Ron DeSantis' Smile During Republican Debate Sparks Wave of Jokes, Memes

In Wednesday's first Republican debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during which the eight candidates took shots at one another and could not avoid mentions of Donald Trump, despite his absence, one relatively small detail captured viewers' imagination: Ron DeSantis' smile.

Many watching the televised debate pointed out that smiling didn't seem to come natural to the Florida governor, with people sharing clips on social media showing DeSantis suddenly beaming into a smile that some described as "awkward" and "pre-programmed."

Since launching his campaign on Twitter Space earlier this year—an event that was marred by technical glitches on the platform—DeSantis had established himself as a solid number two after Trump in the polls for the Republican primary.

But despite representing the most likely alternative to Trump for Republican voters, DeSantis currently trails the former president by a huge margin. As of August 23, Trump could count on 52.1 percent of the vote, while DeSantis gathered 15.2 percent, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.

The 2-hour debate, in which eight of the nine Republican candidates running for the 2024 primary faced each other in front of the cameras, was a success for DeSantis. Newsweek put him in the list of the biggest winners on the evening, as he tried to regain momentum after his campaign has been slumping for weeks.

He talked of the conservative policies he successfully passed in Florida, focusing on education and the economy, while walking a fine line on abortion, a topic that has proven divisive even among Republican voters.

But his performance at the Wisconsin debate might not have helped DeSantis enough to bridge the massive gap in polling between him and Trump.

He also doesn't appear to have impressed voters and viewers with his charisma, something that he has been reported to be lacking. A former congressional staffer told Vanity Fair last year that he had "the personality of a piece of paper." In an ad back in May, Trump said DeSantis needed a "personality transplant."

In a post on X, formerly, Twitter, one account posted a clip with the caption: "The delay of him trying to smile is insane???"

His "forced" smile during the debate sparked a wave of memes and jokes online.

"Is Ron DeSantis trying to make us believe he's human by trying to smile?" one X user wrote on the platform, sharing the same clip of the debate which has gone viral. In it, DeSantis can be seen putting on a smile a few seconds after finishing talking.

"Say what you will about this worthless debate, I will always remember it as the time when Ron DeSantis tried to figure out how to smile for the first time on live television," one person wrote on X.

"Here's my impression of a DeSantis consultant during debate prep: 'Good job Ron, but don't forget to do the weirdest smile humanly possible when you're done speaking,'" wrote another.

"I am zipping through the debate I am recording. So far, my first impression is that DeSantis can't even look human for a 3-second introduction smile," wrote another user.

Newsweek contacted DeSantis' campaign team for comment by email on Thursday.