Making matters worse is the editorial board getting facts completely wrong in the process of a hit piece.

I am always tempted to describe media disasters by saying that a news outlet has embarrassed itself, except as we have been witnessing for some time now, that is an emotion that eludes the members of the press. Calling these misfires sad and pathetic is more accurate, it feels. The latest is from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, as the paper attempts to extend the failed Nazi narrative from last week and steps on numerous rakes in the process.

Instead of chalking this up to a renegade reporter resorting to bias, this misbegotten slam arrives courtesy of the paper’s Editorial Board, making the resulting fiasco all the worse. Aligning themselves with the other Florida papers with an open animosity for the governor, the piece begins with a direct attack on the governor’s mouthpiece, his Press Secretary, Christina Pushaw. This is not an example of me white-knighting; as Ms. Pushaw has shown, she is more than adept at defending herself and handling the press. It is the reason for their disdain, after all.

Instead, this is me focusing on the newspaper, as they resort to petri-dish shallow “gotcha” journalism to make an extremely diluted point. The Board sets things up as if we are five years old – or they just stumbled upon these details for themselves.

Christina Pushaw is a combative, divisive and highly partisan political operative whose keyboard rants carry great weight for one reason: She’s the governor’s press secretary. When she tweets and retweets, likes and dislikes, she’s speaking on behalf of Ron DeSantis, the governor of the third-largest state and a likely 2024 presidential candidate.

They appear surprised at the way a press secretary is defensive about and loyal to her boss while collecting a government salary. They should type in the letters J-E-N P-S-A-K-I, and prepare themselves for the shock they’ll receive once they press ENTER.

What the board takes issue with is the ridiculous display seen in Orlando a little over a week ago. About eight people in cosplay Nazi regalia protested, in a manner. The images were broadcast in an overwrought fashion in the press and social media as if the state was overrun with Storm Troopers blocking access to the theme parks. Instead of ignoring these dolts, the press went into pearl-clutching melodramatics. Then they really displayed bias and ignorance by repeating the canard of “the former president’s remark about ‘fine people’ among the Unite the Right thugs at Charlottesville four years ago.” This is an editorial board, repeating that disproven lie. Amazing.

Then there were a number of hysterical posts from Nikki Fried, the presumptive opponent to DeSantis in the upcoming election. (Calling her a “challenger” is laughably inaccurate.) Fried’s main point was that Ron DeSantis had remained silent about the Nazi gathering, as if this was some kind of proof of him being complicit. “Condemn it, and get this hate off our streets.” Now understand, this is the same Nikki Fried who spent months complaining that DeSantis was clamping down on the right to protest. Now, suddenly, she is demanding that the governor do something to block a protest. She has taken both sides of an issue and manages to be wrong twice.

The press then followed Fried’s histrionics like a cat chasing a laser pointer, with the Sun-Sentinel joining in with the ridiculous assertion that because DeSantis did not rush to a microphone and give more attention to a small crowd of idiots, that proved…something. 

Her boss wouldn’t say anything about the repugnant outburst of racism in one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. When he finally did, it was to wallow in pretentious self-pity, complaining that Democrats were “trying to smear me as if I had something to do with that.” No one suggested anything of the sort. DeSantis’ silence was the issue.

This is a lame attempt at connecting DeSantis to a pathetic display. The protestors accomplished nothing in their protest, except to garner media attention. Then, in the rush to cast the blame in some manner on DeSantis, they had to bypass a reality – the governor has signed legislation to battle antisemitism. Nikki Fried is extremely familiar with this; was standing over the shoulder of DeSantis as he signed one such bill.

There is one other overlooked matter. Somehow, the Sun-Sentinel board never managed to include this quote from Governor DeSantis. 

Governor Ron Desantis formally recognized International Holocaust Remembrance Day by ordering all flags to be flown at half-staff Thursday to honor the more than 6 million Jews and 5 million other prisoners murdered in the Nazi genocide. The governor encouraged Floridians to “reflect on the tragedy of the Holocaust” and to “confront antisemitism where it rears its ugly head.”

This was not a face-saving turnaround by DeSantis to appease his critics. He said those words just two days before the insipid protest that weekend. Somehow, these words, fully available to the press, were not considered as important as “failing” to give exaggerated attention to “over a dozen” Nazis getting ornery in Orlando. Somehow, words spoken on the record do not carry as much weight as words not spoken in an arbitrarily declared timeframe. 

And speaking of words spoken, Nikki Fried herself somehow escapes the same scorn. Yes, the Sun-Sentinel had harsh words rebuking her when she compared DeSantis to Hitler. But note that DeSantis today carries far more scorn for what he did not say about an isolated incident in a fast enough amount of time. This is the local paper resorting to a cheap method of delivering political hits. Nikki Fried can act up, but DeSantis is worse for not acting fast enough.