Malcom Jackson/Reuters
In January 2022 several Neo-Nazi protests took shape across Florida, including one in Orlando, where protestors gave white power salutes while waving anti-Biden banners.
At the time, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slow-walked condemning the protests until national leaders from both major political parties did so. And even when he did, he still insisted that being asked to condemn the condemnable was just a ploy by “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 do with that.” The governor added, “We’re not playing their game.”
This came just days after DeSantis’ then-press secretary (and current rapid response director for his presidential campaign) Christina Pushaw was criticized for a since-deleted tweet in which she said, “Do we even know they’re Nazis? Or is this a stunt like the ‘white nationalists’ who crashed the Youngkin rally in Charlottesville and turned out to be Dem staffers? I trust Florida law enforcement to investigate and am awaiting their conclusions.”