For a brief moment, Ron DeSantis was seen as the biggest threat to Donald Trump heading into the 2024 Republican primary. The Florida governor was riding a wave of support from his handling (or more accurately, non-handling) of the COVID pandemic as well as his aggressive stance on culture war issues that play well with GOP voters. But then DeSantis hit the campaign trail, and everything fell apart.
Turns out, DeSantis is terrible at retail politics, particularly when it comes to interacting with other human beings or even acting like one. The Florida governor is awkward as hell, and once again, he has demonstrated that he can’t do simple things like smile like a normal human being.
During Thursday night’s debate with California Governor Gavin Newsom, DeSantis was roasted on social media as he busted out his weird, creepy smile on the Fox News stage. But, hey, at least everyone wasn’t making fun of his boot lifts this time.
You can see some of the reactions below:
Some political consultant clearly told Ron DeSantis he needs to smile more and this is the unfortunate result pic.twitter.com/H4nDGLCuHo
— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) December 1, 2023
I am convinced DeSantis is a robot. He smiles in like 3 different ways in the last 3 seconds of this and they’re all fucking weird https://t.co/kjjvCdk8rR
— Michael Cormier (@Cormination) December 1, 2023
Ron DeSantis has the smile of a serial killer.
— The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) December 1, 2023
Ron DeSantis always looks like he’s about to start crying while trying to smile through it.
— Tater Tots McGee (@tatertotsmcgee) December 1, 2023
The DeSantis fake smile is eerie AF. pic.twitter.com/F79oj42BnG
— Molly Ploofkins
(@Mollyploofkins) December 1, 2023
Ron DeSantis has the worst smile in politics I have seen in a long, long time. It is almost like he is embarrassed about what he is saying. pic.twitter.com/NkmKNjwNcS
— Eric Segall (@espinsegall) December 1, 2023
I’ve never seen an alleged human struggle this much to perform the act of smiling like DeSantis. pic.twitter.com/fHVtf7iihI
— Travon (@Travon) December 1, 2023
Ron DeSantis weird ass fuckin smile is getting fuckin weirder… pic.twitter.com/ZaqfTN5hIM
— Watts (@86watts) December 1, 2023
DeSantis is literally doing the smile from Pearl but even more creepy and unsettling https://t.co/pdew4h8JTU pic.twitter.com/7D1QCwg87B
— nemanja (@nemanjaYVR) December 1, 2023
In 20 years time, we’ll hear about all the collective nightmares today’s kids had after seeing Ron DeSantis’ smile.
— Chris Strider (@stridinstrider) December 1, 2023
Ron DeSantis and the Mechanical, Push-Button Smile. pic.twitter.com/tdMZ2qBc05
— Melanie Dione (@thegates0fmel) December 1, 2023
Ron DeSantis smiles like he’s feeling the pee running down his leg.
— David M Willis! (@damnyouwillis) December 1, 2023
One user even worked a slick Matthew Perry tribute into the DeSantis dunking. On Friends, Perry’s Chandler Bing is awful at smiling for photographs. However, Perry was doing an over-exaggerated comedic performance. Little did he know he perfectly channeled DeSantis.
You can see the clip below:
Much love to the Late Matthew perry.
He had the DeSantis smile down cold a long time ago. https://t.co/zcHBoAOcR8 pic.twitter.com/W2r5mQ6HOb
— a Rigger from the Chi (@reesetheone1) December 1, 2023