Photo courtesy of the BBC

Intending to win the GOP presidential primary, Ron DeSantis has a few tricks up his sleeve, or, perhaps, a few extra inches in his boot. DeSantis has been known to wear cowboy boots, but allegations about him wearing height-boosting lifts in these boots have taken the internet by storm. 

DeSantis is one of the leading Republican candidates for the 2024 presidential election, and he holds traditional, sometimes radical, right-wing beliefs. 

DeSantis currently serves as the governor of Florida. He advocates for keeping education policy decided at the local level. Earlier this year, he signed an abortion bill banning the procedure after six weeks. 

In his undergraduate education at Yale, DeSantis played baseball as an outfielder. He balanced the role of being a student at an Ivy League school as well as playing on the field. 

“I’ve always been a pretty good hitter and found it pretty natural,” DeSantis said. 

Looking back at the 2001 Yale Baseball statistics, DeSantis’ height is listed at 5 ’11”. DeSantis has never had an official health report published for the public while in office, so this college statistics is one of the few records mentioning his height.

In photos next to Joe Biden, who is documented at exactly 6 feet, the pair stand at similar heights. It is theorized DeSantis wears about one-inch inserts into his boot to elevate his height.

Donald Trump is 6’3”, and in photos of DeSantis and Trump together, it seems DeSantis is much taller than his Yale statistics claim. 

In recent news, Trump has been taking stabs at DeSantis, coming up with a nickname that has stuck: “Tiny D.” DeSantis was once a passionate Trump supporter, but since entering the presidential race with him, a rift has formed. 

Graham Ebner, who is considered to be one of the best cowboy bootmakers in the United States, is suspicious of DeSantis’ boots. 

“Three things stick out to me, the instep, the toe spring and where the ball of his foot is sitting in the boots… Instead of the leather hugging the inside arch of his foot, as it should, it looks like his foot is being lifted up and stretching out the leather, ” Ebner said. 

The placement of the ball on DeSantis’s foot is extremely important. By looking at photos of the placement of his foot in photos, some believe it seems like there is an insert in the shoe. 

“You can see where the ball of his foot is protruding… It’s a good inch behind where it should be. It should not be in that position unless the heels were being lifted dramatically,” Ebner said. 

DeSantis and his public relations team have denied all allegations about DeSantis’s use of shoe lifts. In an interview by Patrick Bet-David on the PBD podcast, DeSantis spoke on the matter. 

“No, no. Those are just standard, off-the-rack, Lucchese boots,” Desantis said. 

Taller political candidates have tended to do better in the polls. To the public, height seems to symbolize a political candidate who is strong and confident. 

Height is a subconscious factor that sways voters, and political candidates are always looking for ways to get extra votes. Biden and Barack Obama have been the exception to this rule, winning against taller candidates. Despite this fact, DeSantis’s alleged boot lifts may help him attract support in the presidential race.