Ron DeSantis snaps at reporter claiming he's not taking questions from voters: 'Are you blind?'
'People are coming up to me, talking to me,' DeSantis said sharply to AP reporter
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sharply dismissed a reporter asking why he wasn't taking questions from voters while he was taking photos with members of the crowd during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, asking, "Are you blind?"
"People are coming up to me, talking to me," DeSantis said, surrounded by members of the crowd, in response to a question from Associated Press reporter Steve Peoples on Thursday. "What are you talking about? Are you blind? Are you blind? People are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about."
Videos posted to Twitter show DeSantis taking photos with members of the crowd at a campaign event in New Hampshire, which has the first Republican primary next year. The first caucuses will take place in Iowa.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBC News reported that DeSantis "did not answer questions from his lectern so that voters could all hear his answers at once."
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waves as he arrives for his presidential campaign kickoff event at Eternity Church in Clive, Iowa, on Tuesday. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
DeSantis' press secretary Bryan Griffin reacted to video of the confrontation on Twitter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This @AP reporter asked this question while @RonDeSantis was surrounded by voters in New Hampshire asking him questions and taking pictures. Perfectly illustrative of the modern media shutting their eyes and ears to the truth to push their narrative," Griffin said.
DeSantis has been trading barbs with former President Donald Trump after he officially announced his 2024 campaign on May 24.
The Florida governor drew laughter from an audience in Iowa on Wednesday while responding to Trump's claim that New York's response to COVID-19 under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's leadership was better than Florida's response.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I mean, if you say Cuomo did a better job with COVID than Florida did — first of all, that’s not what he used to say. Six months ago he would have never said that, right?" DeSantis said to the crowd.
Several major media pundits and publications have described DeSantis as being "far more dangerous" than Trump.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 27, 2023. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
HuffPost published an opinion piece bluntly headlined, "No one is more dangerous for the White House than Ron DeSantis — including Donald Trump," which said the Florida governor is "more informed, tactical and calculated, which makes him way more dangerous."
"Imagine Donald Trump, but with brains and savvy," Dustin Seibert wrote. "Imagine Trump, but with a stalwart dedication toward legislation that moves the country in a direction that should terrify most reasonable human beings."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News Digital's Brian Flood and David Rutz contributed to this report.