Last month, leading up to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) making it official he was running for president, POLITICO did a nasty hit piece on Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis. And the hit pieces just keep coming and getting more ridiculous. On Sunday, the Daily Beast published "Casey DeSantis Is the Walmart Melania," by their executive editor no less, Katie Baker.
Baker, who began her article by calling a leather jacket that DeSantis wore "ghastly," really does harp on how it looks like it's something from Walmart, and she definitely means it as an insult:
The First Lady of Florida showed up on the campaign trail in Iowa this weekend wearing a ghastly black leather jacket—American flag on front, an alligator and the silhouette of her state on the back, with the sneering words, “Where Woke Goes to Die”—that brought to mind nothing so much as the racks of a Red State big-bin store where it would be retailing for $24.99.
It only gets worse from there. Baker doesn't just harp on belittling the DeSantis family and their supporters, but she engages in what's, at best, misplaced context as well. Just a few paragraphs later she writes, with added emphasis:
By contrast, Casey DeSantis’ coat is just like her husband Ron DeSantis’ campaign: Crude. Grasping. Saying the ugly part out loud. Whereas Trump would wink-wink at the fascists—who can forget his dog whistle to the “very fine people on both sides” at Charlottesville—DeSantis wants to peel off Trump’s base by being even more explicit about who he intends to target. You can see it right there on his wife’s jacket: DeSantis’ Florida is where the woke go to die—and a lot of other people die as well.
Florida under DeSantis has had one of the highest COVID death rates in the nation, even as he’s exulted in his anti-mask policies. And as the governor whips up anti-LGBT sentiment and bans books on race, Casey’s jacket and its message of death also bring to mind the horrific Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, not to mention the state’s shameful history of Jim Crow-era lynch mobs and the Rosewood massacre. But of course, DeSantis and his cronies want to prevent kids from learning about any of that by censoring their library books and AP curricula.
The jacket, then, is a warning: Watch out, America.
It’s hard to say one is reading too much into a coat that’s so explicit—and anyways, as The New York Times noted in a fawning profile, Casey DeSantis is definitely trying to make a political statement with what she wears, with her aspirations of “Camelot-meets-Mar-a-Lago.” But while Casey may be trying to position herself after Jackie Kennedy (good luck) and even Melania, if this weekend is any indication, she’s falling far short. It doesn't matter how many times she wears that ice-blue Badgley Mischka cape-dress. The DeSantis’ will never be Camelot. Jackie and JFK symbolized the opposite of vulgar pettiness—they embodied youth, energy, a commitment to moral progress in the struggle for Civil Rights, a country fresh with idealism. Not an America that was obsessed with banning books about male seahorses and rainbows, or nuking the latest Disney movie.
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When it comes to the "very fine people on both sides" comment, this is the lie that just won't die. When he made those remarks at Charlottesville in August 2017, then-President Donald Trump made clear he was "not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally."
With regards to the myth of "book bans" that Baker and others on the left obsessively go after, the governor has addressed how that is a "hoax." State law has trained state officials review books made available to students, and school districts must annually report to the state books that parents have challenged as inappropriate. This includes sexually explicit books that Baker doesn't bother to mention.
Florida students are also required to learn African American history. What the governor's office takes issue with was an AP course from the College Board with curriculum that conflicted with state law.
It's also unhelpful and inaccurate to bring up the tragic Pulse shooting in the context of ranting and raving about Gov. DeSantis, given that the shooting took place in 2016, long before DeSantis became governor.
In a particularly tone-deaf moment, Baker sneers down upon DeSantis' supporters, other than using Walmart as an insult.
Whether the GOP’s base will respond to DeSantis and his wife trying to imitate Donald and Melania—whether they’ll be happy buying the knock-offs—is an open question. I’m sure many MAGA-types love a jacket that so blatantly sticks it to the libs. Still, we’re told that the average GOP voter doesn’t like feeling that elites are talking down to them (like someone nerding out about the Federalist Papers?), even though one suspects that they actually want to be the rich guy eating off the golden spoon. Will Red State primary voters see more of themselves in strivers like Ron and Casey—or in their old, brash, filthy-rich ‘God Emperor’ and his supermodel spouse?
It's not merely "Red State primary voters" who don't like being talked down to by Baker and her ilk, but everyday Americans as well. If she's trying to get people to hate the press even more, she's surely doing a fantastic job. If she wants to be doing the work of Republican presidential primary candidates, an "early in-kind contribution" even, more power to her.
Not only that, but Baker devotes an entirely long paragraph to fawning over liberal politicians, in case you needed any more reminders of whose side the press is on:
Of course, neither Melania Trump nor Casey DeSantis could ever embody the class and effortless elegance of Michelle Obama or Dr. Jill Biden. Those First Ladies have used fashion not as a punitive tool to stick it to political enemies—nor as a bored, nihilistic shrug—but as something generous and welcoming. Think the pure sweetness of Michelle’s Jason Wu floral gown for the Obamas’ first inaugural ball, or Jill’s pastel blue coat that echoed the colors of Ukraine’s flag when Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House. In those moments, we remembered that fashion is not only a way to look and feel great, but a way to be inspired to help other people feel great about themselves, too. We remembered that fashion is a joyous extension of who you are and a symbol of what you want the world to know about you and about what you stand for. Think Bernie Sanders in his woolen Inauguration mittens. Think poet Amanda Gorman in her radiantly cheerful yellow coat that day, the color of sunshine and hope.
Baker gets back to ranting against the DeSantis couple towards the end of her piece, as she claims in closing that the governor's wife is "incandescent in her black leather jacket, at her husband’s side--both of them seething with hate." If anyone is "seething with hate," it's almost certainly Baker.
The ugly rant of an opinion piece has gotten considerable attention on Twitter, as our friends at Twitchy highlighted. Many took to pointing out how Baker is taking a swipe at a large chunk of everyday Americans as well.
I hope this is where the leftist “culture” crowd goes. They can feel this slipping away from them - DeSantis and his team love this.
— Johnny Ringo (@TombstoneAriz) June 5, 2023
“Casey DeSantis is the Walmart Melania.”
— Doug Powers (@ThePowersThatBe) June 4, 2023
No, these people don’t hate the peasants, why do you ask? https://t.co/l2xVpxmhj0
They’re calling her “Walmart Melania” because they think only hayseeds and the poors shop at Walmart.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) June 5, 2023
The only thing try-too-hard is Katie Baker’s jealous Dollar Store, wannabe Burn Book aesthetic. https://t.co/VTL3ZtcKO5
I know the mainstream media mean this as some sort of insult, but:
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) June 5, 2023
1) Wal-Mart is a great store where millions of Americans shop.
2) Casey is great.
3) She will make a great First Lady.https://t.co/vNVIOqdqJl
I refuse to link to that awful piece calling Casey “Walmart Melania”, but it’s not the own they think it is. Lots of Americans shop at WalMart, including me, and we are the backbone of this country. Rather be Walmart than Target where they are transing kids.
— Just Mindy 🐊 (@just_mindy) June 5, 2023
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