When Ron DeSantis arrived on Capitol Hill in 2013, his Republican colleagues expected him to excel in exactly one thing: baseball. As Ben Terris wrote for The Atlantic several years ago, Democrats were on a Congressional Baseball Game winning streak against their GOP rivals, but the party was confident that DeSantis was the one they’d been waiting for.

If anyone would help Republicans reverse their fortunes, it was the Florida freshman who actually knew a thing or two about the game.

On paper, their expectations made sense. DeSantis was in his mid-30s; he was a relatively fit military veteran; and roughly a decade earlier, he led Yale’s varsity baseball team. When members of the GOP team practiced for their next big game, and they saw how well their new colleague hit the ball, their optimism grew.

Their hopes were misplaced. DeSantis played in the 2013, but he went hitless. Democrats ended up defeating Republicans, 22 to 0.

A decade later, his on-the-field performance came to mind as the now-governor’s national campaign imploded. In 2013, Republicans assumed DeSantis would be a great baseball player who would rescue them in their time of need, right up until it came time for him to actually deliver. In 2024, Republicans assumed DeSantis would be a great presidential candidate, right up until it came time for him to actually deliver. NBC News reported:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once seen as the most formidable opponent to Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary, suspended his campaign Sunday and endorsed the former president. The move comes two days before the New Hampshire primary.

The governor made the announcement by way of social media, hours after canceling some previously scheduled Sunday show appearances.

In a fitting display in a party that’s a little too fond of peddling fake quotes from history, DeSantis included a fake Winston Churchill quote in the video announcing his decision.

As for why the Florida Republican fell so far short, I suspect his candidacy will be examined in politics classes for years as a case study in national fiascos, but there are several elements to keep in mind as the dust settles on one of the biggest debacles ever. In fact, I put together a top 10 list.

10. DeSantis struck when the iron was cold. It might seem like ancient history, but in December 2022 — a month after Trump contributed to his party’s failures in the midterm elections — national polling showed DeSantis leading the former president by sizable margins. The governor responded to this advantage by … waiting six months to launch a campaign.

9. He made an awful first impression. When it came time to launch a national candidacy, Team DeSantis could’ve held a rally filled with adoring Sunshine State supporters, against a backdrop of palm trees and beaches, but the campaign apparently thought it’d be a better to kick things off on a glitchy social media platform. They thought wrong.

8. His electability argument never made any sense. DeSantis spent the latter half of 2023 trying to convince Republican voters that he was (a) well to Trump’s right on nearly every issue; and (b) more electable to a broad national electorate. That never made any sense.

7. DeSantis’ media strategy was ridiculous. After kicking off this national candidacy, DeSantis deliberately avoided talking to major news outlets. By the time he realized how foolish this was, it was too late.

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6. DeSantis struggled to overcome his social awkwardness. Running for statewide office in Florida — a state with many major media markets, spanning several hundred miles — doesn’t require a lot of retail politicking, and hiding clumsy personality quirks is relatively easy. Running for president in Iowa and New Hampshire is the exact opposite, and the governor’s social awkwardness became the stuff of legend.

While DeSantis was supposed to offer primary voters Trump without the baggage, Stuart Stevens, a top strategist on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, recently told The New York Times that the Floridian instead offered “Ted Cruz without the personality.”

5. DeSantis missed key opportunities. When Trump was indicted — several times — it created an important opportunity for his principal intraparty rival. DeSantis, however, endorsed Trump’s martyr narrative, took an indefensible stand against extradition, and validated his rival’s absurd talking points. The results solidified the former president’s hold on the party, and helped put Trump on a glidepath to the nomination.

4. No one was buying what DeSantis was selling. The governor assumed he’d excel by peddling an anti-LGBTQ+, anti-vaccine, anti-Disney message. It was better suited for 2022 than 2024, and it repelled major donors such as hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who abandoned DeSantis three months into his candidacy.

3. DeSantis bet heavily on Iowa. It was just last month when DeSantis sat down with NBC News’ Kristen Welker for a “Meet the Press” interview and sketched out his vision. “Well, we’re going to win the caucus,” DeSantis said, adding, “We’re going to win Iowa. I think it’s going to help propel us to the nomination.” After months of effort, the governor managed to come in second in the Hawkeye State, but he nevertheless lost by roughly 30 points in the biggest blowout in the history of the caucuses.

2. This was not a well-run operation. The New York Times reported late last month that the DeSantis campaign raised a ton of money, but it was “on pace to spend significantly more on private jets — the governor’s preferred mode of travel — than on airing television ads.” This came against a backdrop of organizational infighting, power struggles, and leadership vacuums.

1. DeSantis wasn’t Trump. By any fair measure, the Republican Party has effectively become a personality cult in support of the man DeSantis ultimately endorsed. If DeSantis had spent 2023 doing everything perfectly, his candidacy would’ve been far less embarrassing, but it likely would’ve fallen short anyway.

“When the history of 2024 is written, DeSantis will earn the distinction of having run the single worst presidential campaign of the modern era,” The Bulwark’s Jonathan Last summarized last week. “He had all of the money and all of the institutional support, yet he bungled every strategic and tactical decision. He could not manage his organization. He did not display a single moment of competence. He chose expediency over principle and lost anyway.”