Ron DeSantis’s repulsive Martha’s Vineyard stunt is made for Fox News

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed voting restrictions last year, he gave exclusive access to this glorious spectacle to Fox News. It was a twofer for the national right-wing audience, flaunting his relish of voter suppression while sticking it to mainstream Fake News outlets in the process.

Now DeSantis has produced another made-for-Fox moment: He is taking credit for delivering two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, where locals are scrambling to meet their needs. DeSantis’s staff apparently supplied exclusive video of these heroics to Fox: It shows the migrants, some children, disembarking from planes, and then walking along a street, all in quiet, orderly fashion.

All this illustrates the methodical nature of DeSantis’s appeals to the national GOP primary electorate. And it illuminates the maneuverings behind his efforts to co-opt the MAGA movement, perhaps inevitably conflicting with MAGA overlord Donald Trump himself.