When we reached the point where Ron DeSantis sitting down threw his critics into fits of rage, you knew the Florida governor was doing something right. His successful leadership through COVID, bucking the hysterical edicts of the “expert” class, infuriated both liberals who saw him as a threat in 2024 and a Republican establishment class that hated being shown up.

This morning, the latter made their move, running to Politico to drop a “big” opposition research dump on DeSantis. What followed was one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen in politics.

Florida Gov. DeSantis has “left behind a trail of former disgruntled staffers and has no long-standing political machine to mount a national campaign” https://t.co/ST1M2pjjAo

— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) May 7, 2021

Let’s start by talking about how big of a tell it is that these people went to a far-left outlet like Politico to air their grievances. If someone is actually a Republican, that’s the last thing they’d do. Rather, what we have here are a bunch of political mercenaries who are mad DeSantis didn’t treat them with the respect they so richly don’t deserve.

Big oppo dump on Ron DeSantis in POLITICO Playbook this AM. Looking like a GOP job, too. pic.twitter.com/pwOvUZOVWq

— Patrick Hynes (@patjhynes) May 7, 2021

The big scandal here is apparently that Ron DeSantis laughs in the face of the Republican consultant class and chooses to follow his and his wife’s instincts instead.

As to how “DeSantis vets” would have any idea about his current operation, that’s not revealed, but it’s likely they simply wouldn’t. What Politico appears to be doing is just printing gossip as if it’s authoritative. No first-term governor still almost three years out from presidential election season has a “political machine to mount a national campaign” at this point. Donald Trump didn’t have one in 2013 either. All of that comes in time if someone has the right stuff to garner a base of support. First, DeSantis has to win re-election in 2022 so that’s obviously going to be his focus right now.

Now, let’s talk about who might be behind this. My first instinct was that this felt very much like a Never Trump hit job. It has all the pathetic hallmarks we’ve seen from the various flacks who make up that contingent. RedState’s Joe Cunningham narrowed it down further, suspecting Rick Wilson is involved here.

For the record, "looking like a GOP job" means Rick Wilson, former GOP consultant from Florida, is involved in trying to tear DeSantis down with the same level of devastation his Lincoln Project wrought on Trump. https://t.co/ZbxyLEA2hz

— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) May 7, 2021

If it is Wilson and his cohorts, that should surprise no one, though, that’s not confirmed.

Regardless, what’s clear is that whoever did this is absolutely terrified of the prospect of Ron DeSantis’ star continuing to rise. He’s already largely thought of as the best governor in America by Republicans. His ability to handle the biased, left-wing media has also earned him praise, showing he has the right stuff to take them on in a national environment.

But what DeSantis doesn’t have is a lineage of D.C. insiderism on his side, and for that, the consultant class hates him. I guess they don’t realize that their distaste simply fuels the GOP base to spite them even more. After all, if DeSantis has these people as enemies, then he’s well on the right track.