Anyone who continues to disbelieve in the sheer power and relevance of social media need only look to the latest surprising move by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
According to the breaking story via NBC News, Elon Musk will host the soon-to-be presidential candidate along with DeSantis campaign donor David Sacks on a live event via Twitter Spaces Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET.
The announcement effectively ends months of speculation on whether or not DeSantis would throw his hat into the ring. Although, did anyone now truly have any doubts?
Love him or hate him, one sure thing that can be said of our current governor of Florida is that he knows well how to garner attention and foster controversy and doesn’t shy away from explosive media announcements.
And come to think of it, the same could be said of Musk, who seems to bask in public attention like a sunworshipper might love to lie on a sunny beach all day long.
Case in point, even though Musk is hosting the event, he's made it clear that this will not constitute as an actual endorsement of DeSantis at this time.
What better way to keep things in limbo just a little longer? Dangle the carrot, but don't let them bite. It's the first rule of keeping an attentive audience, isn't it?
Or maybe it's more like a wait and see type of thing with Musk. Waiting to see if the whole thing will implode or if it will be the skyrocket to campaign launch success that DeSantis is hoping for.
One has to wonder what former President Donald Trump, and future presidential return hopeful, thinks about all this. After all, Twitter was once his playground of choice before being banned by pre-Musk Twitter in 2021. Even though he was invited back by Musk, Trump turned him down flat.
POLITICO delivered the scoop on exactly what Trump is thinking and although it doesn't make much sense, it should surprise no one:
Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. This way he doesn’t have to interact with people and the media can’t ask him any questions.”
Even after all the controversy of the last couple of years, Twitter still has a reported more than 350 million active users, and they are exactly the kind of people who are of the utmost desire for DeSantis to target in his forthcoming campaign.
Trump must know this as well, but he's of course playing it ice cold as usual. "Never let them see you sweat" must have been stuck in his head from those 80s Dry Idea commercials all these years. (You would just have to be of a certain age now to remember.)
Trump is of that age, by the way, which should bring him and all his supporters to another point of sheer fear: the fact that DeSantis is a strapping 32 years younger.
DeSantis will join a growing pool of GOP contenders vying for a 2024 presidential campaign win, including Nikki Haley, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, Ryan Binkley, Larry Elder, Vivek Ramaswamy, Perry Johnson, Asa Hutchinson, and a still-maybe former vice-president Mike Pence
But really, we all know that the upcoming race for the GOP nomination comes down to two who will truly be needing to put the boxing gloves on: DeSantis and Trump.
The sparks are just waiting to fly.