People watch a debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at Manny's on November 30 in San Francisco, California.
Like many, I didn’t have high hopes that the “Blue State vs. Red State” debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would be civil or substantive.
Unfortunately, things were even worse than I thought. The closest thing to a winner Thursday night was unhinged male rage.
The 90-minute debate between the two men, moderated by Fox News talking head Sean Hannity in an empty studio in Alpharetta, Georgia, frequently devolved into incomprehensible yelling matches in which DeSantis, Newsom and even Hannity talked over each other at progressively louder volumes as the night wore on.
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At two different points, DeSantis pulled out pieces of paper he appears to have kept crumpled in his jacket pocket: one a picture of a pornographic scene that he said was in books available in California school libraries, and one showing a map of feces on the streets of San Francisco. (Even Newsom appeared to get a bit of a kick out of that one.)
DeSantis and Newsom also frequently resorted to name-calling, with DeSantis on numerous occasions referring to Newsom as a “slick and slippery” politician and both men calling each other bullies. Newsom said he agreed with critics who describe the Florida governor as “small, weak and pathetic.”
Then there was Hannity, who threw softballs at DeSantis while asking much tougher questions of Newsom — all while doing little to keep the discussion on track.
Newsom managed to work in a couple of zingers against DeSantis, noting that the only thing the two men had in common was that neither would be their party’s presidential nominee in 2024. At another point, he asked when DeSantis would drop out of the Republican presidential race so that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who’s rising in the polls, would have a chance of beating former President Donald Trump.
When DeSantis grew particularly agitated, Newsom said archly, “Ron, relax.”
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What was the point of this chaotic and largely unproductive spectacle? I’m not sure there was one.
Newsom and DeSantis are unlikely to face each other in an election; Newsom insists that he isn’t running for president in 2024.
Hannity, meanwhile, tried to sell the debate as a serious opportunity for two of America’s highest-profile governors to illuminate their wildly different approaches to governing and their divergent visions for the nation.
If that was indeed the intent, viewers received no such illumination on Thursday night.
Given that the debate appeared to rise out of Newsom trolling DeSantis on X (formerly Twitter) in a post that mentioned both men’s hair products — and that, once agreed upon, the debate was marketed like a boxing match — it seems pretty clear that this was always intended to be a ratings gimmick.
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Hannity, of course, stood to benefit the most. Both Newsom and DeSantis got to boost their national profiles, and neither had much to lose. DeSantis’ presidential campaign is barely afloat; any airtime for him right now is a plus. Newsom, meanwhile, got to tout the Biden administration and California’s policies on Fox News, whose viewers rarely hear Democratic points of view.
Newsom deserves credit for participating in a forum where he was essentially outnumbered 2:1, with Hannity clearly siding with DeSantis and asking pointedly negative questions about California, while floating neutral or positive questions about Florida.
Nevertheless, there was little substance to be found. Newsom and DeSantis spent much of the evening accusing each other of lying and making up facts — about COVID death rates, about the number of people moving into and out of their respective states, about tax burdens, about education scores, about violent crime rates, about abortion policies. Rather than swaying anyone, the debate likely just sowed further distrust among already polarized viewers.
Throughout the long 90 minutes, I could feel my blood pressure rising, and found myself continually checking my watch to see when the torture would end.
When Hannity finally announced the last question, I let out a sigh of relief. But then he asked if the men would commit to another debate in the future, and Newsom said he had all night to keep talking — prompting Hannity to say the debate would be extended another 20 minutes or so after the commercial break.
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I stared in disbelief and something akin to horror. What was the point of prolonging this yelling match?
Thankfully, when the commercial break ended, Newsom and DeSantis didn’t reappear onscreen. Apparently, the debate was over after all.
I guess even Hannity realized we all needed to be put out of our misery.
Reach Emily Hoeven: emily.hoeven@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @emily_hoeven
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