Ron DeSantis: The Making and Remaking (and Remaking) of a MAGA Heir – Vanity Fair

DeSantiss focus on television was prescient. Ron was obsessed with Fox. Thats how he got on Trumps radar, a former adviser said. Multiple Republicans who interacted with DeSantis told me DeSantis began tailoring his policies to appeal to Fox viewers. His first question was always, How will that play on Fox? If you give an opinion he doesnt like, he says, I dont think that will play well on Fox, a prominent Republican said. Fox was on in the office 24/7. Ron made it abundantly clear he would only do Fox, a former staffer remembered. Getting Ron booked on Hannity was a high priority, another former DeSantis staffer said. According to a source, DeSantis texts with Hannity and Fox host Laura Ingraham.

In 2015, DeSantis was among a group of nine Republican House members who founded the hard-right Freedom Caucus. He courted the groups then chairman, Ohio congressman Jim Jordan. Jim would call Ron from across the room, and Ron would go running over, the former DeSantis staffer recalled. But DeSantis was dismissive of his peers. Ron didnt respect Mark Meadows. I could see it in the way they interacted, a former staffer said. Ron hated Kevin McCarthy. Same with Boehner. He thought he was smarter than them, a former staffer said. DeSantis was particularly turned off by social conservatives like then Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz. He also thought the Freedom Caucus guys were all nuts, a former staffer recalled. Ron had a Do Not Disturb sign and hed put it on his door anytime Chaffetz was coming by the office, another staffer said. A onetime staffer told me the sign, when hung, applied to all staff and visitors, save for Casey.

A former local newscaster, Casey DeSantis is by far her husbands closest confidant and advisersmoothing his rough edges and repairing relationships.RON SACHS/ABACA PRESS/ALAMY.

Like many elected Republicans, DeSantis was appalled when Trump ran for president. Ron made more fun of Donald Trump than anyone I know, one of the former DeSantis staffers told me. He thought Trump was fucking nuts, said another. Two staffers remembered DeSantis was particularly shocked by Trumps appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Washington in December 2015. This room negotiatesperhaps more than any room Ive spoken to, maybe more, Trump told the audience. Ron came back to the office and said, I cant believe Trump said that! Then we pulled up old SNL videos of Trump doing Dominos pizza commercials and stood around the computer making fun of Trump for 30 minutes.

DeSantis pivoted after the 2016 election. He hung out at Trumps Washington hotel, pushed a bill to defund the Mueller investigation, and shilled on Fox News. I liked him because he was out there defending me very strongly on the Mueller hoax, Trump told me in an interview last year. In November 2017, DeSantis earned an invitation to fly with Trump on Air Force One to a rally in Pensacola, Florida. DeSantiss congressional staff lamented his transformation. Ron is one of the smartest people Ive come in contact with. He had such potential, but he became nothing but a Trump suck-up. Its really sad, a former staffer told me. Ron is an intellectual. And then theres this persona hes a populist-like Trump figure, which is very clearly crafted, another said.

DeSantiss MAGA makeover paid off when he ran for governor in 2018. During the GOP primary, Trump gave DeSantis two endorsements and propelled DeSantis to close a 17-point deficit on the front-runner, the states moderate agriculture commissioner, Adam Putnam. Ron went through the roof as soon as I endorsed him, Trump said. A month before the primary, DeSantis aired a campaign ad that showed him reading Trumps Art of the Deal to his infant son, Mason, and encouraging his toddler daughter, Madison, to build a wall with toy blocks. DeSantis beat Putnam by 20 points.

DeSantis yoked himself even tighter to Trump when he faced Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum in the general election. DeSantiss campaign went sideways out of the gate when he told a Fox News interviewer, The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by electing Gillum, who would have become Floridas first Black governor. DeSantis insisted the apparent racist dog whistle was unintentional and privately blamed his staff for failing to clean up the controversy. He has a hard time taking responsibility for anything that goes wrong, a member of the campaign said. A month before the election, polls were deadlocked. To right the ship, DeSantis hired Trumps 2016 Florida campaign chief, Susie Wiles, to run his campaign. Meanwhile, a parade of MAGA royalty campaigned for DeSantis, who defeated Gillum by 30,000 votes. Trump dragged Ron across the finish line, a longtime Trump adviser told me.

The biggest complaint you hear about DeSantis is that he never says thank you.

A rift between the two men opened almost immediately. DeSantis seems to be making the political calculation that, whether Trump runs in 2024 or not, the 76-year-old former president has an expiration date. Trumps list of legal and political liabilities continues to grow. During the week of August 8 alone, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago to retrieve hundreds of government documentsmore than 100 highly classifiedTrump allegedly took from the White House; a Manhattan judge ordered Trumps company to stand trial in October for criminal tax fraud; and New York attorney general Letitia James deposed Trump in her long-running investigation into his business practices.

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Ron DeSantis: The Making and Remaking (and Remaking) of a MAGA Heir - Vanity Fair