As Professor Jacobson recently iterated, the mainstream media “will always tell you who they fear.” That has absolutely been the case with their frequent attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for whom the prevailing sentiment in the press, on the left, and among the NeverTrump “right” in hit piece after hit piece is that he is “worse” than former President Donald Trump.
Though the attacks have been plentiful—including one rather bizarre one about DeSantis getting married at Disney in 2009, they’ve definitely stepped it up since his resounding victory in last month’s gubernatorial election, which saw Florida go redder and DeSantis pummel his “Democratic” opponent Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points.
Case in point, a new write-up from the Atlantic in which staff writer Mark Leibovich, who used to be a “reporter” for the New York Times, let us know that perhaps DeSantis’ biggest problems are that he’s not “fun” enough nor does he mingle much in establishment Republican circles:
People who know him better and have watched him longer are skeptical of his ability to take on the former president. DeSantis, they say, is no thoroughbred political athlete. He can be awkward and plodding. And Trump tends to eviscerate guys like that.“He was standoffish in general,” the Virginia Republican Barbara Comstock, a former House colleague of DeSantis’s, told me.“A strange no-eye-contact oddball,” Rick Wilson, a Republican media consultant, wrote on Resolute Square.“I’d rather have teeth pulled without anesthetic than be on a boat with Ron DeSantis,” says Mac Stipanovich, a Tallahassee lobbyist who set sail from the GOP over his revulsion for Trump and his knockoffs. To sum up: DeSantis is not a fun and convivial dude. He prefers to keep his earbuds in. His “Step away from the vehicle” vibes are strong.[…]“I think he is going to run into some challenges,” Carlos Curbelo, a former Republican congressman from Florida who served with DeSantis in the House, told me. “It’s that question that often comes up in politics—the question of ‘Would you want to have a beer with him?’’’[…]“I don’t think Ron hangs out with anybody, from what I can tell,” former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said during an appearance on the Ruthless podcast. Christie, who encountered DeSantis at Republican Governors Association meetings, said his Florida counterpart tended to remain cocooned inside his entourage. “I don’t see him hanging with the other governors,” Christie said.
Now, if it’s baked into your DNA to view Republicans as the greatest threat to the United States since, well, forever, then you’re exactly the kind of person who would favorably view a laughable hit piece that quotes mostly NeverTrumpers and other has-been Republican politicos as being critical of DeSantis.
Politico‘s Alex Thompson referred to the article as “great,” as did Leibovich’s colleague Elaine Godfrey. Florida Politics publisher Peter Schorsch described to the story as “well-done.” Perpetual Angry Man Joe Walsh, who once infamously declared in 2020 that he would vote for a socialist like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over Trump, said it was a “really good piece.”
But if you’re like the rest of us, your B.S. detector is strong, and you recognize the pathetic, desperate nature of this attack for what it is:
Besides, is it really true that DeSantis doesn’t like to have fun?
Also, are we really supposed to think that DeSantis not seeking the approval of cocktail circuit dwellers and the “Have a Beer With Me”-standard types is a actually bad thing?
‘Nuff said.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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