Florida governor DeSantis under fire for refusal to condemn Orlando neo-Nazi rallies
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Neo-Nazi demonstrators with swastikas and 'National Socialist Movement' banners, stomping on an Israeli flag
,in Orlando, Florida on January 29, 2022. (screen capture: Twitter/Luke Denton)
Antisemitic rallies were held near Orlando, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday, with some two dozen people in neo-Nazi gear waving swastikas, stomping on Israeli flags, and yelling antisemitic epithets at passersby. The rallies were held near the campus of Central Florida University, which has a large Jewish student body, and near Disney World.
In videos and pictures shared on social media, the demonstrators can be seen waving Nazi flags and banners, calling someone filming them a “devil” and a “fucking kike” and making Nazi salutes.
A video of the Orlando rally that spread on social media on Monday showed protesters standing on a highway overpass in front of banners of swastikas. One audibly yells “Heil Hitler.”
Another video showed the demonstrators attacking a passerby in his car.
While various officials in the state condemned the protest, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came under fire as his spokesperson expressed doubt over whether the demonstrators were actually antisemitic, and raised the possibility that they were in fact Democrats trying to make the governor look bad.
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Antisemitic rallies were held near Orlando, Florida, on Saturday and Sunday, with some two dozen people in neo-Nazi gear waving swastikas, stomping on Israeli flags, and yelling antisemitic epithets at passersby. The rallies were held near the campus of Central Florida University, which has a large Jewish student body, and near Disney World.
In videos and pictures shared on social media, the demonstrators can be seen waving Nazi flags and banners, calling someone filming them a “devil” and a “fucking kike” and making Nazi salutes.
Perhaps he did the smarter thing by ignoring them. It's usually the virtue signaling lefties who scold the people and then search for and post these isolated examples of racism, etc, by small groups of radicals.
Is that why DeSantis' spokesperson questioned whether the Nazis were actually anti-Semitic and were possibly Democrats? That's usually done to blow smoke and appease reactionaries.
Yes...and I can't help but wonder how many Republicans realize that the deeping split in the Party is starting to turn public opinion more and more in the favour of the Dems.
It would..... if the Dems weren't so hell-bent on being completely ridiculous.
So the chant of "Jews Must Go!" Was all in good fun?
Could you be more specific?
Simply calling names-- IMO-- is not a very good way to bolster an argument.
(Heck, someone could counter by saying the Republicans are hell-bent on being ridiculous).
And then what would we have? Not a discussion-- but rather a session of name-calling.
Which some people might enjoy-- but it doesn't lead to any real discussion of the facts!
If you think Kristallnacht was a big party, I guess so.
Make no mistake.... it would be very easy for them to defend that statement.
Sure.
Now granted....for every AOC there is an MTG. For every "you're a lying dog-faced pony soldier" there is a "maybe you could inject yourself with disinfectant". I get it.
But the idea that the split in the Republican Party is going to be enough to cause people to defect is wildly overly optimistic given the current state of the Democratic Party.
There really just isn't sufficient reason to move from shitshow to another.
A video of the Orlando rally that spread on social media on Monday showed protesters standing on a highway overpass in front of banners of swastikas. One audibly yells “Heil Hitler.”
The Orlando Sentinel reported that the group shouted other antisemitic slurs, and an array of Florida officials, including Republican Senator Rick Scott and Democratic House Rep. Val Demings, condemned the gathering.
Related video (Twitter):
My son just witnessed nazis in Orlando. He said there were dozens hanging on the corner. The guy getting assaulted got out of his car and pushed one of them. @fox35orlando
Another video showed the demonstrators attacking a passerby in his car.
While various officials in the state condemned the protest, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came under fire as his spokesperson expressed doubt over whether the demonstrators were actually antisemitic, and raised the possibility that they were in fact Democrats trying to make the governor look bad.
DeSantis didn't want to offend his base.
exactly.
You beat me to it.
Actually the poor guy has a problem. Obviously he'd like to be elected President-- so on one hand he's got to attempt to try to "out-Trump" Trump by appearing to be more racist than Trump. But OTOH, if he makes it too obvious that he want sthe Republican nod in the primaries-- that will piss off the Trump cultists!
If Trump runs, De Santis' presidential hopes are gone...but if he doesn't start pushing for the nomination early (and Trump doesn't run)-- he may lose out to some other Republican MAGA-cultists who want to be president).
Any problem he has is of his own making. Let him wallow in it.
Any problem he has is of his own making. Let him wallow in it.
Up until recently I had thought that the Republicans might win the next election.
But divisions within the Party are really growing...so while its hard to predict the future, recently I've come to feel the Dems will win.
Any problem he has is of his own making. Let him wallow in it.
Up until recently I had thought that the Republicans might win the next election.
But divisions within the Party are really growing...so while its hard to predict the future, recently I've come to feel the Dems will win.
Here's but one indication of how Republican chances are taking a turn for the worse:
Fox News Abandons The GOP On Russia
I hope you are right, but, as with any election, we won't know until the votes are counted. Unless they're counted by Trumpists.
Well I'm aware of that-- I'm not claiming I'm certain-- at this point it much too early to predict results of the next Election!
(While, of course, in no way will satop "the usual suspectsd" here on NT spending a fair amount of time and efforet in time-sonsuming attempts every day trying to "prove" that Biden et all are totally imcompetant and the Republicans will win the next Election in a landslide!
(Some people really "need to get a life")
Incidentally that phrase may be out of fashion-- but in "the early daze" of the Internet, that was the inevitable response to some who spent a good part of their day online to predict the future (the demise of the opposing party)...
Guess I'm feeling a bit nostagic...
The political right in America has lost all connections to reality. We are living in a bad movie.
The governor may have thought it wasn't worth mentioning the couple dozen idiots and giving them the publicity they wanted. The fact he knew it would make many liberal heads explode was just an added bonus.
The spokesperson may have been speaking out of turn without talking to her boss first. Although the dems have been known to stage this type of thing from time to time this was probably not the case and would have been better if it was left unsaid.
For reactionaries, Nazis are a source of great humor.
Actually it is liberals, not nazis that are the source of great humor.
For adults, standing up to fascists and Nazis is thing of honor. For reactionaries, not so much.
Where were these adults when Antifa was burning cities and looting?
Adults drive by a handful of loonies on the side of the road, think "what a group of losers" and move on with whatever they were doing.
Yep
Yet somehow they don't manage to blame their political opponents and wonder if it is a false flag operation...
It certainly would not have been my first thought.
I agree it's unlikely, but stranger things have happened and we've seen leftists do it before.
Spoken like a true Centrist!
(In fact a genuine "Right down the Center Centrist"-- and they are the most Centrist kind of all!)
No political bias there-- not in the least!
/sarc
Yeah, it was definitely a "false flag" operation.
Pretty sure that Antifa never burned or looted.
That was all far right false flaggers.
"Pretty sure that Antifa never burned or looted.
That was all far right false flaggers."
Yes, thank you cjcold. It's just another deflection from the whatshisname supporters. Anyway who burned or looted were criminals, straight up - far right false flaggers is exactly what they were.
Pretty sure that Antifa never burned or looted.
That was all far right false flaggers
this has upvotes. Speaks volumes.
It's the truth.
By all means, keep posting your “truth.” Posts like that go a long way In discrediting the progressive movement and I thank you for that.
When you post something truthful and or factual, I'll let you know.
You may have the last word.
Curiousity has gotten the better of me (to coin a phrase)...after reading your comments here for some time niow...now I'm really curious.
How come you choose "Right Down The Center" as a screen-name?
Funny how so many far-right wingers pretend to be independent centrists.
Amazing that DeSantis didn't invoke his anti protesting law.
It was on the news and twitter all over Florida and many politicians including republican Senator Rick Scott and Florida speaker of the house a republican, Chris Sprowls have condemned the rally and the nazis.
Seems that DeSantis is out of the loop purposely.
Well if Trump doesn't run-- he wants to pick up Trump supporters before some other Republican hopeful does....
Amazing that if DeSantis didn't know about the rallies why in the world would his spokesperson spew that type of nonsense maybe she has gone rouge.
The Nazi group is well known in the area as the NSM, and well know members Eddie McBride and Bert Colucci were on hand.
The Orlando area has one of the largest Jewish populations in FL. Sadly, they have to witness this shit.
“Refusal to condemn?” It doesn’t sound like he was in an opportunity say anything one way or the other about them. “Refusal to condemn” makes it sound like someone asked him about them and he refused. That didn’t happen.
But as soon as the media got to DeSantis in person, he in fact, did condemn them.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis condemns Nazi rally in Orange County
As officials denounce Nazi rallies in Orlando, DeSantis accuses political opponents of ‘smear’
This is a really slimy game that gets played in politics where somebody accuses someone else of supporting/giving cover to/refusing to condemn Nazis. It’s all bullshit and these people know it.
Yet many other politicians voiced their disgust with this long before DeSantis. Including many prominent Republicans as noted in a previous comment of mine. DeSantis didn't need to be asked by the press, he, as governor can certainly condemn this behavior without being asked by the press especially when the Jewish community makes up a large voting block in Florida.
Also his spokesperson comment:
Spokesperson For Governor Questions Whether Demonstrators Waving Swastikas And Yelling ‘Heil Hitler’ At Jews Were Actual Nazis — And Not Democrats Trying To Make Him Look Bad.
LOL, and DeSantis question democrats about making it political gain when this was the first thing out of the governors office.
Yeah he could, but why does he need to condemn Nazis every time they step out of the house? He’s governor of the whole state. From what I can see, this looks like a pretty small gathering. Maybe the man was just busy focusing on other, more urgent stuff.
But then Monday came around and he had an opportunity to say something negative about them and he did. Where is the problem?
In a state with a large Jewish population and this happened and being reported in the media for two days he had nothing to say when numerous other politicians did. Be that as it may his spokesperson nonsensical babble about a false flag was right out front. So he certainly knew about it before Monday.
The problem is the BS babble from his spokesperson. It would have been simple enough for him to make a statement condemning the racists and it would all be over with.
Have you ever read any of the history of how the Nazis came to power in Germany?
(You might be quite surprised at howit happened...)
Are you trying to suggest that if the governor of Florida condemns Nazis on Monday instead of Saturday, we’ll see a new Third Reich in America? Are you trying to suggest that these 15 morons on the corner of this street in this town in this country in 2022 have anything remotely in common with Germany in the 1920s and 30s?
Actually, these 15 morons belong to NSM and their history includes the ''Unite the Right'' rally in Charlottesville. They are currently facing two lawsuits over their involvement in that ''Rally''.
I watched the video and counted the people. There’s literally 15 of these imbeciles. Fifteen. That’s a “rally?” Is that supposed to signal a surge of naziism? People are supposed to give a shit about 15 people on the corner? 15. Why?
Do you default to assuming that people support Nazis unless they go out of their way to condemn it? Why should people have to always do that?
How do you know? Do you know the two met and talked about this? You don’t even know where DeSantis was on Saturday or Sunday, or what he was doing.
And even if he did know about it, what did 24-48 hours of silence do? Do you imagine that the 15 dummies on the corner took his lack of condemnation as some kind of ringing endorsement? How do you suppose they feel today?
This is a lot of made up hysterical nonsense over nothing.
And by the way, am I a fan of Rick DeSantis? No, not particularly. But I don’t have to like him or hate him to recognize a pathetic smear job when I see one.
Sorry, but I’m just not as scared of these dickheads as you are. I’m not going to get caught up in the drama.
No, I don't default to that, just pointing out reality.
Yes, he was in Tallahassee.
Never said any such thing. I don't know how they feel but feel free to ask them.
Nothing hysterical and nothing made up. They were there, video and media and police reports prove it and DeSantis said nothing for two days and his spokesperson babbled on sounding like an ass.
I'm sure that you think that you see a smear job and his name is Ron DeSantis not Rick DeSantis.
You know what is said about making assumptions, and you're already caught up in the drama by posting.
That alone should show how little I care about defending him.
The drama is yours. I don’t care. I just think it’s silly and bogus and I’m saying so.
Yet more excuses for the repubs/gqp (not you Kav). It's tiresome.
Excuse for what, exactly? Not living on the internet on the weekend? Not jumping all over every little tiny group of miscreants on random corners in a state of 20 million people within what - 3 hours? Why don’t you pick a real problem to get outraged about?
It is a slimy game. Just like AOC was criticizing him for being “inexplicably missing” during the COVID spike while the man was with his wife during her cancer treatments. Her opinion of how DeSantis is handling COVID certainty didn’t stop her from flying there and running around kissing and hugging people mask less
For all we know he was with his wife over the weekend. After all she did just finish her treatments not to long ago.
Nobody has asked this question as follows. Why do the Nazis and other fascist/autocratic sympathizers feel so safe and comfortable on the streets of America?
Because of Biden.
That's an idiotic comment.
First...dumbasses! Excuse the language, but it's the least of the profanities I'm thinking of, that describes these people.
The obvious answer: freedom of thought and expression are still alive and kicking. I don't agree with the apparent message the subject group is delivering, but that doesn't mean that they can't deliver it. Therefore, they are comfortable in their belief that their speech is protected, subject to reasonable restrictions.
The underlying response would be that not enough people are willing to get out of their car and give them what they deserve, which is a good ol' fashioned ass-whipping. Kudos to the one dude, but he's not enough. I agree, to some extent, that violence is not the answer. To an extent though. There are times when an ass-whipping is exactly what a person needs. Somewhere along the line, we've forgotten that speech is protected from government interference. There are exceptions, one of which is fighting words. Problem with this exception is that society changes, and therefore the fighting words standard changes also. The underlying issue is whether or not the words have a direct tendency to cause acts of violence by the person to whom the words are directed. That brings us back to our society, and the fact that not enough people are willing to hop out of their car and dish out an ass-whipping...or potentially take one...over some words some idiot is spouting off on the street corner. So, to my thought, if more people jumped out of their car, then it would be easier to establish the fact that these bastards are uttering fighting words, which is not protected speech. So long as 99.9% of the people simply drive by...I don't think you can clearly say that the speech has a direct tendency to cause acts of violence.
As an aside. It'd be real nice for a group of marines (note: doesn't have to be marines) would jump out and whip that ass. Heil Hitler? WTF?
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There are more antisemite Democrats in Congress than that; yet don't hear/see the left condemning them at any level.
prove that.