Voices: Down and out: How DeSantis tried to fight on two fronts – and cowered in both
Shortly before Ron DeSantis posted a disappointing second-place finish in Iowa, his old friend and colleague from Congress Francis Rooney told me the Florida governor’s major problem and why he could not knock off Donald Trump.
“Trump’s base support kind of doubled when they started all these indictments,” Mr Rooney, former congressman and US Ambassador to the Vatican told me.
Conversely, Bob Vander Plaats, the Iowa evangelical kingmaker, told me shortly before the caucuses that DeSantis “needs to convince those who are supporting , ‘listen, you want an alternative to Trump? I’m your guy’. And he needs to convince the Trump voters – ‘Hey, if
