The Patriot Post® · Democrats Are All Monkeyed Up

“That’s racist!” Conservatives and Republicans are far too familiar with this accusation being viciously thrown about by Democrats and the Leftmedia. So it’s no surprise that Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis has been smeared with it. DeSantis’s “crime”? Saying the word “monkey” when discussing the policies of his socialist opponent, Andrew Gillum. You see, Gillum is also black, which is irrelevant to anyone but the race-baiters.

DeSantis wasn’t even remotely racist in what he actually said. His true criticism was about Gillum’s socialism. He called Gillum “much too liberal for Florida” and an “articulate spokesman for … far-left views.” Then he added, “We’ve got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction. Let’s build off the success we’ve had on Governor [Rick] Scott. 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. That’s not going to work.”

Cue the sirens, hysteria, and a suddenly crowded fainting couch.

Except as PowerLine’s Paul Mirengoff explains, “‘Monkey it up' means to play carelessly with something. DeSantis clearly was saying that voters shouldn’t mess with the success Florida is experiencing under Gov. Scott, a conservative, by electing a candidate with a socialist agenda. His meaning could not have been plainer.”

But when the Left’s narrative for decades has been that Republicans are bigoted racists, some folks begin to hear everything Republicans say through that distorted filter. But this is far more malicious than passively misunderstanding — it’s deliberate and deceitful slander meant to keep blacks voting Democrat. Talk about divisive rhetoric.

The silver lining is that this strategy sometimes backfires, as in the election of President Donald Trump, who endorsed DeSantis in the primary.

Nevertheless, Gillum’s strategy is to double down on tying DeSantis to Trump. The Republican candidate “is going to join Donald Trump in the swamp,” Gillum declared. While the Leftmedia speaks of “dog whistles,” Gillum went further, saying, “In the handbook of Donald Trump, they no longer do whistle calls — they’re now using full bullhorns.”

Maybe Gillum knows only dogs hear dog whistles, so he’s gotta change up the desperate metaphor. In any case, Democrats’ increasing predisposition for socialism and divisive race-baiting should have Florida voters running the other direction.