\n<\/p>\n
When the Fox News host Laura Ingraham urged Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida \u201cto step aside and endorse Trump\u201d on Tuesday night, it was the latest sign of a sharp deterioration of relations between the Republican presidential hopeful and the network that made him a star.<\/p>\n
Ms. Ingraham\u2019s exhortation, in the wake of Mr. DeSantis\u2019s second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, was met with mockery and derision by two of the governor\u2019s most prominent aides.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would DeSantis take advice from the opposing campaign?\u201d Christina Pushaw, the campaign\u2019s rapid response director, wrote on X, to which Mr. DeSantis\u2019s spokesman in the governor\u2019s office, Jeremy Redfern, chimed in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fox News PAC,\u201d<\/a> he wrote.<\/p>\n It was the latest broadside from Mr. DeSantis\u2019s inner circle against the cable network that until recently had been among the loudest advocates<\/a> of his candidacy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But Mr. DeSantis lashed out last week, accusing Fox News of bias toward his rival, former President Donald J. Trump. Speaking to reporters in Iowa, Mr. DeSantis said that conservative media outlets, including Fox, had acted as \u201ca Praetorian Guard\u201d for Mr. Trump. \u201cThey just don\u2019t hold him accountable because they\u2019re worried about losing viewers,\u201d Mr. DeSantis said, \u201cand they don\u2019t want to have the ratings go down.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor\u2019s campaign manager denounced Fox as \u201cfull blown Trump TV<\/a>, honesty thrown to the wind.\u201d On caucus night, Ms. Pushaw assailed Fox News for projecting a victory for Mr. Trump only a half-hour after Iowans began to caucus. \u201cCorporate media election interference,\u201d she wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr. DeSantis\u2019s campaign and Fox News declined to comment.<\/p>\n Despite the apparent ill feelings toward Fox from some of his aides, the candidate has continued to appear on the network. On the day of his \u201cPraetorian Guard\u201d remarks, he appeared on Ms. Ingraham\u2019s show. He later sat for interviews with \u201cFox News Sunday\u201d and Monday\u2019s edition of \u201cFox & Friends.\u201d He taped an informal interview on Wednesday with a Fox correspondent, Alexis McAdams, in New Hampshire, and he is scheduled to appear on Neil Cavuto\u2019s program on Friday.<\/p>\n Still, the dynamic is a far cry from the days when Mr. DeSantis relied on admiring coverage from the channel, tossing a softball in Florida with Brian Kilmeade and promoting his memoir in prime-time with numerous hosts, including Ms. Ingraham. At the same time, he shunned CNN and the major broadcast networks.<\/p>\n On Thursday, as he fought to salvage his candidacy heading into the New Hampshire primary, Mr. DeSantis openly regretted that early media strategy, saying he should have tried to engage with news outlets<\/a> beyond Fox News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI should have just been blanketing, I should have gone on all the corporate shows, I should have gone on everything,\u201d he told the radio host<\/a> Hugh Hewitt. \u201cWe had an opportunity, I think, to come out of the gate and do that and reach a much broader folk.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. DeSantis had given the cold shoulder to much of Florida\u2019s local press on his way to becoming a popular governor in the state. But political experts had long warned that a presidential race, particularly against a rival as well-known as Mr. Trump, could require a wider aperture.<\/p>\n