It’s not revelatory to say Governor Ron DeSantis has been running in place or in fact backwards since he formally announced his bid for the White House. But what is stunning is the Governor has now lost the Murdoch media which was a LOCK for him a year ago as I regularly pointed out not only on this site but on any media appearance I made in that time period.

Why?

Let’s examine this.

Note: I remain a Wall Street Journal digital subscriber even after cancelling just about every other newspaper sub I have, because their editorials challenge my though-process and views in a way those in other US newspapers don’t. So I feel that I have lots of insight into how they think.

1- Immigration

While DeSantis rabble-rousing view on immigration is fine for the Fox News/New York Post wing of the Murdoch empire it’s not good for the Wall Street Journal. In fact it’s terrible for them.

By mid-July the Journal was opining that DeSantis was “repeating fallacies” about illegal immigration and running on grievance rather than vision. Keep in mind WSJ’s readers represent GOP elites whose business depend on immigration. Moreover, the paper has staked out a lonely position on the right in opposition to tariffs and trade wars though to eternal detriment they did not fully embrace this until AFTER Donald J. Trump was out of office. DeSantis doubling-down on economic nationalism in his recently released book almost certainly met with disapproval from the WSJ editorial board.

2- Ukraine

Around the same time the Journal was distancing itself from DeSantis on immigration it was taking him to task for his views on Ukraine. WSJ attacked DeSantis for catering to isolationist impulses. In early August, DeSantis was hit again for focusing on cultural populism (ie. woke) instead of a Reaganesque vision which would include a robust defense of Ukraine.

DeSantis Ukraine/Russia views have attempted to thread a needle between Fox News viewers who have become increasingly hostile to the US position in backing Ukraine (in many cases GOPers come across as effectively being pro-Russia) and traditional foreign policy hawks. He’s succeeded in alienating both.

3- Demeanor

This is where DeSantis lost FOX. He’s double and tripled down on being a “fighter” while cutting an awkward figure who has so little spontaneity and confidence when not in front of a teleprompter, he resembles a little kid in the candy store whose parents said”no more Smarties” to. He looks weak and whiny, almost to the point where he would be the PERFECT caricature of the way FOX loves to cast-type “libs.” All of this reinforces what I have said for years, that DeSantis is in fact an elite himself whose only political ideology comes from whomever donates to his campaign or keeps close company with his dwindling number of associates.

DeSantis resembles a lower in every way possible in public. To say he was “not ready for prime time” is an understatement. He’s not even media-trained enough to do morning television or a light interview show.

For all these reasons we are seeing a hard pass now from the Murdoch-family owned media entities.