Draft Horse Insights

(1/10) Overview: DeSantis Q1 2026 X Report DeSantis had substantial declines in post volume and engagement in Q1 compared to the prior quarter. Median post engagement was also down to a lesser degree. Orwellian control was a big issue, with "car kill switches," CBDCs, and the TSA farce all striking a chord. Despite claims by popular commentators that "woke is dead," the resonance of DeSantis' remarks on celebrity "stolen land" claims and Zohran's socialism suggested otherwise. The left's duplicity on immigration policy landed with audiences, embodied by Boston's Michelle Wu and New Jersey's Mikie Sherrill. @RonDeSantis @GovRonDeSantis @brockjuarez @AlexLanfran @tarynfenske @BryanDGriffin @ChristinaPushaw @JeremyRedfernFL @BWWright5 @coreyadamyk @kmclaughlins @Ave_Phillips @SDeanFL

(10/10) 3 Key Things for @RonDeSantis Q1 X report 1. Post volume declines (-48%) were the primary cause of DeSantis' substantial engagement decline from 8.8M in Q4 '25 to 3.1M in Q1 '26. Median engagement was down just 19% in contrast, suggesting a simple volume increase could recapture most of that engagement. 2. COVID's legacy = widespread breakup with unliked bureaucracies. The popularity of DeSantis' anti-TSA post, anti-CBDC posts, and anti-Car Kill Switch posts all came back to this. DeSantis has had success with related posts (especially around Europe) for 1+ year, and he is probably seen as the most effective leader fighting these types of bureaucracies. 3. Left's new stars are becoming the best "Florida Foils." Using foils to contrast Florida's success with leftist failures has consistently driven more engagement than successes alone, and "rising stars" like Zohran, Talarico, Minnesota's viral fraud and criminal policy failure, Mikie Sherrill, etc, are driving tons of engagement when featured in posts. @AlexLanfran @tarynfenske @ChristinaPushaw @JeremyRedfernFL @coreyadamyk @kmclaughlins @Ave_Phillips

(9/10) DeSantis' Q1 26 Comment Sentiment on X Top engaged comments were around the same themes as DeSantis' top engaged posts: 1) Critiquing Orwellian policies and those in Congress implementing them, 2) Contrasting "Florida Foils" with the most popular leftists in the US (especially new stars like Mamdani, Talarico), 3) Still pervasive leftist ideology like "Stolen Land," and 4) Leftist mayors and governors duplicity on immigration. The amount of pushback on Mamdani and Talarico critiques suggests DeSantis is "over the target." @AlexLanfran @tarynfenske @ChristinaPushaw @JeremyRedfernFL @coreyadamyk @kmclaughlins @Ave_Phillips

(1/10) Overview: DeSantis Q1 2026 X Report DeSantis had substantial declines in post volume and engagement in Q1 compared to the prior quarter. Median post engagement was also down to a lesser degree. Orwellian control was a big issue, with "car kill switches," CBDCs, and the TSA farce all striking a chord. Despite claims by popular commentators that "woke is dead," the resonance of DeSantis' remarks on celebrity "stolen land" claims and Zohran's socialism suggested otherwise. The left's duplicity on immigration policy landed with audiences, embodied by Boston's Michelle Wu and New Jersey's Mikie Sherrill. @RonDeSantis @GovRonDeSantis @brockjuarez @AlexLanfran @tarynfenske @BryanDGriffin @ChristinaPushaw @JeremyRedfernFL @BWWright5 @coreyadamyk @kmclaughlins @Ave_Phillips @SDeanFL

Trump February ‘26 Truth Social Report presentation @DanScavino @karolineleavitt @Kaelan @AlexPfeiffer @JamesBlairUSA @jackikotkiewicz @K_SDesai @DylanJohnson @sonnyjoynelson @jacobkschneider @iankelley @DTB_Posts @CharyssaParent @jepersing

@ReubenR80027912 Working on measuring the vibes, but each platform has a different audience and you have to make educated guesses on how they relate to “the overall zeitgeist,” and what the electorate “really cares about” within that.

There’s no real answer to modern politics where policy religion isn’t even possible b/c of fractured media environment You’ve just git to control/shape the vibes which is…effectively impossible

Imo both Rs & Ds have a structural problem here: real life, honest to god policy doesn’t matter This demo *should* love that Wegovy on Trumprx is 85% less than their Dr’s 6 months ago…they don’t! D’s bashed their head against a wall on kitchen table stuff ALL of 2024

🧵 Presentation: Trump’s February 2026 Truth Social Report

🧵3 Key Things: Trump's February 2026 Truth Social Report 1) Immigrants who hate America are bigger issue for MAGA than "criminal illegals." Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, AOC seen as embodiment of this type of immigrant. 6 out of the 10 top engaged replies to Trump's February Truth posts were around this. 2) Overall political interest is down versus last February (right after Trump's inauguration). Eng/post was nearly 50% higher a year ago. While more volume can drive higher total engagement on a given day, it drives down Eng/post; to increase overall engagement, persuasion, and leverage driven with Truth Social, try to zero in on "hot button issues" that are animating audience. 3) Democrat fraud in MN and CA is major "hot button" issue currently. People want "consequences" more than endless critiques. Speaking of consequences, Trump threatening to sue bad-faith leftist media actors like Trevor Noah drove very high engagement in Feb. Show people you're going beyond "critiques" on fraud. @DanScavino @karolineleavitt @Kaelan @AlexPfeiffer @iankelley @jackikotkiewicz @KushDesai47 @dylanjohnson @sonnyjoynelson @jacobkschneider @DTB_Posts @CharyssaParent @jepersing

🧵Intro: Trump's February 2026 Truth Social Report February Stats: Volume up 22% YOY, but engagement and engagement/post down 23-36%. Even with big engagement on Khamenei's death and the Iran war, it was a tough "comp" versus a prior February that featured "Zelenskyy isn't ready for peace" and overall heightened political interest right after Trump's Inauguration. Top Engaged: "Just" 2 of Trump's top 6 engaged Truth posts of February were around the Iran War (Khamenei's death driving *much* more engagement than announcing combat operations). "Can't let Dems get away with Voter ID" drove his second highest engagement of the month, highlighting the salience of the SAVE act. Ripping up Omar and Tlaib's psychotic SOTU behavior, refusing to allow Woke Tech Idiots to control the Military's use of AI, and lambasting the Super Bowl Halftime show rounded out Trump's top engaged posts of the month. @DanScavino @karolineleavitt @Kaelan @AlexPfeiffer @iankelley @jackikotkiewicz @KushDesai47 @dylanjohnson @sonnyjoynelson @jacobkschneider @DTB_Posts @CharyssaParent @jepersing

@JamesBlairUSA "Immigrants who hate America" are a huge issue for Trump's audience, it's not just "violent/criminal illegals" x.com/InsightsDraft/…

It’s very simple: Republicans want to keep deporting the violent/criminal illegals that Joe Biden & the Democrats in Congress let in. Democrats want to shield them from deportation, which is why they unanimously support sanctuary cities. Republicans will get the violent criminals out. Democrats will throw the border back open. Choose accordingly.