![Fox & Friends' Lawrence Jones took a shot, perhaps unintentionally, at Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis when the panel began talking about California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. [Screenshot Fox News]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Screenshot-2023-09-19-at-10.18.18-AM-e1695133152282.png "Fox & Friends' Lawrence Jones took a shot, perhaps unintentionally, at Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis when the panel began talking about California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. [Screenshot Fox News]")
Fox & Friends’ Lawrence Jones took a shot at Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when the panel began discussing Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Co-host Brian Kilmeade began by asking why Newsom didn’t have the “guts” to challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.
“In the past, Ronald Reagan ran. He wasn’t waiting for the party bosses to say, ‘Run, don’t run against Gerald Ford,’ Ted Kennedy ran. He wasn’t waiting for the party bosses to say, ‘Don’t go against Jimmy Carter.’ Barack Obama ran. He didn’t say, ‘It’s Hillary Clinton’s turn,'” Kilmeade said. “Where’s the guts on the left? If it’s your time, you’re in your fifties, you’re in your sixties, you feel like you can do it. Get in there, get your designer shirts on, go in there and just start campaigning.”
“Brian, it’s a good point, but I think in his defense, you don’t want a DeSantis situation,” Jones interjected. “Everyone was saying, ‘Be the guy, let’s go do it.’ All these people, and then you tank in the polls.” (RELATED: Ron DeSantis Hesitantly Decides In Real Time If He’ll Support Trump As Nominee)
“And then God forbid you lose,” co-host Steve Doocy said.
“Then you’re done,” co-host Aisley Earhardt added.
DeSantis was hailed as the future of the Republican Party after he won his gubernatorial re-election race in November by a landslide. But despite his success in Florida, DeSantis has failed to gain traction in his presidential campaign. Republican mega donor and billionaire Ken Griffin said he would not back DeSantis’ White House bid despite donating $5 million to his gubernatorial re-election and previously signaling he would possibly support a DeSantis presidential campaign.
“Would I support him? The bigger question is, is he going to run? That bridge has to be crossed,” Griffin said of DeSantis before he announced his candidacy for president. Multimillionaire Robert Bigelow, who was once the largest individual donor to DeSantis’ political effort, said in August that he would stop funding the governor’s presidential campaign until he changed his political strategy to win over moderates.