Ron DeSantis news – live: Elon Musk’s Twitter Spaces crashes ruining Florida governor’s 2024 campaign launch

The Twitter launch of Ron DeSantis’s 2024 bid for the White House was struck by early tech issues with the sound repeatedly dropping out.

The Twitter Spaces event crashed several times on Wednesday evening, with Twitter owner Elon Musk saying the servers appeared to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people trying to listen.

Donald Trump took aim at Mr DeSantis, writing on Truth Social: “Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!”

Mr DeSantis officially entered the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, after months of speculation, having filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

Mr DeSantis, 44, is seen as Mr Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican vote with several Republican lawmakers and right-wing media rallying behind him after the midterms.

However, the latest polls show Mr DeSantis trailing Mr Trump.

This comes as Mr DeSantis is going to war with Disney and pushing back on the NAACP’s advisory warning travellers that Florida is “openly hostile” towards Black people, people of colour, and LGBT+ people due to his laws.

Key Points

• ‘Making this awkward mess your presidential announcement is truly a disaster'

• MSNBC host calls DeSantis Twitter Space ‘ASTOUNDINGLY HUMILIATING degree of incompetence'

• After tech issues subside, DeSantis mocked for ‘annoying voice’

• Fox news calls DeSantis announcement on Twitter ‘a disaster’ as Trump joins in mockery

• AOC mocks amount of listeners to DeSantis Twitter Spaces event

Timeline: Trump v DeSantis

05:45 , Oliver O'Connell

During his own tenure in the White House in 2018, Donald Trump loudly cheered Ron DeSantis’s bid for the governor’s mansion, throwing his weight behind the former congressman and appearing at rallies to stump for him, playing an important role in the candidate’s narrow defeat of Democratic rival and Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum.

Since then, however, a great deal of water has passed beneath the bridge and the two men are now increasingly antagonistic towards one another.

Mr Trump has been busy yelling a steady stream of insults and barbed nicknames across the state from Mar-a-Lago, the majority of which Mr DeSantis has wisely allowed to pass without public comment.

Here is a timeline of their disintegrating relationship.

A timeline of Donald Trump’s rivalry with Ron DeSantis

Key takeaways from Ron DeSantis’ campaign rollout

05:15 , Sravasti Dasgupta

After a 30-minute delay caused by technological glitches with Twitter’s “Spaces” audio conversation system, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ much-hyped announcement of his 2024 presidential campaign kicked off with a billionaire praising another billionaire.

And with that, Mr DeSantis began making his pitch to voters — or at least the voters who are on Twitter and cared enough to listen.

Andrew Feinberg brings the key takeaways:

Key takeaways from Ron DeSantis’ campaign rollout

Profile: Casey DeSantis

04:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Joe Sommerlad looks at the life of the former TV news anchor, mother of three, and breast cancer survivor who could one day be first lady.

Who is Casey DeSantis? What we know about Florida governor Ron’s wife

Trump tries to hijack DeSantis 2024 announcement day

03:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump tried to steal the spotlight away from Ron DeSantis’ 2024 campaign announcement day by launching into an insult-packed rant about the Florida governor on his Truth Social platform.

On Wednesday morning, the former president began his day by spewing a series of attacks on the man expected to be his biggest rival for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Trump tries to hijack DeSantis 2024 announcement day with insult-packed rant

Boycott Florida? Warnings from civil rights groups call attention to ‘hostile’ DeSantis agenda

03:10 , Alex Woodward

For 1,000 days, after a decade of racist violence and unrest in Florida and around the US, a boycott launched by Black residents in Miami called on Black tourists and businesses to stay out of the city.

From 17 July 1990 to 12 May 1993, a boycott supported by the NAACP and other civil rights groups urged visitors to steer clear, inflicting potentially tens of millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue in Miami-Dade County.

Black Miami residents had long been subject to systemic inequality and exclusion from the city’s lucrative tourism industry, but the city’s rejection of Nelson Mandela following his release from a 27-year prison sentence proved to be the tipping point.

Thirty years later, another coalition of civil rights groups has issued travel advisories warning visitors before traveling to the state, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has advanced a far-right platform targeting civil liberties, education, healthcare and immigration.

“Governor Ron DeSantis has inflicted deep and lasting damage upon our state, eroding the fundamental rights of our residents and visitors while exploiting the word ‘free’ as a hollow campaign slogan,” said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.

Read more:

Boycott Florida? Warnings from civil rights groups on ‘hostile’ DeSantis agenda

Billionaires, media bashing and woke ‘bubbles’: Key takeaways from Ron DeSantis’ campaign rollout

03:00 , Graeme Massie

Attacks on the media, threats to dismantle elements of US government and warnings about the ‘woke mind virus’ dominate glitch-filled launch.

Key takeaways from Ron DeSantis’ campaign rollout

DeSantis is recruiting police officers with violent records, report says

02:45 , Oliver O'Connell

A number of law enforcement officers lured to Florida with one-time bonuses under a programme championed by Governor Ron DeSantis have violent records, new reporting shows.

Last spring, Mr DeSantis signed legislation giving a $5,000 after-tax bonus to new law enforcement recruits in Florida. The bill, Mr DeSantis claimed, would lure the “best and the brightest” law enforcement officers from states around the country to Florida.

Abe Asher reports.

DeSantis is recruiting police officers with violent records, report says

DeSantis launches ‘anti-woke’ 2024 bid amid ridicule as Musk’s Twitter Spaces event melts down

02:33 , Graeme Massie

Technical issues delay start of Florida governor’s launch event which quickly runs off-course.

DeSantis’s 2024 bid ridiculed as Musk’s Twitter event melts down

‘Normal Americans don’t want their president to be a ruthless assassin'

02:20 , Gustaf Kilander

Writer James Surowiecki tweeted on Wednesday night: “The most telling moment in the whole DeSantis event was Sacks praising him for being like a ‘cool-headed ruthless assassin’ in the war on wokeness. Normal Americans don’t want their president to be a ruthless assassin.”

“I will never understand why DeSantis didn’t hold a big kickoff rally in a Florida football stadium. It would have been covered live by cable news, and would have sent the message, ‘I’m a normal guy who likes the same things you do,’ which is a message DeSantis needs to send,” he added. “Instead, he launches his campaign in the [most] online way possible, risking the kind of glitchiness he ran into, and ensuring the TV coverage of the event would be minimal, since television networks like events with images.”

‘Trump is just so damned undeservedly lucky'

02:10 , Gustaf Kilander

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan tweeted on Wednesday night following Mr DeSantis’s disastrous Twitter Spaces campaiugn launch: “What a lucky man Donald Trump is.”

“Consider his CNN Town Hall versus DeSantis’s Twitter Spaces ‘launch’ tonight. Trump is just so damned undeservedly lucky,” he added.

“Congratulations to DeSantis’s crack comms team, @BryanDGriffin, @ChristinaPushaw, and @JeremyRedfernFL, for organizing a totally effective and non-humiliating campaign launch for their boss with tech genius @elonmusk. Bravo! Remember, their pitch is ‘Trump but competent.’ Lol,” he said earlier in the night.

Florida Democrats slam DeSantis after disastrous Twitter Spaces campaign launch: ‘Tantrum-throwing bully’

02:00 , Alex Woodward and Gustaf Kilander

Florida state Democrats slammed Mr DeSantis after his disastrous Twitter Spaces campaign launch.

Representative Angie Nixon of Jacksonville said that Mr DeSantis is a “tantrum-throwing bully who threatens our ability to live our lives free from tyranny and oppression. He’s bought and paid for by the wealthy corporate elites while he sacrifices the health, safety, livelihoods, and futures of all Floridians”.

“Ron DeSantis has relentlessly attacked our freedoms, signing a near-total abortion ban, implementing permitless carry of hidden, loaded guns that make us less safe, and enforcing unconstitutional laws that are costing Floridians millions to defend in court,” she added. “This is a warning for all Americans: do not trust Ron DeSantis because he’ll always do what’s best for his own political career while the people get left further behind. And while Americans of all races, places, and backgrounds value our fundamental freedoms, Ron DeSantis will take all that we hold dear if it means taking another step up the political ladder.”

Leader Fentrice Driskell, a Tampa Democrat added: “How can Ron DeSantis expect to be our nation’s president after he’s failed Florida? He’s leaving behind a state where he stoked division, ignored families’ problems, and focused his energies on his own ambition. This man does not embody the characteristics we need in a president.”

“He’s a temperamental bully, who punches down on those who dare to disagree with him. Not surprisingly, America doesn’t seem to be buying what he’s selling,” she said. “His polling numbers have declined in recent weeks as people have gotten to know who he really is. They’ve seen him sign an extremist abortion ban, pushed a soft-on-crime permitless carry law, and picked a bizarre fight with Disney that hardly anyone cares about. Despite his announcement’s technical problems, today was historic: Ron DeSantis’ relentless ambition has pushed him to declare his intention to be the second-place finisher in the GOP primary for President of the United States of America.”

DeSantis’s glitchy 2024 launch shows he could be more dangerous than Trump

01:53 , Graeme Massie

Technical issues delay start of Florida governor’s launch event which quickly runs off-course.

DeSantis’s 2024 bid ridiculed as Musk’s Twitter event melts down

Laura Ingraham thinks DeSantis has a better chance against Joe Biden... Trump is not happy

01:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has lashed out at his longtime booster and Fox News host Laura Ingraham after she reported on polls suggesting the former president’s Republican rival would be a better match to take back the White House in 2024.

Read more:

Trump slams Fox News’ Laura Ingraham over ‘hit piece’ praising DeSantis

Trump dubs DeSantis 2024 launch ‘DISASTER’ and crack bizarre joke about ‘red button’ and ‘friend’ Kim Jong-un

01:30 , Graeme Massie

Donald Trump mocked the disastrous Twitter Spaces launch of Ron DeSantis’s bid for the White House as he made a bizarre joke about Kim Jong-un.

“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” he wrote on Truth Social.

Read more:

Trump mocks disastrous DeSantis 2024 launch with bizarre joke about ‘red button’

Trump shares video mocking chaotic DeSantis launch

01:20 , Gustaf Kilander

Elon Musk complains about David Duke comparison during disastrous DeSantis 2024 launch event

01:12 , Graeme Massie

The Florida governor’s campaign got off to a rocky start on Wednesday.

Elon Musk complains about David Duke comparison during DeSantis 2024 launch event

Trump says DeSantis’s ‘whole campaign will be a disaster'

01:10 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump took aim at Mr DeSantis again on Wednesday night, writing on Truth Social: “Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!”

“Tim Scott’s Presidential launch, even with the broken microphone (don’t pay the contractor, Tim!), was by far the best Presidential launch of the week. Robs was a catastrophe!” he added.

DeSantis campaign site logo mocked as he enters presidential race

01:00 , Oliver O'Connell

As he launches his presidential campaign, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being mocked for the choice of logo greeting visitors to his official website as he files the paperwork to officially become a candidate taking on former President Donald Trump.

Before his event hosted on Twitter alongside the platform’s owner Elon Musk, his campaign site consisted of a simple image of an alligator in a swamp.

Here’s why it has amused fans of Mr Trump:

DeSantis campaign site logo mocked as he enters presidential race

‘Making this awkward mess your presidential announcement is truly a disaster'

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:55 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Obama official Tommy Vietor tweeted on Wednesday evening that “doing a Twitter spaces conversation with Elon at some point during your campaign is a good idea, even if its glitchy. Making this awkward mess your presidential announcement is truly a disaster”.

The right-wing account Catturd added: “I left the Space - It was so terrible and boring I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m going to go watch some paint dry so I can be more entertained.”

Scandal-plagued New York Republican George Santos said that “Ron just signaled he will abuse his executive powers to circumvent Congress if president to target government agencies he disagrees with. I’m a hard pass on another Obama style executive power abuser”.

Rep Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Trump supporter, simply wrote: “DeSedative.”

MSNBC host calls DeSantis Twitter Space ‘ASTOUNDINGLY HUMILIATING degree of incompetence'

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:50 , Gustaf Kilander

Earlier on Wednesday evening, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, tweeted that “the initial space topped out at over 600k but this one is stuck at 139k”.

The second space later hosted on the account of David Sacks reached more than 300,000 listeners, according to Twitter.

“BuzzFeed exploding the watermelon hit 820,000 concurrent viewers in 2016,” Tom Gara noted.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes said: “I’m sorry but this is an ASTOUNDINGLY HUMILIATING degree of incompetence. Unspinnable failure. Total and complete. Fully public.”

Anti-DeSantis protesters demonstrate outside Miami hotel amid meeting of governor’s donors

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:45 , Graeme Massie

Protesters demonstrated outside a luxury hotel in Miami as wealth donors to newly announced 2024 candidate Ron DeSantis met.

The protest assembled outside the city’s Four Seasons hotel hours before Mr DeSantis announced his bid for the presidency in a chaotic Twitter event with Elon Musk. Mr DeSantis was not actually present at the hotel, according to the Miami Herald.

Read more:

Anti-DeSantis protesters demonstrate outside luxury Miami hotel

VIDEO: Ron DeSantis releases presidential campaign ad

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:40 , Gustaf Kilander

After tech issues subside, DeSantis mocked for ‘annoying voice’

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:33 , Gustaf Kilander

After the tech issues plaguing the Twitter Spaces event finally faded, Mr DeSantis was mocked for his voice.

“Now that the space has worked long enough for DeSantis to deliver consecutive desentences, all I’m seeing are tweets about how annoying his voice is,” Bobby Lewis tweeted.

DNC member Thomas Kennedy added: “Holy s*** this is the worst campaign launch I have objectively ever seen. Embarrassing technical difficulties and consists of DeSantis rambling with his annoying nasally voice about the most niche hyper online right-wing issues that your average voter finds weird and alienating.”

Listen: Ron DeSantis's presidential launch suffers major technical issues

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:30 , Gustaf.Kilander

Donald Trump Jr says ‘DeSantis is making JEB! look high energy right now'

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:24 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump Jr echoed his father’s mockery of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush during the 2016 campaign, saying that “DeSantis is making JEB! look high energy right now”.

Memes began to be shared of the Twitter Spaces chaos, including an edited video of Mr Trump tackling Mr DeSantis to the ground.

AOC mocks amount of listeners to DeSantis Twitter Spaces event

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Ben Collins of NBC News tweeted on Wednesday night that “David Sacks just ludicrously made up that Ron DeSantis’ Twitter space was the largest group that ‘has ever met online.’ There are 100,000 people in this thing.”

“We had more people join when I played Among Us,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

Fox news calls DeSantis announcement on Twitter ‘a disaster’ as Trump joins in mockery

Thursday 25 May 2023 00:08 , Gustaf Kilander

A Fox News push alert stated: “Much-hyped DeSantis announcement is a disaster on Twitter.”

Donald Trump joined in the mockery, writing: “‘Rob,’ My Red Button is bigger, better, stronger, and is working (TRUTH!), yours does not! (per my conversation with Kim Jung Un, of North Korea, soon to become my friend!).”

DeSantis campaign announcement devolves into ‘thanking Elon Musk and complaining about Twitter'

Wednesday 24 May 2023 23:59 , Gustaf Kilander

Amid tech issues and Ron DeSantis’s Twitter Spaces crashing, the Florida Governor’s campaign announcement devolved into “a bunch of people just thanking Elon Musk and complaining about Twitter,” Ben Collins of NBC News tweeted.

“I’ve never met Elon Musk, but I’m one of your biggest fans. I own a Tesla,” congressman Thomas Massie said during the audio-only event.

DeSantis pushes back on NAACP Florida warning

Wednesday 24 May 2023 23:46 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr DeSantis pushed back on the NAACP’s advisory warning travellers that Florida is “openly hostile” towards Black people, people of colour, and LGBT+ people due to his laws.

“We're the number one state for net in migration and have been every year since I've been governor,” he claimed. “We just kept the highest quarter for tourism in the history of the state of Florida. And our view is we want everybody to succeed regardless of their skin colour.”

“We don't divvy up people by race. At the same time, it is worth pointing out that we have in Florida more black-owned businesses than any state in the nation. And we've also had more African Americans lead state agencies under my administration than at any time in Florida history but with us, you know, they're there because of merit, not because we're trying to play identity politics,” he added.

“And if you want to look at education, Black students in Florida perform much higher than Black students in most other states. We ranked number three in fourth-grade reading and number two in fourth-grade math amongst our Black student population. And oh, by the way, the head of the NAACP lives in Florida, and a lot of their board members have put out on social media during my governorship, Florida vacations where they seem to be having an awfully good time,” he claimed.

Santos mocks DeSantis tech problems: ‘Twitter is crashing! LOL'

Wednesday 24 May 2023 23:38 , Gustaf Kilander

DeSantis appears certain of general election victory if he wins nomination

Wednesday 24 May 2023 23:37 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr DeSantis appeared to claim that if he wins the GOP nomination, his winning the general election was a certainty.

He told listeners to “set your clock” to “high noon” on 20 January 2025 for his inauguration.

The governor also slammed Mr Trump, saying that promises on policy are pointless if the Republicans keep losing.