No, Gov. Ron DeSantis, it’s no coincidence that, only days apart, antisemitic flyers were hurled out of a passing car in Miami Beach while in Central Florida neo-Nazis staged rallies last weekend.
At not one, but two gatherings in public spaces — an Orange County highway overpass and in an Orlando shopping center — groups of Nazis waved swastika flags and shouted antisemitic slogans for all to see and hear.
The vile acts of hatred against Jewish people are taking place because a certain sector of the populations in Florida feels comfortable displaying the ugliest of human emotions. DeSantis enables acts such as these, not only with his own words and legislation that targets minorities — but by not standing up to the despicable when it comes from the extreme right wing.
Has he ever said anything about the undeniable fact that Florida has the largest number of those arrested for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021? Nope.
And while Saturday’s display of Hitler-adoring behavior certainly isn’t all DeSantis’ fault, the governor’s constant hammering rhetoric against minority groups gives evil people permission to showcase their hate.
Acts not isolated
Antisemitic acts aren’t isolated incidents and the work of a fringe element.
Exhibit A: Look at the reaction of DeSantis’ own press secretary, Christina Pushaw, to the Nazi rallies.
While journalists covering the rallies and people who drove by were posting on social media and expressing outrage, Pushaw tried to grant the extreme right-wingers what she never lends those on the other side of the political spectrum: cover.
“Do we even know they’re Nazis?” Pushaw asked in a tweet, later deleted after facing mounting backlash.
Suggesting the Nazis were Democrats in disguise, she added: “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 conclusion.”
Another governor, especially one who has used his support of Israel to rack up political points and even held a Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, might have censured his spokeswoman. And made it very clear that any suggestion, even a veiled one, that antisemitic acts aren’t to be taken seriously is plain wrong.
But not DeSantis.
He just picked up where Pushaw left off, trotting out the falsehood that the Nazi rallies were some type of Democratic ploy against him.
In his news conference in West Palm Beach, the governor peddled the same talking point — while never issuing a strong statement condemning Nazism.
He only called the demonstrators “jackasses” and “malcontents,” diminishing their acts, then blamed the controversy they generated as an attempt to “smear” his record of support for Florida’s Jewish community.
“These people, these Democrats, who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try and smear me as if I had something to do with it, we are not playing their game,” DeSantis said. “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 and they should do that.”
Essentially, his response amounts to, “Poor me, I am the victim in all this!”
Shifting blame
No, it wasn’t Democrats playing political games — and DeSantis is nowhere near being a victim.
He can stand with Israel all he wants, but the fact remains that Florida’s top leader didn’t strongly and clearly stand up to antisemitic behavior.
He can deflect responsibility and shift blame knowing right-wing media outlets will run with it and repeat a lie so much it turns into truth for a sector of the population, but the problem is evidenced by DeSantis’ legislative agenda.
And his agenda is the Florida Republican Party’s platform — and the national party’s, too. That why around the nation similar acts of hatred against Jews also are taking place. It’s no coincidence.
In Florida, immigrants, Black people, gays — even gay children, for God’s sake — all are being targeted with legislation to keep them out of the state, keep them from voting and participating in the political process, and to silence their voices in our schools.
What DeSantis and the GOP are creating is the trickle-down effect of trading real political policy debate for fear-mongering.
If any progress is going to be made, the governor must start by cleaning up his own house and toning down his rhetoric against minority groups.
Because if you know your history, it should be obvious that hatred is no inconsequential emotion. The Holocaust started with expressions of hatred against Jews in neighborhoods and escalated into genocide.
Miami Beach pamphleteer or Orlando neo-Nazi, there should be no exemption from the condemnation of hate speech — and certainly, not for the governor.
And while he’s at it, DeSantis should also stand up to hate of any kind — and stop excusing it.
