By
After weeks of posturing, it appears Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t be debating California Gov. Gavin Newsom, after all.
At least, not without some favorable ground rules.
True to form, DeSantis, a GOP presidential hopeful, is borrowing from Donald Trump’s playbook here.
The governors' ongoing, public feud evolved in recent months, stemming largely from DeSantis' decision to fly migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to California as part of the Republican's cruel, anti-migrant publicity stunt. Newsom, a Democrat, sent a formal debate offer to Fox News host Sean Hannity on July 28, outlining his proposal for a possible debate against DeSantis.
DeSantis' team responded in its own letter to Hannity, dated Friday, saying he’d accept the debate — but only under the following conditions. As NBC News reported:
- DeSantis suggested four dates from Sept. 19 to Nov. 8, while Newsom proposed two dates in November.
- DeSantis wanted a live audience with a 50-50 split, while Newsom said “no live audience.”
- DeSantis doesn’t want opening remarks, while Newsom would like both participants to get four minutes.
- DeSantis proposed that they each submit a 2-minute video that must be approved by Fox News before it is played at the top of the debate.
True to form, DeSantis, a GOP presidential hopeful, is borrowing from Donald Trump’s playbook here: demanding a debate structure that could easily hide some of his biggest flaws. Having a live audience could cover up his awkwardness on camera and grant him built-in applause for virtually everything he says, no matter how cruel or absurd. And replacing opening statements with what is essentially a promo video would relegate his primary duty as a politician — communicating — to some lowly staffer, who would probably fill the video with extremist imagery (if the past is prologue).
“Desantis’ counterproposal is littered with crutches to hide his insecurity and ineptitude — swapping opening statements with a hype video, cutting down the time he needs to be on stage, adding cheat notes and a cheering section,” Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said. “Ron should be able to stand on his own two feet. It’s no wonder Trump is kicking his ass.”
Click has a point. DeSantis has propped up his image as a mighty culture warrior by railing against liberalism, framing it as so-called wokeness and vowing to fight said wokeness on all terrains.
But here he is acting like a keyboard warrior — stoking petty fights online and, it would seem, cowering when challenged to make his claims face-to-face.