Ron DeSantis continued to take a wrecking (meat)ball to his campaign on Thursday night as the Florida governor sugar-shamed a small child for sipping on an Icee.
The now-viral moment went down at the Wayne County fairgrounds in Iowa where DeSantis once again demonstrated that he’s awful at mingling with the general public. After spotting the child, DeSantis asked what they were enjoying. When the child said an Icee, DeSantis responded “That’s a lot of sugar, huh?” before robotically saying, “Good to see ya” and walking away.
Here’s a clip from NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez:
At the Wayne County fairgrounds in Iowa. pic.twitter.com/qEIpsKwxPo
— Gabe Gutierrez (@gabegutierrez) July 27, 2023
It’s yet another blunder for DeSantis in the key primary state where members of his own party have already hit him with a cease and desist letter for bussing in supporters from other states to mask the lack of enthusiasm for his campaign.
“He is the first presidential candidate that is going out and buying and paying for representation … he’s not building a grassroots organization,” Muscatine GOP Chair Daniel Freeman wrote in the letter. “And it could very well be that he uses Never Back Down because he can’t garner state support from individual residents in Iowa. Therein lies the problem. He is misleading the public of Iowa by sending busloads of people to a parade and they don’t even live in the area and in fact, most of them don’t even live in the state of Iowa.”
Now, DeSantis is out here shaming children for eating frozen treats during a summer plagued by heatwaves. The reactions on social media have been brutal as people can’t believe how terrible DeSantis is at retail politics.
You can see some of the reactions below:
“What is that? An icee? That’s probably a lot of sugar, huh?”
Ron DeSantis to a child in Iowa.
Perfection. No notes. Beyond parody. https://t.co/qWlOBKY7rA
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 27, 2023
this is creepy, right?
like…he is really strange.
this is not how normal humans speak. https://t.co/BDp2BKOA49— Florida Chris (@chrislongview) July 28, 2023
"HELLO, HUMAN EARTH CHILD! YOUR ICED BEVERAGE MEAL WILL LIKELY REDUCE YOUR LIFESPAN DRAMATICALLY! I HAVE GROWN BORED OF THIS AND DO NOT ENJOY TOUCHING YOUR FLESH HANDS WITH MY FLESH HAND!" https://t.co/ecj0cZoa4d
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) July 27, 2023
The inconvenient thing about running for the presidency is that it really helps to actually enjoy the presence of other human beings.
— Nao! (@hard4TRUMP) July 27, 2023
Every billionaire has tried to push Meatball Ron to the moon and he still can't get over. This is batting practice for a politician and his instinct is to call the ball fat. https://t.co/OP519oLw3E
— Brian Gaar (@briangaar) July 27, 2023
DeSantis: Oh, what is that?
Girl: An icee
DeSantis: An icee? Yeah that's probably a lot of sugar huh?Truly a man of the people. https://t.co/stqsXICu5I
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 28, 2023
https://twitter.com/ShutUpAndrosky/status/1684731118921322502
I don't think there's been a worse retail politician in our lifetime. It's a real talent, a kind of anti-Obama. https://t.co/50ICGAIld3
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 28, 2023
He has the charm of a syphilitic chancre.
— SnarkTank (@TheSnarkTank99) July 27, 2023
This is the kind of joy Ron DeSantis exuded when he was in Congress.
The personality of a closet door. https://t.co/yuMSNfYvRZ
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) July 28, 2023
Biden is drowning in a tub of Breyer’s right now and Mr Optimism over here is sugar scolding at a COUNTY FAIR IN THE MIDWEST lol are we in the twilight zone? https://t.co/7M8p4KtlT3
— Zack Brown (@ZackBrownDC) July 27, 2023
Never back down from a fight with some woke little girl and her icee https://t.co/CE7MEktLxK
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) July 28, 2023