DeSantis' Ukraine u-turn: Florida Governor now says his 'territorial dispute' comments were 'mischaracterized', calls Putin a war criminal and says Russia is 'basically a gas station with a nuclear weapons'

Daily Mail ^ | March 22, 2023 | Geoff Earle

[McGruff]

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought to clean up comments where he called Russia's brutal war on Ukraine a 'territorial dispute' after drawing rebukes against 'isolationism' but praise from Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

'Well, I think it's been mischaracterized. Obviously, Russia invaded — that was wrong. They invaded Crimea and took that in 2014 — That was wrong,' DeSantis told Piers Morgan in an interview more than a week after his initial comments.

He also rolled out tough talk against Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling him a 'war criminal' and saying he should be 'held accountable,' while dissing Russia as 'basically a gas station with a bunch of nuclear weapons' during a week when Putin huddled with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow.

[packagingguy]

Communism destroyed Russia, Georgia, the Baltic states, basically everyone along for the miserable ride. They had to dig their way back out of that mess.

They even had somewhat competitive industries that made automobiles and the like.

Americans too often see others as being backward.

I even know someone who was surprised that Israelis had TVs, drug companies, computer companies and other technology. When this person said this I was drinking iced tea and spit it back into my nose when I started to laugh.

[cowboyusa]

I agree, but the Domestic and foriegn red threat is the same.

[Robert DeLong]

So he's a flip-flopper huh. Why does that not surprise me? I guess because I have been saying all along that he's a cheap imitation of Trump who has gained attention & praise by riding along on Trump's policies, while claiming he can carry out his policies even better, or that he had also embraced those same policies all along. Trump had just beaten him to the punch.

Question is, did his GOPe groomers/handlers admonish him for going rogue on the issue?

[livius]

He’s lost me with his support for this Ukrainian charade. But so has Trump and just about everybody else in the GOP (Dem sycophants).

Trump has never opposed or apologized for the shutdown or vax, or even supported the J6 prisoners until very recently when he decided they might be useful to him. So he was never on my list.

DeSantis was, but falling for the Ukraine hoax has changed all that.

Is Rand Paul going to run?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Well, there’s a remedy for that. From the Florida Constitution, Article III, the Legislature:

SECTION 17. Impeachment.—
(a) The governor, lieutenant governor, members of the cabinet, justices of the supreme court, judges of district courts of appeal, judges of circuit courts, and judges of county courts shall be liable to impeachment for misdemeanor in office. The house of representatives by two-thirds vote shall have the power to impeach an officer. The speaker of the house of representatives shall have power at any time to appoint a committee to investigate charges against any officer subject to impeachment.
(b) An officer impeached by the house of representatives shall be disqualified from performing any official duties until acquitted by the senate, and, unless impeached, the governor may by appointment fill the office until completion of the trial.
(c) All impeachments by the house of representatives shall be tried by the senate. The chief justice of the supreme court, or another justice designated by the chief justice, shall preside at the trial, except in a trial of the chief justice, in which case the governor shall preside. The senate shall determine the time for the trial of any impeachment and may sit for the trial whether the house of representatives be in session or not. The time fixed for trial shall not be more than six months after the impeachment. During an impeachment trial senators shall be upon their oath or affirmation. No officer shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of the senate present. Judgment of conviction in cases of impeachment shall remove the offender from office and, in the discretion of the senate, may include disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust or profit. Conviction or acquittal shall not affect the civil or criminal responsibility of the officer.
History.—Am. S.J.R. 459, 1987; adopted 1988; Am. proposed by Constitution Revision Commission, Revision No. 13, 1998, filed with the Secretary of State May 5, 1998; adopted 1998.

And yes, if he goes GOPee, I will write my State representative asking him/her to consider impeachment. I sold a house in Maryland, moved down here, bought a house in Florida, and established myself here, and lost a good job in the process, partly because of the good work he’s doing. But I will NOT tolerate my great Governor becoming another Mitt Obamney. Jeannette Nunez or some other still-dedicated conservative can take his place.

[JennysCool]

People of all political pursuasions flock to the authentic candidate, The actual man or woman. It's why Trump succeeds, when he is not cheated. He is brash, opinionated, sometimes insulting, a New York businessman through and through, a showman with a great sense of humor. He's a REAL guy, for good or ill. He's not dumbing it down and condescending to us. He's one of us, whether we might like it or not.

The path DeSantis is on leads to the Land of Bland, where so many politicians live. He won't rock any boats, he'll tell the Lincoln Day Dinners what they want to hear. He'll say what the "advisors" want him to say, but he'll never be himself, off-the-cuff, unrehearsed, uttering a politically-incorrect comment now and then that has a lot of truth to it. Engaging us as one of us.

In these crazy times, we're all looking for REAL, not programmed. Candidates at all levels should take note.

[BlackAdderess]

I’ll bet!

It’s not good look for sure, and in a candidate it is particularly cringy.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Well, the United States certainly precipitated this war by restricting oil development to the point where the price of oil was jacked up enough to fund Putin’s adventurism. There is no excuse for what Biden did there. HE is partly responsible for all this.

[Rockingham]

Ron the Unready just found out that it is harder to actually start running for President than talk about it with your new best friend billionaire pals and their political consultants who desperately want someone, anyone, to get the nomination and beat Biden other than Donald Trump.

[BobL]

“Is Rand Paul going to run?”

I hope so!!! Winds up that he likely has the best instincts for that job.

[Robert DeLong]

Actually, Kristi Noem South Dakota, never locked down her state at all. At least that’s her claim at any rate.

[bankwalker]

it precipitated in 2014 with Obama’s color revolution ...

[BlackAdderess]

Ummmm.... the United States didn’t mass on Ukraine’s border, they didn’t invade, they didn’t drop bombs on civilians, no, sorry, but yours is the reasoning of a wife beater who claims that their kid spilling milk “made” them beat the kid unconscious.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Well, good on her. It seems she may have been the only one who was completely right all along.

[wiseprince]

Well gas station, grocery store and fertilizer shop as it turns out.

[cowboyusa]

All true, and still not our busniess.

[BobL]

I know, Putin woke up 13 months ago, felt like crap, so he decided to invade a country that the United States had ABSOLUTELY NO INVOLVEMENT in.

Sound like that Canadian junkie who thinks that repeating that claim over and over again here will make it come true.

[wiseprince]

Well ita not true. Russia has all the resources it needs to be completely self reliant and feed the world. Fertilizer, grain is well sourced from Russia. They basically took all the West’ sanctions and kept moving forward. Good luck getting a gas station to do that

[DouglasKC]

Deep state all the way...

[grimalkin]

Yuck. Why anyone would quote McStain is beyond me.