The first Black nominee from a major party for Florida governor is now the target of racist robocalls, which come after the GOP nominee’s dog whistling comment.
Last week, in a major upset, Andrew Gillum, a Democrat and mayor of Tallahassee, won the state’s Democratic primary.
Racist automated calls going out to voters in the state have jungle noises, including the sounds of monkeys, in the background, while a man speaking in the ad, pretending to be Gillum, uses an exaggerated minstrel dialect.
The robocalls were paid for by a Neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic podcast operated by Scott Rhodes of Idaho called The Road to Power,
according to NPR.
Representatives from both gubernatorial campaigns have condemned the robocalls.
However, jungle noises included in the call appear to be nod to GOP nominee Ron “Monkey This Up” DeSantis’ racist comment.
The congressman, who is backed by President Donald Trump in the gubernatorial race, said Wednesday morning on Fox News that Gillum is “articulate” and “charismatic,” but then resorted to rallying his base with racist rhetoric.
“He is an articulate spokesman for those far left views, and he is a charismatic candidate, and I watched those Democratic debates, and none of that is my cup of tea. He performed better than the other people there,” Ron “Monkey This Up” DeSantis said.
“So we’ve gotta work hard to make sure that we continue to keep Florida going in a good direction. Let’s build off of on the success of Governor Scott.”
He then inserts the racist dog whistle:
“The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda.”
Florida Gov. candidate Ron DeSantis is using openly white supremacist rhetoric in relation to his Black Democratic opponent Andrew Gillum: “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up. pic.twitter.com/ITKXfRM8Rg
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) August 29, 2018
In response to his comment,
Gillum said:
“I think they’ve thrown away dog whistling and fully leaned into the bull horn.”
He added, “I understand the signal he wanted to send but the truth is I think there are more of us out there who are common and decent who frankly want to be over the politics of division.”
Ron “Monkey This Up” DeSantis, a seasoned attorney, used “monkey” when discussing a Black man. Yet claims his comment had “zero to do with race.”
But, as highlighted in a Miami New Times report,
“Eight Times Ron DeSantis “Accidentally” Did Racist Stuff,”this isn’t the first time his racism has shown.
He moderated a Facebook page called “Tea Party,” “which boasts 94,000 followers and claims to be ‘the oldest and largest #TeaParty group on Facebook.'”
One of the posts on the page is a meme “showing side-by-side photos of Melania Trump and a heavily Photoshopped Michelle Obama with the headline ‘Make the White House Beautiful Again,'” according to the New Times.
