Seven months ago Ron DeSandis launched his campaign promising “the Great American Comeback.”

Yesterday the man some called “Trump No. 2” and “Trump without the baggage” dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination, admitting that he has no chance against Donald Trump.

According to the BBC, in a first reading the causes which led De Sandys to retire mainly concern the candidate himself as “his lack of charisma and clumsiness with the voters was perceived”. But the real reason for withdrawing his candidacy was simply Donald Trump.

Looking back on the campaign, political analysts say it was an almost impossible election cycle for a relative newcomer to the national political scene. DeSandi’s candidacy was essentially against an established, famous name, unlimited money and the voter base in his favor.

A year ago when the race started in the Republican party, the conditions were different, reports the British network.

De Sandis started 2023 as a real threat to then Donald Trump. At the time, when only the former president had announced his candidacy, De Sandys was at around 35% in the polls, within striking distance of his opponent.

He also had a lot of momentum after a record-setting re-election win as Florida governor the previous November. Trump, by contrast, had been criticized for the disappointing Republican midterm results.

By May, when the governor formally announced his candidacy for the White House in an interview with Elon Musk, his polls had dipped to close to 20 percent. Trump had jumped over 50%.

Strategists say the decision to delay the official launch of his campaign has cost him precious months. More importantly, it gave Trump an opportunity to rebuild his image as a political outsider with the help of national headlines publicizing his numerous legal issues.

While de Sandys may have secretly hoped that the former president’s legal troubles would cost him, he never criticized Trump for them and instead often echoed his opponent’s claims that he was being unfairly targeted.

At first, DeSandis used a strategy of trying not to offend Trump. He may have hoped to win over Trump’s base slowly as the legal issues lingered, often saying it was time for the party to move on.

However, this approach never worked. And Trump showed no such restraint. The former president attacked DeSandis directly, often resorting to nicknames like “Meatball Ron” and “Ron DeSanctimonious.”