Liberal Media Incensed That Gov. DeSantis Won’t Play Their Little Game

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) didn’t do a single interview with a liberal news outlet during his campaign last year for governor — and he won in a landslide.

With DeSantis frequently mentioned as a frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, outlets such as The New York Times are squealing over the diss.

“Although he courted right-wing podcasters and conservative Fox News hosts, Mr. DeSantis did not grant an extensive interview to a national nonpartisan news organization during his 2022 re-election bid — and he coasted to victory, with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire now promoting him as a 2024 contender,” The paper was published on Tuesday.

In a piece headline “Can Ron DeSantis Avoid Meeting the Press?” — spoiler alert: the answer is yes — the whiny author told an anecdote about how DeSantis operates.

“Assigned to cover the re-election campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Miles Cohen, a young ABC News reporter, found himself stymied. The governor would not grant him an interview. Aides barred him from some campaign events and interrupted his conversations with supporters,” author Michael M. Grynbaum wrote.

“When Mr. Cohen was finally able to ask a question about the governor’s handling of Hurricane Ian, Mr. DeSantis shouted him down — ‘Stop, stop, stop’ — and scolded the media for ‘trying to cast aspersions.’ The DeSantis campaign then taunted Mr. Cohen on Twitter, prompting a torrent of online vitriol.”

But, of course, it’s clear that the Times would never give DeSantis a fair shake, so why should he bother to sit with them for an interview? While avid newshounds have known for decades that America’s “paper of record” Trump was a liberal ex-president and exposed the Times for what it really is.

DeSantis has avoided any other biased outlets or shows. A producer is someone who produces. “The View” He was invited to chat with Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg, who are hardcore liberals. He simply replied. “nuh uh.”

Instead, he was interviewed by Will Witt, the 26 year-old founder and CEO of Florida Standard, a conservative website launched just a few days earlier.

Witt, who gained a strong following as an emerging conservative pundit for PragerU’s nonprofit video producer PragerU was highly praised DeSantis. “It’s so nice when you have someone who recognizes what you’re doing and really appreciates it,” He Telled Semafor.

DeSantis hasn’t gone as far as former President Trump, who often called the media the “enemy of the people.” But he also hasn’t gone easy on them, either.

He claimed that the press was rooting for the destruction of Fort Myers in Florida after a major hurricane last year.

”Quite frankly, you have national regime media that they wanted to see Tampa, because they thought that that’d be worse for Florida. That’s how these people think,” DeSantis said during the Interview Florida Voice is another conservative outlet.

“They don’t care about the people of this state. They don’t care about this community. They want to use storms and destruction from storms as a way to advance their agenda,” He stated. “If they can use it to pursue their political agenda, they will do it.”

Bryan Griffin, a spokesman for DeSantis, confirmed the governor’s beliefs in an Email To The Hill

“Governor DeSantis is absolutely correct in his assertion: many people in the media have shamefully capitalized on the tragedy of Hurricane Ian to push their political agenda,” Griffin said.

There’s an awful lot of time before the 2024 elections, and liberal outlets will be more demanding. But DeSantis should stick to his guns — and he should certainly skip any debate held by a liberal network.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl is a 35-year veteran of politics, having served 12 years as White House correspondent in a national newspaper. He was also the Drudge Report’s morning editor for four years. Send tips to [email protected] Follow him @josephcurl on Twitter