Former Republican Party presidential candidate and ambassador Jon Huntsman swiped at Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) after watching his performance in the Republican debates on Wednesday.
The Deseret News watched the debate with Huntsman and his wife, who made their own little side comments as the debate unfolded.
Among the comments was that DeSantis looked tired. Frequently, the Florida governor is photographed with heavy lids and half-open eyes.
Huntsman said it was “like he’s having a colonoscopy live on television.”
He also said he couldn’t make up his mind when it comes to anti-Ukraine candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Noting he has a high IQ, Huntsman said that sometimes he seems "professorial," while others, “he’s selling pillows at midnight on television," an apparent reference to Mike Lindell.
The former ambassador went on to critique DeSantis as trying to get everything about himself out in the first question. The first question to him was about why he should be the GOP nominee. Huntsman checked off his list before DeSantis even said it, "elites, gas prices, open border."
“He’s preloading his first answer with all of the catchphrases, and pretty soon he’ll be out of stuff to say,” Huntsman said. “It’s totally patronizing.”
“The hard part is differentiating rhetoric — throw-away lines — from useful ideas that are actually implementable,” he continued. “And the ratio is about 90 to 10: 90% throw-away lines, and 10% things that you can actually work with.”
Read the full interview at The Deseret News.
