RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: DeSantis can’t lead people if he doesn’t like people

It’s hard to believe that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been formally running for president for less than two months. I bet for him, the ordeal seems much longer.

The Republican’s 2024 presidential bid — which officially kicked off on May 24 — is in deep trouble, buried under a cascade of mistakes, miscalculation and misery. Recent headlines have brought nothing but bad news for the DeSantis campaign.

— Polls show the 44-year-old trailing former President Donald Trump by as much as 35 points. A Morning Consult poll this month finds 55 percent of Republican voters backing Trump, with DeSantis a distant second at only 20 percent.

— Big-money GOP donors and prominent conservatives who had been supporting DeSantis, such as News Corp. Chair Rupert Murdoch, are getting nervous. Some are pulling back from the governor, while others are making it known that they might defect.

— The DeSantis campaign is good at raising money, bringing in about $20 million in the first six weeks. But it’s also a little too good at spending it. Plagued by a high burn rate, the campaign recently laid off several staffers and signaled that a reboot is coming.

— According to Yahoo News, prominent anti-Trump Republicans are telling reporters that they’ve given up on DeSantis and are looking for an alternative. The Murdoch family is reportedly hoping to coax Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin into the race.

It may be too soon to do an autopsy on the DeSantis White House bid, but not by much. The first batch of primaries is just seven months away, and it’s hard to make up ground in a fast-paced contest like a presidential race. It’s nearly impossible when you’re facing an opponent like Trump who treats politics like a mortal combat.

It’s worth remembering why DeSantis was so appealing to so many Republican voters leading up to this presidential election. He was twice elected governor of the Sunshine State, re-elected in 2022 with 59.4 percent of the vote. He branded himself the culture warrior in chief and pushed through a legislative agenda in Florida that reins in all things “woke.” Nicknamed “The Résumé” by Floridians because of his Ivy League degrees, military service and stint in Congress, he was seen by many as competent and steady. Fox News anchors and commentators even called DeSantis “the future of the Republican Party.”

The “steady” part was considered a rebuttal to Trump. DeSantis got things done, supporters said, without all of the chaos and personal drama. In short, the guy was boring. And after the Trump carnival left town, that’s just what many Republicans were looking for.

Or was it? Of all the things that have gone wrong for DeSantis, “boring” may ironically be the deal breaker. It turns out “The Résumé” has no social skills, no flair for retail politics and no ability to connect with — let alone inspire — everyday Americans. His EQ (emotional intelligence quotient) seems to be a negative number.

Americans have seen the goods. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were all excellent at connecting with voters.

By contrast, DeSantis appears to be an introvert who is just not comfortable being around people and making small talk. A former congressional staffer told Vanity Fair: “I once had to drive him to the airport. We got stuck in traffic for an hour, and he didn’t say a word.” The ex-staffer added, “I describe him as having the personality of a piece of paper.”

How is this guy going to survive the requisite visit to the Iowa State Fair? If you can’t wax poetic about world affairs while holding a corn dog, you’re not going to be president.

Apparently, DeSantis has always been this way. Republicans who served with him in Congress from 2013 to 2018 have told reporters that he was “standoffish” and “robotic” and not the kind of person who seemed at ease around others.

Leave it to Trump to put a finer point on it. His gift is finding an opponent’s weak spot and then jamming his index finger into it. DeSantis “needs a personality transplant,” Trump said recently.

Of course, there are professions where people can survive — even thrive — without social skills. But politics is not one of those. To get elected president, the No. 1 qualification is that you have to like people and people have to like being around you.

DeSantis doesn’t seem to like that many people, and so Republican voters are finding him increasingly unlikable. That makes him unelectable.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.