Gabe Sherman, Vanity Fair: “Although DeSantis looks like a front-runner now, a lot can go wrong between now and the New Hampshire primary. For one thing, DeSantis’s supposed success at managing COVID is being torched by the delta variant raging out of control in Florida. DeSantis also needs to win reelection in 2022 (a recent poll showed him losing to Republican turned Democrat Charlie Crist). But assuming DeSantis prevails, former staffers told me that his abrasive personality could become a liability under the pressures of a national campaign. DeSantis is known to only trust his wife, Casey, a former newscaster, and his staff has seen heavy turnover. ‘He has zero relationships. He just doesn’t speak to you,’ one former staffer told me. In May, Politico reported that former DeSantis staffers set up a ‘support group’ to commiserate over their experiences working for him. DeSantis didn’t respond to requests for comment.”

“DeSantis’s biggest challenge, though, will be navigating his fraught relationship with Trump. ‘Trump fucking hates DeSantis. He just resents his popularity,’ a second Trump confidant told me. (‘Ron is a good guy,’ Trump said.) According to a source, advisers for Pompeo have been promoting DeSantis in hopes of stoking Trump’s jealousy. ‘Pompeo’s people are building up DeSantis as the leader of the Republican Party to piss Trump off,’ the source said. Part of Trump’s irritation with DeSantis is that Trump feels that DeSantis doesn’t give Trump enough credit for his rise. ‘Trump tells people, ‘I made Ron.’ Trump says that about a lot of people. But in this case, it’s actually true,’ a prominent Republican said. (‘He gives me good credit,’ Trump told me.)”