I had high hopes for the presidential candidacy of Ron DeSantis.  Not because I am a NeverTrump, though.  I simply want the GOP to nominate a candidate who can win in the general election.  My suspicion is that too many people who otherwise might vote for a GOP alternative would refuse to back Trump.  But I will back Trump to the hilt if he secures the nomination.  And I hold out hope that the use of police state tactics against Trump, piling on 90 counts in four indictments in deep blue jurisdictions, will open the eyes of a sufficient margin of voters to the ongoing totalitarian coup to elect him with a margin beyond the ability to cheat.

But all such Trump considerations aside, the inability of Ron DeSantis to catch fire with GOP primary voters needs explanation.  He has, after all, a brilliant record as governor of Florida.  He turned a squeaker of a first election victory into a double-digit landslide four years later.  He has taken brave stands on national issues popular with the GOP base, especially grooming corporations and educational institutions, and he is doing something about it.  As a former professor, I am thrilled with what he is doing at state-run New College.

So we are left to inquire about his personal style and its apparent lack of appeal.  Max Weber, one of the founders of the discipline of sociology (long before its capture by the left), appropriated the religious concept of charisma from St. Paul, who used it to describe a divine gift that demonstrated the authority of God residing in early speakers for Christ.  In Weber's view, personal charisma was one source of authority for leaders, along with legal and traditional sources of authority for leadership.

Nobody can precisely define charisma or its source in the present-day secular world, but it is usually clear to some observers when a candidate has it, though there is never unanimity.  Many, many voters (though not me) found Barack Obama charismatic.  I found him shallow and phony.  His inability to extemporize compared to his fluency when speaking from a teleprompter was an obvious danger sign.  

To my eyes, Vivek Ramaswamy has charisma more than anyone else in the GOP field.  He speaks with seeming authority yet also comes across as approachable and likable.  Nobody can rationally account for his rise in the polls despite an utter lack of credentials for public office.  But large numbers of people (me included) find him attractive and seemingly trustworthy (at least until further information modifies that impression).

It seems to me that for better or worse, likely worse, voters expect a POTUS to provide them with a sense of personal comfort/attraction (call it charisma) and psychological reassurance.  In the presidential politics preceding instantaneous mass media, charisma was a minor to nonexistent factor in politics, since only a tiny fraction of the voting public got to hear or see a candidate in person.  FDR and radio changed all that.  He used radio like a master, and his "fireside chats" built a relationship with the voting public that brought him three more presidential victories despite horribly mismanaging and prolonging the Depression.

Can Ron DeSantis acquire charisma?  I don't know if it is possible, but a perceptive reader who follows him closely offers this critique of his statement responding to the Georgia indictments of Trump.

The statement:

So, I haven't had a chance to read it all. But I will tell you, Atlanta has huge problems with crime right now. And there has been an approach to crime which has been less than exacting. I think there have been criminals that have been let out that shouldn't have been let out. And so they're now doing an inordinate amount of resources to try to shoehorn this contest over the 2020 election into a RICO statute, which was really designed to be able to go after organized crime, not necessarily to go after political activity. And so, I think it's an example of this criminalization of politics. I don't think that this is something that's good for the country. But I think a lot of Republican voters are looking at some of the things that have happened, whether it's the Department of Justice, whether it is some of the things that have happened locally, and I think the question is, okay, 'what are we going to do about it?' And I've already said, as president, we are going to end the weaponization of federal agencies like the DOJ and FBI. We'll have a new director. We will have new leadership in the DOJ. We're going to make sure that there's a single standard of justice in this country. Now, in terms of some of these local DAs: in Florida, we've actually suspended two — one in Tampa and one in Orlando — over the last year for failure to follow their duties and responsibilities. And as President, we will lean in against some of these local prosecutors if they are not following the law or if they are abandoning their duty to enforce the law evenly. So I think that — I don't know how it's going to affect anything politically. For me, at the end of the day, it's about 'let's get this country in a good direction.' We need to have confidence in our justice system again, but before we get there, we need major, major accountability.

The reader's analysis:

Problem #1: Don't start with "so." He does this a lot. It's a soft lead in and does not communicate leadership and command. Just launch into what you have to say.

#2: "But I will tell you..." He uses this phrase a lot as well. Useless. Just spit it out. Of course, you're going to "tell you," so just tell it!

#3: "I think..." He says this constantly and it's weak. It sounds soft and uncertain. Just say what you have to say w/o starting off w/"I think." Weak.

#4: "And so...." Weak.

#5: Followed up w/another "I think..."

#6: "I don't think this..." Just say: This is not good for our country.

#7: Another "I think..."

#8: "lean in" really??? WTH does that even mean? Spit it out and say what you'll do about these prosecutors.

#9: "So I think that..." Wow, a twofer! "So" "I think" put together! 

#10: What is he even talking about with the "- I don't know how it's going to affect anything politically"?

#11: "For me, at the end of the day." Please, just stop!

I am far from an onlyDeSantis person, but I find him a strong and admirable figure in modern politics and wish him well.

I am not certain if this critique would even be helpful for him, but a recovery in his national popularity would be a good thing for conservatism.  I don't want him to follow Scott Walker from a brave and successful governorship to a disastrous presidential campaign into political obscurity.   

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