Subbing for Chris Hayes on Monday’s “All In,” MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan unmistakably had some fun talking about the cratering presidential campaign of right wing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
And by the end of the commentary, Hasan sarcastically asked DeSantis, “was it really worth it, Ron?” And, wondering if DeSantis will try this again in 2028, Hasan noted that “you really don’t seem to be enjoying it.”
The inspiration for the commentary is DeSantis’ latest abysmal polling. At the beginning of the year, DeSantis was considered by some a potential front-runner in the GOP primary against Donald Trump and he polled fairly well. But now, a Politico poll has him in distant fifth place in crucial primary battleground New Hampshire. As politico put it, his campaign is now “on ‘life support.’”
“Yes, fifth, trailing a guy called Vivek Ramaswamy who no one really even heard of back in January,” Hasan chuckled. “Even trailing Chris Christie. If I told you eight months ago that Chris Christie would be ahead of Ron DeSantis in a Republican primary poll, you would have laughed in my face.”
Hasan noted reporting that big Republican donors are beginning to abandon DeSantis, including David Sacks, who Hasan reminded viewers is “the wealthy Elon Musk ally who helped launch, or should I say, botched DeSantis’ in his ‘ disastrous campaign launch on Twitter.”
(Hasan was of course referring DeSantis’ failed campaign launch event on Twitter Spaces, an event riddled with tech problems as well as clear evidence none of the participants, including Musk himself, knew how to even use the forum. The DeSantis campaign and Musk faced weeks of mockery over it, even from Fox News.)
Continuing, Hasan noted that the DeSantis campaign is coping with the bad news out of New Hampshire by claiming it is focused on the other crucial primary state, Iowa. “There is no way around it,” he said. “The DeSantis campaign is in freefall, that is in large part because he lacks any coherent vision for his candidacy.”
“He was trying to just cheat it and say ‘I’m Trump without the baggage without the chaos.’ It turns out Republican primary voters like the baggage, and like the chaos,” Hasan continued. “And it turns out DeSantis is really just Trump without charisma with charm, humor, or personality.”
“I could go on and on,” Hasan added.
Dismissing DeSantis as “not the political giant he once pretended to be,” Hasan concluded with a question for him:
“So I have to ask, what’s it really worth it Ron? And are you going to try and do this all again in 2028? Because you really don’t seem to be enjoying it.”
Watch the clip below:
