By After months of going after each other through the press and on the stump, Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis met on the debate stage earlier in the week, and sparks flew, mainly in the California governor’s direction.
Hosted by Fox News host Sean Hannity, most people watching on television saw why former President Donald Trump refuses to step on the debate stage against the Florida governor.
One watcher summed it up nicely. Writing in Fox News, Liz Peek said, “Against all expectations, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis absolutely destroyed California’s Gavin Newsom in Thursday night’s Red State-Blue State debate moderated by Sean Hannity on Fox News.
Yes, the governor of Florida had a stronger hand – his state has seen a massive inflow of residents attracted to the better quality of life offered by the Sunshine State, while people have been fleeing California. On issue after issue raised by Hannity, DeSantis could roll out statistics that prove the success of the conservative common-sense policies he has implemented in Florida.
But the surprise was in his strong and persuasive presentation. DeSantis is generally perceived to be a wooden speaker and campaigner; maybe his run for president has made him more effective. Newsom, on the other hand, is reputed to be the Democrat’s smooth-talking, politically clever president-in-waiting, the likely successor to Joe Biden should the president drop out of the 2024 race.
Newsom embarrassed himself by disputing indisputable facts presented by debate moderator Hannity; he had no answers. The California governor could not explain why 750,000 people left his state in the past two years, while 454,000 people moved into Florida, why violent crime is almost twice as high in California as it is in Florida, why taxes are so much loftier, or why homelessness is over three times greater than in Florida. (He actually tried to suggest that the homeless issue had begun under Ronald Reagan’s governorship.)”
DeSantis: "I was talking to a fellow who had made the move from CA to FL. He was telling me that FL is much better governed, safer, better budget, lower taxes, all this stuff…and then he paused and said 'Oh, by the way, I'm Gavin Newsom's father-in-law.'" pic.twitter.com/Rbp8amZ5oJ
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) December 1, 2023
Like a boxer who does not know he’s being beaten up, Newsom’s manager threw in the towel. For the California governor, that was his wife.
NBC News reports, “After roughly 90 minutes, Fox News host Sean Hannity, who was the event’s moderator, said that while they had to wrap up, he had more time on his show and plenty more questions.
“Let’s just do an extended hour. I’m happy to do it,” Newsom said.
Just before going to commercial break, Hannity teased out that the debate would continue: “We will take a break. They have agreed to stay. Well, that’s I guess the debate on the fly. We’ll continue on the other side and later have live post-debate coverage.”
But the debate didn’t continue. After the break, Hannity said the candidates had to leave for “other commitments.”
Behind the scenes, the atmosphere was far less jovial. The matchup was between two governors on opposite sides of the spectrum who have long used each other as foils, and while DeSantis is currently running for president, he is trailing behind former President Trump in the Republican primary by large margins. So the debate also offered a preview of a 2028 debate between two potential opponents.”
That was fun — I could have kept going!
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) December 1, 2023
Despite his insistence otherwise, Newsom has been seen as running a shadow campaign for president, using Ron DeSantis as a foil to help him maintain the spotlight without stepping too much on Joe Biden’s toes.
Over the summer, New Conservative Post wrote, “Gavin Newsom, the flashy California governor who often serves as the bizarro version of Ron DeSantis, insists that he is not running for president so long as Joe Biden seeks reelection. But the question on many people’s minds is: What does Gavin Newsom know that we don’t? Because he certainly seems like he’s running for the White House.
Last November, New Conservative Post wrote, Newsom started answering a question that no one was asking, telling anyone who would listen to let the Biden camp know he had no interest in challenging the sitting president.
“I’ve told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady,” he recounted to Politico. “His message to Ron Klain and Jill Biden over the summer — when he visited Washington amid growing speculation, and considerable West Wing irritation, that he was plotting a primary challenge — was to count him as a firm supporter of Biden’s reelection: ‘I’m all in, count me in,’ he said he told them.”
More recently, Joe Biden seemed to name Newsom as his successor.
After last night, one thing is for sure. If Gavin Newsom thinks he can stand on the stage with Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, or Nikki Haley, he probably needs to improve his debate skills.
[Read More: Comer Reveals How Joe Got Paid]
