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By Thomas Kika
Weekend Staff Writer
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' social media post on Friday expressing excitement for the Colorado primary election has drawn mockery online for its awkward and robotic tone.
DeSantis is among the packed field of candidates seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and has, throughout the race, trailed at a distant second in polls to former President Donald Trump. Initially seen by some as the future of the Republican Party thanks to his successes in Florida, DeSantis' troubled move to the national political stage has caused his image to falter, with many observers calling out his awkward demeanor and seeming lack of social skills.
These issues came to light once again on Friday, when a post to the governor's official account on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, announcing his excitement for the Colorado primary was subjected to jokes and mockery for its odd tone. The post claimed that DeSantis was required by Colorado GOP rules to express his excitement for the primary in order to qualify for it.
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"To qualify for the CO primary ballot, the state party requires that candidates post something on social media that announces their excitement while encouraging their followers to follow the state party's social media accounts for updates about the state party primary and events," the post read. "I'm excited to officially be on the ballot for the Colorado primary!"
Numerous X users then responded to the governor's post.
"Hello fellow humans, it is I, Ronald DeSantis, here to express mandatory excitement on social media about the Colorado primary," user Robert Maguire wrote. "Statement of excitement!"
"Ron Desantis: ChatGPT, write a tweet about how the Colorado primary ballot requires me to send a tweet encouraging people to follow their social media accounts and my excitement about being on the primary ballot," Franklin Leonard, film producer and founder of The Black List, wrote. "Don't worry about length. I paid to be verified."
"Someone put Ron DeSantis' Colorado ballot access memo instructions into the tweet copy," Mindy Pressman, a Democratic campaign communications specialist, wrote.
Newsweek reached out to the DeSantis campaign via email for comment.
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Following the mixed reaction, Christina Pushaw, a longtime DeSantis spokesperson, wrote in her own X post that the post had been crafted the way it was on purpose. This reasoning itself drew criticism, including from writer and journalist James Surowiecki.
"So DeSantis' team strategy is to publicly mock the Colorado state GOP and make it clear that they're only telling Coloradans they're excited to be on the ballot because they have to?" he wrote Saturday. "If true, that would be even more politically inept - or nihilistic."
The Colorado primary is set to take place on March 5, also known as Super Tuesday, the day when numerous states across the country hold their primaries at the same time. The day typically marks that point at which the candidate who will eventually win a party's nomination will come into sharp focus.
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