A new political attack ad portrays Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a raving madman who lets his people choose whether to wear masks and won’t make vaccination mandatory. What could be worse to America’s lockdown-happy liberals?
DeSantis’ response to the coronavirus pandemic has earned him praise from Republicans. The Florida governor prioritized his state’s sizable population of elderly and retirees for vaccination while allowing the rest of his citizens to go about their business unmasked and unvaccinated if they so wished. As Democratic governors implemented lockdowns, Florida’s beaches and bars remained open, save for a short lockdown early last year. The governor has also promised to fine any federal agency attempting to enforce the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates in his state.
Stop what you are doing and watch this immediately. If you are ready to remove Ron DeathSantis from office retweet this new ad and make sure everyone can see it. pic.twitter.com/AyaHQ77fqs
An ad released on Wednesday by ‘Remove Ron’ – a PAC aimed at turfing DeSantis out of office next year – depicts masked and terrified airplane passengers about to touch down in the Sunshine State. Clips of DeSantis promising to “trust people to make their own decisions” and refrain from “bludgeoning people with restrictions and mandates and lockdowns or any of that stuff” play on the plane’s screens as the passengers brace for landing in what the ad calls “a state with no rules,” where “you do not have to wear a mask” and “you have the absolute right to infect whoever you want.”
Shot in the style of a trailer for a ‘Purge’ movie, the ad paints DeSantis as a monster for stating that “students shouldn’t be forced to wear masks.” While this may scare some die-hard Covid control fans, droves of commenters thought the ad missed the mark entirely, and actually made a trip to Florida sound more appealing.
“He really does talk about freedom, choice and privacy,” Canadian conservative Ezra Levant tweeted. “If you hate those things, I suppose this is an attack ad.”
“Is this for or against de Santis?” another commenter wrote. “Not clear to me as a foreigner.”
The ‘Remove Ron’ PAC is the brainchild of Daniel Uhlfelder, a lawyer who spent last summer strolling up and down the state’s beaches dressed as the grim reaper to demand harsher restrictions and reprimand sun-seekers for not wearing masks, all while soliciting donations for Democrats.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Florida has recorded 3.5 million cases of Covid-19, behind Texas with just over four million and California leading the US with 4.7 million. The state’s death rate stands at 249 per 100,000 people, ranking tenth worst out of the 50 US states. However, Florida has fared significantly better than lockdown-obsessed New York – which has recorded 289 deaths per 100,000 – and New Jersey, with 308 per 100,000.
