial CEO, Elon Musk.
On the surface, this was an odd choice, though overly generous observers tried to make the case that this route positioned DeSantis as forward-thinking and tech savvy.
But as you’ve probably heard, it quickly became obvious that this was not a wise choice. NBC News reported:
The start of a much-anticipated Twitter event in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis planned to announce his 2024 Republican presidential bid was repeatedly disrupted Wednesday when Twitter’s servers apparently could not handle the surge in traffic. The app crashed repeatedly as Twitter users tried to listen to the event where Twitter owner Elon Musk joined DeSantis for the announcement.
Musk ultimately created a new Twitter Space event, allowing the GOP candidate to announce his candidacy — to a fairly modest audience. NBC News’ report added that, according to Twitter’s public-facing data, roughly 161,000 users logged into the space, and…
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