Ron DeSantis' Face

About

Ron DeSantis' Face refers to the facial expressions of Florida Governor and rumored 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, which many found off-putting and strange. Photos of DeSantis laughing, or opening his mouth very wide, circulated online in the spring of 2023, along with a media narrative that increasingly questioned his chances against Donald Trump in a Republican primary.

Origin

On April 24th, 2023, while on a trip to Japan, Ron DeSantis was asked a question about his polling numbers for the 2024 Republican primary. The Florida Governor was asked about his 2024 presidential ambitions and while answering the question made a series of unusual facial expressions.^[1]

Online, these facial expressions of DeSantis were widely mocked and ridiculed, with many posting memes about it. Some compared the Florida Governor to a "bobblehead." Often, posters captioned the photo of the governor with his mouth open, using it ironically as a reaction image. For example, Twitter^[2] user @owillis received over 230 likes on April 24th, for comparing the Governor to a child (see below).

Spread

Some users compared the DeSantis facial expressions to the infamous "Dean Scream" of 2004, when Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean yelped in excitement following a good showing in the New Hampshire primary. Many found the Dean Scream bizarre, and some argued it was the reason why Dean went on to lose the election despite doing well early on. @daveryder and other commentators compared the impact of the DeSantis face photo (which came around the same time as a negative turn in the governor's press coverage) to the Dean Scream. Others compared the face of Ron DeSantis to Soyjak, like @jaketropolis (seen below right) who received almost 3,000 likes on April 23rd, 2023.^[4]

On May 13th, 2023, a photograph of Ron DeSantis at a campaign event in Iowa was taken by reporter John McCormick and posted to Twitter, where it received just under a thousand likes (see below). This photo generated more conversation and memes about the governor's facial expressions.

The DeSantis team appears to have noticed the negative press around their candidate's facial expressions, with sources telling ABC News^[6] on May 6th that the governor's team "has been paying close attention to how to help manage the governor's facial reactions in the upcoming debate (with Trump)."

Various Examples

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External References