Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Had Ron DeSantis learned from the mistakes made by Donald Trump’s 2016 rivals, he would have run a better campaign (or skipped it altogether).
Instead, it seems likely that DeSantis’ presidential bid will end with his reputation being in much worse shape than when the campaign began. But was this always preordained? Was Trump’s (likely) victory a foregone conclusion? I don’t think so.
However, DeSantis’ campaign, such as it was, went off the tracks even before his official campaign announcement last summer. From where I stand, there are seven main reasons this happened.