Christina Pushaw, the spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling out The Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi for a profile he wrote on her.
Pushaw was the subject of an article titled “DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw makes sure reporters feel the burn,” written by Farhi and published by the Post on Wednesday morning where he noted her “aggressive Twitter comments and brusque treatment of the media.”
The article quoted a recent tweet by Pushaw where she said, “My message to [journalists] is to try crying about it,” referencing journalists’ frustration about not being allowed into the recent Sunshine Summit in Florida.
The governor’s spokesperson recommended that frustrated members of the media “go to kickboxing and have a margarita” to vent their anger.
It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren't allowed into #SunshineSummit this weekend. My message to them is to try crying about it. Then go to kickboxing and have a margarita. And write the same hit piece you were gonna write anyway.
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) July 22, 2022
Farhi went on to criticize the Republican governor’s spokeswoman in his article, talking about how differently she approaches her position from others around the country, her tone, and even her salary.
He wrote:
“The derisive tone was typical of Pushaw, 31, a state employee who earns $120,000 a year. In the 14 months since joining DeSantis’s staff, she has transformed the typically button-down role of gubernatorial press secretary into something like a running public brawl — with Twitter as her blunt-force weapon. Her usual targets: Democrats, the news media and anyone else she deems insufficiently supportive of DeSantis’s agenda and her own conservative politics.
[…]
Pushaw’s attacks on national news organizations and reporters can not only be blistering (“slobbering regime sycophants”), but they can also run on for hundreds of tweets and retweets — once prompting Twitter to suspend her account temporarily for “abusive” behavior.
Farhi also reported that Pushaw was credited with making popular the “incendiary” term “groomer” with Republicans, and said Pushaw “amplifies DeSantis’s pugnacious public posture” and “sometimes takes it further.”
The veteran Post reporter said some believe that “Pushaw’s most important contribution to DeSantis’s team may be in strengthening his connections to stars of the online right,” and that the communications officer has “often become the news, instead of merely being a mouthpiece for the state’s top elected official.”
Pushaw posted on her Twitter account within hours of the article’s publication.
Washington Post’s Creepiest Reporter, Paul Farhi: “I just spent months writing a profile about how mad I am that I can’t bully a woman”
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) July 27, 2022
She wrote, “Washington Post’s Creepiest Reporter, Paul Farhi: ‘I just spent months writing a profile about how mad I am that I can’t bully a woman.’”
