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‘Re-Running The Ted Cruz Playbook’: CNN Panelist Dismisses DeSantis’ Chances In Republican Primary

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A guest on “CNN This Morning” dismissed on Wednesday Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida’s chances in the Republican presidential primary and claimed he is using a strategy that failed to beat former President Donald Trump in 2016.

“One thing that’s interesting about this primary is that Ron DeSantis is sort of re-running the Ted Cruz playbook. He’s trying to get to the right of Donald Trump on every thing, being Mr. Conservative, the true conservative, as the Ted Cruz people would say,” Josh Barros, host of the “Very Serious” podcast, said. “He literally has much of the Ted Cruz team working for him on this, and that didn’t work last time. Ted Cruz lost.” (RELATED: ‘That Scares Me’: Sunny Hostin Attacks DeSantis For Supporting Daniel Penny)

Trump leads DeSantis 53.2% to 22.4%, according to the Real Clear Politics average based on several polls between May 8 and May 22. Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is a distant third with a 4.4% average, while former Vice President Mike Pence averages 3.8% and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy averages 2.6%.

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DeSantis launched his presidential campaign on May 24 during a glitch-filled Twitter Space that was initially joined by over 700,000 people. He won Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial election in a landslide victory after defeating former Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, who served as governor from 2007-2011 as a Republican, by nearly 20%.

“I think what Donald Trump showed you was that a lot of these Republican primary voters, very few of them are going in with a checklist saying here are all of the ideological positions I have and I want the person who’s most to the right on them,” Barro said.

DeSantis signed parental rights legislation in March 2022. He also signed legislation on May 2 that prohibits state agencies and local governments from considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when issuing bonds, bars banks from considering “social credit” when making loan decisions and prohibits discrimination on the basis of political, social or religious ideology.

DeSantis also signed legislation to restrict abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, expand the March 2022 parental rights law, enact “constitutional carry” and initiate universal school choice.

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