Fox News Embraces Ron DeSantis as Trump's Future in GOP Questioned

Following nearly every major GOP loss on Tuesday, conservative pundits on Fox News averted attention to the major reelection victory for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the red wave in the Sunshine State, sending a signal to the party—and former President Donald Trump—about how the governor's platform needs to be applied on a national scale.

With 99 percent of the votes counted, DeSantis received 59.4 percent of the vote to Charlie Crist's 40 percent. DeSantis was up by more than 1.5 million votes, including receiving major help from residents in the heavily Hispanic Miami-Dade County—where DeSantis underperformed four years ago.

"The woke agenda has caused millions of Americans to leave [other] jurisdictions for greener pastures," DeSantis said, according to the Miami Herald, thanking those who didn't vote for him last time but did in this election cycle. "Now this great exodus of Americans, for those folks, Florida, for so many of them, has served as the promised land."

Meanwhile, many conservatives are laying blame on Trump for his endorsement of numerous candidates who either lost or are currently losing. A slew of endorsements were due to GOP candidates sharing Trump's stance about the results of the 2020 election.

All of the election deniers in governor's races, sans Kari Lake who is losing in an ongoing race, lost: Tudor Dixon in Michigan; Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania; Dan Cox in Maryland; Lee Zeldin in New York; Darren Bailey in Illinois; and Tim Michels in Wisconsin.

Days prior to the election, further signs of the shift in the relationship between Trump and DeSantis became apparent.

Aside from upsetting conservatives by calling the governor "Ron DeSanctimonious," Trump held a rally for reelected Senator Marco Rubio that did not include an appearance by DeSantis.

Trump said Saturday that he did vote for DeSantis, alluding to "a very good relationship with him." But he later told News Nation that DeSantis "could have been more gracious" about Trump aiding his rise to power.

Oddsmakers now view DeSantis as the new GOP frontrunner in 2024.

Conservatives like Fox News' Marc Thiessen are now seriously questioning whether Trump is the future bearer of GOP politics, due to his record in picking candidates and losing majorities in the House and Senate.

"We have the worst inflation in four decades, the worst collapse in real wages in 40 years, the worst crime wave since the 1990s, the worst border crisis in U.S. history. We have Joe Biden, who is the least popular since Harry Truman...and there was no red wave," Thiessen said. "That is a searing indictment of the Republican Party; that is a searing indictment of the message that we have been sending to the voters.

"They looked at all of that and looked at the Republican Party alternative and said 'no thanks.' The Republican Party needs to do a real deep introspection look in the mirror because this is an absolute disaster," Thiessen added.

Thiessen said GOP governors like DeSantis, Mike DeWine in Ohio, Greg Abbott in Texas and Brian Kemp in Georgia are "the path to the future."

Liz Peek, in an opinion column for Fox News, compared Trump to former President Barack Obama due to the "shellacking" the GOP received on Tuesday. She called Trump "the biggest loser" and urged him to give up the party reins to DeSantis in anticipation of a 2024 bid.

"Trump may be ready to play dirty to win the GOP nomination in 2024," Peek wrote. "If he does, he will not only cement the disdain with which many in his party view him today, he will once again scorch Republican chances of defeating Democrats.

"Let us hope that the millions of Americans who have supported Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 begin to see that his time has passed. If they like his policies, they need to move their allegiance to Ron DeSantis, who has never lost a campaign, and who emerged the big winner in these midterms."

The New York Post, previously called Trump's "favorite newspaper," had a picture of DeSantis on its cover following the election, captioned "DeFuture."

Echelon Insight pollster Patrick Ruffini called Tuesday's results "the worst possible night for Trump and the best possible night for DeSantis."

Even former Bill Clinton pollster Mark Penn sees DeSantis as the biggest threat to the Democratic Party.

"If DeSantis does a knock-down, drag-out primary and beats Donald Trump, DeSantis would be virtually impossible to beat in the presidency against anybody," Penn said in a Fox News appearance.

Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has pleaded for DeSantis to serve eight years as Florida's governor, telling him not to "abandon" his state.

"Please support President Trump because we need him back in the White House," Greene said during an interview with conservative outlet RSBN.

Newsweek reached out to the Trump and DeSantis camps for comment.