Technical problems mar DeSantis’ presidential announcement on Twitter with Elon Musk
Ron DeSantis was supposed to make history Wednesday as the first politician to announce his presidential campaign during a live interview on Twitter.
The event didn’t go as planned, at least not at first.
The platform used to host the interview, Twitter Spaces, crashed repeatedly before DeSantis even had a chance to speak, leaving listeners confused and frustrated over what was supposed to be a momentous occasion for the Florida governor. More than 500,000 users tuned in to hear silence broken by spurts of broken narration, echoes and murmuring.
“It keeps on crashing,” someone remarked during the stream.
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At one point, the two hosts, Twitter owner Elon Musk and and tech investor David Sacks, could be heard commenting about how many listeners had logged on to the social media platform. But the service crashed again before they could continue their conversation. When Sacks began talking at another time, a recording of his earlier conversation began to play, further confusing listeners.
The errors caused about a 24-minute delay for DeSantis, who earlier in the day filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission announcing his candidacy for president.
The governor did eventually begin to speak, laying out the case for why he should be president, including his steadfast opposition to “woke ideology.” He also emphasized his ability to win a general election in the fall, drawing a thinly veiled contrast with former President Donald Trump, his main rival in the GOP primary.
DeSantis read a version of a speech he has delivered around the country about his efforts in Florida before engaging in dialogue and answering questions with Musk and Sacks, and with supporters like U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie. By around 7 p.m., 272,000 accounts had tuned in.
READ MORE: DeSantis signs bill that says he can remain governor while running for president
But the mishap nonetheless earned swift mockery online: Democratic President Joe Biden tweeted a link to a fundraising page of his own campaign, saying “this link works.”
