Something conservative this way comes.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blasted a scathing Politico piece casting his wife, Casey, as Lady Macbeth as a “hatchet job” written by liberal “bottom-feeders” set on vilifying his family over his right-wing ideals.
“I don’t read this stuff, I just kind of do my job,” the 2024 Republican presidential candidate told Newsmax host Eric Bolling on Thursday night.
“But everyone that read it thought it was just absolutely disgusting. Just a typical hatchet job,” DeSantis added.
“If she were a Democrat, though, Eric, all those media people, they would be treating her like she was the greatest thing since sliced bread, because she’s beautiful, she’s smart, she’s effective.”
The profile of Casey DeSantis, written by Michael Kruse and published last week, portrayed the 42-year-old as a charismatic, well-educated former television journalist, mother and breast cancer survivor — but also as a sinister, Shakespearean figure who might cause her husband’s downfall.
“[Casey] can ameliorate some of the effects of [Ron’s] idiosyncrasies,” the piece alleges.
“She can also accentuate, even exacerbate, his hubris, and his paranoia, and his vaulting ambition — because those are all traits that they share.”
Politico quoted a former DeSantis staffer as calling Casey “blindly ambitious” and someone who “sees ghosts in every corner,” while a second source called her “more paranoid than he is,” and a former campaign official told the outlet: “He’s a vindictive motherf—er. She’s twice that. She’s the scorekeeper.”
Kruse’s story also prominently featured a quote from longtime Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone, who asked last fall: “Have you ever noticed how much Ron DeSantis’ wife Casey is like Lady Macbeth?”
On Thursday, DeSantis, 44, said the writer had used “anonymous sources” and “people who don’t even know Casey” to attack his family.
“The reason they’re doing it is because they know she’s an incredibly strong woman,” he said, claiming that his wife “made a huge difference in the state of Florida.”
“The left and the media know — people love her. She is revered in this state. She is a potent political ally,” he continued.
“When she is out in a place like Iowa with me, people rave about her. They fear her because they know she is someone who is very effective.
“They’re not going after other candidates’ spouses because they don’t view those spouses as a threat.”
In the Bard’s famous tragedy, Lady Macbeth kills herself offstage as she and her husband’s murderous quest for power unravels.
But unlike the tortured Scottish couple, DeSantis appeared unbothered by the deluge of vitriol his presidential campaign will bring upon his loved ones.
“You’re either gonna let the bastards grind you down, or you’re not,” he told Bolling.
DeSantis’ Newsmax appearance was part of a media blitz following his stumbling campaign launch on Twitter Wednesday evening.
Following the backlash, the governor admitted to Bolling that he was “not a big social guy,” but defended the choice to forgo a traditional announcement event as “an example of conservatives having a voice again and fighting back against the entrenched legacy media.”
“I was just in a room in Florida so I didn’t really know necessarily what was going on,” he added of the glitch-ridden launch, which he attributed to an issue with Elon Musk’s own account.
Despite the hiccups, the Yale College and Harvard Law School graduate raked in an impressive $8.2 million within the first 24 hours of the announcement — nearly $2 million more than Joe Biden got back in 2019.