A video of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis arguing with a heckler who called him a “f****** fascist” has gone viral on social media, picking up more than 1.6 million views across Twitter and YouTube.
DeSantis was speaking at a rally in South Carolina on Friday, as part of his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Polling indicates DeSantis is the second-most popular Republican candidate with GOP voters, behind former President Donald Trump, though his numbers have dipped significantly over the past few months.
A woman interrupted DeSantis while he was advocating for legislation he signed into law in March 2022, granting Florida parents the right to know and make decisions what educational materials, including library content, were being used to teach their children.
“Unfortunately there’s bad stuff that’s getting into the schools, there’s pornography that’s getting into the schools, so the parents have had to blow the whistle in Florida,”
At this point, the woman began shouting at the governor, accusing him of being a “f****** fascist” and seemingly a threat to “kids’ welfare.”
She was booed and jeered by the audience, after which DeSantis said: “We’re not going to let you impose an agenda on our kids. We’re going to stand up for our kids. We’re going to make sure to do it right. That’s what we’re going to do.
“Those people like that in Florida are the people we beat every single day on policy. We do not let them win… we win all these battles. We’re not letting them indoctrinate our kids—not on our watch.”
DeSantis’ retort was received with applause and some whooping from the crowd.
A 57-second clip of the exchange was posted on Twitter by the DeSantis War Room Twitter account, where it received more than 880,000 views and 1,400 retweets at time of writing.
Fox News shared a longer version of the interruption on its YouTube channel, where it got over 730,000 views and 19,000 likes.
Newsweek has contacted Governor DeSantis for comment by email.
DeSantis was interrupted at another rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday, by a woman who claimed his office failed to act over an alleged coverup of her son’s murder.
A clip of the incident was shared on Twitter by reporter Heather Mullins, who wrote: “Woman interrupts Ron Desantis, claims her sons murder was covered up in Florida, and his office has ignored her! She throws her Desantis hat on the ground, says she’s going to put a real one on, and pulls out a Trump hat.”
While the exact allegations aren’t captured by the clip, the woman can be heard shouting “five years, five years” as she is ushered out of the rally by security.
Further details about an alleged cover-up, and the identities of the woman and her son, were not known.
Source : Newsweek