Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida appears to have turned on many of the news outlets that once promoted his candidacy for the G.O.P. nomination for being unfair in their coverage.

Desperate to make his case that he is a better candidate than Mr. Trump — while trailing by wide margins in recent polls — Mr. DeSantis seems to have turned on many of the news outlets that once promoted his candidacy, for being unfair in their coverage.

“He’s got basically a Praetorian Guard of the conservative media — Fox News, the websites, all this stuff,” Mr. DeSantis told reporters outside his campaign headquarters in Urbandale, Iowa. “They just don’t hold him accountable because they’re worried about losing viewers. And they don’t want to have the ratings go down.”

He added: “That’s just the reality. That’s just the truth, and I’m not complaining about it. I’d rather that not be the case. But that’s just, I think, an objective reality.”

It was the most animated version of a message that Mr. DeSantis, despite saying he is not complaining, has delivered repeatedly over the last several days. While the Florida governor’s own criticisms of Mr. Trump are relatively muted, he has urged conservative news media to be more critical.

Non-paywall link

    • mmcintyre@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      But he ain’t attacking Trump! DeSantis prays every night for Trump to just die already. But he won’t do so much as lift a finger and make it look like he had a single thing to do with taking Trump down politically. He’s just as cowardly as the conservative media outlets. He’s going after them for not going after Trump… but he also needs those Trump fans just as much as FOX and OANN needs them and can’t afford to piss them off so he also ain’t going after Trump in any real way.

  • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    He doesn’t strike me as a man particularly interested in educational facts, but he casually references an ancient Roman military unit. The fascists love Rome.

  • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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    8 months ago

    “They just don’t hold him accountable because they’re worried about losing viewers. And they don’t want to have the ratings go down.”

    He added: “That’s just the reality. That’s just the truth, and I’m not complaining about it. I’d rather that not be the case. But that’s just, I think, an objective reality.”

    The guy just found out water is wet.

    • nilloc
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      8 months ago

      He’s also going to pardon the guy on day one and not hold him the least bit accountable either.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Does DeSadist not realize his party is full of Republicans? Is he pretending to be this oblivious, or is he really this stupid?

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Ron DeSantis of Florida has increasingly focused on a peculiar target as he looks to win the Republican nomination: the conservative news media ecosystem that supports former President Donald J. Trump.

    Desperate to make his case that he is a better candidate than Mr. Trump — while trailing by wide margins in recent polls — Mr. DeSantis seems to have turned on many of the news outlets that once promoted his candidacy, for being unfair in their coverage.

    “He’s got basically a Praetorian Guard of the conservative media — Fox News, the websites, all this stuff,” Mr. DeSantis told reporters outside his campaign headquarters in Urbandale, Iowa.

    But he and his team have also taken to attacking Fox News, which was glowing in its coverage of Mr. DeSantis until it circled the wagons for Mr. Trump once the former president was first indicted in March 2023.

    But for all the attacks, Mr. DeSantis has continued to spend a fair amount of time on the Fox News airwaves, including in a town hall-style interview earlier this week and two appearances on Friday after he lobbed shots at the network.

    As for other conservative media outlets, Newsmax — often friendly to Mr. Trump — aired a Christmas special about Mr. DeSantis and his family late last year.


    The original article contains 560 words, the summary contains 215 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!