Why a simple image of a Floridian reptile caused a stir ahead of the DeSantis campaign launch.

Eric Garcia takes a look at the numbers.

He’s a ubiquitous presence in conservative media with a reputation as an anti-woke warrior who has used a compliant state legislature to make Florida a mecca for Trump-era Republicanism.

Andrew Feinberg and Eric Garcia report.

After a 30-minute delay caused by technological glitches with Twitter’s “Spaces” audio conversation system, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ much-hyped announcement of his 2024 presidential campaign kicked off with a billionaire praising another billionaire.

The first billionaire, venture capitalist and DeSantis booster David Sacks, opened the conversation with fulsome praise for Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX impresario who bought Twitter last year with the aim of allowing unfettered conversations by all sorts of right-wing characters who’d been banned for violating the site’s rules under its prior management.

Mr Sacks then turned to introduce Mr DeSantis, who he said first drew his attention when the Florida governor began attacking public health measures recommended by medical professionals at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And with that, Mr DeSantis began making his pitch to voters — or at least the voters who are on Twitter and cared enough to listen.

Andrew Feinberg summarises the key takeaways.

This kind of government overreach is antithetical to the stated limited government ideals of conservatism. It fully embraces the authoritarian impulses that have consumed the modern Republican Party. DeSantis embodies what it looks like when Trumpism has a supermajority with no guardrails, and showcases that Trumpism without Trump could be even more dangerous.

Former Rep Liz Cheney, one of the two Republicans who participated in the House January 6 Committee, has some thoughts on Ron DeSantis’s promise to look at pardoning some of those responsible for the January 6 Capitol riot.

She bluntly and succinctly tweeted: “Any candidate who says they will pardon Jan. 6 defendants is not qualified to be President.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday sought to push past an embarrassing beginning to his presidential campaign, outlining an aggressive travel schedule as his allies insisted they remain well funded and well positioned for a long Republican primary fight ahead.

While DeSantis supporters privately acknowledged the bungled announcement was an unwelcome distraction, there was a broad sense — even among some Republican critics — that it would likely have limited long-term political consequences, if any at all.

“Do they wish they could do it over again? Probably,” said David Oman, who managed two top-tier presidential campaigns in Iowa. “Will we be talking about it in 10 days? Probably not.”