This is an opinion column.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is essentially a younger clone of former-President Donald Trump with less legal and personal baggage. For months, I’ve argued that he’s the better presidential choice between the two for those reasons. Now, I’m concerned he doesn’t realize replicating Trump isn’t enough to win the Republican primary.

The political play for DeSantis is pretty straightforward: Secure enough of Trump’s MAGA base, pull more traditional Republican voters back into the fold, and then win over the independent voters in the general.

Other columns by Cameron Smith:

Instead, DeSantis has put the pedal to the metal on performative politics for the weirdo right. He’s coming across as thirsty to be the next Trump in the White House instead of a serious alternative to the former president.

For example, DeSantis recently claimed his administration is looking into whether AB InBev breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders and pensioners by collaborating with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Talk about milking the Bud Light debacle for all its worth. Even Kid Rock has moved on at this point.

Tone deaf corporate marketing decisions don’t typically demand government intervention. If shareholders want to sue, they’re perfectly capable of doing so without DeSantis. The governor is clearly struggling to find his cultural warrior footing in a coherent way that’s also meaningfully different from Trump.

Trump’s entire 2024 campaign is essentially “I am your retribution.” It’s not really clear what the retribution is for, but he’s figured out that a lot of Republicans just want to throat punch the government, legacy media, tech companies (except for Twitter), and Hunter Biden. It’s simple, clear, and quite effective.

DeSantis currently feels like #AlsoRetribution.

About half the Republican party presently has their primary candidate, and it’s Trump. The candidate who can actually beat Trump is the one who can consolidate all the rest. DeSantis hasn’t effectively made the case why he’s better than Trump to the MAGA base, and he hasn’t even tried to secure the voters who aren’t already in his camp or Trump’s.

No wonder he’s stuck in the polls.

Now DeSantis is considering a reboot for a campaign that never booted. DeSantis campaign manager, Generra Peck, told NBC this week that DeSantis would focus on a more national approach to campaigning instead of touting his political victories in Florida.

They’d probably move the needle more having DeSantis challenge Vice President Kamala Harris to a debate with a word limit.

The problem isn’t DeSantis’s Florida focus. It’s that he hasn’t established a different, let alone superior, political brand. For a guy who has it in for Bud Light, he’s presently Trump Light. Voters get all the bluster for half the calories.

DeSantis must either overhaul his approach or opt for a far less-inspiring lane.

He is unmistakably the clear second choice for most Trump supporters. If he’s able to stay in their good graces and President Trump ends up convicted of a felony charge, DeSantis stands to be the prime beneficiary. With that strategy, DeSantis is basically the populist backup quarterback in the GOP waiting on Trump’s campaign to fall apart.

DeSantis is obviously raising a lot more money than a reserve option, but he should be seeing more movement in the polls for the money he’s spent. Yes, it’s still early in the primary race, but something has to change other than a pivot to an ambiguous “national” strategy.

The Florida governor has an excellent case to make for the 2024 Republican nomination, but he needs to make it now instead of his continued efforts to out-Trump the former president.

Smith is a recovering political attorney with a house full of boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and an extremely patient wife. He’s a partner in a media company, a business strategy wonk, and a regular on talk radio. Please direct outrage or agreement to [email protected] or @DCameronSmith on Twitter.