Democrats and Republicans alike bashed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) after he launched his presidential campaign through a Twitter Spaces session that experienced several technical glitches and even a lengthy period of a complete audio loss Wednesday afternoon—despite Twitter CEO Elon Musk heavily hyping the Twitter announcement as a historic event for the platform.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was bashed on Twitter for a rocky start to the launch of his ... [+]
President Joe Biden took a dig at DeSantis’ initial Twitter Space that failed, tweeting “This link works,” alongside a link to a donation page for his reelection campaign.
Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to bash DeSantis’ technical issues, sharing a video alternating between clips of the Twitter Space’s feedback glitches and footage from his own campaign announcement.
Donald Trump Jr. made multiple tweets about DeSantis—including one that stated “#DeSaster” and another showing an edited clip of the former president tackling DeSantis.
Fox News joined in with a breaking news ticker on its site that read, “Want to actually see and hear Ron DeSantis?” referring viewers to a Fox News live interview with DeSantis that started shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted early on in the Twitter Space that she garnered more traffic in 2020, when she played hit video game Among Us with several popular streamers and had more than 400,000 viewers.
Nikki Fried, the head of Florida’s Democratic party, also posted several tweets bashing DeSantis, with one featuring a photo of a dejected-looking DeSantis and Musk standing in front of a crashed rocket with the caption: “Failure To Launch.”
DeSantis filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Wednesday afternoon, cementing his run for president against Trump in the GOP primaries. DeSantis is trailing the former president in early polls, but the Florida governor has attempted to appeal to the hard-right by recently pushing right-wing legislation limiting abortion accessibility and LGBTQ inclusion initiatives in schools. DeSantis will host a major fundraising event with donors in Miami on Thursday.
Twitter repeatedly crashes as DeSantis tries to make presidential announcement (The Washington Post)
Why Elon Musk is partnering with Ron DeSantis for his 2024 launch (CNBC)