Charisma is that lightning in a bottle, that cannot be captured or tamed. How does one develop it? By being oneself, the very best version. Trump is being Trump. Obama was Obama. I have a feeling that DeSantis is trying to be Trump, but he fails the rule of charisma by so doing. He needs to be Ron DeSantis, and no one else. He’s better than good enough, just like that. For that matter, each of us should strive to be ourselves, the very best version of. No one else can do it better! 🙂

I was of the same opinion (DeSantis is a bit of a charisma-vacuum …a fun-sponge, if you will) but I saw him on Megyn Kelly’s podcast last week and I must say, he was a lot, lot more likeable in that longer format.

Megyn made comments to the effect that he should be doing a lot more of these long form interviews, as he is actually knowledgeable and coherent on a range of topics and the public aren’t really seeing that right now. I’d have to agree, based on how much better he came off in the MK interview vs how he’s come across in his lacklustre campaign so far.

It will be interesting to see if his campaign architects can figure out why the public liked him in the first place (competence and command of brief; willingness to get into dog fights with the press), and start putting those two things back up front and centre with a much wider range of media appearances. I agree with MK that he should be going on all the long form podcasts and shows that will have him, and he should be going on CNN and other hostile media and having arguments with them on their turf (as Vivek did, very well).

Charismatic leaders in a polarised society; what a topic! To transition peacefully from the polarised state to a more unified state (surely something we can all agree on), might not be achieved by a big, attractive personality, but just happen through social forces silently working within. How long can a country survive in a constant state of mutual hatred but still function efficiently? Perhaps we will just have to endure a little chaos, until even the crazies on both sides are forced against their most deeply held stupidities, into something resembling a society working to everyone’s mutual benefit. Pragmatism over ideology!

It’s not an obsession with charisma. It’s relief and enthusiasm at finally having a Republican leader (flaws and all) who is willing to go full-bore in the absolutely crucial struggle against opponents who are willing to use censorship (formal and informal) and government power in their drive to normalize men in drag interacting with children, schools sabotaging the authority of parents, a “news” media that has gone far, far beyond ordinary bias into the realm of flat-out dishonest agitprop, and radical environmental panic leading to a catastrophic shutdown of prosperous western modernity. Cultural conservatives rightly understand that this is probably their last chance to save the country as it has always existed before the great silence of mandatory compliance descends.

RDS is Florida, not held in high esteem across the USA. Boris, Blair, Trump and Farage have charisma, like them or not. The Biden supporterati have no time for charisma, they prefer to work via commissar and propaganda. Who in our Labour world would back Starmer if charisma was an issue?

The notion that Biden is “doing a good job as President” betrays a willful ignorance of his cognitive capacity. Biden is scarcely able to finish a sentence unassisted, let alone run the most powerful administration in the world. Anyone who gets their news outside the Democrat news bubble fully understands what is going on here. The Biden administration is run by a hard left cabal which deliberately operates from the shadows. They like it that they can blame horrible optics on good ol’ Joe Biden’s senior moments.
The truth is that Democrats desperately want to run against Trump, the one man who can be disqualified in the minds of all independent voters, and their media allies will do anything to crush any Republican alternative. “No charisma” is just another example of mud-slinging to achieve that end.

“Biden, whatever one thinks of him, has been a significant president with some important achievements to his name. He succeeded in passing a massive infrastructure bill and an “Inflation Reduction Act” which will allocate unprecedented sums to fight climate change.”

Pffft! Anyone who could write these two sentences has nothing whatsoever of interest to say…

There is too much of this plodding, blandly orthodox dim-wittedness coming out of Unherd lately. I might as well turn on the BBC or read the grauniad. *shivers*

Excuse me, but this is condescending nonsense. Yes, Trump was illegally and unfairly targeted by sinister Leftists in the government. Yes he did some good in office. But that doesn’t make him a decent person like DeSantis. If Trump runs, he will lose because so many Republicans are so disgusted with his relentless narcissism. Whatever support he had after his disgraceful performance on Jan. 6 leaked away from he lost the Senate.

i really thought desantis was going to be The Man. Then, someone let him off the lead, and, he’s broken that possibility.
what strange turn it’s been since he led florida out of covid.

DeSantis is not charismatic. I know a journalist in Tampa who has been an astute observer of Florida politics for decades. He said DeSantis was the worse campaigner he’d seen in his career; DeSantis’ opponent in the last election, Charlie Crist, he regarded as one of the best campaigners in Florida politics; however, DeSantis won by twenty points. If DeSantis flails now I’d suggest the reasons are that dearth of charisma; the ability of Trump to suck all the oxygen out of the room via his ‘charisma’; lack of experience running a national campaign; and the fact that the Dems and the media regard DeSantis the way German u-boats regarded allied shipping during the war.

Disagree.