It just never ends. When any group of people is as full to the brim with crooks, racists, perverts, and hatemongers as the Republican Party is, the odds of them finding and elevating allies who are not at least one of those things drop to nearly zero. When Florida governor and ambitious Trump impersonator Ron DeSantis is doing the elevating, a man who's consistently been promoting hoax-believers and conspiracy cranks to state positions in direct proportion to how much damage it would do, you can drop that to a hard zero. Anyone who Ron DeSantis takes interest in will turn out to be a crookoracipervocreep because those are the only people ol' Ron can stomach even being around.
It was only last July that DeSantis appointed Republican Jeffery Moore to fill a vacant seat on Gadsden County, Florida's Board of County Commissioners. Gadsden is Florida's only majority-Black county and is stalwartly Democratic, and Moore was, in fact, the only Republican on the five-person board.
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Fast forward to today, and Moore has both resigned and withdrawn from the race to hold the seat in November after a photo surfaced of a younger Moore wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe at an apparent Halloween party. Yeah, what are the odds. A youngish white Republican guy from Florida's only predominantly Black county just happens to be the kind of guy who would choose a Klan outfit as his party costume. Could have picked absolutely anything else, but went with that.
The Tallahassee Democrat brings us that story, and adds as helpful context the reminder that DeSantis' appointed secretary of state was forced to resign three years ago for a blackface "Hurricane Katrina victim" costume at another Halloween party. There's something about "this is a Halloween party" that apparently screams to ambitious young Republicans, "I should do something racist for this, it'll be funny."
Would there be any point in asking what the deal with that is? What possesses a white man who grew up in a mostly-Black county to think, "for Halloween, I will put on Klan robes," except as obvious means of expressing public racism in a somewhat-but-not-really deniable setting?
People in Gadsden County appear to be well and truly ticked, reports the Democrat, but Moore himself isn't talking. His resignation only cites "personal reasons" for his exit, neither acknowledging the photo nor offering any apology for it. That, itself, shows a repulsive disrespect for the community he supposedly served. You're just going to clam up? No apology, no nothing, just drift off into the background until a hired political hack comes back to you with the text you're supposed to say to claw back your political career?
What is it about DeSantis? What is it about Florida Republicans? It's a den of con artists, child traffickers, outright crooks, performative party racists, Medicare fraudsters, actual Proud Boys—is this literally all the state party can dredge up, or is it not their fault? Is Republicanism just at the point where you throw a dart at the roster, and pretty much any name it hits is going to be either a racist, a sex trafficker, or have some other secret past? Ew.
There are thousands of elections on the ballot this year, and Democratic campaigns all over the country need your help to get out the vote. Mobilize is your one-stop shop to get connected with campaigns anywhere in the country that need volunteers to call, text, write, and knock on doors. Click here to view GOTV opportunities near you.
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It was only last July that DeSantis appointed Republican Jeffery Moore to fill a vacant seat on Gadsden County, Florida's Board of County Commissioners. Gadsden is Florida's only majority-Black county and is stalwartly Democratic, and Moore was, in fact, the only Republican on the five-person board.
Campaign Action
Fast forward to today, and Moore has both resigned and withdrawn from the race to hold the seat in November after a photo surfaced of a younger Moore wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe at an apparent Halloween party. Yeah, what are the odds. A youngish white Republican guy from Florida's only predominantly Black county just happens to be the kind of guy who would choose a Klan outfit as his party costume. Could have picked absolutely anything else, but went with that.
The Tallahassee Democrat brings us that story, and adds as helpful context the reminder that DeSantis' appointed secretary of state was forced to resign three years ago for a blackface "Hurricane Katrina victim" costume at another Halloween party. There's something about "this is a Halloween party" that apparently screams to ambitious young Republicans, "I should do something racist for this, it'll be funny."
Would there be any point in asking what the deal with that is? What possesses a white man who grew up in a mostly-Black county to think, "for Halloween, I will put on Klan robes," except as obvious means of expressing public racism in a somewhat-but-not-really deniable setting?
People in Gadsden County appear to be well and truly ticked, reports the Democrat, but Moore himself isn't talking. His resignation only cites "personal reasons" for his exit, neither acknowledging the photo nor offering any apology for it. That, itself, shows a repulsive disrespect for the community he supposedly served. You're just going to clam up? No apology, no nothing, just drift off into the background until a hired political hack comes back to you with the text you're supposed to say to claw back your political career?
What is it about DeSantis? What is it about Florida Republicans? It's a den of con artists, child traffickers, outright crooks, performative party racists, Medicare fraudsters, actual Proud Boys—is this literally all the state party can dredge up, or is it not their fault? Is Republicanism just at the point where you throw a dart at the roster, and pretty much any name it hits is going to be either a racist, a sex trafficker, or have some other secret past? Ew.
There are thousands of elections on the ballot this year, and Democratic campaigns all over the country need your help to get out the vote. Mobilize is your one-stop shop to get connected with campaigns anywhere in the country that need volunteers to call, text, write, and knock on doors. Click here to view GOTV opportunities near you.
RELATED STORIES:
Who is the mysterious 'Perla' who aided Ron DeSantis' craven political stunt?
Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are taking a page straight out of the White Citizens Council playbook
DeSantis isn’t fooling anyone with the appointment of a MAGA conspiracist as secretary of state
Proud Boys have Miami politics in their grip