The national political press is bored with Ron DeSantis. His campaign has been declared hopelessly moribund more often than the Fast & Furious franchise. Between his declining support in national polls of Republican primary voters, the unsustainable rate at which his campaign is burning through funds, and the prolonged retooling of its staffing and messaging efforts over the summer, media have drunk deeply from the well of schadenfreude that is their DeSantis campaign deathwatch. They’re clearly over it. When the political observers in the press deign to give DeSantis any attention anymore, it’s to mock his failing presidential bid and compare him unfavorably to the wily, nimble, self-effacing Donald Trump — the absence of whom on the debate stage in Milwaukee tonight threatens to give reporters an incurable case of ennui.
Some allege that even the GOP’s voters are “bored” of this campaign, but that is more likely a bit of revealing projection. Media outlets have all but moved on to the new, exciting flavor of the week: Vivek Ramaswamy. Rather, what the press is covering with such breathless anticipation they’re practically willing it into existence is the prospect of political combat between Ramaswamy and his rivals in the still-lively race for second place. A sprawling Washington Post piece this week forecast the fireworks reporters expect when the untested pharmacology billionaire makes first contact with his fellow Republican presidential aspirants.
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