DeSantis criticized for 'desperate' tactics as campaign struggles against Trump

More than a month after launching his presidential bid, Gov. Ron DeSantis still is trailing former President Donald Trump by a wide margin and his campaign is facing increasing questions about its viability, and criticism of messaging that even some Republicans view as "desperate" and extreme.

Steve Cortes, a top spokesman for the Never Back Down super PAC backing DeSantis, acknowledged in a recent Twitter Spaces event that DeSantis is "way behind." The candid admission from a leading supporter underscored how poorly things have gone for DeSantis' campaign since a glitch-filled online launch on May 24.

“I believe in being blunt and honest," Cortes said in remarks first reported by Politico. "It’s an uphill battle but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner.”

DeSantis' blue collar problem: He rails against elites, but they're his biggest supporters

DeSantis has run a hard right campaign to try and peel conservative voters away from Trump, but hasn't budged in the polls. The Real Clear Politics average of national primary polls shows DeSantis down by 31 percentage points, roughly the same as when he launched his campaign.

A FOX News survey from late June had Trump at 56% support nationally and DeSantis in a distant second at 22% support.

“If we do not prevail — and I have every intent on winning, I didn’t sign up for this to come in second — but if we do not prevail I will tell you this, we will make President Trump better for having this kind of primary,” Cortes said in the twitter conversation.

DeSantis stakes out provocative positions to the right of Trump

DeSantis has taken some provocative positions as he works to win over staunch conservatives, recently joining Trump in calling for an end to birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the Constitution.

The latest provocation came on June 30, when DeSantis' campaign shared a video that immediately was condemned by some Republicans as homophobic, and raised questions about whether the struggling campaign is going to extremes to attract attention.

"To wrap up 'Pride Month,' let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it…," tweeted the DeSantis War Room Twitter account in promoting the video, which begins with a clip of Trump in the weeks after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando saying "I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens."

The video portrays Trump as supportive of the LGBTQ community while celebrating DeSantis' aggressive efforts to outlaw LGBTQ discussions in schools and restrict transgender health care.

Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing LGBT conservatives, called the video "divisive and desperate" and said the DeSantis campaign "ventured into homophobic territory.”

GOP presidential candidates Chris Christie and Will Hurd also criticized the video and Richard Grenell, a prominent gay Republican with 1.1 million Twitter followers who served as Acting Director of National Intelligence under Trump, called it "insanely homophobic."

DeSantis Rapid Response Director Christina Pushaw defended the video, tweeting: "Opposing the federal recognition of 'Pride Month' isn't 'homophobic.' We wouldn't support a month to celebrate straight people for sexual orientation, either... It's unnecessary, divisive, pandering."

DeSantis responded Wednesday to criticism of the video, saying the criticism of Trump's record on LGBTQ issues is "fair game."

The video includes a clip of Trump telling an interviewer that transgender women can compete in his beauty pageants and shows a CNN headline stating: "Trump repeatedly celebrated the inclusion of transgender women in his beauty pageant."

"I think identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants, I think that's totally fair game because he's now campaigning saying the opposite, that he doesn't think that you should have men competing in women's things like athletics," DeSantis said.

Yet the episode further highlighted that DeSantis is struggling to find a message that can win over Trump supporters, and may be tempted to take more extreme positions.

DeSantis already is running one of the most conservative presidential campaigns in recent memory, from promoting a law he passed in Florida that outlaws abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally around six weeks of pregnancy, to rolling out an immigration platform that would result in mass deportations.

As part of this campaign, DeSantis is taking aim at Trump's record on everything from COVID-19 policy to criminal justice reform and University of Miami political science professor Gregory Koger said the LGBTQ video fits this strategy.

"I think it is part of an effort by DeSantis to identify issue distinctions that work in his favor," Koger said, noting that "in substance, the ad has a factual basis."

"During the 2016 campaign, Trump did make pro-LGBTQ statements," Koger added. "And, DeSantis has spent the last four years signing laws and taking actions to ostracize and penalize the LGBTQ community."

'Not seeing any movement' in the polls, though DeSantis leads in battleground polls with Biden

Florida-based GOP strategist Ford O'Connell told The Hill that the DeSantis' campaign video is "clearly a play at Iowa, social conservatives and traditional Republicans" but other GOP strategists said it could backfire in New Hampshire, an early-voting state with a more socially moderate GOP electorate.

Timothy Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa, said some of the issues that DeSantis has seized on regarding LGBTQ issues and schools could resonate with Iowa caucusgoers, but "that wasn't the best ad to make that point."

Hagle is cautious about putting too much importance on early polls, but noted that "DeSantis is down by huge margins and that at some point does have to become worrisome."

"They're not seeing any movement and maybe that's got some folks worried that they need to switch things up a bit which is understandable," he said.

Yet DeSantis risks undercutting one of his big talking points, that he is more electable than Trump, by driving away moderate voters with an ultra conservative message – although an average of recent swing state surveys shows him doing better against President Joe Biden in a general election matchup, according to polling aggregator InteractivePolls.

Cortes also noted that DeSantis is polling better in some of the early primary and caucus states. His campaign is focused on those states to try and score an early victory that would build momentum.

Trump's persistent dominance in national polling threatens to sap energy from DeSantis' campaign and discourage donors, though.

DeSantis' former state committee recently transferred $82.5 million to Never Back Down, giving the PAC plenty of resources. Whether DeSantis and his allies can continue their torrid fundraising pace is a big question.

Second quarter fundraising reports are due July 15.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' LGBTQ video criticized as "desperate"