DeSantis' slashing of 'bloated' staff  followed luxury splurge

The Ron DeSantis for President campaign announced Tuesday it is cutting more than one-third of its payroll, which will bring the number of staffers cut this month to 38. The cuts come amid the candidate’s splurging on private planes and luxury retreats, The New York Times reports, noting the campaign “had swelled to more than 90 people in his first two months as a candidate.”

The Times also notes the 38 jobs DeSantis has cut is “a figure that is nearly the size of former President Donald J. Trump’s entire 2024 campaign staff.” The paper also points to DeSantis’ “heavy use of private planes and his decision to hold some donor events at luxury venues, including a Utah donor retreat last weekend.”

Meanwhile, NBC News described the campaign’s cuts as “more than 40 percent of its original staff,” with one advisor admitting, “We were just bloated. We had too many people, that’s absolutely fair to say.”

An unaffiliated Republican strategist “said that DeSantis erred in not making all of his cuts at once because the slow burn defeats the purpose of giving allies ‘second hope’ with a public campaign reset.”

“You can’t last this many media cycles with a reboot story,” the strategist said. “How the f— does a reboot take three weeks? You’ve got to do this in one news cycle.”

Earlier this month The Times had examined the campaign’s federal financial filings, warning that “trouble appeared to lurk below the surface for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.”

“Despite a strong overall fund-raising total of $20 million, Mr. DeSantis is spending hand over fist, and his dependence on large donors suggests a lack of grass-roots support.”