Ron DeSantis Will Get Back to You on the Pronunciation of His Last Name

There are a lot of things we can expect from a Ron DeSantis presidency, should the Florida governor win the Republican primary and then the general election. For one thing, it would be terrifying, given DeSantis’s takes on free speech, LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, science, and treating human beings like chattel. For another, it would more than likely involve his body man carrying a spoon at all times, in order to avoid any unfortunate pudding incidents. But one thing that remains a mystery? Whether Ron would be addressed as President “Deh-Santis” or “Dee-Santis”…because apparently, the candidate himself doesn’t know.

Here’s Axios with the perplexing report:

Some presidential candidates struggle to nail their message. Ron DeSantis is struggling to nail his NAME. In the early days of his campaign, DeSantis has gone back and forth between pronouncing his name Dee-Santis and Deh-Santis. Why it matters: DeSantis’s dissonance on how to say his name—for years an issue of confusion for his campaign teams—is a curiosity as many GOP leaders and donors wonder whether the Florida governor is ready for the scrutiny of a presidential campaign.

According to the outlet, in his first week as an official GOP candidate, DeSantis went with “Dee” on at least two occasions, including for a radio interview and in the video announcing his bid for office:

But then, in a twist:

DeSantis pronounced it “Deh-Santis” during interviews with Fox News, Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson, and Mark Levin this past week.

And there’s more:

Early in his political career, DeSantis, 44, appeared to use “Dee-Santis” more often—then began a slow and still-incomplete evolution to “Deh-Santis.” During the 2018 race for Florida governor, the candidate and his wife pronounced his name differently in his television ads: He said “Dee-Santis” in his first TV spot, and she said “Deh-Santis” in another. When a reporter noted the differences, a campaign spokesperson at the time said the candidate “prefers ‘Dee-Santis.’” The dueling pronunciations have tripped up others. When DeSantis was sworn in for his second term as governor in January, Florida’s chief justice pronounced his name “Dee-Santis”—and the governor repeated back, “Deh-Santis.”

Asked by Axios for the correct, official pronunciation, DeSantis’s campaign, bizarrely, did not answer—while the DeSantis-aligned super PAC Never Back Down declined to say. It’s not clear why, but it seems like there’s a strong possibility they don’t actually know, because DeSantis hasn’t decided.

Naturally, the Trump campaign has seized on this as evidence that the governor is unfit for the White House. “Ron DeSantis is a phony who can’t decide how to pronounce his name,” Trump campaign spokesperson told Axios. “If you can’t get your name right, how can you lead a country?” On Thursday, Trump himself declared:

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Incredibly, Axios got former NYC mayor Bill de Blasio to weigh in on the issue, and in a phone call from Italy, he said the back-and-forths are “just a really weird thing to change at the last minute,” adding: “People flip-flop and change their positions on things, but how you say your name is not one of them. It’s not negotiable!”

Chuck Grassley just comes out and says it

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Ron DeSantis lays on the charm

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Something something, broken clock twice a day, etc.

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