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DeSantis ups attacks on Newsom post debate: ‘So many bold-faced lies’

by Tara Suter - 12/02/23 1:58 PM ET

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) went after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) at a campaign event in Prosperity, S.C., Friday in the wake of a debate between the two.

“I have never been in a situation, being on stage with somebody, who told so many bold-face lies,” DeSantis said of his debate with Newsom. “I mean, it was unbelievable.”

He criticized Newsom for his comments on taxes and inflating President Biden’s agenda, arguing he is “trying to basically sell ice to an eskimo.”

“He said Biden deserves an A+ for being president,” DeSantis said. “He said Biden is at the top of his game, that he hasn’t declined cognitively — are you kidding me?!”

DeSantis’s remarks came one day after the two governors participated in a heated debate, moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity. The two went back and forth on issues like LGBTQ rights, education, abortion and immigration. At one point, Newsom called the flights of migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and California by DeSantis’s administration “disqualifying.”

“Your immigration policy can best be described as a governor from the state of Florida, going into another state, the state of Texas, lying to migrants, [promising] them jobs and housing, sending them to an island, Martha’s Vineyard, and then sending them to a parking lot in Sacramento, California,” Newsom told DeSantis. “I met with those migrants that you lied to, under false pretense. That kind of gamesmanship, using human beings as pawns, I think is disqualifying.”

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DeSantis took his own jabs at the Golden State governor during the debate. After Newsom criticized him on his handling of last year’s Special Olympics in relation to a vaccine requirement, the Sunshine State governor called him a “liberal bully.”

“That’s being a liberal bully,” DeSantis said, later adding “they wanted to marginalize the athletes” as he sought to defend himself.

The debate between the two governors was watched by nearly 5 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research data. The audience was smaller than the first three Republican primary debates, but was Hannity’s highest-rated show of 2023.