He's a disgrace...... DeSantis is.....

The Gavin Newsom-Ron DeSantis feud is turning nasty

Eric Ting

After DeSantis mocked Newsom's hair gel, the California governor challenged his counterpart to a debate on CNN.

"Hey @GovRonDeSantis, clearly you're struggling, distracted, and busy playing politics with people’s lives," Newsom tweeted. "Since you have only one overriding need -- attention --let's take this up & debate. I’ll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray. Name the time before Election Day. 

@CNN."

Sept. 16, 12:30 p.m. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have been taking public swipes at each other for a year and a half now, but Friday marked a notable escalation in their war of words.

The precipitating events were DeSantis taking credit for flying planes of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, and Newsom writing a letter to the United States Department of Justice asking for prosecutors to investigate whether the DeSantis administration illegally kidnapped the migrants.

During a press conference Friday, Newsom said of DeSantis, "He's a disgrace." The strongest label Newsom previously attached to DeSantis was "bully."

"Those migrants are used as pawns to humiliate and dehumanize," Newsom said. "What Ron DeSantis is doing is a disgrace. It's almost monstrous, and I say that not lightly, I say that quite thoughtfully. He's got kids. I have kids. You saw those young girls with backpacks, no older than his children, my children, being used as political pawns, and now he's using it to fundraise. To raise money. It's disgraceful. He's a disgrace."

At his own Friday press conference, DeSantis spoke about Newsom's DOJ letter and took a personal jab at the California governor.

"All I can say is I think his hair gel is interfering with his brain function," DeSantis said of Newsom's famous hairstyle.

DeSantis has typically avoided going after Newsom directly, and referred to him only as "the governor of California" prior to the hair gel quip. When California was under a Flex Alert amid a heat wave early last week, DeSantis sought to take a crack at Newsom, but spoke in only general terms.

"I hear a lot of people chirping about Florida from California," DeSantis said. "They’re so worried about Florida. They can’t even keep the power on in California, are you kidding me?”

During one rare instance in which DeSantis did target Newsom directly, DeSantis lobbed a criticism of his COVID-19 policies and French Laundry incident that other politicians have made. It was not a swipe at his hair.

“As he was locking down his citizens, he would then go and have these extravagant dinners at the French Laundry to basically rub his citizens’ noses in the fact that he was treating them like peasants,” DeSantis said after Newsom ran ads in Florida attacking DeSantis. “You know in Florida we weren’t locking them down, we lifted our people up. We made sure to protect individuals’ freedoms.”

DeSantis and Newsom are both widely seen as future presidential candidates. Newsom, like many Democrats, has said he will not challenge President Joe Biden in 2024 should the incumbent seek reelection. It is less clear, however, what DeSantis will do should former President Donald Trump launch a third presidential bid.