News/Commentary

Hegseth decries DeSantis’ ‘cheap shot’ against Trump, others praise him for not caving

March 21, 2023 | | Print Article

For some, good enough just wasn’t good enough when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) offered up his take on the possible indictment and arrest of former President Donald Trump complete with a “cheap shot” considered “too cute by half.”

A weekend of hectoring from Trump loyalists likely would have remained unanswered Monday had DeSantis not been asked how he would respond were the president actually indicted. As previously reported, the governor set aside rumors in favor of addressing the facts about Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s support from billionaire George Soros who, “like other Soros-funded prosecutors…weaponize their office to impose a political agenda on society at the expense of the rule of law and public safety.”

With a reminder that he had suspended one such prosecutor in Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, it was DeSantis’ follow-up about the specific allegations made against Trump that irked the president’s base.

Fox News’s Pete Hegseth expressed as much when he joined Jeanine Pirro, filling in as host of “Hannity” Monday, with his take on the “sanctimonious” cheap shot.

“It’s knock it down for the rest of us, knock it up for Trump,” Hegseth began noting Bragg’s record on misdemeanor and felony charges. “And that’s where, you mentioned Ron DeSantis — he’s totally right, this is a Soros-based prosecution. But I was actually disappointed in Ron DeSantis today. He talked about the political persecution, but he started with a too cute by half, political jab at Trump by saying, ‘I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star,’ and the donors kinda chuckled.”

“In some ways, it felt sanctimonious…it felt like a Jeb Bush, sort of Scott Walker, cheap shot. I don’t think that’s gonna work,” he continued.

The “Fox & Friends Weekend” cohost went on to assert, “This is a close ranks behind a former president who fought for America first and has a selective political persecution from a DA, funded by Soros. So you can acknowledge that, but don’t take cheap shots. And I like Ron DeSantis. I like him a lot. We’re in a political season, I get it. But this is a moment to stand firmly behind Donald Trump and say in a full-throated nature this is political persecution and the irony of it — and maybe Democrats want Trump to be the nominee, I don’t know — but the irony of it is, they’re making it more likely he will be because of this political persecution. If you’re a Republican right now, back Trump on this.”

Hegseth wasn’t alone in that sentiment as many others saw the comments through a similarly negative lens.

https://twitter.com/alexbruesewitz/status/1637829238714781701

However, the sentiment was far from unanimous as many defended DeSantis’ comments noting that the potential indictment remained conjecture and he needn’t have said anything at all, yet was artful in delivering the remarks he had.

Of course, with his supporters perceiving the slight, Trump too had to issue a response the DeSantis’ comments and offered up his take Truth Social writing, “Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known, when he’s unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are ‘underage’ (or possibly a man!). I’m sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do!”

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Kevin Haggerty
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