Everything about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is shallow fakery and manipulative astroturf.

The term “astroturf” is given whenever a political operation attempts to generate the illusion of support where little to no support exists.   Astroturf politics is pure fabrication and highlights the smallness of the candidate for whom the astroturf operation is conducted.

In republican national politics we saw astroturf operations around Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz in 2016, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the same individual’s surface again as hired by Team DeSantis to create his 2024 astroturf campaign.  Yesterday’s trip by the meatball to Georgia was pure astroturf, complete with free DeSantis ’24 swag, t-shirts, and various freebies in order to support the artificial optics of the campaign [see video at end].

With the support of Jeb Bush and Karl Rove, team Meatball has hired former Cruz and Youngkin campaign officials to help generate and enhance his illusion.  They even hired people skilled in manufactured polling [WPA intel] to create false data for media to promote. This action comes on the heels of the meatball’s instructions to state senate allies for them to change Florida law, thus permitting him to run without resigning.

WASHINGTON – […] The upper ranks of Never Back Down, a group founded by former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, will include top strategists to Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, a top adviser to Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 Virginia gubernatorial campaign and senior communications aides involved in former president Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential run, according to a person familiar with the plans, who, like others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private arrangements.

The sheer firepower of the senior team suggests that Never Back Down — which will be able to accept donations of unlimited value and transfers from DeSantis’s state political committee — will have a more expansive role in the 2024 campaign than past presidential super PACs, which have traditionally focused almost exclusively on television and digital advertising.

[…] Phil Cox, a senior adviser to the 2022 DeSantis reelection campaign who has been a point of contact for Republicans hoping to support a White House bid, will serve as a senior adviser to Never Back Down, the person familiar with the plans said. He will work with Axiom Strategies President Jeff Roe, the architect of the 2016 Cruz campaign and the 2021 Youngkin campaign, whose role with the group was disclosed last week.

Kristin Davison, an Axiom consultant who has worked as a top adviser to Youngkin, will join the group as chief operating officer, working with Chris Jankowski — a Virginia strategist who has worked with Cox — who has taken the title of chief executive.

[…] Chris Wilson, a Republican pollster at WPA Intelligence, will lead the data efforts for Never Back Down. He worked on Youngkin’s gubernatorial campaign, and served as director of research, analytics and digital strategy for the 2016 Cruz presidential campaign.

David Polyansky, Axiom’s chief strategy officer, will also join Never Back Down as a senior adviser. He previously worked as a senior adviser to the 2016 GOP presidential campaign of former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, as top adviser to the Cruz presidential campaign and as a Senate chief of staff to Cruz.

[…] On Monday, Matt Wolking, a deputy communications director for Trump’s 2020 campaign who works at Axiom, announced on Twitter that he was joining the group. (read more)

Right on cue, today Meatball spox Matt Wolking starts promoting a Meatball WPA Intelligence poll for NBC to promote.

The coordinated astroturf effort is extremely visible, and makes the meatball look smaller than a spaghetti-o.

Next up is an exceptional video explanation by Randy of what happened in Georgia yesterday.

Everything noted in the ‘on-the-ground’ video in Georgia is describing pure astroturf.

If Casey DeSantis had any shame or humility, she would be embarrassed for her Meatball.  However, as Casey takes counsel from Cindy McCain while shopping for tiaras and drapes, the general optics are that Mrs. Meatball is one of the biggest pushers of the 2024 enterprise.

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