DeSantis “made the best case I’ve heard for the GOP in a while,” former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday noon on Fox. “It was positive, it was sunny, it was forward-looking. This must be the future message of the party.
Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz, who wrote a “Dear Republican Trump haters” column extolling the virtues of the defeated president last year, said bluntly on air Wednesday that DeSantis is “probably one of the first – if not the first – to become the next President of the United States of America.
As if to drive home the point, the former Republican congressman slammed Trump for putting down his rival, whom he recently dubbed “Ron DeSanctimonious.” “Before the votes even close, to start shooting Ron DeSantis?” Chaffetz asked. “Donald Trump is not going to like it, but I have to tell you, the people I talk to, they say, ‘We like Donald Trump. … But, you know what, we don’t like all the drama. We like Ron DeSantis That’s what I hear.
Versions of this line echoed through Fox throughout the day. “Trump is the past,” Fox Business Network host Stuart Varney said. ” Donald Trump [might] cost us the Senate twice in a row,” complained Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen, who also writes a column for The Washington Post.
The glow has spread beyond the top-rated cable news station, to other parts of Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. The New York Post declared DeSantis “DeFUTURE” in a front-page headline.
“That’s a winning White House profile if I’ve ever seen one, if he can repeat it nationally,” Fox anchor John Robert told viewers Wednesday afternoon, noting the strong performance by DeSantis with voters and Hispanic women.
There were dissenting voices, of course. Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law and another expert on Fox’s payroll, reflected early Wednesday morning: “If there’s a time when people are ready for Donald Trump to come back, it could be now.”
But she was an outlier. A Fox News article summed up the mood Wednesday morning with this headline: “Conservatives point finger at Trump after disappointing GOP election results: ‘He’s never been weaker.'”
This isn’t the first time DeSantis has received praise on Fox. He was a regular guest on the channel during his first gubernatorial campaign in 2018, and even some of the channel’s most loyal Trump fans flirted with the idea of President DeSantis. “Ron DeSantis is showing tremendous strength in New Hampshire, Michigan and Florida,” “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade told viewers in July, citing a poll. “He’s ahead or tied with the former president.”
But this week’s outburst of flattery for DeSantis is remarkable given Trump’s longstanding relationship with Fox, which employs many hosts who heavily promoted his first presidential run and have stuck by his side since he lost the White House. On occasions when Fox personalities or presenters have criticized the former president, Trump has often fired back. He said “Fox & Friends” had “gone to the dark side” after the July segment, for example.
The timing could also be particularly problematic for Trump, who has strongly hinted that he intends to announce his 2024 campaign next week.
If he does, candidate Trump could end up with a colder reception on Fox than he is used to. Some insiders have seen signs that the former president has lost the trust of Rupert Murdoch, the media titan who controls Fox and much of the rest of the conservative media sphere.
The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper also controlled by the Murdoch family, called DeSantis’ victory a “tsunami” on Wednesday morning. Trump notably drew a severe rebuke from the Journal’s editorial board this year for his conduct during the January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol.
The Post’s coverage dedicating DeSantis to the party’s future could hit Trump particularly hard. “Let me just say: I know someone in Mar-a-Lago, Florida who might cut their New York Post subscription,” Fox’s Ari Fleischer joked Wednesday.
