Puhshaw’s fash army

The DeSantis campaign’s fascist edgelord ad operation was overseen by DeSantis’s former press secretary and current rapid response director Christina Pushaw, because of course:

Senior aides to Ron DeSantis oversaw the campaign’s high-risk strategy of laundering incendiary videos produced by their staff through allied anonymous Twitter accounts, a set of internal campaign communications obtained by Semafor reveals.

The videos include two that have created recurring distractions for his campaign in recent weeks: an anti-Trump video that featured a fascist symbol, and another that attacked Donald Trump for past comments supportive of LGBT rights.

The meme-filled videos emerged from a Signal channel called “War Room Creative Ideas,” screenshots of which were shared with Semafor and whose authenticity was confirmed by a second source familiar with the campaign.

The chat in Signal, an encrypted messaging app, offers the first clear look into the “war room” that has defined the Florida governor’s candidacy, and is presided over by his high-profile and confrontational director of rapid response, Christina Pushaw. The correspondence obtained by Semafor also offers a glimpse of a strategy that mixes digital aggression and (unsuccessful) attempts to keep the campaign’s own activities secret. The messages were set to disappear after one week.

Screenshots of the “War Room” chat reviewed by Semafor included staffers praising a widely-derided and since-deleted video — originally posted on an anonymous account, “Ron DeSantis Fancams” — that included a version of the Sonnenrad, a symbol associated with Nazi Germany.

“This belongs in the Smithsonian,” wrote Kyle Lamb, the campaign’s director of research and data, before the video blew up in the campaign’s face. He was among the 38 staffers laid off in recent weeks amid a campaign “reset.” Messages viewed by Semafor also show members of the War Room group actively sharing images to put in the video while it was in the editing process, though not the Sonnenrad symbol that was in the final version.

Pushaw used the Signal group to spread content to anonymous allies, the chat shows. She told junior staffers that they should keep making meme videos, while other aides also said they wanted to push out more videos, according to the person familiar with the campaign. The chat included other senior staffers among its dozen-plus members, including press secretary Bryan Griffin.

Well, if you want a campaign by and for people who think that fascist memes directed toward incels with Elon Musk screensavers are the path to victory, Pushaw definitely the person who want running things.

Speaking of which, here’s how the campaign is going for Three Fingers Ron these days:

For $1, New Hampshire voters were invited to drink beer with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday in Concord.

But barely more than two dozen people showed up at the New Hampshire Home Builders Association, which slashed the ticket price for the general public from $50 late in the week in order to build the crowd.

By the time the event started, an hour late, there were just 30 people in the room.

For a campaign that promised allies a new approach while shedding staff amid a cash crunch and declining poll numbers, the meet-and-greet with homebuilders was just one of a string of events in Iowa and New Hampshire in recent days that were distinctive less for any change in DeSantis’ tack than for the appearance of waning interest in his candidacy.

If they started handing out money to get people to have a beer with him, I’d bet they could increase that attendance by as much as 10%.