Ron DeSantis ‘joke’ about Colorado GOP Primary falls flat on internet

DESANTIS AP 8.20.23
Humor is a subjective thing.

The Ron DeSantis campaign is focused on Iowa Saturday, but they find themselves explaining away a new attempt of humor targeted toward another state.

In a surprisingly deadpan twist, the operator of the Florida Governor’s X account quoted text from the Colorado Republican Party directing candidates qualifying for the state’s presidential primary to project enthusiasm on social media.

“To qualify for the CO primary ballot, the state party requires that candidates post something on social media that announces their excitement while encouraging their followers to follow the state party’s social media accounts for updates about the state party primary and events,” the post reads, before offering enthusiasm that accords with the party’s stipulation.

I’m excited to officially be on the ballot for the Colorado primary! Coloradans, it’s time for Republicans to start winning again. As your nominee, I will run Biden ragged across this country and help Republicans up and down the ballot WIN. Stay informed with @cologop for updates!”

Author James Surowiecki lampooned the structure of the post: “The fact DeSantis’ social-media team included by mistake the first paragraph of this tweet (which explains why it’s important for them to post about how excited they are to be on the Colorado primary ballot) is emblematic of his entire mismanaged and misbegotten campaign.”

This led to some belated snark from DeSantis’ rapid response director Christina Pushaw.

“It was on purpose. Went right over your head huh,” she wrote Saturday, hours after the joke apparently went over the heads of many commentators not affiliated with the DeSantis campaign.

Among them: Joe Biden’s rapid response director, Ammar Moussa, who alluded to the Governor’s super PAC being scapegoated for the campaign’s under-performance: “Did….did they mean to tweet this? Why would Never Back Down do this to Ron?”

Frequent DeSantis critic Shannon Watts said she “would have advised him to leave off the entire first paragraph here, which basically says, ‘Don’t really care about winning in Colorado but had to pretend like I do to get on the ballot.’ Do his advisors hate him?”

“I’m almost impressed at how the DeSantis campaign quite literally cannot do anything right,” snarked left-of-center commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.

As always, humor is a subjective thing. This is especially true when readers want to make someone the butt of their jokes.

The Governor’s sense of humor has come under scrutiny before, such as when he referred to Florida as “God’s waiting room” early on in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perhaps as a result, he has become known for recycling jokes that are less controversial. For example, he has joked about the lack of academic value of “zombie studies” courses in college since the 2018 campaign.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


9 comments

  • Florida GOP. Adopts Nazi ideology

    December 2, 2023 at 11:53 am

    Desantis and his entire team are so focused on bringing nazism to America they forget how to manage

    • JD

      December 2, 2023 at 11:57 am

      Ironically, that’s so un-Nazi like – not to manage well.

      It showcases how pathetic they are – they are even poor at being Nazi’s. Nazi-wanna-bes.

      • Earl Pitts "Political Scientist Emeritus" American

        December 2, 2023 at 5:04 pm

        Good Evening America,
        Anyone who does not appriciate DeSantis’ political team’s sage political humor is a Dook 4 Brains Leftist so there is no vote(s) lost there.
        Enjoy your little pitty party now, Dook 4 Brains Lefty’s, as you will soon be crying Dook 4 Brains tears for Eight Long years of the Beloved DeSantis White House.
        Thank you America,
        And thank you to all you Un-American Dook 4 Brains Lefty’s,
        Earl Pitts”Purvayor Of Sage Wisdom” American

        • rick whitaker

          December 2, 2023 at 9:10 pm

          earl, political team, is that what you call that stinking pile? a political team would be raising their guy up in the polls, not shoving him down in EVERY state poll. your guy is one of the worst candidates in modern history. earl, are you masochistic? of course you are.

  • WeaselWhacker

    December 2, 2023 at 11:55 am

    His campaign does hate him. Just like the state legislators. They smile and comply because they don’t want to face his wrath but they know what a weasel he is. The more you get to know him the more you don’t like him. He’s like Scar in The Lion King. Wait until the hyenas get him in a corner.

  • rick whitaker

    December 2, 2023 at 12:10 pm

    desantis has no sense of decency, or humor. colorado is not typical of other states for many reasons, so i don’t expect them to act in a typical way. they elected lauren bobert, enough said.

  • Electile Dysfunction

    December 2, 2023 at 1:19 pm

    Ron’s “jokes” aren’t the only thing falling flat…

  • Michael K

    December 2, 2023 at 2:57 pm

    I think this attempt at “humor” supports the belief held by many that our governor is actually a poorly programmed animatronic form with a personality deficit.

    Humor will surface when the late-night comedians talk about “moms for liberty” and the DeSanti. This stuff writes itself.

  • Joe

    December 3, 2023 at 4:32 pm

    Yeah ok, sure Christina, we all believe you! What a pathetic campaign and messaging team of twitter trolls Tiny D has assembled.

Comments are closed.


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