Ron DeSantis' Secret Twitter Army of Far-Right Influencers

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ron-desantis-secret-twitter-army-of-far-right-influencers

No paywall
https://archive.is/yVG34

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis soaked up the crowd’s adulation during a surprise appearance at last Sunday’s NFL playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs, a lesser-known team was on hand to run a very different kind of play.

By the time the governor took his seat at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, video of his smile-and-wave routine—smoothly filmed in vertical mode, perfect for sharing—was already circulating online.

But the most important plank of DeSantis’ play was executed on a much different field: the arena of social media. Promptly after the clip was posted, right-wing Twitter accounts with thousands of followers amplified it and caused it to spread like wildfire among a DeSantis-loving audience. The clip would end up racking up over over 2 million views on Twitter.

That was no accident. It was—and is—a core element of the DeSantis team’s political strategy as he gears up for a possible run for the presidency in 2024. According to five Republicans familiar with the discussions, the governor’s top lieutenants have quietly recruited a network of conservative social media influencers as part of a broader attempt to circumvent the mainstream press and appeal directly to GOP primary voters nationwide.

And who are, according to the three Republicans who received the initial pitch, among the ranks in DeSantis’ digital army?

Jack Murphy, a podcast host and self-described “alpha-male giga chad” involved in a quasi-professional cuckolding porn scandal. John Cardillo, a former Newsmax TV host and unregistered arms dealer who allegedly stiffed the Ukrainian government for $200,000 worth of body armor plates. Christian Walker, Herschel Walker’s right-wing influencer son who helped tank his father’s Senate campaign. David Reaboi, a Hungary-loving and Qatar-hating bodybuilder with longstanding ties to John Bolton. And Caleb Hull, an ex-Trump digital strategist who has said some very, very racist things.

*snip*

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Looks like a brain trust of the highest order

[Farmer-Rick]

2. Social media seems to easily persuade people into believing lies

I admit, I was persuaded years ago to believing in the lies trolls were passing around. I've since learned to not believe 90% of what I read on line, especially if it's pro capitalism or GOPers.

But even liberal information can be false especially if it's repeated on GOPer sites. I just don't visit most common social media sites anymore. I found they eat up your time and feed you lies.

But it really does convince you fairly easily. That's why Musk bought Twitter. For the 2024 election, to help TFG when he runs again for president.

[Lovie777]

3. GQP society of paranoia and extreme hatred.................

followed by frighten GQPs of their own shadows.

[lapfog_1]

4. Death Satan is the most dangerous person in the USA

smarter than Trump... and more evil

[Hortensis]

5. Slime symbiosis. In Jan 2022 Politico and Axios also reported DeSantis

was courting attack-dog RW influencers, and on the types he was forming these synergistic matches with.

TALLAHASSEE — Conservative social media influencers have flocked to Florida for “freedom,” “liberty” and another reason: Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The Republican governor’s team has been courting popular conservative media and online figures, an effort that comes as former President Donald Trump appears to be turning on DeSantis. Some of those whom the governor’s staff are wooing are heavily involved in amplifying the anti-vax movement and downplaying the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In early January — on the 6th no less — DeSantis hosted nine prominent social media stars in Tallahassee for a night that included stops at DeSantis’ office, dinner at the governor’s mansion and drinks at Level 8 Lounge, a popular downtown rooftop bar near Florida’s statehouse. Almost all of them have recently very publicly announced on social media that they moved to Florida.

“Thanks for dinner, @GovRonDeSantis. I’m no longer an enemy of the state!,” Dave Rubin, a conservative television host and YouTube personality, tweeted to his one million Twitter followers.

“Tune out from the clown show in Washington D.C.,” Jordan Schachtel, a conservative journalist who was at the get-together in Tallahassee, tweeted about DeSantis’ speech to his more than 167,000 followers. “The leader of the Free World is speaking.”

Many conservative media stars, most of whom have long been some of Trump’s most vocal supporters, have been hyping DeSantis in recent months for the governor’s rejection of Covid-related mandates and constant hammering of President Joe Biden. But the support has increased in intensity in recent weeks, a spike easily noticeable on social media and podcasts throughout the conservative media ecosystem. That support is key in helping DeSantis further expand his footprint with influencers in Republican primary politics ahead of his 2022 reelection and as he weighs a 2024 White House bid.

“It’s truly fascinating to watch the ascent of Ron DeSantis,” said Sara Gonzales, a host on conservative BlazeTV network who is based in Texas. “I say this of course, as a native Texan. Florida, under DeSantis’s leadership, has made even Texas look shaky on issues that really matter to the average conservative.” ...

https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2022/01/14/desantis-uses-conservative-lifeline-as-trump-sours-on-him-140574

Note, that spike in DeSantis support created by "conservative media stars" then was over a year ago. An early model and test run of a depraved machine that's drawing tRump's MAGAs AND is going to help hang DeSantis with swing voters.

[maxrandb]

6. It's not Ron Desantis

Every Dem and progressive needs to call him Ron DeSANTOS from now on.

[Phoenix61]

7. Everything he does is playing to that base.

Silly boy hasn’t been paying attention. That base lost on the national level, big time. The rest of the country is no where near as right wing as Florida, thankfully.