The Patriot Post® · '60 Minutes' Runs Fake News Hit Piece Against DeSantis

Why anyone still takes CBS’s “news” show “60 Minutes” seriously after its long history of blatantly deceptive promulgation of demonstrably false narratives is anybody’s guess. That “60 Minutes” is still considered reputable journalism by many is a testament to the manipulative power of popular media. In truth, the show is nothing more than a leftist propaganda program masquerading as investigative journalism. This reality was once again brought home over the weekend when the program was exposed for deliberately spinning a false narrative against Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis via a deceptively edited interview.

The “60 Minutes” story is nothing other than an anti-DeSantis hit piece aimed at smearing the governor’s impressive and successful leadership in handling the ChiCom Virus pandemic and specifically vaccine distribution. CBS’s Sharyn Alfonsi, who covered the segment, claims that DeSantis engaged in “pay-to-play” schemes for COVID vaccine distribution that favored white and affluent areas.

None of the allegations are true, and DeSantis throughly debunks them when questioned by Alfonsi during a press conference.

“Publix, as you know, donated $100,000 to your campaign, and then you reward them with exclusive rights to vaccination in Palm Beach,” Alfonsi asserts. DeSantis explained, “You had the counties, you had some drive-thru sites, you had hospitals that were doing a lot, but we wanted to get it into communities more. So we reached out to other retail pharmacies: Publix, Walmart, obviously CVS and Walgreens had to finish that mission, and we said we’re going to use you as soon as you’re done with that.” However, rather than showing DeSantis’s full response, CBS deceptively edited out the majority and most significant portions of his answer, and then continued parroting its demonstrably false narrative. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

In fact, so blatantly misleading and downright false was the “60 Minutes” “reporting” that a local Democrat official, Jared Moskowitz — who happens to be the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and no friend of DeSantis — blasted it as “absolute malarkey.”

Another Democrat, Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner, stated unequivocally, “The reporting was not just based on bad information — it was intentionally false. I know this because I offered to provide my insight into Palm Beach County’s vaccination efforts and ‘60 Minutes’ declined. They know that the governor came to Palm Beach County and met with me and the county administrator and we asked to expand the state’s partnership with Publix to Palm Beach County.” Kerner further noted, “The media is making it worse. They are hellbent on dividing us for cheap views and clicks. ‘60 Minutes’ should be ashamed.”

Publix also criticized “60 Minutes” for false reporting, stating, “The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine efforts is absolutely false and offensive.”

Fox News’s Brit Hume observed, “It’s worth noting that one of the reasons DeSantis [is praised] is that Florida has been mostly open … for most of the year and yet its infection and death rates are no worse in states like California that had all the draconian lockdowns that did such terrible damage to their local economies not to mention the secondary effects of those lockdowns." Indeed, Florida has shunned the extreme lockdowns, but as DeSantis said, "There are 26 states that are higher than Florida, per capita mortality, and 40 states that are higher in 65 and up mortality rates." New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, call your office.

It’s clear that mainstream media outlets like CBS, which have long been political action committees for Democrats, fear an effective Republican leader like DeSantis gaining in popularity, thus the baseless hit piece. If this weren’t the case, then "60 Minutes” would have been banging on Cuomo’s door long ago, as his is a real scandal that any genuine investigative journalist worth his salt would be champing at the bit to expose.