The day is finally here.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is announcing his candidacy for president with Elon Musk via Twitter at 6 p.m. ET.
DeSantis is certainly doing something novel. Most candidates choose a formal speech or a traditional television interview. But as technology changes, so does a primary candidate’s strategy. DeSantis has the image of the traditional Republican of yester-year. He’s rehearsed and careful. His policies make the news, but his comments don’t. Look for DeSantis to shift the coverage to him as a figure vs. his legislative accomplishments.
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The announcement, even more peculiarly, will be audio only. It will be available on Twitter Spaces.
To listen to it, click on the Twitter Spaces icon that will appear on your screen. It will be present if you go to the Twitter homepage on your computer, phone web browser or android or IOS app. You won’t be able to find the link ahead of time and will have wait until about 10 minutes before the 6 p.m. ET scheduled start time. You don’t need a login to listen to the conversation.
There are a few topics you might want to keep ears open for …
1. See if DeSantis gets human. Crazy, I know. But he has had this stiff robotic image. See if he laughs normally, if he has any sort of casual tone.
2. Listen to see if Elon Musk comes up with any tough questions, or if the interview lacks real substance. DeSantis is probably expecting Musk to throw a lot of lobs. But he can’t be sure, and no one knows Musk’s interview style. He has rarely been on the side.
3. Will DeSantis be asked about abortion and some of the controversial book bans? This may be the moment he clarifies these positions and sets himself apart of the rest of the field. He seems to be running to Trump’s right. Expect him to amplify that message.
4. Now might be the time DeSantis finally goes after Trump. Will it be on character or policy? DeSantis is most likely to stay reserved on character and hammer home a viewpoint that Trump isn’t sufficiently conservative. But who knows, DeSantis may view this as an opportunity to finally come out swinging and focus some personal attacks on the former president.
5. DeSantis may finally have to address his other opponents. There are people not named Trump in the race. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has gotten some traction after a campaign announcement speech focused on a positive message. It was filled with energy and charisma, something that many in the press say DeSantis doesn’t have. Ambassador Nikki Haley has an ad saying DeSantis is the same as Trump. He’ll need to address their candidacies.
6. He’ll need to cement his position on Ukraine after flip-flopping. There might be a definitive answer this time, if Musk chooses to press.
7. Will DeSantis lean more towards culture war issues or more consequential ones? Will he mainly pivot towards immigration, or will critical race theory be a big focal point of his explanation for running? It will say everything about his approach going forward.
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