Daily Beast slams Casey DeSantis as a 'Walmart Melania'

Casey DeSantis is under attack in the media again; this time as a cheap knockoff version of former first lady Melania Trump.

The Florida first lady sparked comparisons to Melania Trump when she wore a black leather jacket during a campaign appearance in Iowa on Saturday with lettering on the back that read 'where woke goes to die.' Ron DeSantis has made attacking 'woke' culture a major cornerstone of his presidential campaign.

The liberal news website Daily Beast went after DeSantis for her fashion choice. 

'Casey DeSantis Is the Walmart Melania' read the headline in the Daily Beast on Monday, in an op-ed written by the site's executive editor Katie Baker. 

Casey DeSantis was blasted for wearing a black leather jacket in Iowa that read 'where woke goes to die' - above she wears the jacket as she stands next to her husband Ron DeSantis

Baker described it as 'a ghastly black leather jacket - American flag on front, an alligator and the silhouette of her state on the back, with the sneering words, 'Where Woke Goes to Die' - that brought to mind nothing so much as the racks of a Red State big-bin store where it would be retailing for $24.99.'

Additionally she charged that people dying under DeSantis' administration, referring to the COVID pandemic: 'DeSantis’ Florida is where the woke go to die - and a lot of other people die as well.'

The Sunshine State had a high death rate during the pandemic. DeSantis flouted restrictions and touted Florida as a place for freedom.

Baker, meanwhile, went on to blast Ron and Casey DeSantis as 'knock-offs' and 'poseurs. Fake Birkins. Mar-a-Lago imitators. ... They want it way too much and it shows.'

DeSantis supporters flooded social media with messages of support for the governor's wife, who has been a prominent presence at his side as he campaigns for the GOP presidential nomination.

'Walmart Melania' was trending on Twitter in the U.S. on Monday afternoon along side 'Casey DeSantis.' 

In response, the DeSantis campaign is now selling a black sweatshirt that says 'where woke goes to die' for $65. 

Conservative pundit Erik Erickson slammed the Daily Beast op-ed, writing on Twitter: 'The shallowness of this piece is remarkable and is a reminder that for all the bellyaching about sexism in the press, female journalists really are often that catty.'

The Daily Beast piece called Casey a 'Walmart Melania'

The DeSantis campaign is selling black sweatshirts that say 'where woke goes to die'

Conservative pundit Erick Erickson defended Casey DeSantis

The debate was trending on Twitter on Monday afternoon

Melania and Donald Trump with Ron and Casey DeSantis in a photo dating back to the Trump administration

Casey DeSantis wore the jacket on a hot day in Iowa, where her husband was campaigning at a charity biker rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

It promptly sparked comparisons to former first lady Melania Trump, who wore her own statement jacket during a 2018 trip to Texas to visit migrant children separated from their families when crossing the border. 

'I really don't care do u?' the green jacket read. It prompted outrage about the message she was sending during her visit. Donald Trump said the words were directed to the media.

Casey posted a photo on her instagram account of herself wearing the jacket and DeSantis fans wrote messages of support, asking where they could buy such a jacket. 

This is not the first time the Florida first lady has come under fire in the media.

Last month conservatives blasted an article in Politico titled 'The Casey DeSantis Problem: 'His Greatest Asset and His Greatest Liability.'

The piece portrayed Casey as a Lady Macbeth-type character in desire of power and drew the ire of many on the right, who argued the mainstream media would never treat a Democrat politician's wife so harshly.

Donald and Melania Trump at a December 2020 campaign rally 

Casey's jacket drew comparisons to the 'I really don't care do you?' jacket that Melania Trump wore in June 2018 during a trip to Texas to visit migrant children

Ron DeSantis has defended his wife vigorously. 

In a radio interview last month, he said that if Casey wasn't a conservative, she would be a fashion star.

'If she were a Democrat, she'd be on every fashion magazine. … They would be making her out to be the biggest deal. But because we're conservative, we know that that's not what happens. In reality, it will be the opposite, where they try to really attack,' he said on the Mark Levin Show.

He called her his 'best friend.'

'She's a great wife, a great mother. But I'll tell you when I'm out there on the campaign trail, there is nobody I would rather have by my side than Casey DeSantis. And the corrupt media knows that. They know she's good. So they're going to try to fabricate stories about her.'