Ron DeSantis formally announced his candidacy on Wednesday night, and the announcement generated so much interest that it caused Twitter to experience unexpected technical issues, such as the feed stopping multiple times and users encountering error messages. Approximately 700,000 users were present at one point. Eventually, additional server capacity was allocated in an attempt to meet the high demand.
The media mocked the briefly troubled launch, and Donald Trump’s campaign quickly pounced on the problems. “Glitchy. Tech issues. Uncomfortable silences. A complete failure to launch. And that’s just the candidate!” a Trump campaign official said in one email.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a video of a rocket failing to launch, superimposed with “Ron!” in the style of Jeb Bush’s 2016 campaign logo.
“Ron DeSantis can’t run away from his disastrous, embarrassing, and low energy campaign announcement,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to Fox News.
Well, the Trump campaign isn’t laughing anymore.
Despite endless mocking from Donald Trump and the mainstream media over his “failed” or “botched” campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces, Gov. DeSantis raised $1 million in campaign donations in the first hour and a stunning $8.2 million within the first 24 hours of declaring his presidential candidacy.
The $8.2 million haul shatters the record previously held by Joe Biden, when he raised $6.3 million in 2019 when he launched his campaign.
Related: Ron DeSantis Broke Twitter, and Trump Is Furious
“This historic fundraising haul shows that grassroots Republicans across the country are uniting behind Governor DeSantis’ vision for our Great American Comeback,” campaign manager Generra Peck said. “Governor DeSantis has built the strongest, most sophisticated organization in the history of American politics, and the tremendous support we’ve experienced in the last 24 hours will be critical as we hit the ground running in the early nominating states to share Governor DeSantis’ plan to revitalize the American Spirit.”
Dan Eberhart, a former Trump fundraiser who is now backing DeSantis, believes that donors have been waiting to support DeSantis.
“I think there are a bunch of donors waiting to get off the sidelines, waiting for DeSantis to enter,” Eberhart told Fox News. “I expect there to be a coalescing of conservative donors around Ron DeSantis.”
DeSantis was in Miami, Florida, on Thursday meeting with donors. According to a source at the fundraising meeting, attendees discussed the Twitter glitch and perceived it as a result of the overwhelming enthusiasm for DeSantis—which, of course, it was. Trump’s 2024 campaign raised $9.5 million during its first six weeks.
So much for a failed launch.
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