MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” panel on Thursday ripped the launch of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign.
DeSantis officially launched his campaign Wednesday night by releasing a video on Twitter announcing his run. DeSantis was slated to host a Twitter Space for the launch but after several glitches, Twitter owner Elon Musk abruptly ended the live audio stream.
“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough tore into DeSantis for the failed launch.
“We’re in the age of social media, so everybody is going to freak out at that exact moment, and they certainly did. There was a meltdown over the meltdown,” Scarborough began. “It was bad. I mean, it was bad on so many fronts. But [DeSantis] raised some money. He got people talking about him today, not in a positive way, and there is a long way to go. This would be like the first game of a 162-game baseball season, and your star pitcher getting the ball and accidentally throwing it and hitting himself in the face. It happens. But there’s 161 other games left. I mean this.”
“But … it just shows, you know, they may just have to start talking to some people who have done this before instead of relying just on themselves. Because they don’t want to repeat this too many times moving forward,” he continued. (RELATED: ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’: CNN Panel Reacts To DeSantis’ ‘Bumbled’ Twitter Announcement)
“Yeah, some candidates launch their campaigns by walking in front of the Statue of Liberty with their family as the wind blows, and others go with a choppy Twitter Space feed with Elon Musk,” co-host Willie Geist said.
“I thought, yes, this is amusing in some ways, out of the gate,” he continued. “It was supposed to be a finger in the eye to the establishment: ‘We’re not playing your game. We’re not going to do it the way it’s been done. We’re a different kind of campaign. I’m gonna sit down with Elon Musk and do it on Twitter,’ and that backfired. It’ll matter for, what, 24 hours? And then he steps out there and becomes a real candidate and we’ll see if he can do it.”
“Yeah, it’s the long game, we’ll be watching,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said.
DeSantis later defended the massive glitches, saying he “had a huge audience” and that while the Twitter Space did break, “we are really excited with the enthusiasm.”