Ron DeSantis is so unpopular, even though he swears he is totally gonna be the next
president, but the man is apparently so unpopular that the super PAC supporting his presidential
campaign never backed down, is what it's called, has reportedly had to pay people to show up
at events just so it makes it look like he actually has grassroots support in the state
of Iowa.
In fact, the situation for Ron DeSantis has gotten so bad in Iowa that a chair of a local
Republican party had to send a scathing letter actually accusing this super Pac never back
down of violating state law by illegally coordinating with local Republican parties in the state,
you know, to get people to show up for Ron DeSantis.
So here's what's happening, uh, couple weeks ago there was a, uh, a Blackhawk County,
my Waterloo Day parade, and, uh, they wanted a presence for Ron DeSantis supporters there.
So this letter alleges, and this the letter from Muscatine County Republican chair, Daniel
Freeman, the letter alleges , that never backed down, actually had to coordinate
with the local Republican party in, uh, Blackhawk County to pay people to show up in the parade,
you know, with their DeSantis gear looking like, oh, hey, we're actual DeSantis supporters.
Look at us.
We're so great.
This guy's wonderful.
Um, but apparently they weren't legit.
They were, in fact, according to this letter, paid to show up to pretend to support Ron
DeSantis.
Additionally, the letter says that, uh, this never backed down pack is actually paying
canvassers to go door to door, $22 an hour, uh, to get people to support DeSantis, where
typically it's volunteers, you know, canvassers like that, that do the work.
Now, I don't think that's actually illegal, but if never backed down is in fact coordinating
with local Republican parties and giving them money to send people out there, that is illegal.
You know, most likely campaign finance laws are very vague and they're rarely enforced.
But Daniel Freeman from the Muscatine County Republican Party seems to think it's illegal.
He also, in his letter, basically points out the fact that it's pathetic that Ron DeSantis
even has to pay people to show up for him because he is so unpopular.
Let me read this from the letter.
He is the first presidential candidate that is going out and buying and paying for representation.
He's not building a grassroots organization, and it could very well be that he uses never
back down because he can't garner state support from individual residents in Iowa.
Therein lies the problem.
He is misleading
The public of Iowa by sending busloads of people to a parade and they don't even live
in the area.
And in fact, most of them don't even live in the state of Iowa.
So it's not just that he had to pay people to show up, but he's so unpopular in Iowa,
according to this letter, he had to pay people from other states like, Hey, not only do you
wanna pretend to be from Iowa, but can you also additionally pretend that you like me.
Now, this is not technically DeSantis doing it, it is the never back down political action
committee, which of course is aligned with DeSantis.
Um, it evolved from his state political action committee turned into never back down his,
you know, presidential political action committee.
So, um, you can't say DeSantis knows what's going on, but at this point, does it even
matter?
The guy is so unpopular, he's having to pay people to show up in the early caucus state
in order to pretend to like him so that he doesn't get his butt handed to him in Iowa.
That's what's happening here because a poor pathetic showing in Iowa for most campaigns
can in fact be the end of it.
Now, a strong second or third place finish, right?
I mean, that can help you, but if DeSantis can't muster that, then his campaign is over.
So you start to get the real picture of why never back down as having to pay people to
show up to support him and pay people because they can't find volunteers willing to do it
for free.
So, yeah, not a good sign for the DeSantis campaign, and as Mr. Freeman points out in
his letter, it might actually cross the line and enter into the territory of being illegal,
which probably isn't gonna help DeSantis gain more supporters in the state of Iowa.