Ari Fleischer Breaks Down Ron DeSantis’ Debate Performance Against Gavin Newsom: ‘I Just Don’t Think He Closed the Gap’ With Trump

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer broke down Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ performance following his debate with California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday, and concluded that DeSantis didn’t close the gap in his race against former President Donald Trump.

“I think watching this you just realize Democrats are from Mars and Republicans are from Venus,” Fleischer told Fox News host Sean Hannity, who moderated the debate. “I mean, they speak totally different languages.”

Fleischer argued that while “Ron DeSantis’ language was one of economics” and “people’s daily lives,” Newsom’s “whole message was identity politics, which is the language of the Democrats,” though he went on to praise Newsom as “much more articulate, fast on his feet, and sharper than Joe Biden.”

On DeSantis, Fleischer said, “I don’t think that he closed the gap with Donald Trump tonight. It was a nice night for him and he did well and he had the facts on his side, but when you look at the purpose of him being there, which is to win a presidential race, I just don’t think he closed the gap.”

After Hannity asked him to grade DeSantis’ performance, Fleischer said, “I’d give DeSantis a B+ in the way he handled the facts. I would give him a B- because he hardly ever looked Gavin Newsom in the eye, and if you’re going to be strong, you need to look at your opponent in the eye. He did it occasionally, but you need to do it always.”

As for Newsom, Fleischer said, “I would give Newsom a D, just in terms of his mangling of the facts, his fabricating, his making things up. In terms of being glib, yeah I’d give him an A. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy stand in the on-deck circle, putting pine tar on his bat, studying the pitcher and swinging the bat all the while denying that he’s going to step up to the plate. That’s what Gavin Newsom was tonight.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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