Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) took to social media on Monday using the film "Mean Girls" to allege that the media is "gaslighting" the American people by promoting the enthusiasm surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
"Is it possible to completely manufacture a cultural phenomenon by taking a vapid, leftist San Francisco Democrat and turning her into something that she’s not through nonstop gaslighting? Corporate media is certainly trying to make “fetch' happen," DeSantis posted.
The reference to "fetch" goes back to the film "Mean Girls," where one of the characters tries to add the term "fetch" to cool parlance. At one point, the "popular" girl attacks the other, saying she'll never make "fetch happen."
While DeSantis was trying to attack Harris, some viewed it as far more revealing about fears manifesting in the Republican Party over Harris' entry in the presidential race.
"DeSantis using the term gaslighting in earnest is the surest sign of Republican distress I’ve seen yet," posted legal analyst and writer Luppe B. Lupen.
"Good lord, the whining from the weirdest people you know is off the charts," said media relations consultant Dante Atkins.
Organizer and writer Thomas Kennedy pointed to Feb 2024 headlines about DeSantis' presidential campaign against Trump. "DeSantis told Republicans that Trump was a terrible candidate. Then he got in line," the Miami Herald headline read.
"If anyone is trying to make 'fetch' happen through nonstop gaslighting, it’s you," posted Kennedy.
"Man notorious for manufacturing cultural phenomena for his own political gain is *shocked* when organic cultural phenomena is created by regular people excited about their own candidate. Sit this one out my guy, maybe you can learn a thing or two about authenticity," lawyer Toni Rodríguez posted on X.
American Independent writer Emily C. Singer mocked: "Ron is big mad because he is unlikable and awkward."
Robert Smartwood recalled the bizarre story of DeSantis eating pudding with his fingers during a private plane flight from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C., in March 2019.
"How did you manage to type this tweet with all that pudding on your fingers?" asked Smartwood.
There have been more than 142,000 new Democratic Party registrations since Harris announced she was running for president, said the head of the group Vote.org in an MSNBC interview.
Meanwhile, within the first 30 hours of Harris' campaign announcement, small-dollar donors gave more than $100 million. She's raised more than $200 million in her first week, the campaign said.
