MSNBC’s Joy Reid dedicated two minutes to thrashing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after the Republican presidential candidate eked out a distant second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
“I think we must remark upon the absolute tragedy of Ron DeSantis as a human being as a politician,” she said during MSNBC’s analysis of the first nominating contest of the 2024 race.
Reid said the state of Florida was paying the price for DeSantis betting big ― and losing ― in Iowa.
She pointed to controversial policies he implemented over the past year, including a six-week abortion ban, new school standards on how to teach about slavery and a “draconian” immigration bill he signed into law, as well as his vendetta against Disney.
“He put it all on Iowa. His whole ground game is Iowa. His whole strategy is Iowa, and he destroyed his political career in his home state, neglected his home state during two hurricanes, wore weird high boots in and humiliated himself,” Reid said.
“And he’s going to finish maybe in the 15s, maybe in the 20s in Iowa, and he’s finished as a politician in Florida as a result,” she added.
DeSantis invested significant campaign time and resources into Iowa. He visited every county in the state, but didn’t win a single one.
He had been viewed by many as the biggest threat to former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination early last year, but his campaign didn’t live up to the hype.
He finished with just over 21% of the vote in Iowa on Monday. Trump received 51% and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came in a close third with 19.1%.
Watch Reid’s commentary below, from the 2:15 mark.