The Left Links DeSantis to Nazis. How Will He Fight Back?
Until recently, the Left was content branding Ron DeSantis a fascist. Now some are linking him to Nazis and Donald Trump is gleefully joining the smear campaign. Prominent media outlets have dropped basic rules of journalism to promote narratives they hope will destroy DeSantis’ campaign. According to 538’s polling average, DeSantis’ unfavorable rating has climbed to 46 percent, still significantly below Trump’s 55 percent, but up sharply from November, when it was just 32. Florida’s governor is focused on securing the nomination and isn’t mixing it up with the mainstream media to defend himself but perhaps he should.
Last weekend, Google suggested I read a Newsweek piece with the headline, “Video Shows Nazi Protesters With Ron DeSantis 2024 Signs Outside Disney.” Anna Eskamani, a Democrat in the Florida state house who is the first Iranian-American to be elected to public office in the state, shared a video clip of her driving by a group of about a dozen protesters in front of the entrance to Disney World. Two brandished Nazi flags with the swastika, one waved an SS flag and one held a DeSantis “DeSantis 2024 Make America Florida” flag. One shouted “Go Back to Mexico” as she drove by. The Orlando legislator tweeted, “Nazis outside of Walt Disney World right now — absolutely disgusting.”
The video has been viewed more than 22 million times on her Twitter account and countless times elsewhere. It is brief enough and conveniently grainy enough that it’s impossible to identify any of the alleged Nazis. In a USA TODAY piece with the headline, “Videos show people with Nazi flags, DeSantis sign outside Disney World,” Ms. Eskamani remarked, "It's absolutely disgusting to see what has become a common presence of Nazis in Florida.” She added that it was “even more disturbing when they are holding signs and flags that signal support for people like Governor DeSantis.”
A host of other publications, including Business Insider, the Daily Mail, Yahoo News, and several other national and local news outlets reported the story but none identified or interviewed any of the alleged Nazi DeSantis supporters. Media outlets often go to great lengths to “out” racists seen in viral videos but in this case, none of the news outlets even claimed to have made an attempt to figure out who these people are.
Newsweek noted that there were two previous “Nazi” demonstrations at Disney in 2022 and concluded its piece by saying that DeSantis “refused to condemn” them. (“We’re not playing their game,” he said refusing to dignify the stupidity.) And only the Daily Mail introduced the possibility that the “Nazis” could have been DeSantis critics, and then, only in the final sentence of the article. “It is unclear which group and party the protestors back,” the report concluded, belatedly acknowledging the likely possibility that the incident was a dirty trick designed to embarrass the governor.
The articles recycled the same quotes from Ms. Eskamini and Democratic Party activists, including one who concluded of the demonstration, “This is the 2023 Republican Party.” Daniel Uhlfelder, a Democratic lawyer who ran in Florida's attorney general race last year, and lost tweeted, “"DeSantis's Florida. Where Nazis come to Disney.” The Florida Holocaust Museum issued an outraged statement calling it a “sad day for humanity” while assuming it was a real protest rather than a hoax, and the granddaughter of Walt Disney said he’d be “turning over in his grave” at the sight of Nazis at his beloved theme park.
Days later, USA Today tried to revive the story, with yet another piece, this one bizarrely labeled under “Health & Wellness.” In the piece, activist reporter David Oliver, who details his pronouns and sexual orientation in his Twitter bio, dings DeSantis for failing to condemn the protesters. “For a politician, that silence can speak volumes,” he says. “Because when leaders don't discourage fringe views, they flourish. Experts say not condemning hate only fuels its fire.” The author insidiously asserts that DeSantis is either untroubled by the spread of Nazi ideology or actively hopes for it. Five days later, another USA Today columnist promoted the hoax in a hit piece column on DeSantis.
Recently, a couple dozen people gathered outside Walt Disney World in Orlando carrying signs supporting DeSantis. This would seem good, but others in the group were waving swastika flags, making the whole affair what political strategists likely call "a bit too Nazi-ish."
None of the “reporters” covering the affair raised the obvious questions: why would genuine Ron DeSantis supporters demonstrate alongside real Nazis and why would real Nazis support Ron DeSantis? DeSantis baptized his children with water from the Sea of Galilee. He’s as strong a supporter of Israel and Jews and combating antisemitism as you’ll find but no news outlet acknowledged this in its coverage. While on a trip to Israel in 2019, he signed into law HB 741, which adds religion as a protected class with regard to discrimination against students and employees in Florida schools. The bill also requires Florida public schools to treat discrimination by students or employees or resulting from institutional policies motivated by anti-Semitism in an identical manner to discrimination motivated by race.
In late April, he visited Israel again and signed HB 269, a law that provides law enforcement agencies with new enforcement mechanisms to punish perpetrators of antisemitic incidents and those who target religious communities. While in Israel, he also signed a proclamation to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence. And he’s used Florida’s anti-BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) legislation to take on woke companies boycotting Israel, like Ben & Jerry’s and Airbnb. Does this sound like someone Jew-hating Nazis would march for?
Donald Trump also tried to link DeSantis with Adolf Hitler recently, albeit satirically. On his Truth Social and Instagram accounts, Trump shared a video parody of DeSantis’ Twitter Spaces interview with Elon Musk that was altered to make it appear as though Hitler, George Soros and the devil, among others, are supporting DeSantis. Nikki Fried, a 45-year old Democrat who ran for governor last year, told NPR in 2022 that she “saw the rise of Hitler” and felt DeSantis was like him “in a lot of ways.” No prominent Democrats distanced themselves from her remarks.
Then the media’s campaign to portray DeSantis as an extremist got an assist from Denee Benton, an actress who referred to him as a “Grand Wizard” while presenting a Tony award to a Florida teacher, earning rapturous approval from the audience. Dozens of media outlets provided approving coverage of her remarks, including headline treatment in Newsweek, People, The Daily Mail, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Tonight, Entertainment Weekly, the New Republic, the Guardian, and many others.
Many mainstream news outlets no longer fact-check salacious news about Florida so long as the story fits a narrative portraying DeSantisland as a backward and repressive place. It’s easy to see why Florida’s governor has disengaged with the mainstream media. A recent Current Affairs magazine profile, for example, almost reads like a parody and concludes this way.
He’ll slash every public good in the name of fiscal responsibility, and fill the void with endless culture war. He’ll censor your textbooks, destroy your natural wonders, and torment minorities in your local school, and do it all with the arrogance and sadism of a Guantánamo guard. He may look like a secondary threat next to Trump, but don’t underestimate him for a second. You may be the next target on his list.
One of the last interviews DeSantis did with a major media outlet, 60 Minutes, was edited so deceptively that even the Washington Post leapt to his defense in 2021. DeSantis shouldn’t dignify all the outrageous insults with a response, particularly “news” outlets who are all but urging their readers to hide under their blankets for fear of him. He can win the primary with his current strategy of engaging only conservative media. But he should selectively mix it up with major media outlets too because he needs to tell his story to the broader public outside the conservative echo chamber before it’s too late.