Megyn Kelly slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom for having “no dignity” at Thursday’s debate with 2024 presidential hopeful and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“He had no dignity,” Kelly said during a “Megyn Kelly Show” podcast conversation with former Republican speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. “That’s what I was missing. There was no dignity. It just looked like a man desperate for attention.”
She particularly objected to what she saw as Newsom interrupting DeSantis on the debate floor, calling him “annoying” and “unlikeable.”
Meanwhile of DeSantis, who’s previously guested on her eponymous podcast, Kelly estimated that he “was scoring a lot of points.”
Kelly, who was a Fox News anchor from 2004 to 2017 and is slated to moderate the next Republican presidential debate on Dec. 6, then admitted, “I confess to you I watched a little bit of this and then found it unstomachable.”
She added, “I wound up thinking like anybody would win against this guy Newsom because he’s so annoying and unlikable.”
At one point, Newsom taunted DeSantis for his poor showing at the polls. “How’s that going for you, Ron? You’re down 41 points in your own home state,” he said.
Kelly admitted that Newsom was correct about DeSantis’ poor polling, but praised the Florida governor for his “measured” composure.
“He was scoring a lot of points,” she said of DeSantis. “[He] had clearly done his homework on the many, many problems in California.”
“One thing that we have in common is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024,” Newsom said in another savage stinger. Newsom, who many speculate is entertaining running against President Joe Biden for the Democratic ticket in 2024, has denied that he’s interested and endorsed Biden.
During the debate, DeSantis argued that the 81-year-old president is “in decline” and “not up to the job.”
Newsom laughed and said, “I will take Joe Biden at 100 versus Ron DeSantis any day of the week.”
But Kelly does not agree with DeSantis on everything. The Florida governor ordered his state’s public university system to bar groups like Students for Justice in Palestine in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, for instance. “My instincts are let them speak. Let them get out there and let’s see who’s in the groups,” Kelly said on Oct. 26.
She also enjoyed poking fun at DeSantis over “bootgate,” in which it was alleged that he was wearing lifts in his boots to appear taller.
