Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)_ ripped the media Thursday, after they questioned President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (R).
When asked by a reporter whether it was appropriate for Trump to criticize Newsom’s leadership, DeSantis blasted the reporter and asked her if the media found it appropriate to create division.
“Is it appropriate for people in your industry to try to create division, and to try and create narratives any time these things happen?” DeSantis asked.
DeSantis noted the media is biased towards Newsom because he is a Democrat.
“Now, you’re not as interested in doing that because Newsom is a D, if Newsom was a Republican … you would have him nailed to the wall for what they’re doing over there, and I know, we’ve dealt with it,” DeSantis said, “We just assume in Florida, any time something happens it’s going to be politicized by the media. You guys sitting in judgement of Donald Trump, I mean, excuse me, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad.”
The reporter then asked DeSantis if he agreed with Trump calling for the resignation of Newsom, to which he responded this is just another example of the media being biased toward Democrats.
“I remember when we had the Surfside Tower collapse, I had people from the Washington Post trying to blame me for it,” DeSantis said, adding he was warned by other Republican governors when he was first elected that he would be blamed for natural disasters by the media.
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Trump took to social media Thursday, calling for Newsom’s resignation and calling the wildfires “all his fault.”
“One of the best and beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
DeSantis appeared on “Fox & Friends” with host Lawrence Jones Friday, to comment on his exchange with the media.
“My point is just simply, you know, they were trying to pin this on Donald Trump, and they were going after Donald Trump’s comments, and I’m just thinking to myself, I’ve seen how these people in the press react to when these things happen in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.
The governor noted the media are fixated on drumming up “negative narratives” and are not as interested when the outcome of a disaster is positive, using Hurricane Ian as an example after the state rebuilt bridges and restored power within days — and there was no media coverage.
“Once it was clear that people were satisfied with the response after a few days, you couldn’t find CNN in the state of Florida if you had a search warrant,” DeSantis said.
