‘That’s gotta hurt’: Fox News host rattles off series of ‘piercing’ criticisms to Ron DeSantis’ face

Fox News host Neil Cavuto rattled off a series of “piercing” criticisms from media outlets to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ face Friday, adding that Sen. Marco Rubio’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump must have “hurt” the Florida governor.

DeSantis faces an uphill battle in his bid for the Republican nomination after having placed all his resources in Iowa only to finish a distant second to Trump, and polls show him trailing former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Rubio endorsed Trump over the state’s governor on Sunday, the day before the Iowa Caucus.

WATCH:

“It’s easy to pile on someone when they’re having hard polling times as you are, governor,” Cavuto said. “But the headlines are piercing … You’re a human being. You’re seeing and hearing all of that. And then Marco Rubio, your state senator, who says ‘I’m supporting Donald Trump.’ I mean, that’s gotta hurt.”

Cavuto appeared to reference an NBC article titled, “Ron DeSantis is in survival mode as Nikki Haley battles Trump in New Hampshire,” an article by The New York Times titled, “Shake-Up by a Desperate DeSantis Opens Wider Path for Haley in New Hampshire,” and a Politico opinion piece titled, “The DeSantis Team Ran the Worst Campaign in History.”

“No, I mean that’s just part of the business,” DeSantis responded. “I can take the arrows. I don’t care. I remember during Covid, they were saying all that about me and worse because I actually was fighting against Fauci and fighting against the lockdowns. And they said that I was dead, they said that I was making a mistake and the rest is history. Now nobody looks back at that and criticizes me. They pretend like they were on my side. So some of this stuff is those folks have been writing that stuff for years and years. That’s just the nature of it.”

DeSantis received 21.2% of the vote in Iowa and is currently only polling at 6% support in New Hampshire’s upcoming Tuesday first-in-the-nation primary, according to the RealClearPolitics average.

All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW

Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!