“So what I’m going to say is these people, these Democrats who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try to smear me as if I had something to with do that, we’re not playing their game.”
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis slammed political opponents for attempting to "smear" him by claiming he was not forceful enough in condemning a small group of neo-Nazis who demonstrated in Orlando on Saturday.
FLORIDA: OUTRAGEOUS: As thousands of Jews spend midwinter weekend in Orlando, FL, a gang of neo-Nazis stood at a road, holding swastika flags, cursing, shouting "Heil Hitler" and "Jews will not replace us." pic.twitter.com/Ef2wh6D0do
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam)
A video went viral over the weekend showing a group of 15 to 20 people in Orlando displaying a banner for the National Socialist Movement in addition to Nazi flags and signs.
According to WMFE some of the neo-Nazis fought with a driver and displayed banners on a bridge over Interstate 4.
DeSantis said during a press conference in Palm Beach on Monday, "So what I'm going to say is these people, these Democrats who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try to smear me as if I had something to with do that, we're not playing their game."
He then added regarding the neo-Nazi protesters, "Some jackasses doing this on the street ... first of all, state law enforcement is going to hold them accountable because they were doing stuff on the overpass, so they are absolutely going to be doing that."
The group shouted antisemitic remarks and chanted "white power" while giving the Nazi "Sieg Heil" salute to Adolf Hitler
The Orange County Sheriff said the office is investigating the incident.
According to The Miami Herald, Florida Democrats piled on DeSantis, claiming he did not immediately condemn the demonstrators and criticizing him for not making any comments until his Monday press conference.
Some outlets jumped on the Democrats narrative. The left-leaning Jewish Telegraphic Agency posted Wednesday, two days after the Governor’s press conference where he called the neo-Nazis "jackasses,": "Ron DeSantis has refused to condemn a Nazi rally that took place in Orlando over the weekend. He claims those asking him to condemn the rally are trying to 'smear' him."
Ron DeSantis has refused to condemn a Nazi rally that took place in Orlando over the weekend. He claims those asking him to condemn the rally are trying to “smear” him. https://t.co/9b9T6z7SBG
— JTA | Jewish news (@JTAnews)
However, now the headline to the article posted reads, "Florida Gov. DeSantis calls Nazi rally participants ‘jackasses,’ fires back at those calling on him to condemn the event." It also mentions in the opening paragraph the Governors strong rebuke of the neo-Nazis and later in the article, DeSantis’s pledge for law enforcement to hold the neo-Nazis accountable.
I watched video. In addition to saying his opponents are trying to smear him, he called the neo-Nazis jackasses and said law enforcement would hold them accountable. Sounds like a condemnation to me. https://t.co/KEjzj3BRUF
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov)
The slanted article appeared to be an attempt to give a platform to DeSantis’s Jewish Democrat challenger Nikki Fried. The article also cited the Anti Defamation league which recently made headlines for changing the definition of racism to only include actions against people of color, before changing the definition yet again after host of The View Whoopi Goldberg claimed the Holocaust was '...not about racism,' seeming to utilize the ADL’s definition of racism, and falsely claiming the Jews are not a race.
To recap: ADL changed it definition of racism, Whoopi Goldberg expressed *that* definition, ADL denounced her then changed its own definition.
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel)
The ADL's third definition of racism was uploaded to their website as the controversy over Goldberg's comments became a media firestorm leading to her being suspended for two weeks from the show.
On Sunday, DeSantis's press secretary Christina Pushaw, posted a tweet suggesting the demonstrators were disguised Democrats.
Pushaw said in the now-deleted tweet, "Do we even know if they are Nazis? Or is this a student like the 'white nationalists' who crashed the Youngkin rally in Charlottesville pretending to be Dem staffers?"
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Pushaw was referencing actions by the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group that were outed for sending a group posing as white supremacists to an event for then gubernatorial candidate Republican Glenn Youngkin in Virginia in October 2021.