But it also includes U.S. President No. 45, his absurdly loud minions, and, occasionally, hosts of a certain ostensibly right-leaning cable news network that just can’t seem to quit the man.

Friday’s news cycle remains enthralled with the video sit-down the Florida governor had with Fox News’ Will Cain in the old Tucker Carlson hour Thursday night, and DeSantis’ attempt to describe what’s going on with the national polls — where, to quote Newsweek, he is “floundering” behind Donald Trump.

“There are those that say there’s something about you that’s not connecting for whatever reason,” Cain said. “Not connecting with the voter, whether or its personality, Donald Trump says it’s about loyalty, [Miami Mayor] Francis Suarez says it’s about your relationships.”

DeSantis noted a massive second-quarter haul for his campaign and Never Back Down, the PAC supporting his candidacy as proof of his sticking power. He also rather awkwardly changed the subject — every politician’s right — to produce an answer upon which his critics pounced.

Here’s the quote:

“Well, I think if you look at the people like the corporate media, who are they going after, who do they not want to be the nominee? They’re going after me. Who’s the president of Mexico attacking because he knows we’ll be strong on the border and hold him accountable in the cartels? He’s going after me,” DeSantis said.

“So I think if you look at all these people that are responsible for a lot of the ills in our society, they’re targeting me as the person they don’t want to see as the candidate.”

HuffPost provided the expected headline: Ron DeSantis Cooks Up Excuses For Low Poll Numbers: ‘They’re Targeting Me.’ You pretty much had to see that one coming. DeSantis’ statement isn’t wrong; it’s just not precisely responsive. (That doesn’t mean he’s not qualified to make phone calls from the Resolute Desk come 2025.)

Another notable jibe in recent days was the breathtaking front-page revelation that led the Tampa Bay Times Sunday print edition, headlined (better sit down): DeSantis’ hires tend to trend rightward. Yep. Florida’s Best Newspaper©, the 14-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is onto the Sunshine State’s avowed, unashamed conservative chief executive now: He taps likeminded folk to serve in his administration.

The vast majority of DeSantis’ picks reviewed by the Times were registered Republicans. Nearly three in four of the picks were men. At least one in five had donated to the governor. …

And, in a sign of how DeSantis is reaping the rewards of a Republican supermajority in Tallahassee, which he probably would not enjoy in Washington, nearly all his picks got the official OK from lawmakers.

The Florida Senate considered 298 of the 309 picks analyzed by the Times this year. Every appointee who got a floor hearing — from DeSantis’ closely watched picks to oversee Disney’s special tax district to his choices for the less newsy Florida Board of Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services — were confirmed.

The news hook for the Times’ deep dive was DeSantis’ promise to shake up Washington from Day One: “We’ll bring the administrative state to heel,” he said during his campaign launch in May. Easier said than done, and all that. But now we know, from the Times’ exhaustive reporting, a President DeSantis would attempt to mold the federal bureaucracy in his image.

Let your emotions fall where they may.

Finally, we learned, too, about the fragility of certain advocacy groups, that have responded to Florida’s policy initiatives designed to encourage individual effort, honor merit, empower parents, protect children, unleash innovation, and lift entrepreneurs by choosing to hold their gatherings elsewhere.

Topping the list: The National Society of Black Engineers declared it will — in an irony-rich decision — move its 50th annual convention from Orlando to (Stacey Abrams, call your office) Atlanta.

Russell Drake is an engineer in Central Florida and a national member of NSBE. He said he agrees with the decision to move their convention.

“NSBE is an organization that’s starting to increase black in the engineer field across the board and right now you have things that are threatening us,” Drake said.

Besides the convention for Black engineers, canceled events slated for Florida (mostly Orlando) include:

• Con of Thrones, a cos-play event for fans of the Game of Thrones books and television series. (Set for next month, Throne fans noted Florida’s inhospitability to layering up in steamy August as the better reason.)
• AnitaB.org, an organization for female and nonbinary tech workers, plans to pull out of Florida after its convention in September.
• The American Education Research Association, citing states with “anti-trans laws” will meet in Denver rather than Orlando in 2025.
• The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses expressed political concerns when it canceled its 2027 conference and expo.
• The International Pole Convention (aka “PoleCon”), whose leadership frets over Florida’s new (if stayed by a federal judge) law shielding minors from sexualized drag performances, will seek kinkier accommodations.

Other groups canceling their events have cited laws that banned most abortions after six weeks, allowed Floridians to carry concealed weapons without a permit, cracked down on illegal immigration and targeted transgender and LGBTQ+ issues.

Let’s say this about that: The same America that can turn, with vigor, against Bud Light for its embrace of trans-celebrity Dylan Mulvaney should be able to understand why some of Florida’s bold (if entirely praiseworthy) policies might be off-putting for the delicate natures of some organizations.

Organizers with the National Society of Black Engineers said they were troubled by DeSantis’ efforts to target diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools and how that would affect student members of the group, [CEO Janeen] Uzzell said.

“This is a celebration,” she said. “This is a moment in time for NSBE. We didn’t want any of the political and social issues to mask our success.”

Which is all well and good. But this, unmasked in February, seems to manifest precisely the sort of success NSBE finds celebratory: Black-owned ECF Engineering Consultants is building a 20,000-square-foot headquarters in West Palm Beach.

“We’re very proud of this building because as an engineering firm, we self-engineered the project ourselves. So, it will have a lot of energy efficient features in it,” Jerold Parrott, the director of building Services for ECF Engineering, said.

Even though the industry is dominated by majority white institutions, [founder and CEO Everett] Fennell said ECF’s success has come in part through partnerships with other minority firms and he hopes they’ll be an inspiration for other black men and women to enter the engineering field.

This truly exemplary thing is happening in a true-blue county Ron DeSantis flipped red last November. Imagine. Is a courageous, optimistic, multi-million-dollar expansion the activity of an engineering firm that feels, you know, threatened? Who’s going to alert Engineer Russell Drake?

All of which is to say, here’s an idea: Let’s stop focusing on the polls for a little while, and instead pay better attention to what the candidates propose to do, and — assuming we like how that sounds — whether their track records support their likelihood of success.