Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis has released a 30-second teaser clip following the impending launch of his attempt to apply Republican Party presidential nomination.
Posted on Twitter by his wife Casey DeSantis, the short promo sees Mr DeSantis backstage, calmly emerge from behind a pair of curtains and march towards the Stars-and-Stripes, taking a moment to compose himself and button up his jacket before stepping into the spotlight as if they were going to give a big public speech.
The film is accompanied by a metronomic score reminiscent of Hans Zimmer’s intense compositions for Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knightt movies – and with a very nasty voiceover.
“They call it faith because in the face of darkness you can see the brighter future,” the speaker explains.
“A belief that our best days are ahead of us. But is it worth the fight? Do I have the courage? Is it worth the sacrifice? America has been worth it. Each. Only. Time.”
What has attracted the most attention so far is that the voice, which one might have expected to be Mr. DeSanti’s own, instead appears to be an unnamed Briton.
“Just watched the DeSantis launch video and am confused by the British accent in the voiceover. It doesn’t seem to be connected to any US political campaign.” wrote one Twitter user in response to historian Michael Benschloss’s generous suggestion that the tone of the clip might be a riff on Apple’s acclaimed Macintosh commercial.
“People, let’s be fair to DeSantis,” said another. “Maybe his species doesn’t know what a British accent sounds like? It might be new to them – like any other human interaction.”
Another was quick to dub the governor “the Mancunian candidate”, which doesn’t quite work as the voice in question doesn’t have a Manchester accent but still points for trying.
Someone who calls himself “Florida Chris” complained about the creeping Britishness by asking, “Haven’t we fought a war to keep them out of our politics?”
A reply to it suggested that the governor was “trying to sound elegant, elegant”something “his own voice could never achieve”.
Casey DeSantis had previously posted a Fox News article about her husband’s future run for the White House with the knowing comment “Great if true…” and her post containing the video was then retweeted by the governor himself, DeSanti’s War Room account and by his press secretary Bryan Griffin, who tweeted: “Game on.”
Mr DeSantis is expected to formally launch his campaign on Wednesday evening, joining a Twitter Spaces event with CEO Elon Musk for a discussion in which he is finally tipped to finally make the overdue announcement and put himself in direct competition with Donald Trump for the first time.
The former president has already tried hijack his rival’s big announcement launching an insulted rant about him on his Truth Social echo chamber, once again calling him “disloyal” and declaring that he “desperately needs a personality transplant”.
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