Monday’s CNN News Central criticized Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis for his recent accusation of the media’s role in his low poll numbers, claiming that this accusation was DeSantis “blaming the media for the fact that he’s not doing so well,” and that this claim attributed “way, way, way more authority or influence than the mainstream media has.” Meanwhile, they were ignoring a damaging Axios piece that exposed President Biden’s verbal abuse of his staff.
Anchors Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan and guests Molly Ball, national political correspondent for TIME, and CNN political commentator Errol Lewis all included their own takes on DeSantis’s accusation. They all came to the conclusion that DeSantis would not “get far blaming the media,” especially since he would apparently need “the help of the media” to “fix” his “real serious problem,” as displayed by the polls.
Sidner interviewed Ball and discussed the matter with her, playing a clip of DeSantis’s interview with Fox News over the weekend where he made the claim that the media didn’t want him to be the Republican nominee. Sidner claimed that DeSantis was “pushing back hard against this notion that he is way behind Trump,” seeming to claim that he was denying the fact that he was behind in the polls.
DeSantis did not deny that he was behind in the polls here, he was blaming the media for spreading dislike of him, because, as he said, “they know I’ll beat Biden.”
However, Ball perpetuated the claim that DeSantis denied his rankings in the polls, explaining that “it’s always easy to blame the media for a story you don't like,” and that this was what he had done. She also mentioned that “some of his own allies have noted” DeSantis’s decline in poll ratings, implying that he was himself still denying this fact.
Ball ended her complaints against DeSantis by saying that “blaming the media” for his low poll numbers would not be helpful for him, especially “when we have so much evidence to support this fact” that she continued to accuse DeSantis of denying.
Bolduan later interviewed Lewis, who told the same story and made the same claims, although he added a slightly different spin. Lewis claimed that “the problem with Ron DeSantis is, the more known he becomes, the worse he does in the polls,” and that he was trying to blame this effect on the media’s presentation of him.
Lewis then laughably stated that DeSantis’s accusations could not be possible, because “that’s way, way, way more authority or influence than the mainstream media has”:
So, you know, you wanna blame the media, you can blame the media. I—if—if he somehow thinks the media has a hold on Evangelical Republican voters in Nevada, and in Iowa, and in South Carolina, that’s way, way, way more authority or influence than the mainstream media has.
This claim was so patently false, that it merits little explanation. Only, consider this: if the media supposedly had as little effect on people as Lewis claimed here, then why did CNN seem to be so set on ignoring the morning’s Axios piece on Biden’s anger issues?
Perhaps they did have as much influence as they denied having.
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Transcript of the segments below (click Expand):
CNN News Central
7/10/23
9:27:36 AM ET
SARA SIDNER: I wanna talk about one of the candidates on the trail. Ron DeSantis is really pushing back hard against this notion that he is way behind Trump. I wanna let you listen to what he said as one of the reasons.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Maria, these are narratives. The media does not want me to be the nominee. I think that's very, very clear. Why? Because they know I'll beat Biden.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
SIDNER: The media doesn't want him to win because we “know he'll beat Biden,” is—is the words that he used. Does that make any sense to you, being that one of the heads of his Super PAC is the one who said, we are way behind in this race?
MOLLY BALL: That's the problem for DeSantis, is it’s—it’s always easy to blame the media for a story you don't like, but in this case, it’s backed up by a lot of data. You know, I mean, he maybe could have said this in the first couple of weeks of his candidacy when we didn't have a robust array of polls showing just how far behind he is, both nationally and in those early states.
But at this point, it’s a very strongly evidence-backed claim and as you mentioned, you know, some of his own allies have—have noted it. He simply is pretty far behind Trump at this point.
Now, that doesn't mean he can't make it up, that doesn't mean he's dead in the water, and—and, you know, I think in a lot of significant ways this remains a two-man race, he remains the only candidate in strong position to take down Trump, none of the other candidates, who are not named Trump, have—have come this close.
But he hasn't built on his lead, he hasn't broken out, he hasn't managed to have a sort of viral moment that I think would stick in people's minds and really show them why he—he—he ought to be considered in that top tier.
And so, you can understand the frustration but, you know, I—I—I just don't think it’s gonna get far blaming the media when we have so much evidence to support this fact.
…
11:32:44 AM
KATE BOLDUAN: Ron DeSantis, in the meantime, is looking at these numbers, and, well, you hear, you know, you—well, you hear from the spokesperson for his—for a Super PAC supporting him that they are very well aware that they’re way behind right now.
Also, you know, you’ll hear candidates say they’re not—they don't run their race by tracking the poll numbers, though Ron Desantis is now blaming the media for the fact that he’s not doing so well in those very same poll numbers. Let me play for you what he said this weekend.
[BEGIN VIDEO CLIP]
DESANTIS: These are narratives. The media does not want me to be the nominee. I think that’s very, very clear. Why? Because they know I’ll beat Biden. But even more importantly, they know I will actually deliver on all these things.
[END VIDEO CLIP]
BOLDUAN: A strategy that is not new as—as you—as you know, Errol, but what—I—I was kind of wondering if—if—if this is speaks to kind of where DeSantis is in the polls, or isn’t—isn’t delivering in the polls as people kind of expected him to be at this point. Do you think maybe that he wasn’t as well known outside of Florida as many people suspected he was, or thought he was?
ERROL LEWIS: Well now—well—that—that—that certainly is a problem, but all that money you just alluded to is supposed buy your way out of that problem, or at least help you to get known. And the problem with Ron DeSantis is, the more known he becomes, the worse he does in the polls.
So there’s something fundamentally wrong there. And when you hear a candidate blame it all on the media, what that tells you is it—they’ve gotta blame somebody. ‘Cause they spent a lot of time and a lotta energy, and gone to a lot of appearances, and every time Ron DeSantis opens his mouth, it seems like voters like him a little bit less.
So, you know, you wanna blame the media, you can blame the media. I—if—if he somehow thinks the media has a hold on Evangelical Republican voters in Nevada, and in Iowa, and in South Carolina, that’s way, way, way more authority or influence than the mainstream media has.
The—the reality is, he’s got a p—he’s got a real serious problem, and he’s gonna have to fix it. He’s gonna have to fix it…
BOLDUAN: Yeah.
LEWIS: …maybe with the help of the media, if he can figure out a different way to relate to them, but by castigating and attacking the media at every turn, it’s definitely not gonna help.
BOLDUAN: And not a new strategy, though, and it probably has the same effect as we’ve seen in the past.
…
