[ad_1]
Ron DeSantis, Florida's Republican presidential nominee and President Trump's sidekick, faces growing questions about a racist insult from one of his supporters.
Politico reported on Thursday that a Republican activist who donated more than $ 20,000 to Mr. DeSantis over the years recently used Twitter as a vulgar and racist insult to former President Barack Obama.
The donor, Steven M. Alembik, also delivered a speech to Mr. DeSantis at an event for Israel at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort in February. Mr. Alembik told Politico that he had written the tweet of anger and then deleted it.
During an appearance at Florida International University in Miami on Thursday, Mr. DeSantis disavowed the tweet.
"I'm not responsible for it, reject it" he told reporters. "We are focused on our message and we focus on what we are putting forward."
Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for the campaign, said that part of Mr. Alembik's money had already been returned to him, and none during the general election. The campaign will not accept any further donations from Mr. Alembik, he added.
"We categorically denounce this kind of disgusting rhetoric," Lawson said in a statement. "We continue to focus on issues that matter to Floridians, such as taking advantage of our economic success, keeping our water clean and stimulating funding for classroom instruction."
Mr. Alembik did not respond to a call for comments. SMA Communications, its Boca Raton data company, sent a journalist to Sean Jackson, president of the Black Republican Caucus of Florida, who defended Mr. Alembik.
He asked about the tweet "a vile attempt to belittle" Mr. Alembik and the DeSantis campaign and asserted that if any one of color had said the same thing about Mr. Obama, it would not be considered racist.
The day after his victory at the Republican primary on August 28, DeSantis was accused of using a racist whistle during an interview with Fox News. Mr DeSantis described Mr Gillum as a far-left socialist who wants to raise taxes and bankrupt the state.
"The last thing we need to do is stick to that by trying to adopt a socialist agenda," he said.
Mr. Gillum, 39, does not identify himself as a socialist, and he and other Florida Democrats have strongly criticized the choice of Mr. DeSantis' words.
"In Donald Trump's handbook, they are no longer blowing whistles," Gillum said at the time. "They are now using complete bull horns."
Later in the week, racist phone calls targeting Mr. Gillum were made to residents of a group of white supremacists based in Idaho.
In the audio of a phone call obtained by The New York Times, one can hear a man pretending to be Mr. Gillum with the exaggerated emphasis of a minstrel artist. "Well hello," he begins, "I'm Andrew Gillum." He then talks about mud huts and unfair police practices, and asks the listener's vote amid the sounds of drums and monkeys.
Mr. Lawson called the robocall "dreadful".
"Let's hope that everyone behind this must respond to this despicable action," he added.
In 2017, Milo Yiannopoulos, former editor of Breitbart, and Stephen K. Bannon, former Trump advisor, also participated in the event.
And in June, a member of DeSantis' finance team, David Bossie, was suspended from Fox for telling a black Democrat on the air: "You are out of your mind.
Mr. Bossie, who was also Trump's assistant campaign manager, then apologized.
Source link
