Given Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis’ dismal poll numbers, the flailing Florida governor may not run into many of his supporters when he’s out on the street.
But his awkward aura sure seems to attract victims of robberies!
Over the last week, DeSantis has spoken multiple times about meeting people in southern California who have been mugged. During Wednesday’s brutal Republican debate, he pegged the number at three.
But four days later, the number of victims doubled. DeSantis told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo he and his wife Casey have run into “six or seven people that had been mugged in the last year in southern California.”
That’s quite a jump in a short amount of time! Either DeSantis attracts robbery victims like a magnet, or he’s lying.
Hmm… hard to choose!
The Trump effect. Next week it will be a dozen.
— Betty Fingal (@BettyPFingal) October 1, 2023
While Republican politicians often exaggerate the crime issues in blue states, DeSantis is particularly shameless. On the campaign trail, he often brags that Florida’s crime levels are at a 50-year low.
But that triumphant anecdote is based off incomplete data.
According to the Marshall Project, a nonprofit that covers criminal justice, that oft-cited figure doesn’t include numbers from some of Florida’s biggest police departments.
Whoops!
“About half of the agencies that police more than 40% of the state’s population are missing from figures the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) used for a state-wide estimation,” the report reads.
Nationally, the numbers are even more cherry-picked.
Only about 8% of police departments in Florida report their crime figures to the FBI. Many of the state’s largest law enforcement agencies, such as the Miami Police Department, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Petersburg Police Department, are absent from that assessment.
The real numbers for Florida aren’t as encouraging. The Sunshine State owns a higher homicide mortality rate per 100,00 people than California.
Of course, it isn’t surprising to see DeSantis lie about his checkered record. He launched his futile presidential bid on the back of his supposed awesome handling of COVID, which is a myth. Florida ranks fourth in the country in total deaths (behind California, Texas and New York), and in deaths per capita, Florida ranks 22.
Though that’s better than New York at 10, that’s far worse than “woke California,” which is 39.
Regardless, it’s apparent GOP voters can see right through Florida’s gay-hating governor. He once again failed to move the needle following last week’s debate, despite spouting some of his favorite anti-LGBTQ+ talking points.
While DeSantis embarrasses himself on the national stage, his policies at home are only getting more vengeful. Last week, his administration stripped four private schools of state scholarship money, alleging they enjoy “direct ties” with the Chinese Communist Party.
Ironically, DeSantis, a supposed champion of school choice, isn’t attacking left-leaning institutions. He’s targeting upper-class, conservative institutions.
In other words, he’s harming his own voters to prove an empty point.
“They’re attacking schools that are predominantly very Republican, well-established private schools that are among our best, so I just don’t understand it,” a Democratic state representative told the Guardian.
This isn’t the first time DeSantis has disregarded his constituents for the sake of boosting his hopeless presidential campaign. When his cronies revoked Disney employees’ free access to the company’s amusement parks, the districts’ firefighters spoke out about their displeasure with the mean-spirited edict.
“The removal of this benefit takes away, for some, their entire reason for working here,” said one.
With DeSantis’ campaign now downplaying the importance of winning, one might wonder about his reasons for shouldering on.
Apparently, lying about another state’s crime figures on Fox News seems to be at the top of the list. Now that’s $50 million well spent!
johncp56
What D! he is way out of his league,
dbmcvey
Conservatives love these fake stories about how certain cities are overrun with crime, despite the fact the crime rate is just as high, or higher in red state cities.
abfab
It makes it easier for them to ignore the real crime. The man whose inner and outer ass they dine on daily. Still! The POS that inhabited the White House and left in disgrace. The idiot who who will spend the rest of his life in court rooms. The conservatives. The right!
jcool
probably mugged by drag queens. you know how they are.
Thad
I hate the messages Fox News uses on its broadcasts. They always reflect bias.
Glynn
Ron Desanctimonious was on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ (Friday). Bill gave him a very easy free ride. I was rather hoping Bill would fly out of the starting gate after his 5-month strike hiatus, but he completely missed Ron’s jugular.
dbmcvey
Bill has truly lost his edge when dealing with conservatives. He’s not who he used to be.