Is the Ron DeSantis hype real or just a meme?

[Person Man]

I really don't think he's a particularly strong campaigner, regardless of whatever broad appeal he may have across the various groups of extremely engaged Republicans. Most Americans don't know who he is and I don't think he'll do a great job introducing himaelf. He strikes me as a terrible retail politician and somewhat socially awkward. If he wins the nomination, it'll be because he was uniquely positioned to consolidate an underwhelming field, not because Middle America has a deep and abiding love for Ron DeSantis.

What is it with Florida and electing Republicans in the Broader Autistic Phenotype?

[Person Man]

I will say that there have been a lot of rising stars in DeSantis's position, who eventually stumble (Gavin Newsom, George Allen, Anthony Weiner) or never truly catch fire (Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Bryan Schweitzer).

DeSantis's biggest asset is not his elite pedigree, electoral success, or his ability to triangulate, but that he has his own version of "charisma" that is very profound, yet is not obvious. He is no Reagan or even Obama, but he could be seen as an upgraded version of Trump. Personally, I think W was an intermediate step between Reagan and Trump.

Outside of scenarios where  Biden dies and Harris can't perform, or the next 4 years are really that bad, I think DeSantis could win, it would be a  very close, but predictable win. He's still the underdog, though.

[Person Man]

Desantis is that guy who is gonna be hyped up a lot, but then drop out before Iowa, bookmark me, IDC. I actually want to see how this comment will age

I see him as that candidate who's campaign falls apart due to a poor debate performance.  If he emerges as a frontrunner, he'll have the other candidates targeting him on the debate stage.  And we've constantly seen how easily he gets rattled and loses his composure.  What's going to happen when one of the other candidates goes after him, or the moderator asks him a difficult question, and he completely melts down and throws a temper tantrum on the debate stage like he always does anytime he's challenged, or gets the slightest bit of criticism

The guy's a punk/bitch/whatever you call it. There's no doubt about that. Guess who else is? Trump.
People who like his policies will like this feature. Then again, it remains to be seen if he can actually be Trump.

The Republican Party is really pushing to reproduce a failed archetype but because of its performance versus its expectations, they won't let go of it.

[Person Man]

Depends on what you mean. In terms of winning the primary yeah he currently seems like one of the safer horses to back if Trump doesn't run, but as a general election candidate he's not particularly remarkable. He's not a complete joke candidate in the realm of say, Romney 2012, but against an incumbent Biden whose administration isn't regarded as a disaster by 2024, he isn't much of a threat at all.

Romney 2012 was actually somewhat strong. He was on par with Kerry, I think.