On Wednesday morning, Florida gubernatorial candidate Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said what some in the media have labeled a racist “dog whistle.”
Speaking about the election, as well as his African American opponent, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, DeSantis said:
“Well, look, I mean this is it, Florida elections are always competitive. 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, he is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views. And he’s a charismatic candidate. I watched those Democrat debates – none of that was my cup of tea – but, I mean, he performed better than the other people there.
So, we’ve got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction and to build off the success we’ve had on Gov. Scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not gonna work. That’s not gonna be good for Florida.”
As written By the Daily Wire:
Appearing on MSNBC, former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Steele, himself an African American, had the following exchange regarding the remarks with Chuck Todd:
TODD: I want to talk about the DeSantis “monkey” comment here a minute. Why didn’t he get the benefit of the doubt? Michael?
STEELE: Why didn’t DeSantis get the benefit of the doubt?
TODD: The assumption was that he didn’t misspeak, that it was one-hundred percent a racial dog whistle. Is it because he’s connected to Trump? He didn’t get the benefit of the doubt from many people, including Fox News.
STEELE: No, it’s not because he’s connected to Trump, it’s because it’s how white folks talk about black men who are successful.