PHONY TOUGH GUY RON DeSANTIS IS AFRAID OF BIG CITIES

Fox News reports that Ron DeSantis is barnstorming the country in support of big-city police departments. However, he's apparently afraid to set foot in the central parts of those cities:

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to kick off a pro-police tour starting in New York City to speak with law enforcement officers in blue-led cities who feel unsupported.

DeSantis will begin the tour Monday morning by speaking with police officers and law enforcement union officials at a diner in red-leaning borough of Staten Island. The governor will then head to Fort Washington, a Philadelphia suburb, and Elmhurst, Illinois, near Chicago, where he will meet with sheriffs, chiefs of police and other local law enforcement officials, his political team told Fox News Digital.

Chicago, Philadelphia, and the other four boroughs of New York City scare DeSantis because he knows he'd be heckled and denounced there. Maybe he thinks he'd be in physical danger, too -- the logistics of the Illinois visit suggest that DeSantis thinks he's heading to a war zone:

The Chicago Fraternal of Police Lodge has been promoting an event on Monday at an undisclosed location in Elmhurst.

The event is only open to law enforcement officers.

(I bet the attendees won't just be police officers. I'm sure Fox News will find a way to slip a reporter and some cameras in.)

In Chicago, even the candidate in the mayor's race who was endorsed by the police union has denounced DeSantis:

On Friday mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, who is endorsed by the Chicago FOP, said he is disappointed in FOP leadership and there is no place in Chicago for a “right-wing extremist” like DeSantis.

“DeSantis’ record of trying to erase the LGBTQ community, banning books on Black history and much more is not in line with my values, the values of our community, or the values of the rank and file police officers who I believe have no interest in getting swept up in culture wars and national Republican Party politics,” the statement from Vallas read. “I want to build trust between all of Chicago’s communities and the police by holding everyone accountable, because that is the only way we can make our city safer. This decision by the FOP leadership makes that job harder.”

In New York, DeSantis will be backed by a police union leader...

Paul DiGiacomo, president of New York City's Detectives' Endowment Association, will be in attendance at Monday’s event.

But I'm sure DiGiacomo wasn't the police union leader DeSantis wanted to nab. That would be this guy, who in 2020 campaigned for DeSantis's main primary opponent:

When Patrick Lynch stepped up to the podium at the Staten Island GOP “Triumph Rally” earlier this month, he gazed at the nearly all-white crowd, clad in MAGA hats and waving Trump flags, and deemed it “a picture of what America is.”

Lynch, president of the NYC [Patrolemen's] Benevolent Association, spoke to a crowd of about 1,000 with a sermon-like rhythm, railing against “mutt” cop-killers, Black Lives Matter protesters, “a Communist city hall,” “a Socialist city council,” and university professors who teach students to criticize the system rather than salute the flag. High above the crowd was a larger-than-life image of Donald Trump, photoshopped onto a bulging muscular torso, serving as a backdrop to the stage.

Lynch, I'm sure, will endorse DeSantis if he wins the nomination. Maybe then DeSantis will even summon up the courage to venture into Manhattan or Brooklyn.