Gov. Ron DeSantis may be down in the 2024 polls to former President Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean the media is giving him or his family a pass.
As though labeling his wife, Casey DeSantis, a “Walmart Melania” and comparing her to Lady MacBeth wasn’t enough already, an MSNBC panel has now branded her “America’s Karen” and likened her to Serena Joy Waterford of The Handmaid’s Tale.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Stu Burguiere, host of BlazeTV’s Stu Does America, and author and journalist David Marcus to discuss what’s behind the attacks and why Casey is an asset to the DeSantis campaign.
The Latest Attack
Late last week, the DeSantis team released a new ad called “Mamas for DeSantis” that is narrated by Casey. In the video, she pushes back against the idea floated by President Joe Biden, his press secretary Karine Jean Pierre, and recent Pride parade goers that America’s children belong to the collective.
Megyn found the angle compelling. “It’s one of the best ads we’ve seen from Team DeSantis, and she puts herself out there,” she noted. Burguiere agreed. “My wife watched this ad and was literally audibly cheering,” he said. “She’s not a super highly political person, she just wants to defend our children, and I think that is the reaction you get from that.”
The panelists over at MSNBC did not agree. On Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart, GOP congressman-turned-MSNBC analyst David Jolly and Tara Setmayer, senior advisor for The Lincoln Project, took turns firing shots at Florida’s first lady. “Casey DeSantis is a fairly compelling political figure in Florida, and now nationally,” Jolly said. “For many, she’s the brighter side to Florida’s angry governor. For others, she’s become America’s Karen.”
He believes this is the “ultimate disconnect” for the campaign. “Look, she is a more effective messenger than Ron DeSantis, but if all she is doing is amplifying the wrong message, she’s actually clarifying Ron DeSantis’s weaknesses,” he added. “As I like to say, it doesn’t matter if it’s presented in heels or boots, the DeSantis doctrines are losing ones. We’re going to learn that the more Casey DeSantis gets out there.”
After Capehart told Setmayer that Jolly was “beating” her “in terms of taking my breath away during a segment,” she was ready with her own jab. “Well, I called her, I called her this, you know, Serena Waterford wannabe needs to cut it out. We see you,” Setmayer said. “So, there’s all kinds of names for her. She needs to stop trying to measure the drapes in the White House and think that she’s some kind of Jackie O reincarnate.”
For the uninitiated, Waterford is the character in The Handmaid’s Tale who is married to Fred Waterford, the commander of the totalitarian government of Gilead. “[Waterford is] a crazy lunatic, so that’s how they want to paint her,” Megyn said. “She’s Serena Waterford, she’s ‘America’s Karen’ and Jonathan Capehart just laps it up, absolutely loves every moment of it.”
Burguiere also noted that there is a meme of Casey’s eyebrows being compared to Eddie Munster making its way around social media at the moment. “These people are disgusting,” Megyn said. “She is stunning… It’s envy.”
The Role of First Lady
Given the degree of the attacks against Casey, Megyn believes she makes the left and media uncomfortable. “She’s a former news anchor, so she understands how to work the camera, and how to sound on camera, and you can tell,” she noted. “I think the reason they’re reacting so angrily to her is they accurately perceive her as a threat.”
Calling her one of the few “bright spots” in Gov. DeSantis’ fledgling campaign, Marcus pointed out the hypocrisy of how Casey has been received compared to Democratic first ladies who were similarly outspoken on the campaign trail. “There’s a political history to this – first ladies weren’t terribly important until 1992,” he explained. “Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both became president of the United States with these very strong female figures on their team [in Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama].”
Laura Bush and Melania Trump, meanwhile, approached their time as first lady much more traditionally. “I think that’s why you’re seeing so much over the top fire at Casey from the left and even to some extent from Trump supporters,” Marcus noted. “She’s taking a lot of flack, and she does so far seem to have the ability to handle it and to really help his campaign.”
What the Left Gets Wrong About Casey
While Megyn doesn’t believe that people vote for a presidential candidate because of their spouse, she does think the person can be a liability. It is clear the media and left view Casey as a potential asset in the DeSantis campaign because of how hard they are trying to besmirch her. “She’s more of a help than she is a hindrance, and that’s why she must be destroyed,” Megyn said. “This will just be the beginning, and she can’t do anything right.”
Case in point: The criticism of her style on the campaign trail. “She had on that jacket that said something like ‘where awoke goes to die’ and they were like, ‘Oh, she’s at the Melania of [Walmart]… then she wears like the sweeping Jackie Kennedy-esque dresses… and they’re like, ‘Oh, she’s a Jackie O wannabe,’” Megyn noted.
The double standard, she said, is hard to ignore. “Every woman can be both – you can wear the motorcycle jacket one day and you can wear the beautiful long dress with the cape the next,” she concluded. “If they were saying this sort of stuff about a lefty, these same people would be outraged at the rampant misogyny, but – as always – it’s totally fair game against a Republican wife.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Burguiere and Murcus by tuning in to episode 584 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.