When Fox News host Laura Ingraham urged Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida to “step aside and stand behind Trump” on Tuesday night, it was the latest sign of a sharp deterioration in relations between the Republican presidential hopeful and the chain that made him a star. .
Ms. Ingraham's exhortation, in the wake of DeSantis' second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, was met with ridicule and derision from two of the governor's most prominent aides.
“Why would DeSantis follow the advice of the opposing campaign?” Christina Pushaw, the campaign's rapid response director, wrote in X, to which DeSantis' spokesperson in the governor's office, Jeremy Redfern, weighed in.
“The Fox News PAC” he wrote.
It was the latest salvo from DeSantis' inner circle against the cable network that until recently had been among the staunchest supporters of his candidacy.
But DeSantis lashed out last week, accusing Fox News of bias toward his rival, former President Donald J. Trump. Speaking to reporters in Iowa, DeSantis said conservative media outlets, including Fox, had acted as “a praetorian guard” for Trump.
“They just don't hold it accountable because they're worried about losing viewers,” DeSantis said, “and they don't want the ratings to go down.”
The governor's campaign manager denounced Fox as “Trump TV in full force, honesty thrown to the wind.” On the night of the caucus, Pushaw attacked Fox News for projecting a Trump victory just a half-hour after Iowans began the caucus. “Electoral interference by corporate media” she wrote in.
The DeSantis campaign and Fox News declined to comment.
Despite apparent ill feelings toward Fox from some of his advisors, the candidate has continued to appear on the network. On the day of his comments about the “Praetorian Guard,” he appeared on Mrs. Ingraham's show. He later participated in interviews with “Fox News Sunday” and on Monday's edition of “Fox & Friends.” He recorded an informal interview Wednesday with a Fox correspondent, Alexis McAdams, in New Hampshire, and is scheduled to appear on Neil Cavuto's show on Friday.
Still, the dynamic is a far cry from the days when DeSantis relied on the network's adoring coverage, throwing a softball in Florida with Brian Kilmeade and promoting his prime-time memoir with numerous hosts, including Ingraham. At the same time, he rejected CNN and the major television networks.
On Thursday, as he fought to save his candidacy ahead of next week's New Hampshire primary, DeSantis openly regretted that initial media strategy, saying he should have tried to engage with media outlets beyond Fox News.
“I should have just been bundled up, I should have gone to all the corporate programs, I should have gone to everything,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt. “I think we had an opportunity to get out the door and do that and reach a much broader audience.”
DeSantis turned his back on much of the local Florida press on his path to becoming a popular governor in the state. But political experts had long warned that a presidential race, particularly against a rival as well-known as Trump, could require a broader opening.
“DeSantis' campaign should be studied in future presidential campaigns as a 'how not' to press relations,” Lisa Smith said., a Democratic strategist who oversaw Pete Buttigieg's victory in Iowa four years ago. “His unnecessarily antagonistic stance toward the press amplified his weaknesses as a candidate.”
“He was not given any grace,” Smith added. “When he changed his strategy, it was too late.”
In planning his campaign, DeSantis may also have miscalculated Trump's staying power with the Republican electorate.
At the time, the governor was enjoying hours of Fox News coverage while the network had all but banished Trump, an absence that lasted from November 2022 to March 2023. A series of criminal indictments led to Trump reappearing on headlines and helped revive his popularity within the Republican Party.
DeSantis still appeared on Fox News, including a one-on-one debate with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California in November that drew an impressive 5.4 million viewers. But when the caucuses came around, Trump was once again a regular presence on the channel. When the network hosted Mr. DeSantis for a live town hall-style event in Iowa last week, it aired at 6 p.m.
Trump's town hall, under conditions stipulated by the Trump campaign, was starred at 9 pm in prime time, opposite a CNN debate in which DeSantis was participating.
