The Latest Round of Attacks on Ron DeSantis Have Gone from 'Desperate to Weird'

Katie Pavlich | May 09, 2021 8:55 AM

The attacks on Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis have been unrelenting in recent months as his decisions on how to handle the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic have been vindicated by science and economic data in the state.

As opponents of DeSantis, for his 2022 gubernatorial run and an inevitable 2024 presidential campaign, fail to come up with real arguments that stick, they're digging to the bottom of the barrel in hopes of finding something that works to slow his political momentum.

The most recent attempt comes from Vanity Fair, which wrote a hit piece about "luring DeSantis to meetings with cupcakes."

According to the ex-aides, DeSantis can be so distant from his staff that they apparently took to tricking him into attending meetings by telling him it’s someone’s birthday and putting out cupcakes. “Loyalty and trust, that is not a currency he deals in,” one former staffer told the outlet. “It’s him and Casey. But everyone else is like a disposable piece of garbage.”

Last week POLITICO ran a piece accusing DeSantis of, gasp, listening to his wife.

We talked to a dozen or so onetime aides and consultants to the Florida governor, and they all said the same thing: DeSantis treats staff like expendable widgets. He largely relies on a brain trust of two: himself and his wife, CASEY DESANTIS, a former local TV journalist. Beyond that there are few, if any, “DeSantis people,” as far as political pros are concerned.