Canada’s legacy media is losing its mind over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign launch via a Twitter space on Wednesday.
On social media, Canadian reporters disparaged supporters of DeSantis and dedicated an extraordinary amount of time talking about the technical difficulties Twitter faced after its servers were overloaded by users who wanted to listen to the announcement.
Globe and Mail’s US correspondent Adrian Morrow dedicated an entire Twitter thread to the technical issues involved with the announcement.
So Ron DeSantis's Twitter Spaces announcement keeps cutting in and out. The host, David Sacks, says they are having tech problems. "We are kind of melting the servers"
— Adrian Morrow (@AdrianMorrow) May 24, 2023
“Complete silence in Elon’s Twitter Space. DeSantis’s campaign launch announcement so far is basically a performance of 4’33. Going hard for the avant-garde classical music aficionado vote,” tweeted Morrow.
“After DeSantis gave an announcement speech, the interview has turned into an extended back and forth between Musk and Sacks about covid, tech and the media, with DeSantis remaining silent.”
TikToker and laid off Global News employee Rachel Gilmore took to Twitter to accuse American voters who would vote for DeSantis of having “brain worm” and compared them to Conservative voters in Canada.
“There are super clear accepted ideological lines in the far-right infosphere. You have to follow them closely if you want the brain worm vote, which it appears both DeSantis and Poilievre are putting their money on,” tweeted Gilmore.
There are super clear accepted ideological lines in the far-right infosphere.
— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) May 24, 2023
You have to follow them closely if you want the brain worm vote, which it appears both DeSantis and Poilievre are putting their money on.
Gilmore also called the Twitter space with Musk a hub for “conspiracy-driven issues.”
I’ve only listened to this Ron DeSantis Twitter space for like 7 minutes but I’m struck by how many conspiracy-driven issues are being talked about.
— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) May 24, 2023
Politics have changed SO much in the last five years.
Toronto Star sports columnist Bruce Arthur accused DeSantis of having “strong Poilievre vibes” over his stance on central banking during the announcement.
Strong Poilievre vibes https://t.co/gc2CaaUufD
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 24, 2023
Arthur also called the listeners of the announcement a “crew of utter freaks.”
A crew of utter freaks in there, under 300K people listening as the site barely holds up, and a bunch of time is devoted to Twitter and Teslas and stuff that isn't the Meatball, who has to rely on his unpleasant voice. Thoroughly enjoyable incompetence, good luck in the primary https://t.co/DV96f4GahA
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 24, 2023
As of Desantis’ announcement yesterday the Toronto Star published a slate of articles meant to disparage the Republican contender.
On Thursday, it released two articles with sensational headlines about DeSantis like: “Ron DeSantis’s Twitter launch of his presidential campaign botched by constant glitches, crashes” and “Thinking about visiting Ron DeSantis’s Florida? Think again.”
Another piece presented as analysis makes unsubstantiated claims about the Florida governor.
“But more than simply winning, DeSantis is drawing on his record in Florida to indicate that he is ready — eager, even — to go much further and sow more division than even Trump might have envisaged on his wildest days in the White House,” claimed the outlet.
