In an opinion piece that was published on Sunday, The Daily Beast’s Katie Baker called Florida’s first lady, Casey DeSantis, a “Walmart Melania” and criticized her for sporting a leather jacket at a campaign event in Iowa.
DeSantis donned a leather jacket with the words “Where woke goes to die” on the back, an alligator, and an outline of the state of Florida.
Iowa and Florida: Where woke goes to die…
….thanks to the leadership of @KimReynoldsIA and @RonDeSantis. pic.twitter.com/G1F4Y4NZrJ
— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) June 4, 2023
“The First Lady of Florida showed up on the campaign trail in Iowa this weekend wearing a ghastly black leather jacket—American flag on front, an alligator and the silhouette of her state on the back, with the sneering words, ‘Where Woke Goes to Die’—that brought to mind nothing so much as the racks of a Red State big-bin store where it would be retailing for $24.99,” Baker, an executive editor at the Daily Beast, wrote.
Baker drew parallels between it and the “I really don’t care” jacket that the former first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, wore on a visit to migrant facilities in the state of Texas.
“Casey DeSantis’ coat is just like her husband Ron DeSantis’ campaign: Crude. Grasping. Saying the ugly part out loud,” the op-ed continued. “DeSantis wants to peel off Trump’s base by being even more explicit about who he intends to target. You can see it right there on his wife’s jacket: DeSantis’ Florida is where the woke go to die—and a lot of other people die as well.”
Prior to her husband’s official campaign launch, Politico wrote an article about DeSantis, referring to her as “his greatest asset and his greatest liability.”
“For some time now she’s been seen mostly and by many as an absolute superstar of a political spouse… For nearly as long, too, though, others who have worked with her or around her have nodded more quietly to the downsides of the starring part that she plays,” Politico senior staff writer Michael Kruse wrote. “The DeSantis inner circle is too small and remains so, they say, not only because he constitutionally doesn’t trust people but because she doesn’t either. Especially forthright are the people who are granted anonymity on account of their fear of retribution given their power — not just his but hers.”
Politico cited former Republicans including political analyst Mac Stipanovich, co-founder of the Lincoln Project Rick Wilson, and MSNBC commentator David Jolly.
The publication also cited a statement by Roger Stone in which Stone compared DeSantis to Lady Macbeth.
DeSantis was “falling far short” in his attempts to draw inspiration from “Jackie Kennedy” or Melania Trump, according to Baker’s “fashion” op-ed.
“We’ve got a Sunshine State Lady Macbeth, in her green cape and white gloves, with her middling husband and her thirst for the crown—and we’ve got a guy who wants to be sitting in a corner, mumbling about the Federalist Papers and gobbling pudding off his fingers,” Baker continued.
Additionally, Baker asserted that neither Melania Trump nor Casey DeSantis could “embody the class and effortless elegance of Michelle Obama or Dr. Jill Biden.”
“Those First Ladies have used fashion not as a punitive tool to stick it to political enemies—nor as a bored, nihilistic shrug—but as something generous and welcoming,” she wrote.
