'The Daily Show' Just Destroyed Ron DeSantis

The late-night talk and satirical news television program The Daily Show has mocked Ron DeSantis in a clip that has gone viral online.

The Republican Florida governor took part in the fourth GOP debate on Wednesday in Alabama, alongside former South Carolina governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Hosted by NewsNation, the debate came as the last opportunity for the GOP candidates to face each other before the first primary caucus in Iowa on January 15. In Republican primary polling, DeSantis has 12.8 percent of the vote, just a couple of percentage points ahead of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, per aggregate pollsters 538, formerly FiveThirtyEight.

The Daily Show shared a clip of DeSantis during a break at the Republican debate to its X account, formerly Twitter, with narration added to the clip. In parts of the video, DeSantis can be seen looking stiff and awkward.

"Remember Ron, you are normal, you are not weird. You are 5'11". Your suit is soft and your shoes are grown-up big boy shoes," the narration said, highlighting how uncomfortable DeSantis looks.

Then, when DeSantis can be seen tapping his fingers on his leg, the narration continues: "That's it, pretending you're listening to music, human music. Good. Check the phone, normal style. Activate conversation mode. Hello, you're busy, okay, love you bye f*** f****** f*** f***.

"Come on Ron, be normal. You are not a bobblehead with a dry mouth, you are a big boy with a wet mouth. Activate head turn, activate toothless smile. Good, very good. Activate hand gesture. Good, that's better," the narration says.

"Remember, you are Ron DeSantis, you aren't just normal, you're also totally not weird," the narration adds.

Posted on December 7, the clip has more than 1.2 million views. Newsweek has emailed Comedy Central, which airs The Daily Show, and a representative for DeSantis for comment.

People have taken to the comments section to share their thoughts on DeSantis and his behavior in the video. "Idk [I don't know] if it's anatomical or what, remnant from our evolutionary past? but he definitely holds his arms like flippers," one person commented.

"They keep saying he's 'not ready for prime time' but he's not ready for 'Tim,'" posted another X user, while a third person wrote: "This is academy award level trolling here."

While some commenters love the clip, others have accused The Daily Show of copying the idea from X user Magical Trevor. He says he is a part of The Dilley Meme Team, which "produces the dankest memes and original content for MAGA brands and campaigns." Newsweek has put these claims to Comedy Central by email.

"The original that you blatantly ripped off is way funnier. The Dilley Meme Team runs culture now," one person posted to X.

"Stealing content now? At least tag the creators," one person wrote, with another adding: "I'm glad the writer strike ended so we can pay them to steal other peoples content."

These aren't the only people to believe DeSantis looked uncomfortable during the debate as, according to body language expert Dr. Jack Brown, the Florida governor showed discomfort.

Posting on X, the prominent body-language expert said that DeSantis showed "emotional discomfort and emotional vulnerability" when his rivals scored points against him during the debate.

Brown said on the platform: "Immediately after Nikki Haley scores a point against DeSantis and Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis adopts a modified fig-leaf (genital guarding) configuration—signaling his emotional discomfort and emotional vulnerability in that moment."

Brown added that the Republican also showed "insincerity and chronic deception" by elevating his forehead.

"The overly-frequent elevated forehead contraction is THE most common body language sign of insincerity and chronic deception," Brown said. "There are few better examples of this behavior than Ron DeSantis."

While DeSantis' movements may be being picked apart by those mocking him online, according to Newsweek's analysis, he and Haley were among the winners of the debate.

"DeSantis had the better overall performance given the high stakes and momentum in the race, but Haley has benefited the most from the debates to date and this could be viewed as another solid performance by her supporters," Aaron Kall, political commentator and director of the debate program at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek.

However, since declaring his presidential bid in May, DeSantis' 2024 campaign has been losing ground, while Haley's has gained a lot of momentum following the former governor's endorsement last week by Americans for Prosperity Action.

Neither DeSantis nor Haley is any closer to bridging the existing gap with Donald Trump in polling. As of December 6, the former president, who is facing 91 felony charges spread among four indictments, had 59.6 percent of the vote.