During an interview on "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show," Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) delightfully dished out the details of how Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife pulled the plug on their debate after both sides had agreed to continue the debate beyond its allotted time.
“I guess we had already gone over the allotted ninety minutes, but it was fun and that was pretty shortly after I get the San Francisco poop map and showed that at everybody, and so that obviously was not a good moment for him, and so then we go to commercial break and then there was a woman that came out and she said, ‘hard stop, hard stop, it’s over, it’s over,’” DeSantis explained. “I didn’t necessarily know who it was at the time, but then come to find out that it was his wife, that they didn’t want to continue with the debate. So, I was one hundred percent willing to continue with the debate, they didn’t want to do it."
DeSantis also suggested that the debate may have taken the shine off of Newsom’s rising star in the Democratic Party.
“They’re likely not going to run Biden if it doesn’t look good for Biden, Newsom was kind of the guy waiting in the wings,” DeSantis continued. “I’m not sure after the debate that that’s someone that there they may want to go with, but they’re gonna go with somebody that’s gonna be younger and we just gotta be prepared for that, as Republicans. I’ve always said that the problem with the Democrats is whoever runs… Newsom had to hug Biden.”
Related: WATCH: The Moment Ron DeSantis Won the Debate With Gavin Newsom
DeSantis believes that Newsom’s full-fledged endorsement of Biden’s presidency effectively put Newsom in a bind, should Biden eventually drop out of the race. “Both Sean and I made him hug Biden, he said Biden gets an A-plus, great economy all that. We all know that’s not true, but if he would be the candidate, he would own all of Biden’s policy, then he would have to own San Francisco and Los Angeles and California and the exodus. So in that respect, that’s a lot of baggage to be able to take into an election season.”
Just now on @clayandbuck @GovRonDeSantis said @GavinNewsom’s wife walked into a closed TV set & refused to allow California vs Florida debate to continue. She threw in the towel because it was going so bad for Newsom. Wow: pic.twitter.com/MFwG9CP9yi
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) December 11, 2023
Clearly, the debate didn’t go as Newsom had expected, and that’s why they pulled the plug. It was clear early on that it was going to be a rough night for him. Within the first 20 minutes, DeSantis told a story about meeting a man who had fled to Florida.
"So I was talking to a fella who had made the move from California to Florida. And he was telling me that Florida is much better governed, safer, has a better budget, lower taxes, all this stuff, and he's really happy with the quality of life. And then he paused and said, ‘You know, by the way, I'm Gavin Newsom's father-in-law.' So we do count Gavin's in-laws as some of the people that have fled California and come to the state of Florida."
That was gold.
After the debate, Team Newsom even complained that the debate had been rigged. Newsom's staff objected to Hannity's use of graphics during the debate featuring statistics comparing Florida and California on issues like crime, migration, and COVID-19—all of which were unflattering to California. But the Fox News spokesperson responded by pointing out that Sean Hannity had made his intention to use "full screens" very clear, which the network mentioned many times before the debate, and the only condition Newsom's team requested was that no video be used—a request that was honored.
“The debate was rigged,” Newsom adviser Sean Clegg whined.
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