AP’s abhorrent slander that DeSantis is somehow to blame for a racist killing
How low will the Democrat-supporting media go in attacking Republicans?
The Associated Press demonstrates there is no bottom.
An AP article with two “journalists” on the byline, AP chief political reporter Steve Peoples, along with Brendan Farrington, an activist who often bungles his coverage, and three more reporters noted at the bottom of the piece, openly accuses Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of causing the racial killings in Jacksonville.
It’s not the first time Farrington decided to call the governor a racist and went looking for support for his idea.
In 2022, Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, posted an exchange where she asked Farrington to confirm he asked, without any context, a sitting state senator and DeSantis foe whether the governor was a racist. Farrington confirmed he did ask that.
This week’s AP piece vaguely refers to “rhetoric” that motivated the shooter but does not provide any examples of it at all because, obviously, there are none.
Instead, it gives space to all of DeSantis’ political enemies to tie him to the bloodshed. The far-left NAACP and various Florida Democrats all weighed in to support the “DeSantis is a murderer” thesis.
It’s a disgusting charge and part of a pattern of this kind of behavior from the left.
In 2011, the Democrats and their media buddies ran with the nauseating assertion that the shooting of Sen. Gabby Giffords was related to an electoral map with crosshairs posted by Sarah Palin.
Of course it was not. But the left saw Republicans had no response, because no amount of facts, like “The shooter hadn’t seen Palin’s map,” could rebut a lie so emotionally charged and vile.
Lesson learned: Let’s run with it for every shooting since. If there is no “rhetoric” connection to make, the left simply blames Republican support of gun rights. The media are, of course, always there to lend a hand to this propaganda.
DeSantis is a target because he has been massively successful in Florida and his policies have garnered him an increase in the black vote in the last election. Democrats in the Sunshine State are in disarray, and their desperation comes across in blaming the governor for this racist shooting.
Of course, it’s not just DeSantis getting tarred with the blame. It’s any Republican.
Tim Scott and Nikki Haley both got a mention in the AP piece, and Peoples and Farrington made sure to insert their ignorant opinion that “Republicans have little political incentive to appeal to voters of color — in the primary phase of the presidential campaign, at least.” Scott and Haley are both Republicans of color.
And it’s not just AP. Matt Dixon, largely a stenographer for the Democratic Party in Florida, echoed the same blame game in a piece for NBC News: “Ron DeSantis’ policies toward the Black community are coming under fresh scrutiny.”
What goes unmentioned is that the scrutiny is coming from far-left activists who already despise DeSantis and love the opportunity to smear him to their media teammate.
Meanwhile, Isaiah Rumlin, president of the NAACP’s Jacksonville chapter, told CNN that the Justice Department should be looking into people who have Donald Trump signs on their lawns.
Don’t vote wrong or the NAACP will call in the Justice Department on you!
It’s all hideous. It’s most telling that other media members, and liberals who consider themselves reasonable, go silent when they see this kind of thing go on.
If you’re so worried about “rhetoric,” perhaps say a word when your political foes are being slandered as murderers.
The fact is that Florida, with crime at a 50-year low, is far safer for black people than many states governed by Democrats, and that’s what makes the left so mad.
DeSantis quickly condemned the despicable shooting and made a visit to blue Jacksonville despite knowing he’d be booed by Democrats with a political agenda.
That’s good leadership, and no amount of spin from a hateful press corps will change that.
