Feb. 27, 2023: Whats in Ron DeSantis' new book
Ron DeSantis's \u201cThe Courage to Be Free\u201d will be released tomorrow, kicking off a media tour that is widely assumed to be the prelude to a formal announcement this spring that he\u2019s running for president.\xa0\nThe book rollout is taking full advantage of DeSantis\u2019s relationship with the Rupert Murdoch media empire. The book is published by HarperCollins, which is owned by Murdoch\u2019s News Corp. The first excerpt, \u201cHow the Florida blueprint can work for the whole US,\u201d was published in the NY Post. Two authorized leaks from the book, one about his relationship with Trump and, early this morning, one about a private phone call with former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, have been published by foxnews.com.\nAnd DeSantis started his media tour last night by giving his first interview about the book to Mark Levin, on Fox News\u2019s \u201cLife, Liberty & Levin.\u201d The 40-minute conversation was as friendly and fawning as you\u2019d expect.\xa0\nAfter midnight, The New York Times published a review of the book by Jennifer Szalai, who is, to put it mildly, not impressed.\xa0\nTaken together the Levin interview and the Szalai review perfectly capture how the right and left are greeting the DeSantis 2024 rollout.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.