Mar
26
Benson Fact-Checks Trump’s Anti-DeSantis “Truth” Storm
“I wish my governor was 1/100th as ‘average’ as Ron!” — Twitter commenter
I’ve never been blind to Trump’s shortcomings, but his recent attacks on Gov. Ron DeSantis are just sad and disappointing. Apparently, DeSantis was interviewed the other day by Piers Morgan, and Trump couldn’t help putting out a public statement in response, in which he greatly downplayed DeSantis’s popular and productive governorship. Trump called him “an average governor” who only really excels in Public Relations. “And we don’t want Ron as our President!” Truly pathetic, Donald.
Townhall‘s Guy Benson shared his responses to several of Trump’s claims in an article. I have quoted from and/or summarized his ten points below:
1) “Trump touts receiving more votes than DeSantis in Florida…. [True, but…] Trump wants to make an apples (presidential turnout) to oranges (midterm turnout) comparison to make it seem like his win was more impressive. Three points versus nearly 20 points, an unheard-of number in Florida, doesn’t tell the story Trump wants it to tell — so he’s pointing to raw vote totals instead.”
2) “‘[R]aw votes’ versus ‘victory margin’ is the deeply misleading game Trump wants to play, however,… DeSantis won more votes in Florida last year than Clinton won in the 2016 presidential cycle, flipping blue counties like Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Osceola, all of which Trump decisively lost twice. The governor increased his raw vote total by approximately 1.5 million, better than Trump’s 1.1 million improvement.”
3) Trump used Dem talking points to criticize DeSantis’s votes while in Congress, as well as tying him to Speaker Paul Ryan. Ironically, Trump praised Ryan upon the latter’s retirement from Congress in 2018, calling him “a truly good man” with an unquestionable “legacy of achievement”.
4) “Trump claims that Florida has been doing well for quite awhile, long before he says he ‘put Ron there.’ The voters put DeSantis there, of course, and many more voters moved to Florida under the DeSantis administration, then decided to keep him in office, by an overwhelming margin.” Remember that Trump also recently said that Florida was at least as well off under Dem. Charlie Crist. (As a FL resident, I strongly disagree.)
5) Expanding on point 4, Benson agrees that FL was quite popular before DeSantis became governor. But, not only have people been “flocking” to FL in ever greater numbers since DeSantis took office, “statewide office holders almost never win blowouts in the state, let alone by nearly 20 points. Until 2022, that is.”
6) It is ridiculous for Trump to keep saying DeSantis was a “big lockdown governor,” who ‘sealed’ all the beaches. In fact, Benson links to videos of Trump himself praising DeSantis for keeping FL free and open.
7) “There’s a reason why so many of Trump’s examples of Florida ranking ‘poorly’ on matters like COVID and crime just so happen to involve the state being third ‘worst’ in the country…. Florida has the third most COVID cases/deaths/murders/rapes because Florida has the…third highest population in the country…. Team DeSantis notes that based on NCHS/CDC Wonder data, ‘from 2020-2022 in underlying cause of death, Florida [had] lower per capita mortality rates involving COVID-19 than New York, and when adjusted for age, it was also lower than California.'”
8) “Trump criticizes Florida’s education system as ‘among the worst’ in the nation[, yet] US News and World Report ranks Florida as number 3 overall in education in the US….”
9) Somehow, Trump thinks FL is “dead last” in state rankings for affordability, but it actually ranks 6th best regarding combined state/local taxes (as per WalletHub) and 25th for overall cost of living (as per US News and World Report).
10) Trump mischaracterizes FL as “among the worst” on crime. In the real world, though, FL’s crime rate “hit a 50-year low in 2022, with year-over-year crime also down by eight percent.”
As Benson summarizes, “Trump does not even feign interest in coherence or consistency in going after DeSantis. He unloads with his typical ‘kitchen sink’ approach, totally unconcerned with basic accuracy or his own previous statements and actions.” This willingness to play dirty may appeal to his base, but “many other Americans — especially the swing voters who decide elections — aren’t fond of his brand of politics.”
Of course, Benson’s article has more details, and I recommend you check it out.
