Fox News hosts and guests are pushing back against Donald Trump’s Ron DeSantis attack ad, which plays off a perplexing account—first reported by The Daily Beast—of the Florida governor eating pudding with his fingers in 2019.
“Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong,” the ad states, while showing a man reenacting the tale. “And we’re not just talking about pudding. DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements. Like cutting Medicare, slashing social security, even raising our retirement age.”
Fox News host Neil Cavuto called the ad “childish” on Your World Friday.
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“It is insulting not only, you know, to push ads and promotions like this, but to think the American people would buy it or should be exposed to it—I know I’m naive,” Cavuto said. “I just find it idiotic.”
Daron Shaw, member of the Fox News decision desk, agreed.
“The former president’s a little like that junior high-school bully who managed to find the one thing about everybody’s appearance that, you know, that made them uncomfortable, that made them insecure, and would hone in on that to sort of elevate himself and make them feel bad,” Shaw said.
Meanwhile, Karl Rove—former White House deputy chief of staff under President George Bush—called the ad “stupid.” Rove also noted the ad has implications for the 2024 Republican primaries.
“Donald Trump is worried about Ron DeSantis,” Rove added. “Otherwise, why would he be out there now before DeSantis is even a candidate?”
