A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis returned to Fox News prime time for the second time this week, serving up a “Fauci ouchie” on The Ingraham Angle.
The Republican Governor focused on an email Dr. Anthony Fauci sent in the early stages of the pandemic, questioning DeSantis’ approach. At that time, Fauci thought bars should beclosed.
DeSantis’ attacks on Fauci veered into the personal realm — in a classic DeSantis way — by contending that Fauci enjoyed the limelight more than he should have.
Ironically, it is the same charge the Governor faces through his own ubiquity on cable news.
“And then, obviously, he does so many interviews that it was pretty clear to me that after a short time that this was about himself and his own image,” DeSantis snarked. “For me, you look at that magazine cover where he’s lounging by the pool with the sunglasses on, you know, right in the midst of a pandemic. It was almost like a let them eat cake moment for all the people who were chafing under his lockdowns, and yet he seemed to be having the time of his life.”
DeSantis said he “shared concern” about Fauci’s “way overexposed” role; there was a “lot of concern at The White House as well” about the megaphone the doctor had.
“To elevate anybody like that is problematic,” DeSantis advised. “But particularly when you have somebody who’s going out and literally doing every interview under the sun. He ended up contradicting himself. He was indulging hypotheticals.”
“He ended up doing political commentary sometimes,” DeSantis lamented, “because the media wanted to use Fauci to attack people like me and other Republicans.”
“You don’t gotta indulge every left-wing reporter in the United States every day,” he added.
DeSantis also dropped some breadcrumbs, including contending Fauci was “intimately involved” in New York’s decision to send COVID-19 patients back to nursing homes and also spotlighting his “role in the lab leak” in Wuhan, a theory with considerable traction on the right.
Republicans need to take back the Congress in 2022 for a “legitimate investigation,” the Governor urged.
“We certainly need to be investigating the origins of COVID over this Jan. 6, which is purely partisan,” he warned, “but it will not happen with (President Joe) Biden and the Democrats in charge.”
The Fauci blast continues a hot streak for the Governor, who signed a controversial bill earlier in the week and has been capitalizing on it since.
Just two days before, DeSantis was on Fox News with Tucker Carlson and earned coverage from the One America News Network, Breitbart, and The Federalist.
On Fox Tuesday, DeSantis defended legislation he signed banning transgender athletes from female sports, calling it a salvo against “woke corporations” such as the NCAA.
Despite Tuesday’s media blitz, national messaging is central to the Governor’s brand since his time in Congress. It was inevitable he would have one more showcase in the evening — supplying quotes and content for the weekend shows.
For DeSantis, it was just what the doctor ordered.
17 comments
Frankie M.
June 4, 2021 at 12:11 am
Next pandemic Fauci will know better & only give interviews to Fox & friends. Sounds like Ronnie is a lil jelly of Dr. Fauci. Oh the irony. Does Ronnie own a mirror?
zhombre
June 4, 2021 at 10:00 am
If your keyboard had consciousness, it would smack you in the face for typing such dumb stuff.
Frankie M.
June 4, 2021 at 10:26 am
Ah yes namecalling the last resort for those who have lost the argument and cannot come to terms with it. Good luck passing 3rd grade.
As for Ronnie he has never met a camera he didn’t fall in love with…man…tv…camera.
zhombre
June 4, 2021 at 11:19 am
Yeah, thank you for your considerate and well thought out response.
Yail Bloor
June 4, 2021 at 6:55 am
Florida politics = Phag News
patricia clinard
June 4, 2021 at 7:11 am
When did you receive your medical training and education Governor ? Instead of blaming others or worse claiming there is no clinical findings to support the CDC research how about manage your residents needs and knock it off. Shame on you
Ron Ogden
June 4, 2021 at 7:15 am
You seem confused about the role of these two men: Ouchie is a technician who got thrust into the limelight and took every bit of advantage of it. De Santis was hired to do just what he is doing, leading the state and nation toward a better tomorrow by insisting on transparency and honesty–two things in short supply among the Never Trump crowd who was driving the pandemic response last year.
tjb
June 4, 2021 at 8:55 am
Ron, You must be joking about Desantis leading us towards a better tomorrow. DeSantis is a mini-dictator and fascist in a state that lost over 37,000 lives to Covid 19, many of these lives were lost because of his bad policies regarding the prevention of Covid. I would say more, but Desantis is on the news again and I must watch his BS for the umpteenth time today. PS–Fauci is a widely acclaimed and highly honored Doctor , not a technician.
zhombre
June 4, 2021 at 9:29 am
Fauci is a very skilled bureaucrat which is to say he lies impeccably and plays a great game of CYA. DeSantis is as much as dictator and fascist as you are intelligent and astute, which is to say zero.
Ron Ogden
June 4, 2021 at 5:45 pm
The Fouch is a government hack–or quack, you may choose yourself which fits best.
tjb
June 8, 2021 at 12:32 pm
Ron,
Are you still drinking the bleach or popping hydroxychloroquine tablets? The only quacks are Trump’s and DeSantis, a trump wannabe.
martin
June 4, 2021 at 9:23 am
ok, what if that meth and crack head had been elected? Desantis is the best gov. in the nation right now. Some of you people need to get over yourselves.
Frankie M.
June 4, 2021 at 10:29 am
Fauci was the only one talking about covid while trump was busy playing golf or talking about chugging bleach. He went on any outlet that would have him to get the word out much like trump on oan & newsmax. Later trump would clamp down on fauci because he doesn’t like someone getting his limelight. (Sound familiar Ronnie?) It’s called public service but there’s not alot of $$ in it so you don’t hear about it too much.
zhombre
June 6, 2021 at 8:20 am
You take scurrility and stupidity to new depths.
zhombre
June 6, 2021 at 8:56 am
If you do some simple research you would learn Fauci earns in excess of $400,000 as head of NIH; the governor of Florida’s salary is $130,00. You don’t hear that and you have, in your invincible ignorance, no urge to acquaint yourself with any facgts.
tjb
June 8, 2021 at 12:43 pm
The only “facgts” is that Fauci is a preeminent doctor for infectious diseases. Desantis is a politician that will mislead the citizens of Florida with bad medical advice to appease and solicits votes and not to save lives. Sorry, I have to go, “doctor” Ron is back on the news again.
Ocean Joe
June 4, 2021 at 10:24 am
Fauci was drawn into the political sphere because we had Trump who, instead of listening to experts in epidemiology figured he could bs his way through. It doesn’t even matter where it came from or whether it was a deliberate release, Trump was told it was coming months before it hit us, how serious it was, but refused to pay attention to what experts were telling him and America paid a horrible price for being unprepared. The country should have pulled together but instead you had a leader dumping the problem on the states and then undermining the state efforts by encouraging people to disobey them.
Desantis wants to be Trump part two but the problem is he is way smarter than Donald and has to dumb down his act with this kind of nonsense in order to appeal to ‘the base.’
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