How Gavin Newsom beat Ron DeSantis at his own game

| 8:30 pm EST December 1, 2023
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I’ve never been particularly fond of public debates – regardless of how good our candidates look on TV, a feeling that’s only gotten worse since Secretary Hillary Clinton immolated Donald Trump during the 2016 debates and it didn’t make a difference in the outcome of the election or even much of Clinton’s press coverage.

The problem is that the average voter treats these like sporting events more than anything else – they tune in to cheer for their favorite player but rarely if ever decide who they’ll vote for based on a strong debate performance. For this reason, I was largely opposed to the Fox News debate between Governors Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis.

This one worked a bit differently, however. DeSantis was the one who needed it – and his supporters (what’s left of them) were hoping he could dominate the night and do a send up of Newsom, governor of California, the state all right-wing media teaches their listeners to hate.

Instead, he just drove DeSantis through the wringer, while giving anyone who would watch a list of easy to frame arguments to counteract Republican talking points – particularly when it came to border security where he forced the audience to realize that the GOP has no actual policy when it comes to securing the border, while reminding DeSantis that his own antics have brought him down 41 points in his home state.

Hannity who moderated, wasn’t quite prepared for this – or the final insult Newsom brought down on his opponent where he said the only thing he and DeSantis had in common was that neither would be the 2024 nominee. The fact is that Democrats have a number of solid arguments to use between now and next year and Gavin Newsom gave us a number of them, delivered effectively.