How easy it is to make these claims from cushy penthouse offices in coastal urban cities in totally different states, thousands of miles away. They froth at the mouth about people like Abbott and DeSantis to the point that everyone surrounding them thinks the same way. But they make absolutely zero effort to go to the actual voters and ask what they think. If they did, their whole narrative would fall apart pretty quickly.
Just like with Gaetz. Nobody who matters gives a fuck about the media's weird sexual fascination with Matt Gaetz. And when I say "nobody who matters" that doesn't refer to journoshits or the blue checkmarked capos of twitter. That refers to his fucking constituents that vote for him, who are literally the only people whose opinions ultimately matter. When they started out with their Gaetz nonsense, it actually raised his approval in his district. Why? Because he's from a district in the panhandle on the outskirts of Pensacola (and which includes a lot of more rural Florida counties) with a huge military presence. When they see CNN and the NYT getting mad, their approval rises. The fact that journoshits can't understand that is mindblowing. It's like punching a brick wall and expecting any result other than your hand getting injured, then doing it again, and again, and again.