The racist attacks on the new Democratic primary winner for Florida governor by Andrew Gillum have already begun, and the first public slur came from none other than the Trump-supporting GOP challenger for the governorship, Ron DeSantis.
He really just said “monkey this up.” pic.twitter.com/rqCU4cvcQH
— deray (@deray) August 29, 2018
Appearing on Fox News the morning after his and Gillum’s primary wins for their party’s nominations in Florida, DeSantis said:
‘Florida elections are always competitive, and this is a guy who, although he is much too liberal for Florida, he has huge problems with how he’s governed Tallahassee, he is an articulate spokesman for those far left views and he’s a charismatic candidate…The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda.’
He called him “articulate” then said don’t “monkey” this up. They’ve only been running against each other for about 12 hrs in Florida.
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) August 29, 2018
Calling him “articulate,” as a black man, is bad enough in any other statement. It’s as if racist white Republicans expect every person of color to speak in casual rap vernacular and are perplexed when a black man sounds professional and well-spoken.
“Monkey this up,” though. That’s a whole other level of racist akin to Roseanne Barr’s now-infamous slur against former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, a black woman whom Barr said was descended from the Planet of the Apes movies.
What? Excuse me?
That Republican dog whistle is more like a megaphone lately.GOP nominee for #FLGov Ron DeSantis just said Florida shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing Andrew Gillum.
What. The. Holy. Balls.#WednesdayWisdom #TakeItBackpic.twitter.com/tUlyFQBUSs
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) August 29, 2018
Just as Barr insists that she did not intend to have her tweet be read as having racist connotations, DeSantis will inevitably insist the same thing. However, Barr’s comments did have racial connotations and DeSantis’s does, as well.
The difference here, however, is two-fold. Barr was quickly removed from her successful new show and even her supporters walked away.
DeSantis calls Gillum "articulate spokesman for far-left views" and says 'the last thing we need to do is monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda…..'
Real subtle, dude. https://t.co/UtR6uCcFsM
— Jennifer Hayden (@Scout_Finch) August 29, 2018
DeSantis will continue to run and could possibly end up in a position of power representing thousands of black Americans in Florida.
Featured image via video
