Florida Governor Ron DeSantis blames the media for falling behind former President Donald Trump in the polls for the 2024 GOP nomination.
On Monday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper attempted to dismantle the excuse.
DeSantis “appears almost exclusively on conservative-friendly outlets” like Fox News and polls suggest “it’s actually a plurality of Republican voters” who are dropping him out, a confused Cooper said.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), now a commentator for CNN, said DeSantis was taking a page from Trump’s playbook.
“Never accept blame for anything,” he said, calling the media an “easy target” and saying it was “actually DeSantis’ fault” with his decision “to try to be a younger version of Trump” while Trump is still running.
“Listen, it’s kind of sad,” CNN commentator Van Jones said later in the discussion in a video shared online by Mediaite.
The establishment media was “jumping up and down” with “breathless” coverage before DeSantis launched his campaign with the possibility of him beating Trump for the nomination.
“I thought that was a little weird because I thought DeSantis was probably worse than Trump,” Jones continued. “But. I mean, he got the most buildup, the most support. It was bonkers. It was ‘DeSantismania’ for months and months.
DeSantis’ campaign launch failed, however, and he refuses to change his own “dumb” strategy, Jones said.