Ron DeSantis rejects characterization of ‘doom and gloom’ around his campaign

Ron DeSantis rejected an interviewer’s characterization of a “doom and gloom” narrative around his presidential campaign, blaming instead the media for the distortion.

During a Sunday interview on the Fox News Channel’s “Mediabuzz,” the Governor addressed Howard Kurtz’s contention by saying that narrative was “not at all” true.

“But I think clearly you see an effort to create these narratives. I think the good thing about it is Republican primary voters are very smart. They know where these corporate outlets stand on the political spectrum. And so to the extent that they become convinced that the media does not want me to be the nominee, above all else, that will in the long run absolutely help me.”

Those narratives include recent reporting of staff cuts and fundraising, he added.

“We raised more money than Joe Biden did in the second quarter, who’s the sitting President,” DeSantis said. “And we raised more money than Donald Trump did into his campaign, who of course was the former President and yet they try to spin that negatively. So I think they have a predetermined narrative.”

The media narrative, he added, was due to a collective worry that he would “dismantle the administrative state” and defeat Biden, thus making him the “most significant threat to their agenda” from “an electoral standard and a substantive standard.”

DeSantis also rejected Kurtz’s characterization that he picks and chooses friendly “conservative media” outlets in favor of “mainstream” outlets.

“I’ve done more press conferences as governor than any governor in history. We have CNN come, NBC comes on the campaign trail. We have all these people out there and we take questions and we are going to be doing more. I don’t know necessarily about some of the, some of the shows, but we want to be engaged at the end of the day,” DeSantis said. “I think that some of our best moments as a governor and as a candidate are when we’re in hostile environments.”

“So we’re going to do that. We’re going to do more of it, but it is a misnomer to say we haven’t had these people covering us. They are free to ask questions,” DeSantis added. “I call on CNN specifically when we’re at town halls and whatnot and we’ll continue to do that.”

DeSantis also rejected the idea that he was a stiff retail campaigner as yet another one of the “superficialities and trivialities” a “subjective” media spotlights.

“I mean, for example, they used to say, ‘Oh, the Governor doesn’t do retail campaigning, he’s not going to be able to go to Iowa.’ And then, you know, yesterday I’m out there doing events,” DeSantis said. “You know, we have 30 or 40 people at some of these things, shaking hands, answering questions, doing all that.”

“So these are predetermined narratives that they have,” he added.

In addition to addressing media subjectivity, the Governor addressed rivals, including Chris Christie and his assertion that he alone is directly attacking Trump.

“I don’t do insults. So that is true,” DeSantis said. “I think just getting in this insult game turns voters off is not something I want to do substantively.”

DeSantis also believes that Trump campaign attacks on him haven’t hurt in the way some might assert.

“I think even some of these polls, if you’re going to take them for what they’re worth, they say I have the highest favorability amongst Republican voters. And so I think they made a big mistake by spending all that money against me. I don’t think it had its intended effect and, you know, we have a PAC, I can’t control it, but I imagine they’re going to start lighting up the airwaves pretty soon with a lot of good stuff about me and that’s going to give us a great lift.”