Vicky Arias, FISM News
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday took to Twitter, in an event filled with glitches, to officially announce his candidacy for president.
The event was fraught with technical interruptions and audio dropouts, which beset DeSantis’ big news with frustration and confusion.
Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, and tech entrepreneur, David Sacks, hosted DeSantis on ‘Twitter Spaces,’ a feature that allows users to have, join, or listen in on live conversations, but the social media platform seemed overburdened by the large numbers of users joining the event.
“Servers are straining somewhat,” Musk said during the livestream.
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Former president Donald Trump blasted the event on Truth Social as a precursor to DeSantis’ abilities to lead the nation.
“I know Ron,” Trump stated. “The way he handled his announcement, he will handle the country!”
President Joe Biden also poked fun at the technical issues with a post asking for donations for his campaign, stating, “this link works.”
Sacks downplayed the glitch drama, tweeting, instead, that DeSantis’ announcement on Twitter made history.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he’s running for president on Twitter,” Sacks posted. “This was by far the biggest room ever held on social media. Twitter performed great after some initial scaling challenges. Thanks Twitter Team for adapting so quickly to make history!”
Despite the technical difficulties, DeSantis did manage to announce his intentions to run for president.
“I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback,” DeSantis said.
Look, we know our country’s going in the wrong direction…our southern border [has] collapsed, drugs are pouring into the country, our cities are being hollowed out by spiking crime, the federal government’s making it harder for the average family to make ends meet … and our president … lacks vigor and flounders in the face of our nation’s challenges, and he takes his cues from the woke mob. I don’t think it has to be this way. American decline is not inevitable, it is a choice.
Currently, the top two Republican contenders for president are Trump and DeSantis.
A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday showed Trump doubling his lead over DeSantis among conservatives. Among Republican and Republican-leaning voters polled, 56% said they support Donald Trump as the next Republican candidate for president, with just 25% supporting DeSantis.
This recent poll seems to show that Trump is gaining traction among Republicans, while DeSantis may be slipping. On March 29, the same poll had Trump at 47% and DeSantis at 33%.