It was “coded” or “not so coded” language about race, according to Vox. It was another sign, added a Think Progress editor, that the candidate is “not a sane man.” And it was, the Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo summarized, “disgusting.”
Those politicos and publications are referring, of course, to Rep. Ron DeSantis, the Republican nominee for Florida governor, saying that voters should not “monkey this up” by electing Democratic nominee and Mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum.
The problem? Gillum is a black man.
Here’s the clip:
Uh Ron DeSantis just said FL shouldn’t “monkey this up” by electing Andrew Gillum pic.twitter.com/nDPp3Hx7zc
— Steve Morris (@stevemorris__) August 29, 2018
Read the quote:
Now consider the following: DeSantis has never made a similar racist remark. DeSantis has nothing to gain whatsoever by using a racist dog whistle on national television. A sort of Occam’s razor of racism might be helpful here: Either DeSantis is a bigot, or DeSantis is politician who pulled out the wrong garbled expression at the wrong time and said something stupid.
The overwhelming evidence tips toward the latter. DeSantis has run for Congress three times without any such gaffes. He has not governed in any sort of way that would imply the hidden racism that the Left now implies. If the Florida Republican suffered from some sort of subconscious racism then, as Ben Shapiro reasons over at the Daily Wire, “a record of his repeated use of such language would be in order. In fact, there’s no record of any racism from DeSantis.”
There is also no record of DeSantis being an idiot. On top of Ivy League degrees, he is a skilled politician who overcame a double-digit deficit to crush his primary opponent by 20 points and win the nomination. He did this by solidifying his base and drafting behind the momentum of the president. What advantage, then, would DeSantis have gained by making a racist dog whistle? It would be counterproductive, because a controversy over race is the absolute last thing his campaign wants right now.
To conclude that DeSantis is racist or to infer that DeSantis is subconsciously racist requires assumptions to supplement nonexistent evidence. Was his language inappropriate? Yes. Does anything in his past indicate an inappropriate character? No. Anyone who wants to condemn DeSantis as just another bigot needs further proof, something that DeSantis should be sure never to supply.
