The top strategist for the embattled super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ’ campaign for the White House resigned Saturday night in the latest sign of trouble for the GOP hopeful less than one month before voting begins with Iowa’s kickoff caucuses.
Jeff Roe, the top adviser to Never Back Down, is the latest senior staffer to exit Never Back Down, which has been the largest outside group supporting DeSantis’ candidacy.
He announced his departure on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, hours after The Washington Post published a story focused on internal disputes and suspicions between Never Back Down, the campaign, and other DeSantis allies that included accusations of “mismanagement and conduct issues, including numerous unauthorized leaks containing false information.”
“I can’t believe it ended this way,” Roe wrote on X, sharing a statement in which he said he “cannot in good conscience stay affiliated with Never Back Down given the statements” in the story, which he said were false.
So the staff of “Never Back Down” are backing down.
Well, they have always been a group of “Do as I say, not as I do” sort of crowd.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ron DeSantis ’ campaign for the White House resigned Saturday night in the latest sign of trouble for the GOP hopeful less than one month before voting begins with Iowa’s kickoff caucuses.
Numerous senior members of Never Back Down have been fired or resigned in recent weeks, including two chief executives, the group’s chairman and its communications director.
The Associated Press reported earlier this week on growing concern among some within DeSantis’ operation that interactions between his campaign and his network of outside groups were blurring the lines of what’s legally permissible.
But multiple people familiar with DeSantis’ political network said that he and his wife had expressed concerns about Never Back Down’s messaging as his Iowa poll numbers stagnated — concerns DeSantis’ team then shared with members of Never Back Down’s board, according to multiple people briefed on the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
Roe, one of the Republican Party’s most prominent strategists, ran Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, which beat former President Donald Trump in that year’s Iowa caucuses, and also worked as an adviser on Virginia Gov.
Weighing in on his social media site from Las Vegas, where he is watching a UFC fight, Trump late Saturday cheered the news.
The original article contains 529 words, the summary contains 212 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is not what it seems:
At the same time, DeSantis’ Florida allies have created a new super PAC, Fight Right, which had earned the public blessing of the DeSantis campaign.
Super PACs are legally barred from directly coordinating with campaigns. But multiple people familiar with DeSantis’ political network said that he and his wife had expressed concerns about Never Back Down’s messaging as his Iowa poll numbers stagnated — concerns DeSantis’ team then shared with members of Never Back Down’s board, according to multiple people briefed on the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
I’m trying to connect the dots here. Is this what appears to be going on?:
The DeSantis’ campaign illegally coordinated with the “Never Back Down” PAC and that situation was getting press. Whatshisbucket resigns from Never Back Down and forms a “new” PAC doing the exact same work. The “new” PAC is pretty much going to be the same as the old PAC. They just did this to (attempt to) avoid being caught/punished/fined for illegal coordination with the campaign.
That’s my take as well, they’re not supposed to be coordinating. I think his campaign is dead in the water, but going after them legally should still be on the table if they’re doing illegal things.
