DeSantis Administration Responds to Appearance Request from 'The View' by Using Hosts' Own Words Against Them
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
“The View” just got The Brush-off — and rarely has it been more richly deserved.
The ABC talk show geared toward women has long established itself as one of the most vitriolic outposts of inane liberalism on television today, boasting a stable of snapping harpies who rarely miss a chance to attack any prominent politician on the American right.
But when it comes to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, they’ve met their match.
In a Twitter post on Aug. 2, DeSantis deputy spokesman Bryan Griffin revealed that the show, a staple of leftist spite for ABC viewers, had reached out to actually invite DeSantis to appear after the new season opens in September.
Griffin made the governor’s office reply known — and it was phrased in classic fashion:
Here’s our response to @TheView: pic.twitter.com/dyLNl9qexH
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) August 2, 2022
“Which of the below statements from the hosts of the View do you recommend our team consider when deciding if the interview will be a genuine pursuit of the truth? Or worth the time?” he wrote, proceeding to list various insults aired about DeSantis and his policies from “The View” co-hosts. Here are a couple:
- “You’re just short of calling [DeSantis] a negligent, homicidal sociopath, because that’s what he is.” (Joy Behar)
- “Death-Santis … I think he’s a fascist and a bigot.” (Sunny Hostin)
Then, with epic understatement, Griffin wrote: “We will pass on this offer.”
That’s an answer that should have DeSantis fans cheering. No one who’s watched either “The View” or Ron DeSantis even casually could think that a conversation would come anywhere close to being congenial. In late July the show’s co-hosts embarrassed themselves repeatedly with their statements about a youth summit hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA in Tampa, Florida, an event DeSantis spoke at.
And while the thought of watching DeSantis serve up his typically commonsense answers to the typically vicious Whoopi Goldberg and Co., it’s a rock solid bet that in an outnumbered setting, in front of the kind of harp-seal audience “The View” normally trots out, an appearance would come across more as an extended “Two Minutes Hate” a la “1984” than any kind of reasonable discussion about the political issues of the moment.
For a normal television show, the quotes Griffin included in his tweet would be outrageous. On “The View,” they’re The Norm.
DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw — no stranger herself to taking on liberal media figures — summed up the situation in a Twitter post responding to Griffin:
Perfect. There is nothing that infuriates liberals more than seeing their own insane words repeated back to them in black and white.
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) August 2, 2022
“There is nothing that infuriates liberals more than seeing their own insane words repeated back to them in black and white,” she wrote.
And plenty of other Twitter users felt the same:
Nailed. It.
— CHoertz (@hoertz_j) August 2, 2022
Excellent response. If anything you were far too nice. The women of The View make their living by being as far Left and nasty as possible. There simply is no reason to indulge them.
— carolyn tackett? (@CarolsCloset) August 2, 2022
This is excellent. They have no interest in engaging in a substantive conversation about how Gov. DeSantis has helped Floridians. Rather, they simply want to use it as an opportunity to go after him. Why bother? He has a million other ways to better utilize his time!
— @ThoughtfulGOP (@thoughtfulgop) August 2, 2022
To be fair, there’s an outside chance that an appearance on “The View” would not be a complete waste of time for DeSantis.
Back in November 2016, Kellyanne Conway, who was then the campaign manager for Republican nominee Donald Trump, went on “The View” with a masterful performance that could well have done Trump’s campaign far more good than that cackling coven of co-hosts ever considered possible.
But the odds of DeSantis getting a fair hearing, after years of being pilloried, are too low. And considering DeSantis is running for re-election, the fall is likely to be a pretty busy time — likely too busy for him to take time out for what would amount to a ratings boost for a television show that’s done him no favors.
Besides, the reality is, DeSantis is a man who’s established himself on the national stage as one of the nation’s most successful governors, who steered his state through the COVID pandemic without the economically ruinous shutdown strategies Democrats employed with disastrous results.
He doesn’t need to prove himself to the likes of Joy Behar and Sunny Hostin.
A brush-off has rarely been put to better use.
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