Former President Donald Trump raged against Fox News Tuesday for covering Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ speech in New York City rather than his event in Palm Beach County.
The former president spoke to a fan club at the Palm Beach Airport Hilton Monday evening, his first public speaking event since announcing his third presidential bid in November. He lamented Fox News in a Truth Social post for dedicating time to DeSantis’ speech “on protecting Law and Order” at the Privé in Staten Island.
“So interesting to watch Fox News cover the small and unenthusiastic 139 person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of people, many unable to get in, at the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida. I call Fox News the RINO Network, and their DOWN BIG Ratings accurately reflect the name. If FAKE NEWS CNN was smart, which they’re not, they’d go Conservative & ‘All Trump, All the Time,’ like in 2016, and become a Ratings Juggernaut.”
DeSantis appeared on “Fox & Friends” while at the event for a several minute interview Monday morning where he criticized President Joe Biden for making a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine and pushed back against criticism made by Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. (RELATED: Conservatives Hit Back At NYC Mayor Over DeSantis Attack)
Trump attacked DeSantis during his Club 47 speech by labeling him as “Ron DeSanctimonious” which in turn led to a huge round of applause from the audience.
“Ron did good in Florida, but I did great,” the former president said in reference to the governor’s landslide victory in the 2022 gubernatorial election.
Trump also attacked the New York Post in a Monday Truth Social post for publishing a profile about DeSantis’ blue-collar upbringing and experience at Yale University. He called the piece a “fake news puff piece” and accused the outlet of failing in readership.
“In writer Salena Zito’s Fake News ‘puff piece’ about DeSantis, which supposedly appeared in the dying New York Post, which is way down in readership just like FoxNews is way down in Ratings, why doesn’t she mention that he wants to cut Social Security & Medicare, loves losers like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, and Karl Rove, and it getting CLOBBERED in the polls by me,” Trump said. “DeSantis is a RINO who is trying to hide his past. I don’t read the New York Post anymore. It has become Fake News, just like Fox & WSJ!”
The former president has repeatedly taken shots at DeSantis in light of polling that find the governor to be the potential frontrunner if he decides to challenge Trump for the 2024 nomination. A recent poll released Feb. 9 found DeSantis leading Trump in a hypothetical primary election by nine percentage points.
DeSantis initially responded at a Jan. 31 press conference by touting his major victory in the November election against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist. He later responded to Trump’s continued attacks in early February by saying he focuses on “delivering results” for the people of Florida, rather than smearing other Republicans.