Posted on 08/30/2018 5:25:11 PM PDT by Jed Eckert
PORT ORANGE — Despite Ron DeSantis’ claims he was signaling no message about race when he used the phrase “monkey this up” while sizing up his black opponent’s policies during a Fox News appearance this week, about 40 residents of his congressional district rallied in protest Thursday.
Waving signs, including one reading “DeSantis DeRacist,” the residents rallied for about 45 minutes outside one of the congressman’s offices in Port Orange City Hall.
Lynn Hendrickson, a Palm Coast retiree, said it wasn’t the first time DeSantis has disappointed her on matters of race. She recounted last October, when a batch of Ku Klux Klan fliers were left on driveways in Port Orange and Nancy Soderberg, the Democratic candidate for DeSantis’ congressional seat, called on him to speak out against hatred.
“His silence has been deafening until yesterday,” Hendrickson said Thursday. “Yesterday, he showed everybody in District 6 and in Florida exactly what he thought of the newly elected candidate Andrew Gillum and of the letters that had been distributed in our district with his wonderful statement, ‘monkey this up.’ Ron showed his true colors yesterday.”
“Ron DeSantis stands for hate, bigotry, prejudice and white supremacy,” she said. “This is not who we are as a nation. We are better than this.”
But DeSantis — a regular on Fox who rode the endorsement of President Trump to win his party primary Tuesday — told Sean Hannity his warning to voters not to “monkey this up” by electing Gillum, had “zero to do with race.”
The uproar over the remark continued Thursday and one longtime analyst of Florida political campaigns said she expects it could cloud the contest through Election Day on Nov. 6.
DeSantis’ original remark Wednesday morning during an interview on the Fox News channel was blasted as racist by Democratic critics and called an example of “gutter” politics by Gillum. The Democratic nominee, who also appeared on network news programs, said DeSantis was “taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump.”
After responding with only a statement from a campaign spokesman during the day, DeSantis appeared on Wednesday evening with Hannity — who campaigned with DeSantis in July — to explain himself.
“Did you in any way, do you in any way think that was something that was misstated or racist in any way?” Hannity asked.
“It has zero to do with race, Sean. It has everything to do with whether we want Florida to continue to go in a good direction, building off the success or do we want to turn to left-wing, socialist policies, which will absolutely devastate our state?” DeSantis replied.
“And here’s the thing, I believe people should be judged based on their ability and character regardless of race. But it’s because of that that I know that socialism won’t work in Florida. It’s not good for any race, color or creed. So this is not about race. This is about ideas and principles. And I’m not going to let the Democrats and Andrew Gillum try to obscure a debate about whether his tax increases, his single-payer healthcare plan, his desire to abolish ICE — whether that is something that is acceptable for Florida. I don’t think it is and I don’t care what color you are.”
DeSantis didn’t express any regrets or say whether he recognized that the remark could be considered offensive, and Hannity didn’t press him on it.
“He’s following the Trump model to the Nth degree — never apologize for anything,” said University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus.
MacManus predicted DeSantis’ remark will remain an issue throughout the campaign. “It will be a get-out-the-vote tool for Democrats from now ’til Nov. 6,” MacManus said.
The appearance with Hannity on Fox News came after the network had earlier sought to distance itself from the remark.
Fox News host Sandra Smith said Wednesday afternoon that the network does “not condone this language and wanted to make our viewers aware that he has since clarified his statement.”
Florida Republicans reacted Thursday in different ways.
Carlos Curbelo, a South Florida congressman, told MSNBC he doesn’t know DeSantis as a racist.
“I’ve never heard him say anything disparaging about any ethnic group or any person for that matter,” Curbelo said. “But I’ll also say that that was just a stupid comment to make, one that was obviously offensive to a lot of people.”
Gov. Rick Scott, running for U.S. Senate, said DeSantis “could have said it more artfully” and: “Ron cares about the state and I know he didn’t mean any ill will.”
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who campaigned with DeSantis during the weeks leading up to the primary, posted a meme on Twitter with quotes using the word “monkey” attributed to President Obama, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The quotes were not used in the context of assessing Gillum’s policies and used the more familiar colloquialisms, “monkey around,” and “monkey wrench,” rather than DeSantis’ less common phrasing.
In Ron’s interview with Hannity, he was asked if he thought that the endorsement of President Trump helped him, and he replied:
“Oh, yeah, he (meaning Trump) is the 800 pound gorilla in the room.”
Hmmmm. Is he accusing the President of being a gorilla?
It’s all nonsense.
Anything that DeSantis says will be be picked apart as racist. That's 100% Saul Alinsky tactic. For example DeSantis also said this about Gillum:
“This is a guy who, although he’s much too liberal for Florida — I think he’s got huge problems with how he’s governed Tallahassee — you know, he is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views, and he’s a charismatic candidate,” DeSantis said.
And here was the typical reaction from the left:
From Vox:"While discussing his Democratic opponent, DeSantis also called Gillum “articulate,” a term often used to backhandedly compliment black people whose intelligence seems surprising or out of the ordinary."(https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/29/17796112/ron-desantis-andrew-gillum-monkey-racism-language-florida-governors-election)
"It's disgusting that Ron DeSantis is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles," FDP Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo said in a news release.(https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2018/08/29/andrew-gillum-florida-dems-call-ron-desantis-fox-news-remarks-racist/1132039002/)
The left tried this crap with Trump on his Pocahontas remark regarding Elizabeth Warren and he never backed down. Neither should DeSantis. It was a non racial remark period.
DeSantis needs to ignore this nonsense and attack Gillum's record as mayor. Bring up the FBI investigation of corruption within his administration. Don't take the Alinsky bait and be put on the defensive and never ever apologize to a leftist.
In the past Blacks were sometime derogatorily referenced as monkeys. Still, that’s not the case today, and only idiots ever did it in the first place.
The Left is desperate.
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