For the last several cycles, presidential candidates have launched their primary campaigns with slick, lengthy campaign videos. These have a fairly common format: initial focus on status-quo gloom, a few quick cuts to talking heads, and then a glow of hope as the candidate emerges. Toss in some more quick-cut talking heads, pictures of sunshine and cheering, and of course the candidate leading the way.

Traditionally, these films accompany the candidate’s launch — their premiere, to put it in cinematic terms. Now, however, we may have a new cinematic adaptation to this tradition: the campaign-launch trailer. Opening soon, but not now — DeSantis 2024!

What else could this possibly mean?

Gov. @RonDeSantisFL just dropped this EPIC video contrasting DC's insanity with his success making Florida thrive.

Proud to be a Floridian — born and raised! 🌴🐊 pic.twitter.com/pCx3dFA4Ae

— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) February 26, 2023

All of the hallmarks of the format are present. They’re just … shorter. And even then, the trailer gets the point across. A longer campaign launch video of the more normal five-minute variety might have a couple of more bullet points, but this sums up the case for DeSantis in 2024 succinctly. He succeeded in building Florida into an economic and liberty-oriented powerhouse in the last four years, and now he wants to put “The Florida Blueprint” into place for the entire country.

As my pal Adam Baldwin says with his hat on our show (occasionally), Make America Florida Again!

This raises two questions. Why release a campaign-launch trailer at this point? Why not just announce DeSantis’ candidacy with a couple of additional minutes?

First answer(s): This video doesn’t come directly from Team DeSantis. It comes from a PAC called Friends of DeSantis, which raised a massive amount of cash in the last cycle — and spent a goodly chunk of it too. In four years, the PAC raised nearly $165 million and spent almost $100 million to get DeSantis re-elected last November — and around half of that trove came in the last two quarters. They have tons of cash left for the 2024 cycle and are presumably doing DeSantis’ heavy lifting for unrestricted cash donations to whatever DeSantis wants to do next.

One reason for releasing a trailer would be to keep up the pace for fundraising by signaling that there is a “next.” DeSantis can’t run for governor again in 2026, thanks to term limits, although he could in 2030 if he chose. He won’t run for the Senate, not with two Republican incumbents in place. DeSantis could run in 2027-8 for the presidency too, but then there would be no need to do any campaign functions — not fundraising and certainly not ads and videos. This is a sotto voce signal that the presidential campaign is coming, not four years from now but in this cycle.

That signal isn’t just intended for voters — it’s aimed at other potential Republican candidates and their donors, too. DeSantis might clear most of the field out with an early entry, which we’ll address in a moment. Short of that, though, a clear signal of his intent might still work to freeze the field. Already, most of the presumed candidates from Senate Republican ranks have decided to take a pass (with Tim Scott being the sole exception). The other candidates in the field are Trump-administration figures like Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley, with Chris “Who?” Sununu and Larry Hogan doing some throat-clearing exercises. This could be a warning shot that potential donors and allies will have to consider, even if the candidates themselves won’t acknowledge the pointlessness of proceeding.

That brings us to question two: Why play coy? Why not just jump in and clear the field now? DeSantis probably wants to wait until the end of the legislative session in mid-spring so as to avoid criticism. Once the state’s legislative business is over, DeSantis can turn his full attention to the campaign. Plus, any wins he gets in the session will become even more fodder for the 2024 bid (and can pad out the extra couple of minutes in a full campaign-launch video).

Strategically, it also gives DeSantis an advantage. Donald Trump’s early entry forced his team into compliance with FEC restrictions on fundraising and spending. The other early entries are forcing Trump to attack everyone, and the ensuing name-calling and other sniping between the others make everyone else look petty while DeSantis remains above the fray, talking about his own record. The longer DeSantis can stretch that out, the more he will look like the real leader of the GOP. The mainstream media is inadvertently boosting this phenomenon with their lockstep freak-out over everything DeSantis does, and especially when their threadbare lies fall apart under scrutiny.

In short, DeSantis doesn’t need to officially launch now. He just needs to make sure everyone knows he will run in 2024 and to adjust their own plans accordingly. The trailer is all that’s necessary. The only thing missing is the premiere date at the end of it.