Ron DeSantis, a candidate for the president in 2024, appears to be pandering to Trump’s MAGA crowd as Florida’s governor joined the Pro-Russian propaganda.
DeSantis declared that US support for Ukraine is not a “vital” national interest, which enraged many Republican senators.
Republican Senators Vs. DeSantis
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham spoke to CNN, explaining that if Putin isn’t stopped, this will go further, and adding, “To say this doesn’t matter is to say that war crimes don’t matter.”
Sen. John Cornyn from Texas also wanted answers. He stated, “Gov. DeSantis is a veteran. He’s a smart guy. I think he’s a been a very good governor, and I don’t understand him saying that Ukraine isn’t important to the United States.”
Sen. Marco Rubio said in a radio interview, “It’s not a territorial dispute in the sense that any more than it would be a territorial dispute if the United States decided that it wanted to invade Canada or take over the Bahamas.”
The Governor Wrote To Tucker Carlson
DeSantis’ disinterest in Russia’s attack on Ukraine was submitted to then-Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.
In a statement, DeSantis further wrote, “We cannot prioritize intervention in an escalating foreign war over the defense of our own homeland, especially as tens of thousands of Americans are dying every year from narcotics smuggled across our open border and our weapons arsenals critical for our own security are rapidly being depleted.”
DeSantis Had Different Views
DeSantis’ views clearly dramatically changed in the past few years. CNN reports that he “urged sending ‘defensive and offensive’ weapons to Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 and even voted to refuse to fund a new missile defense treaty with Russia until they withdrew from Ukraine.”
In 2017, DeSantis criticized Democrats for not supporting sending aid to Ukraine.
Despite the criticism from his party, DeSantis most likely hopes to score points even among Trump’s supporters.
However, social media users are less than thrilled.
Social Media Users Are Fuming
A Reddit user compared him to Putin, “Desantis is a bureaucratically inclined fascist authoritarian. He uses the cloak of democracy to persecute and punish the ‘other,’ like no one else has in government in our history, even in the darkest days of Regan or Nixon, there were still people fighting the good fight, but Desantis will make certain those people are sued, abused, attacked, arrested, deported, or conveniently silenced. Just… like… Putin.”
Another shared, “When they say “America first” they really mean “our party first.” Fascism is about an in-group.”
Someone created a theory, “He’s courting them and wants them to interfere with the elections as they did with Trump.”
This person shared, “Another Putin puppet in the Republican Party.”
Some Made Jokes
One person joked, “He really is taking this “Florida Man” bit to the next level.”
Another wrote, “Guess the checks cleared.” This person echoed the previous comment, “Why wouldn’t you when you’re directly funded by Russian money?”
Some wanted to take action, “It’s time for a business and tourism boycott of Florida and any other state governed by a MAGA nazi.”
Another said, “So the guy that’s acting like a fascist dictator likes fascist dictators? That’s crazy.”
This person wrote, “He can’t afford to be on Putin’s bad side though – if he is, he gets 10,000 full-time paid trolls on the warpath against him all through the primaries.”
Ukraine Invites DeSantis To Visit
Ukraine has invited DeSantis to visit upon hearing he dismissed the Russian invasion as a “territorial dispute.”
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said: “We invite him to visit Ukraine to get a deeper understanding of Russia’s full-scale invasion and the threats it poses to US interests.”
He added, “We are sure that as a former military officer deployed to a combat zone, Governor Ron DeSantis knows the difference between a ‘dispute’ and war.”
Do you think DeSantis could attract Trump’s voters, considering how much the two appear to despise each other? Or was this a reckless move on his part?
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