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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is hoping to make lemonade out of their stuttering launch Wednesday night — and persuade Donald Trump supporters to put their MAGA hats and “Not Guilty” t-shirts in the back of the closet.
The campaign announced Thursday that it was bringing out a line of shirts and coffee mugs bearing the slogan “DeSantis Breaks Systems,” a winking reference to the technical difficulties that plagued the Republican’s Twitter Spaces conversation with billionaire CEO Elon Musk.
After DeSantis broke “The Internet” Wednesday night, the merchandise lists all the “things the governor will continue breaking as president — The Deep State, The Corporate Media, and Woke Indoctrination,” Team DeSantis said, referring to the phrases emblazoned on the swag.
T-shirts were on sale for $25 and mugs were available for $20 — funds that the candidate hopes will beef up his war chest, which netted $1 million in the first hour after the event with Musk, according to the campaign.
The chat was meant to begin at 6 p.m., but the audio continually cut in and out for more than 20 minutes before a new Twitter Space was launched.
Despite the rough start, DeSantis’ campaign told The Post that the Twitter Spaces and campaign launch video were watched or listened to more than 30 million times combined in the first 15 hours they were posted.
In the video, DeSantis said President Biden “flounders” as the nation faced economic and security concerns.
He also took a thinly vailed jab at former President Donald Trump, who is the frontrunner in the Republican race even as he battles an array of federal investigations and felony charges.
“Righting the ship requires restoring sanity to our society, normalcy to our communities and integrity to our institutions,” said DeSantis, 44, as he officially announced his intent to trade Tallahassee for Washington after months of speculation.
The twice-elected governor and former Congressman entered the race 33 points behind Trump, according to a Thursday polling average from aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
Sales of Trump’s red “Make America Great Again” hat had netted the Republican’s campaign $80,000 a day during his successful 2016 bid, according to his former senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The hats continue to be a mainstay of his political rallies — worn by both the 76-year-old and many of his supporters.
After Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of business fraud in Manhattan Criminal Court last month, his campaign was peddling t-shirts with a mock mugshot in exchange for a $47 contribution.
