It’s especially interesting as DeSantis, once thought to be a viable contender and worthy candidate of Trump a mere six months ago, now has 40 percentage points between himself and Trump compared to ten in mid February. So what happened? DeSantis Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is similar to Trump in a lot of ways – his political leanings and ideologies, his rhetoric, and his use of populist techniques. In fact, he is so similar that he has made this similarity an integral part of his presidential campaign. From his first campaign for Florida governor in 2018 to only very recently, DeSantis has praised Trump’s policies and political tactics and marketed himself as pursuing Trump’s “Great America.” He even secured himself an endorsement from Trump himself, leading him to his gubernatorial victory in 2018. He actualized his words of promise and enacted notable education policies, including the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, the Anti-”WOKE” Act, and revision of public curriculum. DeSantis has established his spot within the center of the conservative party, which is already on board with Trump, and has tried to appeal to the larger GOP. It seems as if this campaign would be successful – show he can be as influential and effective as Trump is in carrying out his vision for America, and then explain how he can reconcile and avoid Trump’s downfalls. 39
However, Trump has also recognized this inside-out strategy and thus attacked DeSantis most out of all the other candidates, hurting his potential to appeal to an audience outside of the MAGA conservative center. Haley Haley, a former UN ambassador, has taken the opposite approach. Haley made a name for herself first with the larger GOP and has only recently moved into the conservative center. She’s worked to gain support from non-Trump supporters. However, even as she becomes more and more favorable to the MAGA base, she is still not preferable to Trump or even DeSantis. So, from outside the MAGA base, she is favored, but within, she still has a long way to go. Both DeSantis and Haley are playing losing hands, that much is clear, but DeSantis’ strategy might be a much bigger loss than just a presidential nomination. Ramaswamy, and Others Since Haley has not really shown herself to be a formidable opponent to Trump (at least, not to the same level as DeSantis), it’s understandable to assume she might be playing a longer game, much like Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy is a known entrepreneur and a political newcomer, much as Trump was in 2015. Ramaswamy announced his candidacy in late February 2023, with his main position being on the separation of government from business.
