FIGHTING WORDS

MSNBC Panel Declares Casey DeSantis ‘America’s Karen’

The label prompted a round of laughs from fellow panelists, as well as host Jonathan Capehart.

An MSNBC panel had some strong words for Florida’s First Lady, Casey DeSantis, over the weekend—with one guest going so far as to dub her “America’s Karen.”

As the charismatic wife to a reportedly uncharismatic presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis, Casey has become a national figure off her attempts to soften her husband’s hardline far-right campaign. But those attempts can’t change the basis of hate the couple’s shared political project rests upon, according to former Republican Rep. David Jolly, who represented DeSantis’ home state of Florida from 2014 to 2017.

“For some, she’s become the brighter side to Florida’s angry governor,” Jolly said on MSNBC’s The Saturday Show With Jonathan Capehart. “For many others, she’s become America’s Karen.”

He went on to say that DeSantis’ zero-sum, scorched earth culture war campaign is a losing message—and that no amount of charisma can make up for the couple’s lack of a positive message about the future of the country they’d like to govern.

“She’s a more effective messenger than Ron DeSantis, but if all she’s doing is amplifying her husband’s messages, she’s actually only clarifying his weaknesses,” Jolly added. “It doesn’t matter if it’s presented in heels or boots, the DeSantis doctrine is a losing one.”

The label prompted a round of laughs from fellow panelist and conservative pundit Tara Setmayer, as well as host Jonathan Capehart.

“Tara, I think David’s beaten you in terms of taking my breath away during a segment,” Capehart joked, adding: “America’s Karen, hoo boy.”

For her part, Setmayer continued on the topic by calling Casey DeSantis a “Serena Waterford wannabe,” in reference to the antagonist in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale.

“She needs to stop measuring the drapes at the White House and drop this belief that she’s Jackie [Onassis] reincarnate,” Setmayer added. “Keep an eye on her, she’s a wily figure.”

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