Ron DeSantis mocked for referencing ‘pudding’ in CNN interview after bizarre food story

Unfortunate turn of phrase revived viral claim about Florida governor eating pudding cup with fingers

It was an unfortunate reference that Ron DeSantis viewers everywhere picked up on almost immediately.

In response to a question from CNN’s Jake Tapper in one of his first mainstream media interviews, the Florida governor said of his electability that “the proof is in the pudding”.

This immediately recalled a viral story from earlier this year in which The Daily Beast reported that Mr DeSantis once ate a pudding cup with his fingers while on a private jet.

Not only did the story provide fodder for the late-night talk shows, but it also led to a stomach-turning Donald Trump campaign ad mocking the Florida governor in which a lookalike actor eats pudding with his fingers in close-up shots.

The ad was paid for by the Make America Great Again Inc PAC and said Mr DeSantis had “dirty fingers”.

“Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong,” the advertisement said.

Throughout the video, headlines from publications criticising Mr DeSantis appear over the images of the man eating the pudding. The advertisement accuses Mr DeSantis of cutting Medicare, Social Security, and raising the retirement age.

“Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off his money,” the advertisement says. “And oh, somebody get this man a spoon.”

After the Florida governor’s choice of phrase in Tuesday’s CNN interview, political commentator Keith Olbermann tweeted: “His Effing fingers are in the Effing pudding — that’s what’s in the pudding” and called Mr DeSantis “Ron DePudding”.

Jon Favreau, host of Pod Save America and a former Obama administration speechwriter, said on Twitter: “When @jaketapper asked DeSantis about the state of his campaign, his answer actually included the phrase.... ‘The proof is in the pudding’.”

He included screenshots from the Trump campaign ad for good measure.

In March, Mr DeSantis chose not to outright deny that he ate chocolate pudding with three fingers on a private flight in 2019. The Daily Beast noted that Mr DeSantis sometimes struggles to “read the room”.

“I don’t remember ever doing that,” the governor told Piers Morgan in an interview on Fox Nation.

“Maybe when I was a kid, but it’s interesting there’s a lot of people who when they go at you, sometimes they have really good ammunition like, ‘You’re a crook, you did this, you did that,’” he added. “For me, they’re talking about pudding, and I’m like, ‘Is that really the best you’ve got? OK, bring it on!’”

“It’s quite interesting that the governor didn’t flat out deny eating pudding with three fingers,” an ex-staffer for Mr DeSantis told The Daily Beast earlier this year.

The full proverb the Florida governor intended to use is “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, though that wouldn’t have made things better.