Gavin Newsom Challenges Ron DeSantis to Televised CNN Debate Before Election Day

Upon a suggestion from disgraced former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has challenged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to a televised debate on CNN before Election Day.

The debate topic list would write itself but since the venue would be CNN, the moderators and questioning would be beneficial to Newsom, no doubt. There’s no reason that DeSantis would agree to this since it would be elevating Newsom to a national profile level he doesn’t deserve. Never give your political foes a bigger audience than they get on their own.

It’s an interesting thought, however. With midterm elections essentially becoming “nationalized” anyway, why not have two major party leaders set forth an agenda in a nationally televised debate? It would make for some great television:

While California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been somewhat reluctant to discuss debating the man running against him this fall, he offered a detailed proposal for a debate with a different politician 2,500 miles away.

“Hey @GovRonDeSantis,” wrote Newsom on Friday afternoon on Twitter, “clearly you’re struggling, distracted, and busy playing politics with people’s lives. Since you have only one overriding need — attention — let’s take this up & debate.”

Newsom also tagged @CNN, apparently as a proposed host for the debate.

He also responded to DeSantis’ “hair gel” quip about him earlier in the day — “I think his hair gel is interfering with his brain function” — with “I’ll bring my hair gel. You bring your hairspray. Name the time before Election Day.”

The original idea, as noted above, came from Dan Rather suggesting that CNN, which is going through an identity crisis right now, could offer up the platform as a new idea:

Here’s an idea for Chris Licht, the new head of @CNN. Set up a debate — one-on-one — between @GavinNewsom and @RonDeSantisFL. Two governors of big states, potential presidential candidates. Prime time. Ratings I bet would be huge. Who would have the courage to show up?

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) August 26, 2022

Naturally, hair gel in hand, Newsom jumped at the opportunity to become relevant as Governor of a state in decline that’s losing residents year after year. For some reason, Newsom doesn’t see that as a problem or see his policies and those of his progressive underlings as being related to the cesspool that California cities have become.

This is really just a way for Newsom to elevate his standing and set himself up for a potential presidential run in 2024 if Biden demurs and Kamala Harris blows up on the launch pad.

Newsom must also be feeling lonely out there on the left coast not getting the attention he clearly believes he deserves. Try as he might he’s been unable to inject himself into national politics in a meaningful way as DeSantis has.

The debate itself would be entertaining but would it be constructive? As national issues permeate local Congressional races, topics like inflation, the economy, and abortion have become more front and center. DeSantis, in some recent campaign appearances, offered up his vision and solutions that have worked in Florida, a thriving state. In that respect, perhaps the compare and contrast between the two states and the way they’ve been run would be instructive for some. While Newsom insisted on keeping California closed as long as possible due the Covid-19, killing businesses and ruining livelihoods, DeSantis opened Florida as soon as possible which put the state in a much stronger position and let people take individual responsibility for themselves.

The bottom line is that Democrats like Newsom are not interested in debating their policies, they don’t think they have anything to apologize for. Despite rampant crime rates in California cities, an energy grid that’s teetering on the brink, and citizens leaving en masse every year, Newsom would have you believe he runs a thriving state of “freedom” because he praises aborting a baby in the ninth month of pregnancy?

The only freedom in California seems to be handed out to violent criminals after they commit crimes and are sent right back out on the street thanks to a progressive ideology of punishing the law-abiding rather than the law-breaking.

This debate is over before it began. Florida gains residents every year while California is in decline. Citizens are voting with their feet and they’d rather live in Ron DeSantis’ free state of Florida than Gavin Newsom’s screwed-up California.