The campaign for GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley called Ron DeSantis ‘Trump without any of the charm’ ahead of the Florida governor’s expected launch of his 2024 campaign for the GOP nomination for president this week.
In a memo to allies and campaign surrogates obtained by Politico, Haley’s campaign manager Betsy Ankney labeled DeSantis a “mini-Trump,” pointing out that he appears to mimic the former president on everything “from policy to his body language and hand gestures”. The memo included side-by-side images of Trump and DeSantis during speeches making similar gestures.
“Leaks, abuse of power, drama, and petty political fights. You’d think these are headlines you might have seen during the Trump administration,” Ankney wrote.
Even as Haley’s campaign portray DeSantis as Trump 2.0, they say he lacks the “charm” of the former one term president.
“The glaring difference between the two is DeSantis’ inability to interact directly with voters. The last several months have been filled with brutal headlines about his lack of basic people skills,” Haley’s campaign wrote.
“Ron DeSantis is like Trump, drama and all — but without any of the charm,” the campaign added.
DeSantis is expected to announce his presidential bid this week amid lagging poll numbers and a slew of bad headlines highlighting his general awkwardness, lack of charisma and social skills.
DeSantis, who earlier this year was seen as the man to defeat Trump in the GOP primary, is now being advised to not run for president.
“It already feels like a fool’s errand,” conservative columnist Matt Lewis writes in the Daily Beast.
