SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), the Florida Republican Party's nominee for governor, spoke in recent years at four conferences organized by an activist who's professed white supremacist views. (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr/cc)
Newly Revealed Paid Speeches Leave 'No Question Whatsoever' That Republican Ron DeSantis Is a Racist
GOP congressman is running against Democrat Andrew Gillum, who would be Florida's first black governor
Sep 10, 2018
New reports of recent speeches at an annual conference held by a right-wing extremist who has espoused white supremacist and Islamophobic views provide the latest evidence that Florida's Republican gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Ron DeSantis, has supported racist groups and associated with their viewpoints in the recent past.
The congressman, who announced Monday he was resigning from his seat to campaign full time against Democrat Andrew Gillum--the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)-backed, African American mayor of Tallahassee--spoke four times in the last five years at the annual conferences of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
The group's namesake and leader is the author of a book entitled "Black Skin Privilege and the American Dream," which promotes the notion that white Americans are the victims of a race war. He also wrote on Twitter just last month that "Black Africans enslaved black Africans" while "America freed them sacrificing 350,000 mainly white Union lives."
His organization is dedicated to defending "free societies which are under attack from enemies within and without, both secular and religious" and exposing the "over-arching sinister agendas" of progressive politicians and groups including Sens. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Planned Parenthood.
Other speakers at recent meetings of Horowitz's group include multiculturalism critic Douglas Murray, who spoke about Europe's "civilizational suicide" through broadening immigration; former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos; and right-wing activist James O'Keefe, who became infamous for producing deceptive propaganda videos regarding Planned Parenthood and protesters at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
A spokesperson for DeSantis told the Washington Post that the congressman is "a leader in standing up for truth" and that he should not be held accountable for the views of others.
Speaking at Horowitz's conference in 2017, DeSantis, a steadfast supporter of Trump, defended the president's Muslim ban and attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the president's campaign and allegations that Trump has obstructed justice.
The revelations about his deep ties to Horowitz come weeks after DeSantis won his nomination and called his progressive Democratic opponent "articulate"--a common dog whistle used to suggest that eloquence and intelligence are aberrations among black Americans--and added, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
New reports of recent speeches at an annual conference held by a right-wing extremist who has espoused white supremacist and Islamophobic views provide the latest evidence that Florida's Republican gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Ron DeSantis, has supported racist groups and associated with their viewpoints in the recent past.
The congressman, who announced Monday he was resigning from his seat to campaign full time against Democrat Andrew Gillum--the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)-backed, African American mayor of Tallahassee--spoke four times in the last five years at the annual conferences of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
The group's namesake and leader is the author of a book entitled "Black Skin Privilege and the American Dream," which promotes the notion that white Americans are the victims of a race war. He also wrote on Twitter just last month that "Black Africans enslaved black Africans" while "America freed them sacrificing 350,000 mainly white Union lives."
His organization is dedicated to defending "free societies which are under attack from enemies within and without, both secular and religious" and exposing the "over-arching sinister agendas" of progressive politicians and groups including Sens. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Planned Parenthood.
Other speakers at recent meetings of Horowitz's group include multiculturalism critic Douglas Murray, who spoke about Europe's "civilizational suicide" through broadening immigration; former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos; and right-wing activist James O'Keefe, who became infamous for producing deceptive propaganda videos regarding Planned Parenthood and protesters at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
A spokesperson for DeSantis told the Washington Post that the congressman is "a leader in standing up for truth" and that he should not be held accountable for the views of others.
Speaking at Horowitz's conference in 2017, DeSantis, a steadfast supporter of Trump, defended the president's Muslim ban and attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the president's campaign and allegations that Trump has obstructed justice.
The revelations about his deep ties to Horowitz come weeks after DeSantis won his nomination and called his progressive Democratic opponent "articulate"--a common dog whistle used to suggest that eloquence and intelligence are aberrations among black Americans--and added, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."
New reports of recent speeches at an annual conference held by a right-wing extremist who has espoused white supremacist and Islamophobic views provide the latest evidence that Florida's Republican gubernatorial nominee, Rep. Ron DeSantis, has supported racist groups and associated with their viewpoints in the recent past.
The congressman, who announced Monday he was resigning from his seat to campaign full time against Democrat Andrew Gillum--the Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)-backed, African American mayor of Tallahassee--spoke four times in the last five years at the annual conferences of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
The group's namesake and leader is the author of a book entitled "Black Skin Privilege and the American Dream," which promotes the notion that white Americans are the victims of a race war. He also wrote on Twitter just last month that "Black Africans enslaved black Africans" while "America freed them sacrificing 350,000 mainly white Union lives."
His organization is dedicated to defending "free societies which are under attack from enemies within and without, both secular and religious" and exposing the "over-arching sinister agendas" of progressive politicians and groups including Sens. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Planned Parenthood.
Other speakers at recent meetings of Horowitz's group include multiculturalism critic Douglas Murray, who spoke about Europe's "civilizational suicide" through broadening immigration; former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos; and right-wing activist James O'Keefe, who became infamous for producing deceptive propaganda videos regarding Planned Parenthood and protesters at President Donald Trump's inauguration.
A spokesperson for DeSantis told the Washington Post that the congressman is "a leader in standing up for truth" and that he should not be held accountable for the views of others.
Speaking at Horowitz's conference in 2017, DeSantis, a steadfast supporter of Trump, defended the president's Muslim ban and attacked Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the president's campaign and allegations that Trump has obstructed justice.
The revelations about his deep ties to Horowitz come weeks after DeSantis won his nomination and called his progressive Democratic opponent "articulate"--a common dog whistle used to suggest that eloquence and intelligence are aberrations among black Americans--and added, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.