Here’s a nice moment for Ron DeSantis on CNN last night:
If the game is on the line and we need a buzzer beater, I’m going with Clark over Collins. pic.twitter.com/GoeV1y32tv
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 5, 2024
Now, DeSantis was poking good-natured fun at Nikki Haley for messing up the names. It’d be even better if he occasionally poked fun at himself. Self-deprecating humor is a great political weapon — it can be used to defuse criticisms and, obviously, to humanize a candidate.
This isn’t the chief reason he’s been scuffling, but DeSantis has been too relentlessly earnest and should have tried for more light moments. An under-appreciated political strength of Trump is that he’s funny, and certainly funnier than his opponents in the GOP race.