Ron DeSantis Plays Victim: They ‘Called the Election’ Before Many Could Vote

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis struck a positive tone during his Iowa speech, proudly making it clear that his campaign will move forward while repeating the narrative of his campaign and supporters, many of whom accused the media of election interference for recognizing former President Donald Trump’s blowout victory in the Hawkeye State early in the evening.

“They thew everything but the kitchen sink at us,” DeSantis told supporters in his post-caucus speech, striking a very positive tone.

“They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us,” he repeated, claiming that his campaign endured $50 million in attack ads.

“No one’s faced that much all the way just through Iowa. They, the media, was against us. They were writing our obituary months ago,” DeSantis said before repeating the narrative of his campaign and allies, who have accused the media of “election interference” for calling the race for Trump early on when it was evident it was a blowout, historic victory for the former president.

“They even called the election before people even got a chance to vote,” DeSantis said. “But they were just so excited about the fact that they were predicting that we wouldn’t be able to get our ticket punched here out of Iowa.”

“But I can tell you, because of your support — in spite of all of that, that they threw at us, everyone against us — we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa,” DeSantis said, explaining that Iowa taught him that the country has “a basic decency.”

“We’ve got hard-working people, God-fearing people, patriotic people. You just don’t see it every day because of all the nonsense it gets spewed out there by the media, by social media, all this other stuff,” he said, adding, “People want to have hope for this country’s future, and that’s what we represent.”

“We represent a chance to reverse the madness that we’ve seen in this country, to reverse the decline of this country, and to give this country a new birth of freedom and a restoration of sanity. That’s what we are going to do,” he promised, later adding that his supporters “helped us get a ticket punched out of the Hawkeye State.”

“We have a lot of work to do, but I can tell you this: As the next President of the United States, I am going to get the job done for this country. I am not going to make any excuses. And I guarantee you this: I will not let you down,” DeSantis added.

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As of 11:50 p.m. Eastern on Monday, with over 95 percent of the results in, Trump led the Iowa caucuses with 51 support, or 19 delegates, to DeSantis’s 21.2 percent support and eight delegates.