Republican candidates remain weird. Why does Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor now running for president, think that the name of the North Carolina military base formerly known as Fort Bragg should be such a sticking point? In recent remarks, DeSantis pledged to restore the former name in the event he’s elected president.
The name was changed because of its associations, as it’s drawn from Braxton Bragg, a leading military figure in the Confederacy during the Civil War — and a military official in that rebel army who failed a lot. “It is telling that @RonDesantis thinks being pro-traitor helps in the GOP primary,” the veterans organization VoteVets said on Twitter. “VoteVets was proud to lead the way in removing traitors’ names from bases. We’ll make sure they never are restored.”
The comments from DeSantis reflect a pattern. Whether it’s Trump complaining about pushes for the removal and/or relocation of public statues honoring figures like leaders of the Confederacy or Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) furthering the victim complex to the point that she claims calling her a white supremacist is equivalent to using the n-word against Black people, these individuals consistently prove themselves to be ready to jump on the defensive bandwagon.
One of those statues was, of course, a key point of contention leading up to the infamous violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when a counter-protester was killed amid a descent of right-wing extremists on the city. Though DeSantis seems unlikely to win the Republican nomination for 2024 because he remains solidly behind Trump in most polls, the problem of GOP allegiance to traitorous causes, meaning something like the Confederacy, continues.
It is telling that @RonDesantis thinks being pro-traitor helps in the GOP primary. VoteVets was proud to lead the way in removing traitors’ names from bases. We’ll make sure they never are restored. https://t.co/uhewdJFGhI
— VoteVets (@votevets) June 10, 2023
