Ron and Casey DeSantis.
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People close to Ron DeSantis say he and his wife Casey are like a singular entity: “The DeSanti.”
They told Politico Casey DeSantis has the most sway over her husband and is “more paranoid than he is.”
“She is both his biggest asset and his biggest liability,” a DeSantis donor told Politico.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey are so inseparable they’ve morphed into one collective being that people close to them dub “The DeSanti.”
This is according to Politico’s interviews with people in DeSantis’ orbit and several former staffers. According to one person who got to know the couple around when DeSantis first ran for Congress in 2015, he and his wife are so in sync they have become almost a “singular identity.”
The couple’s partnership has also led some people in the couple’s orbit to refer to them collectively as “The DeSanti,” per Politico.
The people Politico spoke to also described in detail how much Casey DeSantis influences her husband — from his policies to the way he’s subtly changed how his last name is pronounced from “Dee-Santis” to “Deh-Santis.” For one, she works to “humanize the robot” that is her husband and gives him a “cleaner, softer image,” a former staffer told Politico.
“She is both his biggest asset and his biggest liability,” Dan Eberhart, a DeSantis donor and supporter, told Politico. He added that while she makes him more approachable and likable, she has a lot of sway over his political decisions and tends to alienate him from his staff.
“I’ve heard from staffers frustrated that they think the governor’s made a decision, he talks to her, comes back, the decision is the opposite or different,” Eberhart added.
“He’s a leader who makes political decisions with the assistance of his wife, who was elected by nobody, who’s blindly ambitious,” another former DeSantis staffer said to Politico.
Another staffer said to the news outlet that she is “more paranoid than he is.” And a Republican consultant told Politico that there’s been so much turnover in DeSantis’ office because “if you get on the wrong side of Casey DeSantis, you’re gone.”
“He’s a vindictive motherfucker. She’s twice that. She’s the scorekeeper, ” a high-ranking DeSantis staffer told Politico.
A breast-cancer survivor, a former TV reporter, and a mother of three children, Casey DeSantis is said to have been the powerhouse behind her husband since the beginning of his administration.
“It’s clear she’s the X factor,” Scott Parkinson, one of Ron DeSantis’ former chiefs of staff in the US House of Representatives, told Insider’s Lyz Lenz and Kimberly Leonard. “They complete the political element that is Ron DeSantis. Without Casey, he would not be the same person.”
Representatives of DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment sent outside regular business hours.