Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday refused to condemn a post that Elon Musk made on X endorsing an antisemitic tweet that alluded to a white supremacist conspiracy theory.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Jake Tapper asked DeSantis whether he would condemn Musk’s post that he said “openly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory that Jews are conspiring to replace white Americans with minority immigrants,” noting that major companies such as Apple and Disney pulled their ads from X in response to Musk’s endorsement.
“I did not see the comment,” DeSantis said. “I know that Elon has had a target on his back ever since he purchased Twitter, because I think he’s taking it in the direction that a lot of people who are used to controlling the narrative don’t like.”
And DeSantis attacked reporters who asked him if he denounced them. Denouncing Nazis should be the softest of softball questions that politicians need to answer right alongside “do you think American democracy is good” and “are puppies and kittens cute.”
When asked the question, any politician should be able to easily reply with “I find Nazis abhorrent and they don’t represent what America stands for.” Even if the politician is lying and actually loves Nazis, they should be able to lie about this easily.
But DeSantis can’t even lie about liking Nazis and instead attacks anyone who asks him his opinion on Nazis.