Thinking about the technically rough Ron DeSantis launch on Twitter Spaces with the distance of less than an hour after it concluded, I am reminded of a famous dialogue from the film Tombstone, in which a visibly ill Doc Holliday is asked by another character, Turkey Creek Jack Johnson, why he is risking his hide to go to the aid of Wyatt Earp:
Johnson: Why you doin’ this, Doc?
Doc Holliday: Because Wyatt Earp is my friend.
Johnson: Friend? Hell, I got lots of friends.
Doc Holliday: [After a pause] I don’t.
Herein lies a theory that unifies this with a prior poorly received DeSantis event, his response to Tucker Carlson’s query about Ukraine. DeSantis is openly hated by the mainstream media, which despises Republicans and much prefers them to be like Donald Trump: incoherent, theatrical, polarizing, easily caricatured, electorally weak, but good for ratings. The media especially loathes DeSantis not only for being effective but for his open contempt for them and refusal to talk to them.
Yet, a segment of the right-wing media also hates him for being in Trump’s way. That means that DeSantis doesn’t have lots of friends in the press. So, the ones he has, he will cater to even if that is occasionally to his own detriment. Tucker Carlson likes DeSantis, so DeSantis pitched his Ukraine response to keep Tucker on his side. Elon Musk likes DeSantis, so DeSantis gave him the exclusive first interview of his campaign. It’s really not more complicated than that.