OPINION: Ron DeSantis Is What the Post-Trump GOP Should Look Like – By Rich Lowry (Politico) / April 7 2021
DeSantis has navigated the Trump years with a deft political touch.
If Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ever sets up a presidential exploratory committee, it should have to disclose an enormous in-kind contribution from CBS News.
The “60 Minutes” segment last weekend alleging that DeSantis distributed the Covid vaccine through pharmacies at the Publix grocery store chain as part of a quid pro quo was so outlandishly wrong that even Democratic officials in the state have objected.
It’s not clear that the “60 Minutes” piece can even be called “journalistic malpractice,” since it barely qualifies as journalism.
Florida turned to the widely popular Publix chain because, as Florida’s emergency management director (a Democrat) explained, other pharmacies weren’t ready to start distribution yet. The mayor of Palm Beach County, another Democrat, has said the county specifically requested that the state expand its Publix partnership to Palm Beach. “60 Minutes” left this out.
It also deceptively edited an answer DeSantis gave to a question from a “60 Minutes” journalist about Publix at a press conference, removing his persuasive and detailed explanation why the supposed scandal is a nonstory, but leaving in his angry denials.
