Earlier today, The Gateway Pundit reported that DeSantis Super PAC founder John Thomas admits DeSantis’s “failure to launch” after they “drafted” DeSantis to run because they believed “he’s got the stuff.” Thomas said President Trump has run a “nearly flawless campaign” and that “we are revers[ing] course to get behind Donald Trump”. Thomas joins a trio esteemed members of DeSantis-supporting PACs that seem to be gun-shy of the Florida Governor’s chances as funding is drying up in the DeSantis camp after laying off staff in July after “rapidly burning through cash.”
“Ready For Ron” PAC Former Co-Chair Flips
On Sunday, Ed Rollins, the former co-chair of the “Ready for Ron” PAC said:
“No one in the Republican primaries is going to beat, defeat President Trump. He has a strong, solid base. It’s gotten stronger as he’s gone through these terrible indictments. The fact that he’s been indicted on 91 counts is just absurd.”
Rollins did shy away from the DeSantis campaign in July when he called DeSantis a “flawed candidate“. Rollins, who was once a consultant for Ronald Reagan in 1984, previously headed the Great America PAC in support of President Trump until flipping sides for “Team DeSantis.”
“Never Back Down” PAC Grifts for Another $50 Million- 60 Days Left to Win
Additionally, DeSantis sympathizers from the “Never Back Down” PAC Chris Jankowski (CEO), Kristin Davison (COO), and Jeff Roe (chief strategist) participated in a presentation in an effort to grift another $50 million by years end for the failing candidate. Then they need another $50 million by the end of March. In Leaked audio from the event, Jankowski can be heard telling donors “I’m not worried about the second $50M. We need the first $50M.” The trio blamed their shortcomings on lack of media exposure and called for the rallying of 100,000 Iowans to caucus for DeSantis.
From the National Pulse:
Jeff Roe, DeSantis’s Never Back Down PAC chief strategist, also admitted to donors the campaign has just 60 days to defeat former President Donald Trump and that the Super PAC would need an additional $50 million before the second Republican primary debate on September 27th.
Never Back Down has also halted its paid door-knocking efforts in Super Tuesday primary states, as well as in the critical early state of Nevada. The SuperPAC’s cost cutting moves come as it shifts resources into Iowa – including a nearly $12 million ad-buy announced earlier this week.
Roe told donors: “If you have an education, if you have higher income, if you read the Bible and if you go to church regularly, you happen to be a DeSantis supporter.”
CNN revealed that the Never Back Down team has derived a “DeSantis index” to determine the likelihood of someone backing DeSantis in his campaign. They also offered some more insight into the campaign event that took place just before the debate late last month:
Roughly 60 donors attended the fundraising lunch, hosted at a DoubleTree hotel blocks away from the debate venue, sources familiar with the event details told CNN. Among the attendees was Dallas businessman Roy Bailey, the former co-chair of the Trump campaign’s finance committee who has since changed allegiances.
Davison told CNN Thursday “every investor wants to see how you get to the final round and how you win, and almost all the donors left confident that that we had a clear path to victory to help the governor win.”
“Investors”. As in “expecting a return-on-investment”? Perhaps this was the logic of the individuals who gave Ron DeSantis tragically awful advice to run against the man who made him Governor of Florida in the first place. Shame. He would have been a “shoo-in” in 2028.
