In a headline that writes itself, the pro-Ron DeSantis “Never Back Down” PAC has backed down from $2.5 million worth of ad buys in Iowa and New Hampshire as the dream of Tiny D defeating fat former President Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination fades, the Messenger reports.

Actually maybe “backs out” would’ve worked a little better since it’s a lateral transactional commitment to purchase something of value and thus a participatory engagement between two entities. “Backing down” implies voluntary withdrawal from a more confrontational interaction, perhaps even a “fight” of a verbal, physical, or political nature. However we’re stuck with “Never Back Down” so we have to work with it to maintain at least some patina of clever wit.

So yeah, they “backed down,” even if the more accurate means of describing the situation would would be that they backed out of the purchase. Come to think of it, between the Never Back Down PAC and the DeSantis Campaign that they’re not supposed to be coordinating with but do it anyway, you could say that they haven’t really backed down ever, continuing this fucking political kamikaze run that should’ve ended before it even started because their candidate sucks and badly needs a personality transplant. There’s some nobility and bravery in that, even if backing down and to wait out the Orange Madness still plaguing the Republican electorate might’ve been the smarter move.