It’s his own damn fault
By 
As Meatball Ron’s numbers continue to flatline, the money boys seem to be nominally looking for another model while resigning themselves to Trump:
Wall Street is firmly in the Never Trump camp. Finding a Republican who can make “never” happen is another question.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had been seen as the top pick to lock down the support of financial titans who have already pumped millions into his state campaigns.
But as he stumbles through gaffes over everything from his personal demeanor and stance on Ukraine to his snacking habits, Wall Street donors are keeping the door open to his competitors, according to more than a dozen bankers, attorneys and political consultants interviewed for this story.
“People will change horses,” said Dave Carney, a veteran Republican strategist for both former Bush presidents. “You may get really excited about somebody and then all of a sudden realize, ‘Eh, not really my cup of tea.’”
Credulous opening aside, I would say their positioning in the “never Trump” is about as firm as the National Review’s in 2016:
With Trump surging in the polls following his indictment on criminal charges stemming from alleged hush money payments, one executive at a New York bank said confidence in DeSantis’s ability to win is flagging.
“DeSantis is certainly a better option than Trump at this point,” the executive said. “But he’s a really weak option.”
The executive said many are growing resigned to the possibility of a general election rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden.
“What we probably wind up with is a choice between a guy who is very old and wants to raise our taxes and reregulate everything, and a guy who could be running from prison,” the executive said.
“We will have the choice between a crook and someone who might marginally raise our taxes” gee I wonder how they’re going to resolve that conflict!
Meanwhile, while (to his credit) not exonerating Republican primary voters, early DeSantis adopter Ross Douthat sees a media conspiracy behind the Fall of the House of Comstock:
Then, the final returning dynamic: The media still wants Trump. This is not offered as an excuse for G.O.P. primary voters choosing him; if the former president is renominated in spite of all his sins, it’s ultimately on them and them alone.
But I still feel a certain vibe, in the eager coverage of DeSantis’s sag, suggesting that at some half-conscious level the mainstream press really wants the Trump return. It wants to enjoy the Trump Show’s ratings; it wants the G.O.P. defined by Trumpism while it defines itself as democracy’s defender.
And so Trump’s rivals will have to struggle, not only against the wattage of the man himself but also against an impulse already apparent — to call the race for Trump before a single vote is cast.
Sorry, not buying that one. Indeed, I would say something closer to the opposite is true — DeSantis was relentlessly propped up by the political press out of a combination of reporters being tired of COVID and wanting an alternative to Trump, and it began to turn on him only after it was abundantly clear that he probably don’t have it.
Via Josh Marshall, who observes:
To be fair to Douthat, he does say leading up to those lines that if Trump is renominated it’s ultimately on GOP primary voters. Fair enough. But I really don’t buy this. Yesterday, HuffPost’s S.V. Date wrote that the U.S. press has failed its responsibilities by not putting front and center in all coverage of the man the reality of Jan. 6. This is true. Every general press account of Trump should begin with a descriptor something like “Donald Trump, the former president who staged an unsuccessful coup after being defeated in the 2020 election …”
But even this failure isn’t the same as wanting him back. I simply don’t think this is true even for the silliest and most conventional of national political reporters.
What I do think we see from the more engaged commentators and especially opinion columnists is a certain hearty welcome to any news of DeSantis’s implosion. Indeed, I’d class myself in this group. I’m always up for the latest Meatball Ron rake stomp.
But that’s not about Trump. It’s about DeSantis. Just at a personal level he’s a pretty unappealing guy. He’s framed his campaign persona around the once-looked-down-upon qualities of being a bully and a strutting braggart. (Remind you of anyone?) Finally, even if you buy into a lot of the Republican political program, you have to be really, really hardcore into the Trumpist predation mindset not to see clearly that DeSantis has used some of the most vulnerable people in his state as pawns, game board pieces really, to click every hot button in the Trump Era GOP program.
As I apparently said in a recent podcast, DeSantis’s campaign platform basically amounts to being an asshole. And, let’s be honest, that’s a strong platform in GOP circles. Look at Trump. But it doesn’t rub everyone the right way. Of course, there’s something specific with the press. DeSantis insists on staying in a bubble into which only the most obsequious reporters are allowed to enter. He’s struggled with any real scrutiny from the national press.
DeSantis’s “be a bullying asshole, all the time” strategy looks perfectly good as an approach to Republican primary voters on paper. The problem is that he’s going up against somebody who has perfected the model and who pretends to support Social Security. As long as Trump is alive DeSantis just isn’t going to get traction, and that’s not because he didn’t get favorable enough press coverage.
In fairness, there is no history of someone capable of winning statewide elections in Florida being hyped by Establishment Republicans and mainstream reporters as a presidential candidate and faceplanting, so there was no way to see this coming.