Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty


Like its US counterpart Fox “News”, hard right UK outlet GB “News” is vigorously promoting Ron DeSantis’s campaign for the Republican nomination in the 2024 US Presidential race.

On Sunday morning, they were looking for a guest to bolster DeSantis’s issue-avoiding rhetoric about Joe Biden and “culture wars”.

Unfortunately for them, they booked me for the 8-minute interview.

I begin by batting down GB’s promotion of a DeSantis soundbite over Joe Biden’s trip at an Air Force Academy ceremony:

Meh. Joe Biden was soon back on his feet. He gave a nationally-television address from the Oval Office on Friday night. He signed on Saturday essential bill to lift the US debt ceiling. And he is meeting UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week.

After I kept the focus on issues rather than age — “I believe Queen Elizabeth II was 96 and still ruling in the UK” — the co-host rehashed DeSantis’s line that the US is falling, “Inflation is rising, gas prices are up, and the economy is in trouble.”

I responded with the facts that inflation and gas prices have been falling, unemployment is at the lowest rate since 1969, and Biden has presided over the most significant US domestic legislation since the 1960s.

There’s some more chat about DeSantis’s attempt to “out-Trump” Trump and the real damage of his mythical “culture wars” to Florida’s economy, environment, and public services such as education and health care.

Oh, and I point that there are other Republicans standing for the nomination besides Ron DeSantis.