It appears the professional symbiosis between Florida's Governor and a certain conservative cable outlet may be collapsing.
During an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Ron DeSantis ripped Fox News for not asking "critical questions" to Donald Trump during a town hall.
"It was massive, massive gaslighting. He was able to do that, I guess, on Fox with no pushback, which was really, well, I guess that's just par for the course at this point."
During the same interview, DeSantis fumed about his falling poll numbers, likening the "conservative media" to a "Praetorian Guard" that allowed him not to debate and portrays him as "inevitable."
The comments follow up on previous ones from DeSantis and a key staffer casting aspersions on the network that facilitated the Governor's rise from a Congressman to running Florida then running for President.
"Fox has turned into full blown Trump TV, honesty thrown to the wind," lamented James Uthmeier on Tuesday, in a social media post responding to a Fox graphic that inaccurately showed DeSantis only going to 57 Iowa counties, rather than the 99 he visited.
During remarks last week in Waukee, Iowa, DeSantis ripped Fox News for pushing "garbage" polls that show Trump leading the race by massive margins.
"I know Fox News is going to say, oh, he's winning this poll, he's winning this poll. These polls are garbage," DeSantis said.
The Governor has dealt with tougher process questions from the conservative network of late, even from friendly hosts. On an episode last week of "The Ingraham Angle," DeSantis was confronted with the RealClearPolitics polling average in Iowa showing him more than 30 points down. Host Laura Ingraham said Trump was dominating in the state.
During an appearance last week on "America's Newsroom," DeSantis was also greeted with a Fox Business poll from December showing Trump leading him 52% to 18% in Iowa. The same survey suggested that 83% of Trump voters are certain to support him, with just 39% of DeSantis backers saying they're that committed.
DeSantis' career has been dependent to no small degree on Fox News. In December 2017, he went on "Fox & Friends" to tease his run for Governor after Trump endorsed him. As Governor, he signed legislation exclusively on the same morning show. He promoted his book heavily on the network in a series of fawning interviews. He also used Tucker Carlson's show, which was on the channel until the host was fired, to make his then-controversial claim that the war in Ukraine was a simple "territorial dispute."
But with DeSantis, that was then and this is now.
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