Gov. Ron DeSantis Outed as Primitive Pudding Eater in Stunning Display of #Journalism

Gov. Ron DeSantis Outed as Primitive Pudding Eater in Stunning Display of #Journalism

We’ve talked a lot about the insane hit pieces that have been written about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the last three years or so, including one where the Washington Post insinuated he was a hypocrite on keeping Disney’s wokeness in check because he and his wife Casey got married there in 2009.

Between that, a New York Times investigative “report” on DeSantis’ “cool teacher” reputation during a brief time he taught at a private school in Georgia two decades ago, and one from The Atlantic bemoaning the supposed fact that “DeSantis is not a fun and convivial dude,” many conservatives including yours truly were beginning to despair that all hope was lost for serious, hard-hitting coverage from the DeSantis media beat.

Fortunately, the Daily Beast swooped in to save the day Thursday and gave us all hope for Real Journalism with a shocking exposé detailing how, among other things, DeSantis’ social skills are allegedly so poor that he “devours” his food and makes a mess and even once ate pudding with his fingers:

The chatter over DeSantis’ public engagement has also surfaced past unflattering stories about his social skills—particularly, his propensity to devour food during meetings.

“He would sit in meetings and eat in front of people,” a former DeSantis staffer told The Daily Beast, “always like a starving animal who has never eaten before… getting shit everywhere.”

Enshrined in DeSantis lore is an episode from four years ago: During a private plane trip from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., in March of 2019, DeSantis enjoyed a chocolate pudding dessert—by eating it with three of his fingers, according to two sources familiar with the incident.

One of the “reporters” behind this story, the Daily Beast‘s Jake Lahut, described this on his Twitter page as . . . (drumroll) “the pudding incident”:

The pudding incident, which former DeSantis staffers describe as a common instance of him not reading the room (in this case, a very intimate flight cabin): https://t.co/KEwA7F9Pgr pic.twitter.com/s29MjZB4Ml

— Jake Lahut (@JakeLahut) March 16, 2023

I mean this is impeachment-level stuff, you gotta admit:

IMPEACH! https://t.co/uyPEmvWwl0

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) March 17, 2023

It will surprise exactly no one that Lahut was also one of two Daily Beast reporters who played “gotcha” journalism games in another recent hit piece on DeSantis in which they tried to “Kavanaugh” him by revealing that he had “benefited from the rigorous [AP] courses as a high schooler,” with the (false) angle being that he was now deriding something he once supported.

But back to “the pudding incident,” the incredible story was too much even for the leftists at New York Magazine, which proceeded to hilariously mock the Daily Beast story by predicting “the pudding incident” would destroy DeSantis’ presumed presidential aspirations:

To be clear, I’m not saying that voters are going to hear this story and instantly decide they can’t vote for DeSantis. But I do think the image will lodge itself in people’s subconsciouses. Pretend you’re a GOP primary voter listening to the Florida governor touting his record on flouting public-health recommendations, harassing migrants, and ridding schools of “wokeness.” Sounds pretty good, right? Now picture those same ideas coming out of a man who’s been credibly accused of licking dessert from his paw like a cartoon bear. How do those talking points sound now?

I know what you may be thinking: Wait, isn’t DeSantis’s biggest rival a guy who loves ketchup on well-done steak? Yes, Donald Trump being weird with various foodstuffs — from a taco bowl to Diet Coke to “dangerous” fruit — is basically a genre unto itself. But the 45th president has so many strange peccadilloes that it’s just become part of his oddball charm. And while Trump’s fingers may be short, at least he didn’t eat pudding with them.

Not to be outdone by the Daily Beast, a newsletter put out by Puck News shortly after the “pudding” story went live wondered if DeSantis was taking Ozempic since it appears he has slimmed down in a rather short amount of time:

The talk of Tallahassee has been that Ron DeSantis is losing weight, and fast. Juxtaposing photos from his inauguration, two months ago, to pictures from his State of the State speech, last week, suggests a dramatic difference. Not as dramatic as, say, Mike Pompeo, but his boxy suits are looking even baggier. “He’s a shell of his former self,” said one Tallahassee insider.

If there’s one thing that’s been documented about DeSantis, it’s his ability to shove anything in his mouth. Staffers used to lure him into meetings with cupcakes, as I once noted. He loves fried chicken from Zaxby’s. The Daily Beast chronicled a brilliant anecdote about him eating pudding with his fingers. This sudden change has some wondering if DeSantis, like the rest of Hollywood and the Upper East Side, is on Ozempic, the diabetes-turned-weight-loss drug. Of course, it could just be the stress of running for president or perhaps he’s taking Trump’s body-shaming meatball dig to heart. For what it’s worth, I’m told that he’s stopped eating carbs and he’s taking the new diet very seriously, so perhaps he doesn’t need the drug.

Let’s hear it for Truth to Power™ journalism, amirite? I mean what better way to turn people off of DeSantis than to report that he’s a real person who is trying to take better care of his health but has human moments like the rest of us?

Journalists trying to get people to hate @RonDeSantis: pic.twitter.com/xaZuWmZjbi

— FunkyPox (@corrcomm) March 16, 2023

Heck even DeSantis himself—or an AI voice creation, anyway—is “responding” accordingly to the controversy surrounding his pudding habits and is winning over more fans in the process (language warning):

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
If this were real I’d get out on the campaign trail for him right now.

— Kira (@RealKiraDavis) March 17, 2023

Heh. Gotta love it.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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