Fox’s Maria Bartiromo questioned Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis about his 2024 presidential campaign on “Sunday Morning Futures."
As usual, rather than address his poor polling numbers, DeSantis pushed a conspiracy theory.
The man currently a distant second Donald Trump among Republican voters claimed the media was responsible for his campaign’s "failure to launch."
You can see the exchange here:
Bartiromo asked:
"What’s going on with your campaign?”
She added:
“There was a lot of optimism about you running for President earlier in the year. What happened?”
Bartiromo cciteda Politico Playbook article titled “Failure to Launch” to make her point.
DeSantis laughed awkwardly then claimed:
"Maria, these are narratives.”
“The media does not want me to be the nominee. I think that’s very, very clear."
"Why? Because they know I’ll beat Biden."
The controversial Florida governor then rattled off his far-right agenda before adding:
"I never expected to just snap fingers and all of a sudden, you know, you win seven months before anyone happens [sic]."
“You got to earn it and you got to work. And it requires a lot of toil and tears and sweat. And we’re going to do that."
People let DeSantis know the only part the media played was putting him in front of voters.
Bartiromo shared a Fox poll showing DeSantis trailing Donald Trump by 34 points.
The Fox host then asked DeSantis if he planned to participate in the Republican debate slated for August 23—an event Trump hasn't committed to attending.
DeSantis responded:
"Of course, I look forward to doing it."
“I think really, Maria, that’s when people are really going to start paying attention to the primary."
"I think up to this point, a lot of that has been about some of these legal cases."
DeSantis didn't specify if he meant Trump’s or his own.
He added:
"And I think a lot of the voters concern about that and understandably so.”
"We’re going to be able to talk about the vision, and I look forward to doing it,” DeSantis said. “So I’m glad we’re going to get started."
DeSantis has used his governorship and Florida's Republican legislative majority to push a White, Christian nationalist agenda in the state, targeting racial and ethnic minorities, Black and brown immigrants, women and the LGBTQ+ community.
While this earned him a lot of fans on the far-right, once DeSantis hit the campaign trail that enthusiasm quickly dropped. Early predictions were DeSantis' social awkwardness and lack of charisma couldn't pull voters from Trump's cult of personality.
It appears those predictions are coming true.
