FOX News anchor Maria Bartiromo pounced on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Sunday as he continues to fall behind in national polls.
“What’s going on with your campaign?” she asked the Republican presidential nominee on Sunday Morning Features. “There was a lot of optimism when you ran for president earlier this year… What happened?”
She then referred to a recent one Political playbook item titled Failure to Launch, in which a DeSantis super PAC official admitted “we are way behind in the polls.”
The governor of Florida is 32 points behind rival Donald Trump RealClearPolitics Poll Average. The former president also leads in key early voting states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
But DeSantis laughed off the issue, saying he knew it would take “a lot of toil and tears and sweat” to win.
FOX News host Maria Bartiromo raided Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for his stagnant presidential campaign on Sunday
The Republican presidential nominee laughed at polls showing him trailing former President Donald Trump, saying he knew it would take “a lot of toil and tears and sweat” to win
“Maria, these are stories,” Florida’s governor said of the news that he is trailing in the polls.
“The media doesn’t want me to be the nominee,” he claimed. “I think that’s very, very clear. Why? Because they know I will beat Biden. But more importantly, they know that I will actually deliver on all these things.”
He insisted ‘we do whatever it takes to win.’
“I never expected to just snap fingers, and all of a sudden, you know, you’re winning seven months before anything happens,” DeSantis said. “You have to earn it and you have to work. And it requires a lot of toil and tears and curses. And that’s what we’re going to do.’
But Bartiromo doubled down, citing recent polls that showed Florida’s governor failing to catch up with former President Trump, whom she blamed on “corruption and the unfairness of our justice system.”
“What will you do if the FBI teams up with Twitter to censor information, amplify lies, and suppress the truth?” she asked, claiming, “Americans are tired of the corruption they see in plain sight.”
In response, DeSantis vowed to “end the arming of government” and said the United States would once again have “one standard of justice” under his presidency.
At that point, the FOX News host decided to close the interview by asking the governor if he plans to participate in the GOP primary debate on Aug. 23.
“Of course I’m looking forward to doing it,” he said. ‘I really think, Maria, that’s when people really start paying attention to primary education.
“I think a lot of that has been about some of these lawsuits so far,” he explained, apparently shifting focus to Trump’s recent indictments. And I think a lot of the voters [are concerned] about that, and that’s understandable.’
But by the time of the debate next month, DeSantis said he believes the focus will shift to policy matters.
“We’ll be able to talk about the vision, and I’m looking forward to doing it,” he said.
“So I’m glad we’re getting started.”
Florida’s governor has been campaigning on the grounds in recent weeks. He is pictured here with his wife, Casey, walking in the July 4 parade in Merrimack, New Hampshire
Questions are circulating about DeSantis’ ability to secure the GOP nomination
DeSantis’ comments come as speculation mounts about the Florida governor’s ability to secure the GOP nomination.
On Saturday, Steve Cortes — who heads one of the largest super-PACs for DeSantis — admitted to Politico: “Right now we’re way behind in the national polls.
“It’s an uphill battle, but Donald Trump is clearly the runaway leader.”
Several pundits around the country have also suggested that DeSantis’ campaign may be in trouble, citing that some of the key strategists who helped him win his first bid for governor are not helping him in this election.
In addition, Florida GOP strategist Ford O’Connell claimed that the governor is too inexperienced to run for national office.
‘The mistake [the campaign] made — and again, it’s a mistake most people running for a new office make — they assume people know more about Ron than they actually know,” he shared The hill.
Meanwhile, reporters for the Miami announces suggested the problem is that DeSantis cannot distinguish himself from Trump.
Some of his plans are consistent with what Trump has already proposed, and others reflect what he has already done as president.
Some pundits argue DeSantis has failed to distinguish itself from former President Donald Trump (pictured last month)
But Kristin Davison, the COO of Never Back Down — another DeSantis big super PAC — denied that DeSantis is out of the race.
“This is a story similar to 2016, when people said, ‘Donald Trump can’t possibly win.’ They missed what happened on the ground… that’s what happens to DeSantis,” she told the Politico Playbook.
“Everyone’s kind of missing the moment.”
“Look at Obama and Clinton,” Davison continued. ‘Mid 2007. Clinton was the inevitable candidate, Obama stagnated. Even in the fall of 2007, everyone was saying Obama was dead.
“What they missed is that Obama had an organization on the grounds that no one was paying attention [to]and that’s exactly what we’re doing with DeSantis.”