The Don & Ron Show: Right Wing Media Kicks Off Coverage of the Trump-DeSantis Battle
By Kevin Howley, Feb. 5, 2023
This is the first in a series of reports on right wing media coverage of the 2024 GOP presidential campaign.
There’s no rest for the weary.
Just when you thought Donald Trump was breaking precedent, yet again, by running his 2024 presidential campaign exclusively from the back nine at Mar-a-Lago, the man who would be king hit the road last week with stops in New Hampshire – where the twice-impeached former president declared, “I’m more angry now and more committed now than I ever was” – and an “invitation-only” appearance in South Carolina.
No sooner did Trump return to his rambling ways then political reporters began speculating on his prospects for securing his party’s nomination. Bloomberg put it plainly: “Donald Trump ran headlong into some of the biggest challenges he’ll face in his comeback bid – fading enthusiasm among Republicans looking to move on from the former president and rising rivals for the GOP nomination.”
Among those rivals, only Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina Governor and Trump’s one-time UN Ambassador, has announced that she will formally declare her candidacy in the coming days. But the odds-on favorite to challenge Trump’s tenuous front-runner status, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, inches closer to tossing his hat in the ring.
Lots of Love for Ron
On the heels of Trump’s New Hampshire appearance, Fox News reported on local efforts to draft DeSantis. Headlined, “Courting DeSantis: These Groups are Trying to Convince Florida’s Governor To Run For President,” the story describes the efforts of NH Draft DeSantis and Ron to the Rescue, who were on hand at the Granite State’s annual GOP meeting last weekend.
NH Draft DeSantis co-founder, Chris Wood, told Fox, “Our ultimate goal is to go out of business the day he announces.” Likewise, chief strategist Alex Olson of the Ron to the Rescue super Pac, said, “I’m a Floridian. I love what Gov. DeSantis has done there. We think that he is the best choice to be at the top of the ticket.”
“DeSantis routinely dismissed talk of a 2024 White House race for more than a year as he focused on his gubernatorial re-election. But he’s dropped some hints the past three months of a possible presidential bid,” reports Fox.
In recent days, DeSantis’ hints have grown less subtle.
The Gloves Come Off
Ever since Trump announced his re-election bid last November – time flies – the disgraced former president has taunted DeSantis as only he can. For months, DeSantis hasn’t taken the bait. According to some observers, such as CNN’s Dean Obeidallah, DeSantis is “backing down” from the fight.
All that changed last week, and mainstream media took gleeful note: On January 31, NBC ran a story headlined, “DeSantis Claps Back at Trump Criticism: ‘In my case … we won’”; that same day, Politico declared, “DeSantis Snaps Back at Trump: I Got Reelected.”
Over at Fox News, headline writers picked up on DeSantis’ clever allusion to Trump’s never-ending legal problems: “DeSantis Responds to Trump Criticism, Says ‘Verdict Has Been Rendered’ By Florida Voters.” How’s that for throwing some shade at the Orange Man?
Significantly, DeSantis broke his silence on the man-child’s schoolyard taunts when prompted to do so by the Daily Caller’s Henry Rogers, who drew attention to Trump’s jibes during the Governor’s press conference: “Trump has criticized you a number of times in the past couple of days on a number of different issues.”
DeSantis was prepared. “Well, look, what I would just say is this. I roll out of bed, I have people attacking me from all angles.” Without naming names, DeSantis went on to underscore Trump’s losing record, “I’m happy to say, you know, in my case, not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida.” Here’s a man who isn’t tired of winning.
Townhall took note, giving DeSantis credit for his jocular response and devoting much of its coverage to the governor’s remarks. Trump’s criticisms appeared in the final graph. Daily Caller gave the former president a few more column inches, but closed with the governor’s observation from last year: “DeSantis has been largely silent on Trump’s criticisms. In November, he appeared to respond to Trump by alluding to ‘noise’ around him.”
The next day, Trump called DeSantis a “RINO globalist.” And so it goes.
Meanwhile, in Washington
On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans appear to be aligning themselves with the former president’s rival. The Hill reports that John Cornyn (R-TX) “barely stifled a laugh when asked about Trump’s assertion that DeSantis would commit a great act of disloyalty by running against him.”
Notwithstanding, Sen. Cornyn’s mirth, something tells me the 2024 campaign will be anything but a laughing matter. Stay tuned.
Kevin Howley is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. His most recent book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination.
Interested in more news about right-wing media curated especially for mainstream audiences? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
Ever since Trump announced his re-election bid last November, the disgraced former president has taunted DeSantis as only he can. For months, DeSantis hasn’t taken the bait. All that changed last week. (Image: Pixabay)
