Most candidates construct a basic platform to run on, or some type of vision for their state. Not Ron DeSantis. He’s based his entire campaign on riding Trump's coattails. After a long spell of nonstop racism, I guess he’s given up and decided to go all in with running on white fear.
At a campaign stop in Cape Coral, Ron DeSantis had the Lee County GOP Chair, Johnathan Martin, give a pep talk. He noted, correctly, that three Florida Supreme Court Justices will be retiring soon.
The theme was if you let ...(ahem)… certain people pick judges, they'll come after you:
“What’s in the statute book no longer matters. That doesn’t matter. What you look like matters. We know how the Democrats play the game. If you look like one of us, you don’t get the benefit of the doubt.
If you are a Republican, if you worked too hard and just make more money than they think you should have, you don’t get to play by same rules in our constitution.”
So, what does a hard working successful person look like?
OK, this is hard but, try to imagine the crowd he spoke to in order to be comfortable enough to say that. Can you imagine? Yes, you are exactly correct.
To be fair, Martin tried to clarify his remarks after the event. Somehow, he made it even worse.
You see, he wasn’t talking about black people---he was talking about…. women:
“It’s becoming more evident, and through the Kavanaugh process strikingly evident, that if you’re a certain gender or you make a certain amount of money, you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt from liberals in this country or from the judges liberals are appointing in this country.”
OH! So he wasn’t being a bigot against black people, he was being a bigot against women! It's okay because the GOP is totally getting mileage from their base bashing female survivors, but they can pivot right before the election. (Just wait... you can join us in bashing immigrants again soon.)
To answer your next question: No. Of course Ron DeSantis hasn’t condemned any of this...why the hell would he? If you want to do Trump, you do Trump right. Never apologize, never condemn people sucking up to you, and attack the offended.
Ticked off? Well, do something. You have until Tuesday folks to register to vote. For the future of my beloved, stupid state, please do.
Andrew Gillum for Governor