Ron DeSantis made the mistake of mistaking a Budweiser ad for Churchill.

Ron DeSantis announced on social media that he is withdrawing from the Republican leadership race

Ron DeSantis used a fake Winston Churchill quote in As a result, he signed his ill-fated presidential bid and endorsed Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for the White House.

The 45-year-old Florida governor announced his decision to drop out of the race on Sunday in a video. published on social networks with the phrase: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: what matters is the courage to continue.”

Mr. DeSantis attributed the quote to Churchill, but historians have repeatedly refuted it. This idea was ever expressed by the former Prime Minister of Great Britain.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: what matters is the courage to continue. «

— Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/ECoR8YeiMm

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 21, 2024

The International Churchill Society website says: «This bogus quote is very often attributed to Churchill, but it appears nowhere in the Churchill canon.»

The society's view is supported by Richard Langworth, historian and author of 11 books on wartime leaders. .

“Although the quote is included in some poorly researched collections of quotations,” he wrote in 2011, “it cannot be found among Churchill's 50 million published books, articles, speeches and articles; and words about him from close colleagues.»

«Based on editing 4,000 quotes from Churchill Himself, I don't think it looks like his prose,» Mr. Langworth added.

The quote is actually from a 1938 Budweiser ad featuring a boy going fishing despite a gloomy weather forecast .

The ad said: “A man who has lost the spirit of youth is too busy with gloomy forecasts to collect bait, much less go fishing. Men with the spirit of youth became the pioneers of our America… men with vision and strong confidence.

“They found satisfaction in the thrill of action, knowing that success was never final and failure was never fatal.”

Mr. DeSantis' decision to end his presidential bid followed a sluggish campaign marked by frequent gaffes and a string of embarrassing moments.

Just hours before the fake quote was posted, his campaign manager was criticized for spending too much time working on a 1,000-word puzzle ahead of the Iowa caucuses, on of whom Mr. DeSantis finished second to Mr. Trump.

Florida's governor was also criticized. was ridiculed for allegedly wearing height-enhancing lifters in his cowboy boots.

His run for the Republican nomination began under inauspicious circumstances last May, when the launch of his campaign on X, formerly known as Twitter, was marred by a series of technical glitches when it appeared alongside owner Elon Musk.