Fox & Friends’ latest lovefest with Gov. Ron DeSantis (Death-FL) featured a song that celebrates him and attacks Dr. Anthony Fauci. The hosts added to the DeSantis’ love by hyping their war on Disney.

There was no mention of DeSantis’ war on Disney in the song clip we saw, but maybe that will be in a follow up release by brothers Johnny Van Zant, lead vocalist of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Donnie Van Zant.

Meanwhile, the three Fox & Friends’ cohosts slobbered over the video that, as cohost Steve Doocy gushed, is “highlighting the leadership of – you saw him in the cutaways – Gov. Ron DeSantis and his efforts to keep Florida free.”

Doocy broke in right after a video clip from the song played:

“He's fighting for the right to keep our state free/ Well he's taking on the swamp and he's calling out Dr. Fauci/ Fauci/ He's the only one fighting for you and me.”

Cohost Brian Kilmeade beamed as he called the song “fantastic” and the Van Zants “great guys.” Also on hand was the also-beaming star of the song, DeSantis.

Kilmeade said he “cannot wait” to get to “the backstory” behind the song because “no one’s really sang the word ‘Fauci’ in a while. But it’s actually in the lyrics.” Kilmeade chuckled and the Van Zants laughed heartily. Johnny Van Zant clapped.

Then Kilmeade opened up an opportunity for DeSantis to talk about his efforts to cancel Disney. “We gotta ask you what you did yesterday,” Kilmeade said. “You basically said, ‘Hey, Disney, I don’t like your stance against this bill,” meaning DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill. But Kilmeade helpfully called it “this parents’ rights bill.” He asked DeSantis if he’d like to “expand” on his attack.

I’ll pause here to note that Fox has been waging its own campaign against Disney for years. But the animus has really picked up steam of late.

DeSantis went on to explain his vindictive war on Disney for having the temerity to oppose the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. “When you’re trying to impose a woke ideology on this state, we view that as a significant threat,” the guy who deliberately exposed his constituents to COVID said. “Wokeness will destroy this country, if we let it run unabated,” DeSantis added.

In case a viewer wasn’t sure what to think about this, Fox displayed a graphic signaling its approval:

“Sure,” Doocy agreed, before giving a DeSantis-friendly rundown of the possible legislation stripping Disney of its special self-governing status. That led to more anti-Disney talk from DeSantis.

When he was done, self-styled “tough journalist” Ainsley Earhardt slobbered, “A lot of politicians would be scared to go up against Disney because they bring in so much revenue to the state but good for you for sticking to your guns and believing what you believe.”

After talking up the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Earhardt pivoted to the song:

EARHARDT: Let's talk about the song “Sweet Florida." The Van Zant brothers, you see them on the screen, they wrote this song. And we all were shocked when we saw the video. We didn't know the governor was going to be in it. Let's play a little bit of the song for our audience.

(VIDEO BEGINS)

The press don't like him, but it sure does get my business/ He stands up for what he believes/ So don't come down here trying to change things/ We're doing all right in the sunshine state/ Stay out of our business, leave our gov. alone/ Down in sweet Florida/ Our governor is red, white, and blue/ Down in sweet Florida/ He's shooting us straight and telling us the truth/ Yeah, that's right. 

 (VIDEO ENDS)

But that wasn’t enough. Earhardt asked Johnny Van Zant to tell us all why he wrote the song. Apparently, it was inspired by DeSantis’ re-election bid. At one point, DeSantis suggested he had asked them to write it. Which raises the question of whether it’s a campaign song that Fox was pretending wasn’t. In any event, Fox worked it into nearly eight minutes of air time designed to spruce up his cruelty.

You can watch the Murdoch-funded propaganda that should have been an April Fools’ joke below, from the April 1, 2022 Fox & Friends, via Media Matters.