(Chuck Muth) – When I finally switched off the Red State vs. Blue State debate between Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom on FOX News last night, I thought DeSantis had won a unanimous decision on points.
What I didn’t know until this morning was that it was actually a TKO.
At the end of regulation time, debate moderator Sean Hannity asked both candidates if they wanted to continue into overtime. Both agreed and FOX cut to a commercial.
But when the show returned, Hannity announced it was over. Turns out Newsom’s wife threw in the towel and refused to let the battered and bloody Cali gov return to the ring.
How embarrassing. But a smart move. Her hubby was getting beaten to a pulp in there. And all the spin in the world can’t change that fact.
“Gotta give her credit,” tweeted DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw. “The First Partner of California protects her husband far more than Jill Biden protects Joe.”
In a post-fight commentary, Jeffrey Blehar of National Review reported…
“Ron DeSantis came as prepared as I’ve ever seen anyone for a political debate in recent years and delivered a rather surprising thrashing to Newsom. He was as relentless as a jackhammer when it came to comparing facts between both states and deployed his factoids with real skill and timing.”
That’s putting it mildly.
Newsom clearly thought he could walk in there, smiling with his pearly whites like the Cheshire cat, and lie through his teeth. But every time he did, DeSantis nailed him.
Indeed, it was like watching Mike Tyson vs. Peewee Herman. Every time the “slick, slippery politician whose state is failing” flailed away with a missed left hook, DeSantis countered with a right cross to the jaw.
Let’s go to the tape…
Shortly after the opening bell, Newsom tried to peddle the notion that more Floridians had moved to California than the other way around. Not true, and RDS dealt Mr. Hair Gel a stiff jab…
“He’s the first governor to ever lose population. They actually, at one point, ran out of U-Hauls in the state of California because so many people were leaving.”
Followed by this upper-cut, right on the nose…
“So I was talking to a fella who had made the move from California to Florida. He was telling me that Florida’s much better governed, safer, better budget, lower taxes, all this stuff. And he’s really happy with the quality of life. And then he paused and said, ‘By the way, I’m Gavin Newsom’s father-in-law.’ So we do count Gavin’s in-laws as some of the people who fled California and come to the state of Florida.”
BAM! Get out the smelling salts!
He later nailed Slick for being soft on crime…
“When I was in Southern California for the Reagan debate, I had a lot of women tell me they have to take off all their jewelry just to be able to go shopping because, otherwise, they’re going to get mugged. That is the reality that people are facing in California. Gavin can try to put lipstick on that pig, but the fact of the matter is he has failed the people of California.”
Then he nailed him on closing schools during COVID…
“You were not following science. You were a lock-down governor. You did a lot of damage to your people. You had more kids locked out of school for a longer period of time in California than anywhere else in the country. It was the working-class kids. It was the middle-income kids. His kids were in private school. They were in class. He is owned by the teachers’ union.”
After Gavin lied about RDS banning books, the Florida governor countered by pulling out a copy of “Gender Queer,” which can be found in California schools…
“This is pornography. It’s cartoons. It’s aimed at children and it’s wrong. So, this should not be in schools. … The role of the school is to educate kids, not indoctrinate kids. It’s not to impose an agenda, it’s to do the basics.”
I mean, it was just a non-stop pummeling.
By comparison though, those were just glancing blows. Get a load of this body punch over Gavin declaring California to be the “freedom state” …
“You know, California does have freedoms that other states don’t. You have the freedom to defecate in public in California. You have the freedom to pitch a tent on Sunset Boulevard. You have the freedom to create a homeless encampment under a freeway and even light it on fire. You have the freedom to have an open-air drug market and use drugs. You have the freedom, if you’re an illegal alien, to get all these taxpayer benefits.”
BAZINGA!
But the killer blow was the “poop map.”
DeSantis pulled it out during his closing statement, showed it to the camera, and said…
“This is a map of San Francisco. This is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco. Almost the whole thing is covered except when a communist dictator comes to town. They cleaned everything up. So they’re willing to do it for a communist dictator, but they’re not willing to do it for their own people.”
Down goes Gavin! Down goes Gavin!
As Tim Cool tweeted after the final bell…
“I knew DeSantis was going to do well but…sheesh! I had no idea he had this level of beast mode. Zero chance Trump will debate him now. Zero.”
Indeed. Trump is way too smart to risk getting in the ring with RDS even though he loves and craves the limelight. Which is a shame. The ratings would be through the stratosphere.
But as Clint Eastwood famously put it, a man’s got to know his limitations. And now we all know there’s no way Trump could roll over RDS the way he’s steamrolled others who have come before him.
A mano y mano Trump vs. DeSantis debate would be highly entertaining – and educational.
But there’s no way Trump would risk a public one-on-one now that he knows RDS has this “beast mode” inside him. Better to stick with his Mar-a-Lago “basement strategy.”
Now the big question…
Did the Gavin Gutting last night change the GOP primary dynamic in the all-important early state of Iowa? Because if DeSantis pulls off an upset there, all bets are off for the rest of the primary.
Stay tuned, Batfans.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“He (Joe Biden) has no business running for president. And, you know, Gavin Newsom agrees with that. He won’t say that. That’s why he’s running his shadow campaign. (Biden) should not be running. He is not up to the job. And it is dangerous for this country.” – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during last night’s debate
“Last night’s debate between conservative Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida and Far Left Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom of California finally demonstrated why DeSantis tops the ‘not Trump’ list of Republican candidates. Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswami and all the others can talk, but last night DeSantis threw down the facts on why conservative Republican governance in Florida works better for the average American family.” – George Rasley, ConservativeHQ
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com. You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com. His views are his own.