Okay, This One Wasn’t As Bad.

Breaking down the DeSantis-Newsom debate.

90 minutes. It’s way better than 2 hours, and let’s be honest, every minute gained is a pearl of great price in this debate-recapping business. DeSantis took on Newsom in a Sean Hannity-monitored debate (not Joe Rogan but go back to the 90-minute thing, let’s count our blessings) in Alpharetta, Georgia. Here’s the breakdown.

What Ron DeSantis Needs

Frankly? A miracle. The CLOSEST GOP primary poll shows Trump leading the pack by 43 points. The. Closest. Poll. The wider ones go as high as Trump +59. DeSantis has eaten a giant orange punch to the face—there’s no getting around it. He’s been handed an interesting opportunity here: an audience-free opportunity to throw hard punches against someone no one in the GOP base likes. This is his chance to do something that he seems to like telling voters that he’s good at—punching the left. In fairness, DeSantis’ interviews where he hits the left were some of his best moments. And yet he’s trying to split the baby this time: he’s trying to hit the left in front of an audience who’s probably gonna see this as him being Trump lite. He’s good at this stuff when he lets himself. Problem is, he doesn’t let himself—but that’s not his biggest problem. More on that later.

What Gavin Newsom Needs

Not much that this debate can give him—and that’s actually a really good thing for the Man Who Would Be the Comic Book Evil President (also at the lowest approval rating of his governorship right now). I’d never heard audio of him, the Bill Clinton vibes are real. Here’s the thing. Gavin Newsom is one of the most gifted and powerful political communicators in the American political scene today. He’s clear, personable, and incisive. His rhetorical skills are off the chart. And he lies. Oh good glory, he lies. He lies like crazy, he lies really smoothly and believably, and he doesn’t stop lying. But it doesn’t matter. And here’s why. 

The Dichotomy of Bull

This debate basically operated on two pathways: DeSantis to his audience, and Newsom to his. They’re completely separate persuasion paths—that’s the nature of having a debate like this between governors not in a general election. And now the problem: 

DeSantis’ audience is Trump-friendly and ready to pick apart his every move because, quite simply, he’s not Trump.

Newsom’s audience is over Biden and looking for a new candidate who’s put-together, polished, and capable of calling out conservatives. 

…who do YOU think’s getting the best of that?

The Clash

Newsom is one of the most skilled speakers in the country. DeSantis, although he certainly could have been (read my ill-fated analysis here), is not at that level, and even if he were, he’d be eaten alive because, as we said, audience differential.

That said, DeSantis had some really good moments. He absolutely has Newsom’s number on border issues, school issues and banned books (conveniently, the issues that Newsom’s probably most wrong on). Problem is, no one who’d change their opinion on any of those issues is ever going to look it up (refer to blind party things). That said, maybe it’s the format of the debate or maybe it’s Newsom’s style, but his smooth talking style starts to fall off as the debate went on. This thing went 90 minutes, by 75 minutes it was feeling long.

Now, a couple of positives:

•  NO AUDIENCE. Thank God. The audience in a debate is NEVER necessary, as someone who’s been part of one. Let’s never bring them back ever.

• Hannity’s not a terrible moderator. Of the 4 political debates I’ve watched, this was probably the best moderated. I don’t really mind when people yell over each other. It’s not bad when it’s two people.

• The governor vs. governor format is really good. Let’s just do that instead of these garbage primary debates. If Fox’s goal was to make the divide absolutely clear between the state of rising tides in the Republican and Democratic Party, they showed it. Warts and all.

Best political debate I’ve seen this year. That bar is deep in the ground but we made it. Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Few bumps but hey, that’s politics. 

And Mike Pence wasn’t involved. Huge plus.