During the first episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" post-WGA strike, Florida Governor and "job candidate" for Republican president in 2024, Ron DeSantis, sat for a back and forth in which he touched upon the upcoming election and the debates leading up to it.
Exchanging toothy smiles with Maher — who immediately asked him for feedback on his opening monologue — DeSantis threw him a bone saying it had him laughing, and then went into a completely unrelated plug on the state of Florida, making mention of its lax COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
"But people do wear cowboy boots with a suit," Maher joked, in reference to his guest's signature footwear — missing the bigger opportunity for a joke there, which would have been to point out the heels on said boots.
After some awkward banter about cattle ranches, Maher made a tight turn to bring up this week's GOP presidential candidate debate, which he referred to as a "s**t show."
"I heard you won," Maher said. "What did you win? Honestly, with Trump not in the race, what did you win?"
Quoting himself in the old, "Trump's missing in action" thing he said during the debate, DeSantis takes the ball he's handed there and spikes it into the dirt, saying, "I was the one guy that people said was actually acting like a president."
To summarize the rest, DeSantis thinks he's got a real shot here. To that, Maher highlighted that if the campaign was going as well as he thinks, they wouldn't have been able to get him for the show.
Watch below:
