Daily Beast slams Casey DeSantis as a ‘Walmart Melania’
Casey DeSantis is under attack again in the media; this time as a cheap knockoff version of former first lady Melania Trump.
The Florida first lady sparked comparisons to Melania Trump when she wore a black leather jacket with the text “where wake goes to die” on the back during a campaign appearance in Iowa on Saturday. Ron DeSantis has made attacking the “woke” culture an important cornerstone of his presidential campaign.
The liberal news website Daily Beast went after DeSantis for her fashion choice.
“Casey DeSantis is the Walmart Melania,” the headline read Daily beast on Monday, in an op-ed written by the site’s editor-in-chief, Katie Baker.
Casey DeSantis was blasted for wearing a black leather jacket in Iowa that says “where wake goes to die” – above she wears the jacket while standing next to her husband Ron DeSantis
Baker described it as “a nasty black leather jacket – American flag on the front, an alligator and the silhouette of her on the back, with the mocking words ‘Where Woke Goes to Die’ – that reminded me of nothing more than the shelves of a Red State big-bin store where it would retail for $24.99.”
In addition, she charged that people died under the DeSantis administration, referring to the COVID pandemic: “DeSantis’ Florida is where the awake go to die — and a lot of other people die, too.”
The Sunshine State had a high death rate during the pandemic. DeSantis ignored restrictions and praised Florida as a place of freedom.
Meanwhile, Baker taunted Ron and Casey DeSantis as “knockoffs” and “poseurs.” False Birkins. Mar-a-Lago imitators. … They want it way too much and you can tell.’
DeSantis supporters flooded social media with messages of support for the governor’s wife, who was a prominent presence by his side during his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination.
‘Walmart Melania’ was trending on Twitter in the US on Monday afternoon alongside ‘Casey DeSantis’.
Conservative pundit Erik Erickson criticized the Daily Beast op-ed, writing on Twitter: “The superficiality of this piece is remarkable and a reminder that for all the gut-wrenching about sexism in the press, female journalists really do tend to be so catty.”
The Daily Beast piece called Casey a ‘Walmart Melania’
Conservative pundit Erick Erickson defended Casey DeSantis
The debate was trending on Twitter on Monday afternoon
Melania and Donald Trump with Ron and Casey DeSantis in a photo from the Trump administration
Casey DeSantis wore the jacket on a hot day in Iowa where her husband was campaigning at a charity motorcycle rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
It prompted comparisons to former first lady Melania Trump, who wore her own statement jacket on a 2018 trip to Texas to visit migrant children separated from their families crossing the border.
“I really don’t care, do I?” read the green jacket. It sparked outrage over the message she sent during her visit. Donald Trump said the words were directed at the media.
Casey posted a photo on her Instagram account of her wearing the jacket, and DeSantis fans wrote messages of support asking where they could buy such a jacket.
The DeSantis campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the criticism.
It’s not the first time Florida’s first lady has come under fire in the media.
Last month, conservatives blasted an article Politics titled ‘The Casey DeSantis Problem: “His greatest asset and greatest liability.”
The piece portrayed Casey as a Lady Macbeth-type character who desires power and drew the ire of many on the right, who argued that the mainstream media would never treat a Democratic politician’s wife so harshly.
Donald and Melania Trump at a December 2020 campaign rally
Casey’s coat drew comparisons to the “I really don’t care, do I?” jacket Melania Trump wore in June 2018 while traveling to Texas to visit migrant children
Ron DeSantis has vigorously defended his wife.
In a radio interview last month, he said if Casey wasn’t a conservative, she’d be a fashion star.
“If she were a Democrat, she’d be in every fashion magazine. … They would make her the biggest deal. But being conservative, we know that’s not what’s happening. In reality it will be the opposite, where they really try to attack,” he said on the Mark Levin Show.
He called her his “best friend.”
“She’s a wonderful wife, a wonderful mother. But I’ll tell you when I’m on the campaign trail, there’s no one I’d rather have by my side than Casey DeSantis. And the corrupt media knows that. They know she’s good. So they’re going to try and make up stories about her.’