Former President Donald Trump on Feb. 21 blasted Fox News on his social media site Truth Social over its coverage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“So interesting to watch Fox News cover the small and unenthusiastic 139-person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of people—many unable to get in—at the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“I call Fox News the RINO (Republican In Name Only) Network, and their down-big ratings accurately reflect the name. If ‘Fake News CNN’ was smart, which they’re not, they’d go conservative and ‘All Trump, All the Time,’ like in 2016, and become a ratings juggernaut,” posted Trump.
Fox News ratings have consistently beaten CNN’s. Trump’s Feb. 20 campaign event in West Palm Beach consisted of attacking DeSantis.
“Big buildup, lots of money spent, yet only 139 people showed up for DeSantis in Staten Island. FoxNews is disappointed that his polls are crashing. Paul Ryan [is] very unhappy. He’s a RINO in disguise, that’s why! This is 2016 all over again,” he posted on Truth Social on Feb. 21.
However, the New York State Fraternal Order of Police event on Feb. 20 in Staten Island was not a campaign stop for DeSantis, and the venue—Prive catering hall—can only seat a maximum of 140 people, according to its Facebook page.
Ryan—the former GOP speaker of the House now on the board of Fox News’s parent company, Fox Corporation—has long been a target of Trump’s wrath.
Trump has had a record of being obsessed with crowd sizes at least since his 2016 run for president.
This is not the first time Trump has gone after Fox News and DeSantis, who has yet to announce his candidacy for the White House. He is expected to over the coming months.
On Feb. 19, Trump took a shot at Fox News for not echoing his claim that the 2020 election was rigged.
“Congratulations to Kristina Karamo, a powerful and fearless election denier, in winning the chair of the GOP in Michigan.
“If Republicans [and others!] would speak the truth about the rigged presidential election of 2020 like FoxNews should but doesn’t, they would be far better off.
“The New York Times stated that, ‘this cements the party’s takeover by Trump loyalists.’ I don’t call them loyalists, I call them Great American Patriots!” posted Trump on Truth Social.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Fox News and DeSantis’s political team for comment on Trump’s attacks.
DeSantis’ office declined to comment, saying it “does not weigh in on political topics.”
