Florida Gov. Ron DeSanti is proving to be a rock star when it comes to dealing with today’s corrupt media, and he’s drawing lots of attention for an incident involving a CNN reporter — no surprise, right?
What’s not lost on the Republican governor apparently, is that journalists today are, by and large, little more than political activists working on behalf of the Democratic Party.
It’s not clear whether the media fears DeSantis as a potential 2024 presidential pick, or that in understanding how pivotal Democrat control of Florida can be in national elections, they are committed to his defeat when he runs for reelection in 2024, but they are employing the same tactic seen as effective in beating President Trump — that being, to wield the pandemic like a weapon to blame him for all ills.
DeSantis, who recently vowed to “never” lock down Florida again, was asked by CNN reporter Rosa Flores on Monday about “what has gone wrong” with the coronavirus vaccine rollout — her assessment — and the governor made it clear that he was not going to tolerate political gamesmanship from activist reporters.
My Florida Man Governor! https://t.co/I1ZspaBk7D
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) January 5, 2021
For shutting down Flores so effectively, DeSantis was called an “ass” by CNN host Brianna Keilar, and he appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight and took the proverbial high road in responding.
Host Tucker Carlson pointed out that “the entire Northeast” is moving to Florida, and that the state “has managed this pandemic far better than any Northeastern state,” to ask DeSantis why he’s facing so much media criticism.
“I am totally willing to wear the criticism as a badge of honor if it means my state is a state in which every parent has the right to send their kid to in-person instruction, everybody has a right to work and a right to pursue their vocation, every business has a right to operate and we’ve done that. We’ve trusted people,” DeSantis said. “And, as you mentioned, our COVID mortality is less than the national average per capita.”
“And on the vaccine front, we were the first state in the country to begin vaccinating citizens, residents of long-term care facilities, and we were the first state in the country to start vaccinating our broader over-65 population,” he continued. “And so we’re very proud of leading those efforts and I think you’re going to continue to see a lot of good things.”
DeSantis then addressed the media attacks.
“I’m happy for the criticism because, you know what, I don’t seek validation by the media,” he said. “What I seek is supporting the citizens of my state and I can tell you as this pandemic has worn on, a number of times someone has come up to me with tears in their eyes, saying ‘if it wasn’t for you my kid would not be in school and I would not have my job. Thank you.’ That is why I’m in this job.”
While the media relentlessly criticizes DeSantis, they heap praise on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — New York has seen far more deaths from COVID-19, even though the state has 2 million fewer residents.
Carlson drew a laugh from DeSantis when he asked, with CNN host Chris Cuomo in mind, “Do you think you’d get fair treatment from CNN if your brother had a prime-time show on that channel?”
“Well, if ‘if’s and buts’ were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas,” DeSantis replied. “But I think it’s pretty clear some of these networks obviously — they have agendas. They are doing narratives. They’re not trying to report facts anymore. It’s all about spinning whatever narrative they think can get ratings and that’s just the reality of the situation.”
“So it doesn’t impact me,” he added. “We are going to continue keeping our eye on the ball and working as hard as we can to deliver results.”
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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