Ron DeSantis’ "spectacular implosion" in the US Republican primary leaves the race widen open for Donald Trump, a leading Washington correspondent has said.
The ‘anti-woke’ Florida Governor won only 21% support in last week’s Iowa caucus for the Republican nomination and failed to win a single county in the State.
Polling for this week’s New Hampshire primary is even worse and on Sunday, Mr DeSantis announced he did not "have a clear path to victory" and withdrew.
“Just a spectacular implosion for Ron De Santis, the Governor of Florida, who just a year ago was seen as the big opportunity for the Republican Party perhaps to move on from Trump and turn the page,” Guardian Washington DC bureau chief David Smith told Newstalk Breakfast.
“De Santis had a big re-election win in Florida, he was getting a lot of attention.
“Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post had a frontpage headline ‘De Future’."
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
- Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/ECoR8YeiMm— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 21, 2024
Despite all the hype, Mr Smith said he “never found his footing” in Presidential politics and he appeared “flat and uncharismatic” on the campaign trail.
“I think he also made a mistake in terms of substance as well,” Mr Smith said.
“He really ran to the right of Trump on issues, such as abortion and several culture wars and there was not an appetite for that.”
With Mr DeSantis out of the race, only Donald Trump and former US Ambassador Nikki Haley remain.
Despite this, Mr Trump is widely expected to have the nomination sewn up within the next couple of weeks.
“Some would argue it’s a one-horse race because Trump is so dominant,” Mr Smith said.
“He won the Iowa caucuses in a landslide last week and the opinion polls show he’s on course for victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday by a fairly big margin.”
The US General Election will take place on November 5th and a poll released on Friday put Mr Trump 53% to 47% ahead of current US President Joe Biden.
Main image: Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump. Picture by: Alamy.com
