On Thursday, reports started kicking around that a memo containing debate prep information for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had been publicly leaked by a company associated with a pro-DeSantis super PAC.
Yes, the leaking was intentional since that’s the only way super PACs can skirt election law to communicate with a campaign. However, the capturing of the memo by the New York Times along the way probably wasn’t part of the plan. Shortly after the story broke, the memo was removed from a publicly accessible area of the Axiom Strategies website, a firm that works closely with a large DeSantis super PAC.
Aside from giving a sometimes embarrassing view into how DeSantis is viewed internally, the leak is another example of a campaign struggling to appear professional and coherent in messaging and strategy.
So, what’s in it? How is DeSantis being advised to handle Donald Trump and how should he try to engage with the audience and win them over? There are quite a few tidbits of information gleaned from the memo, as the Washington Post reports:
To seize the spotlight at the first Republican presidential debate next week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis must defend former president Donald Trump, “pivot” to attacking President Biden and the media at least three times, and show emotion when telling an anecdote about his family, according to documents posted online by a firm affiliated with a pro-DeSantis super PAC.
One memo obtained by The Washington Post, which has since been deleted from Axiom’s website, lays out four “must-dos” for DeSantis at Wednesday’s primary debate in Milwaukee. Those include attacking Biden and the media at least three times, stating his “positive vision” for the country at least twice, attacking entrepreneur and fellow Republican primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and defending Trump, who has said he may not participate in debates.
The document, which refers to DeSantis as “GRD,” then proposes four potential “orchestra pit moments” for him, including telling a story about his family (“showing emotion,” the memo advises) and taking “a sledgehammer to” Ramaswamy by slamming him as “Fake Vivek” or “Vivek the Fake.” The memo also suggests that DeSantis urge other candidates to ignore Trump, because Trump is “too weak to defend himself here.”
Showing emotion has been a sore point for DeSantis throughout this campaign. He’s either in angry mode when he’s chiding the media, something voters like, or he’s in boring mode when he’s talking about beating woke corporations, a policy voters like but the delivery is monotoned.
The “orchestra pit” talk in the paragraph above is a reference to the old Roger Ailes quote about not being the guy that falls off the stage. You could have a great answer on something but if someone else falls in the orchestra pit, they’re getting all the headlines.
For DeSantis, he needs a breakout moment akin to falling in the orchestra pit in terms of headlines without actually falling in the pit.
What about dealing with Trump whether he’s on stage or not, the advice given is less than useful:
The memo, which advises DeSantis to both defend Trump and attack the former president as “weak,” illustrates the tightrope DeSantis has tried to walk while challenging the former president and trying not to alienate his base.
Defend the former president on the one hand and attack him as “weak” on the other hand. I guess the needle being threaded is that Trump was a great president and he’s now being wrongly persecuted, but he was too weak to root out the deep state during his presidency which is why we’re in the mess we’re in now.
That’s a thin tightrope to walk without really ticking off the MAGA faithful. Any slight against the former president will reinforce Trump’s claim that DeSantis is being disloyal to the person who helped propel his political career to the state house in Florida.
What about the other candidates? There are memo sections on them as well, of course:
The document trove also includes reports on how each of several competitors — including prominent candidates such as Christie and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.); and lower-polling candidates such as Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — have previously attacked DeSantis. The Florida governor’s feud with Disney over the company’s opposition to a state law about teaching gender and sexuality is mentioned in several documents.
There are two additional memos about Ramaswamy, including one outlining his positions on marijuana legalization, mask-wearing during the covid-19 pandemic and transgender people in the military. One highlights Ramaswamy’s past statements suggesting support for a “very high” inheritance tax. And it singles out his faith and his family’s roots in India.
DeSantis will be taking a lot of incoming fire from everyone else on stage not named Trump. As the second-place candidate, DeSantis is currently standing in the way of someone like Tim Scott or Nikki Haley from breaking out of the pack as the other Trump alternative.
The first debate is going to be an interesting study. Tune in next week on Wednesday for the first 2024 Republican debate.
