Fox & Friends Press Ron DeSantis About Republican Attacks But — Shockingly — Avoid Naming Trump

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared on Fox & Friends Monday morning and was pressed about several recent political attacks directed his way, notably from fellow Republican officials. Curiously, however, one name was missing: Former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis was interviewed live from a Staten Island restaurant filled with local law enforcement as part of a four-city tour of what he deems to be progressive cities that are soft on … crime, immigration, and whatever political point he’s trying to make. It’s the sort of national attention-seeking tactic that a potential presidential candidate would make and one that Fox & Friends seemed eager to highlight.

The majority of the interview was the sort of political pablum one would expect from the conservative firebrand. For example, what are his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s historic visit to an active war zone not controlled by the U.S. military? Just an example of how the Biden administration cares about Ukrainian borders and its own nation’s borders, scoffed the Florida governor.

The most interesting part of the interview came at the end when Lisa Boothe asked about recent intraparty political attacks, naming former Trump cabinet member and Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley and former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. But why ignore Trump by name when a) he is the Republican front-runner and leader of the GOP, and b) Trump has made his deliberation over how to insult “Meatball Ron” vs. “Ron Desanctimonious” a part of the political zeitgeist?

No stranger to softball batting practice, DeSantis predictably called the Republican attacks “positive feedback” since he’s “out there leading” and “setting the agenda, not just for Florida, but for the nation.”

“But I can tell you, if people are not firing at me, I must not be doing my job,” DeSantis said.

But back to the notable omission of Trump from the line of questioning, which seems either an embarrassing mistake or a calculated decision based on Fox News documented fear of offending its viewers, evidenced by leaked internal messages by Dominion in its libel suit against the network.

Is Fox News so afraid of their viewers and a potential loss of ratings that they are ignoring the leader of the Republican party by name? That appears to be the case in this brief segment, but the answer is we don’t rightly know.

Watch above via Fox News.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.