Ron DeSantis is looking to “reboot” his campaign for Florida governor after a start that left him trailing in the polls and defined by his own racist comments. What’s not clear is how much of a reboot it really is. DeSantis has hired a new campaign manager, but his message hasn’t really changed: he’s attacking Andrew Gillum on the full swath of issues of concern to the Trump base, and a lot of what he says has racial subtext, even when he’s not urging people not to “monkey this up.”
In brief remarks at the P.B.A. headquarters Wednesday, he squeezed in repeated references to Mr. Gillum’s “radical proposals,” his “ideological radicalism” and his “George Soros left-wing agenda.”
But at the same time DeSantis is attacking Gillum by trying to tie him to George Soros, Soros being a shorthand for “Jew” with many on the right, he’s also working to outflank Gillum on Israel. Beyond “paint Gillum as radical,” though, there’s debate in the DeSantis camp about which direction to take his messaging:
As the campaign enters the final weeks, there remains disagreement among Florida Republicans as to whether Mr. DeSantis should focus on rousing Mr. Trump’s voters, and emulate the president’s tough talk on immigration, or instead seek to win over centrists here by talking about important local concerns like toxic algae blooms.
Here’s hoping DeSantis goes with the geniuses who want him to ignore local issues and go full Trump.
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