Former President Donald J. Trump called it a \u201cdisaster,\u201d President Biden\u2019s campaign took a sly shot to raise a little extra cash, and low-polling Republicans tried to use Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s glitchy, delayed campaign rollout to steal some attention for themselves.<\/p>\n
As technical difficulties derailed Mr. DeSantis\u2019s attempt to make a splash by appearing in a Twitter livestream with the platform\u2019s billionaire owner, Elon Musk, much of the internet couldn\u2019t resist poking fun \u2014 including the two leading presidential candidates and other trailing wannabes.<\/p>\n
The mix of 26 minutes of mostly dead air, followed by an intermittent celebration of Mr. Musk, made the livestream feel \u201ca bit like an ad for Twitter,\u201d Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump administration official who has turned sharply against Mr. Trump, wrote on Twitter. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Trump ally, called his governor \u201cDeSedative.\u201d<\/p>\n
But perhaps nobody enjoyed the stumbling start to Mr. DeSantis\u2019s presidential bid more than his current and potentially future rivals.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump \u2014 still shunning Twitter in favor of his Truth Social platform \u2014 called the DeSantis announcement a \u201ccatastrophe. \u201d \u201cHis whole campaign will be a disaster,\u201d he added. \u201cWATCH!\u201d<\/p>\n
Not surprisingly, Mr. Biden\u2019s campaign took a more understated approach: \u201cThis link works\u201d it wrote, pointing to a site where supporters could make donations.<\/p>\n
Mr. DeSantis received support from some corners of the right-wing media universe. Ben Shapiro, the podcast host with more than five million Twitter followers, suggested the technical meltdowns were a distraction from what Mr. DeSantis was trying to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re obsessed with the optics of the Twitter Spaces glitch, then you\u2019re probably not going to vote DeSantis,\u201d Mr. Shapiro wrote. \u201cIf you\u2019re interested in political substance, DeSantis is likely your candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n
And some of the other attention-starved, low-polling Republican White House hopefuls tried snagging some of the rubbernecking attention for themselves.<\/p>\n
Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas took a similar approach to Mr. Biden, writing \u2014 on Twitter, of course \u2014 \u201cJust like my policies, this link works,\u201d with a link to his donations page. And Vivek Ramaswamy accused Mr. DeSantis of sitting for softball interviews and what sounded like reading prepared remarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cChallenge to the GOP field,\u201d Mr. Ramaswamy wrote on Twitter. \u201cNo pre-written speeches. No teleprompters. No pre-scripted interviews. That\u2019ll be good for authenticity, good for America. I promise to abide.\u201d<\/p>\n