Fox and Friends came on like gangbusters first thing this morning to defend Rep. Ron DeSantis against his racist comment about his opponent Kevin Gillum after he won the Republican primary Tuesday night.
"The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda," DeSantis said.
That is not a criticism from any politician that I've ever heard of before, and that's why even Fox news had Sandra Smith, come on air and denounce that type of behavior a few hours later.
DeSantis and his team quickly tried to deny any racist connotations, but to any freethinker, that's just not the case. As Gillum said to Shepard Smith, they no longer use dog whistles, but instead go for the "full bullhorn."
Ed Henry was subbing for Peter Doocy on the couch this morning and he warned DeSantis to be much more careful of his words.
Henry said, "...but he kind of stepped in it because he used a word that suggested to some that he was talking about race."
F&F played his video making the "monkey this up" comment, then played him denying the race angle with Hannity.
Brian Kilmeade denied the statement was even racist.
Kilmeade said, "I actually don't think if you hear those remarks you won't think for a second if you know Congressman DeSantis and his background you don't think for a second that he's racist nor do you think it's a dog whistle, I wouldn't think that anyone would come to that conclusion unless people saw that as a political opportunity to label him a certain way."
And as we know from experience, racists often deny they are racists and always deny their words as being racist in and of themselves. They blame others for attempting to label them as such and smearing their good name.
Fox and Friends and Kilmeade constantly approved of DeSanti's brand of conservatism for Florida and disapproved of Andrew Gillum's progressive stances.
Kilmeade continued by saying the proper gubernatorial candidate, "would want to continue with what Gov. Scott is doing. On the surface, DeSantis has the right message."
Why does Brian Kilmeade know Congressman DeSantis so well you ask?
Ever since Donald Trump endorsed him DeSantis has been on Fox News 121 times, that's worth $9.3 million of free advertising.
In effect Fox News became the political branch for Trump administration endorsements. This spelled doom for Putnam, his opponent.
On the strength of his free media campaign, DeSantis continued to rise in the polls through the winter and spring. Putnam, sitting on heaps of Tallahassee establishment money and big support from the sugar lobby, had to spend millions to stay ahead. DeSantis, however, kept moving upward without spending nearly as much, largely due to his frequent appearances on Fox.
Not only is Fox News acting as state-sponsored television to support Trump and his policies but they are now campaigning on his behalf.
