(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Ron DeSantis’s presidential hopes have taken a new hit as a Republican strategist has abandoned his campaign, calling the Florida governor a “flawed candidate.”
(Watch the video at the conclusion of this post)
The withdrawal of campaign strategist Ed Rollins comes amid dwindling GOP voter support for DeSantis, who is trailing Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination by dozens of points.
The DeSantis campaign is also facing finance and fundraising troubles that saw it forced to lay off a third of its staffers, while two billionaire GOP megadonors are also pulling their support.
“I don’t think it’s the campaign’s fault at all; it’s his. I think he’s been a very flawed candidate,” Rollins said about DeSantis in an interview with The Rolling Stone magazine, as cited by Newsmax.
“I know some of the people around him, and some of them are good, talented people. But every time he opens his mouth, he has a tendency to — shall we say — think out-loud, and he clearly doesn’t understand the game. … When you get into these culture wars the way that he has, the vast majority of people don’t understand what they are,” the campaign strategist elaborated.
80-year-old Rollins, who has worked in several high-profile races, used to be the chief political strategist for the Ready for Ron PAC.
“At this point in time, I would be shocked if Trump were not the nominee,” he said.
However, the Republican strategist also predicted that President Joe Biden was destined to win reelection “unless something serious happens.”
The Rolling Stone article report also featured comments by an unnamed GOP donor who argued DeSantis’ recent campaign staff changes wouldn’t make a difference.
“It is getting harder and harder by the day to see not just his people as the problem, but him as the problem,” the donor said.
Ron DeSantis himself slammed Rollins’ remarks as “nonsense” in a Fox News interview on Monday.
“I came into a state that had been decided by one point for a generation. You’ve covered some of those races. I govern boldly. I govern unapologetically. I delivered big results, and we won by 20 points. You don’t win a state like Florida that big if you’re not doing things that are resonating,” the presidential hopeful said.
Here is the video mentioned above:
WATCH: Brett Baier presses DeSantis on political consultant @EdRollins jumping ship and saying the Governor is a flawed candidate who takes culture wars too far pic.twitter.com/SDVXL8F5r7
— Brendon Leslie (@BrendonLeslie) August 1, 2023
