It was red vs. blue Thursday night when Florida Governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis went head-to-head with California's Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom to duke it out over Republican and Democrat policies during a Fox News debate. And while the effects of a freedom-loving, open-market approach versus a big-government, big-spending strategy on the lives of the actual Americans living there is serious business, the debate itself was pretty funny - even if unintentionally so.
From maps of people poop to calling out the Golden State's tent city problem, here are five of DeSantis' best - and undeniably true - claims about the cluster that is Newsom's California.
1. When he pointed out even members of Gavin Newsom’s own family have fled California for Florida.
Look at Gavin Newsom's face when Ron DeSantis brings up the fact that his own father-in-law has moved to Florida because it's better governed. 🤣👇 pic.twitter.com/tVCJOSW8ZX
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) December 1, 2023
2. When DeSantis gave credit where it’s due and pointed out all the “freedoms” California provides - including the freedom to defecate on a public sidewalk.
Look at Gavin Newsom's face when Ron DeSantis brings up the fact that his own father-in-law has moved to Florida because it's better governed. 🤣👇 pic.twitter.com/tVCJOSW8ZX
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) December 1, 2023
3. Speaking of public defecation, when DeSantis held up an actual map showing all the piles of human crap clogging up the streets of San Francisco.
Ron DeSantis just held up a poop map of San Francisco to show where people are tagging feces from homeless people on all the public streets. Holy shit. Literally. pic.twitter.com/atGEMZ8o6w
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) December 1, 2023
4. When DeSantis called Newsom out for shutting down California public schools during COVID, when Newsom’s own kids were being taught in open private schools.
Look at Gavin Newsom's face when Ron DeSantis brings up the fact that his own father-in-law has moved to Florida because it's better governed. 🤣👇 pic.twitter.com/tVCJOSW8ZX
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) December 1, 2023
5. When DeSantis took aim at California’s mandated switch from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles - even as they tell residents not to charge their cars during rolling blackouts thanks to an overloaded energy grid.
Look at Gavin Newsom's face when Ron DeSantis brings up the fact that his own father-in-law has moved to Florida because it's better governed. 🤣👇 pic.twitter.com/tVCJOSW8ZX
— Scott Morefield (@SKMorefield) December 1, 2023
To be fair, Newsom's not (yet) on the presidential ticket, and there weren't any other Republicans for DeSantis to vie with on the stage - so the effect this elephant v. jackass slugfest will have on the actual 2024 election - if any - remains to be seen. But one thing's for certain: more people have left California in recent years than any other state in the U.S., many of them headed for places like Texas and Florida.
So it doesn't take a debate to get a pretty good idea of how people feel about leftwing policies.