Democrat Andrew Gillum, Florida’s first black gubernatorial candidate, is facing off against Republican Ron DeSantis hoping to fill the seat that will be vacated by current Florida Governor Rick Scott when his term limit expires in 2019. Plaguing DeSantis’ bid, however, is his history of casual racism, which came under exceptional scrutiny last month when one of his prominent campaign donors came under fire for using the N-word in relation to former President Barack Obama.
During the final gubernatorial debate ahead of the election day held at Broward College on Wednesday night, DeSantis was asked about the scandal. Suffice to say, he did not take the question well. “How the hell am I supposed to know every single statement somebody makes?” he fired back, adding that he was not going to “bow down to the altar of political correctness.”
As my grandmother used to say — a hit dog will holler. pic.twitter.com/kC34Ldd0is
— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) October 25, 2018
When asked to respond, Gillum effectively took his opponent behind the woodshed.
As my grandmother used to say, ‘A hit dog will holler,’ and it hollered through this room. Mr. DeSantis has spoken — hey first of all, he’s got neo-Nazis helping him out in this state, he’s spoken at racist conferences, he’s accepted a contribution and would not return it from someone who referred to the former President of the United States as a Muslim [spells out the word]. When asked to return that money he said no, he’s now using that money to fund negative ads.
Now I’m not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist. I’m simply saying the racists believe he’s a racist.”
And that is how you drop a mic, ladies and gentleman. And not at all surprisingly, it didn’t take long for the moment to go viral.
DeSantis has the look of someone who's only just realizing he's not the protagonist in his movie https://t.co/xEfZbvM5GK
— Tim Murphy (@timothypmurphy) October 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/darth/status/1055273110776176641
An interesting strategy by Gillum, here. Instead of wanly reiterating his dedication to bipartisan solutions he's just relentlessly styling on the dopey bigot running against him. https://t.co/klFNA0m5Bv
— David Roth (@david_j_roth) October 25, 2018
If I were ever roasted this badly I would move. https://t.co/I3dVKlsHpv
— Mike Scollins (@mikescollins) October 25, 2018
When the moderator is trying not to laugh, the line has done some damage. https://t.co/Hf8VKC3VmB
— Philip Bump (@pbump) October 25, 2018
Yall want to see a dead body? https://t.co/fqg7gr91x3
— Cowboy Noxeema Jackson (@prime_bee) October 25, 2018
"Now, I'm not calling Mr. DeSantis a racist. I'm just saying the racists are saying he's a racist."
GODDAMN. Just flawless debate answer. Breathtaking, honestly. https://t.co/jRAz5cf9ZF
— Charlotte Clymer 🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) October 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/KaraRBrown/status/1055278505322143744
https://twitter.com/ItsTheBrandi/status/1055280455086419969
Did the ref stop the fight after this? Seems like that would've been the merciful/ethical thing to do. https://t.co/OJziRxTuYi
— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) October 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/BobbyBigWheel/status/1055291663109767169
the election in Florida should be top of your list for a lot of reasons if you care at all about elections, but one of them is that this happened and it's glorious https://t.co/3WqGUS9jJE
— Sarah Jaffe (@sarahljaffe) October 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/just_jenna/status/1055274415791976448
If this doesn’t clinch Gillum’s win in November, nothing will.