Thread by @jsrailton

If you aren't thinking about how to defeat an inevitable DeSantis run, you're planning for the wrong game.

2/ People need to feel that there is a *better* alternative to DeSantis.

It is *not enough* to point out his flaws.

In fact, that is actually exactly what he hopes you'll do.

His strategy depends on farming *your outrage* into a growing national profile.

3/ I'm not a political strategist, or a political scientist.

I'd love to be wrong about a DeSantis primary win.

I'd also love to see Trump churlishly try withhold his base from DeSantis...

But DeSantis has absolutely cracked the code of national media ubiquity & I'm worried.

4/ Yes, #DeSantis plays culture war games.

But what spooks me is hearing moderates fatigued by the pandemic... echoing talking points about how he kept Florida "open for business."

They learned about him from the stunts but he hooked them with that other performance.

5/ I draw little solace from #DeSantis' abysmal charisma.

He's perfected the stunt politics of cruelty while simultaneously pitching himself as a trains-run-on-time guy.

It's a potent, toxic brand for a big market.

6/ Watching how Dems talk about #DeSantis I'm reminded of the magical thinking of 2015-2016 about Trump.

It was always "this fresh outrage will be the one that tanks him for sure."

And it never did.