Ron DeSantis has largely refrained from hitting back at his biggest GOP rival, Donald Trump. He won’t even condemn him for January 6th. On Friday, he finally went full throttle. It wasn’t your typical blockbuster job, though: his argument was that Trump is being too nice to the LGBTQIA+ community. It was wildly homophobic… while being wildly homoerotic, juxtaposing images of the governor of Florida with images of muscle men (plus, for some reason, fictional serial killer Patrick Bateman, of American psycho). It even earned the ire of Log Cabin Republicans. And he was dragged quite effectively by Pete Buttigieg.
Buttigieg on the DeSantis video: I’m going to leave out the weirdness of trying to prove your manhood by putting together a video that sticks images of you between oiled up shirtless bodybuilders. pic.twitter.com/fbDpoEBrg7
—Acyn (@Acyn) July 2, 2023
The incumbent transportation secretary, whose attacks on the right abound with bubbling wit, went on CNN State of the Union Sunday, where he was asked about the announcement. After struggling not to roll his eyes deep in the back of his head, Buttigieg started with a quip.
“I’m going to leave out the weirdness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that sticks images of you between oiled up shirtless bodybuilders,” he said.
But then he got to the “biggest problem” at the heart of Team DeSantis’ bigoted ways, namely, “Who are you trying to help?” Who are you trying to do better, and what public policy problems do you wake up in the morning thinking about how to solve them? »
He continued:
“As an administration, we are focused on how to get things done and make people better off. I spend my week traveling across the country to places that have infrastructure funds. We are in Appalachia and eastern Kentucky which has been wiped out by flooding multiple times and we are providing road funding to them which will not only improve the road but also improve the dam and protect them from flooding at the coming. A few weeks ago we were in North Dakota where there was a railroad crossing that has been a headache for the community for decades, and thanks to President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure funds, we finally have the resources to address it. We will improve this and not be a problem retaining first responders. »
He concluded: “These are the kinds of problems that most of us have encountered in government, politics and the civil service to work. And I just don’t understand the mentality of someone who wakes up in the morning thinking they’re going to prove their worth by competing to see who can make life the hardest for a hard-hit community that’s already so vulnerable in America.
It should be noted that the LGBTQIA+ community isn’t the only community DeSantis is trying to harm. His culture war antics are also costing all Floridians millions.