Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attempted to save face after his 2024 presidential campaign kickoff was marred by a slew of technical difficulties—by claiming he broke Twitter Spaces.
DeSantis, whose announcement has been highly anticipated, formally launched his 2024 presidential campaign during a conversation on the platform Wednesday evening with Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Craft Ventures co-founder David Sacks.
But the live-streamed event was plagued with glitches, causing the social media app to crash multiple times in addition to echoes, deafening feedback and other mishaps within the first 20 minutes of the Twitter event.
The Republican’s campaign launch was widely mocked on social media, where numerous Twitter users called the kickoff “a disaster” and caused the hashtag #DeSaster to go viral. President Joe Biden even took a jab at DeSantis, as did his GOP rival former President Donald Trump. The MAGA leader shared multiple posts on his TruthSocial platform, roasting his former ally over his announcement.
Maya Alleruzzo / POOL / AFP/Getty
Newsweek reached out via email to DeSantis’ campaign representatives for comment.
During a Fox News interview following his Twitter launch fiasco, the host, Trey Gowdy, also poked fun at the problems, saying: “Fox News will not crash during this interview.”
DeSantis claimed his event drew the largest-ever Twitter audience, causing it to “break” Twitter Spaces.
“We had a huge audience,” DeSantis said. “It was the biggest they’d ever had. It did break the Twitter space. And so we’re really excited with the enthusiasm, but ultimately it’s about the future of our country.”
Sacks, co-host of the Twitter Spaces event that garnered 1.3 million viewers, said on Twitter that the social media platform “performed great” after the initial myriad of issues during the start of the campaign kickoff. Musk re-tweeted Sacks’ post.
“@GovRonDeSantis announced he’s running for president on Twitter. This was by far the biggest room ever held on social media,” Sacks tweeted. “Twitter performed great after some initial scaling challenges. Thanks Twitter Team for adapting so quickly to make history!”
@GovRonDeSantis announced he’s running for president on Twitter. 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!https://t.co/mTJ2INQ1Y7
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) May 24, 2023
During the prime-time interview, held during ousted Fox News’ host Tucker Carlson’s time slot, DeSantis said he’s running to lead a “great American comeback.”
“We know the country’s on the wrong track, we see it with our eyes. We feel it in our bones. We see the border being overrun. We see crime infesting the cities.”
The Florida governor slammed Biden, referring to the Democratic president as a “listless vessel,” “not energetic” and said Biden is “not dealing with the key challenges” facing the United States. DeSantis said Americans can choose a better path: Him.
“Our decline as a country is not inevitable. It is a choice and I think we can choose a better pathway,” DeSantis said. “And so, what I will do is help restore normalcy to our community, integrity to our institutions and sanity to our society.”