On Tuesday night, Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum won the Democratic primary for the Florida governor’s race. He’ll be facing off against “Trump acolyte” Ron DeSantis. Gillum’s primary win was a surprise to even the Florida Democratic Party establishment, but his rise was widely heralded too – he’s got great progressive-Dem credentials, and he happens to be one of only a handful of African-American candidates to win their party’s nomination for any state’s governorship. Obviously, since we live in Trump’s America and Gillum is running against a dude who worships Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis had some things to say on Wednesday:
Ron DeSantis says on Fox that Florida shouldn't "monkey this up" by electing his opponent, the first African American to win a major-party nomination for governor in Florida. https://t.co/g9JvXhEesY pic.twitter.com/jzb4Ud39ag
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 29, 2018
Honestly, I was ready to cancel DeSantis as soon as he said Gillum was “articulate.” But in the next breath, DeSantis says the last thing Florida needs to do is “monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda…” Monkey this up… is not an idiom. DeSantis is just a racist Deplorable who couldn’t even wait 24 hours to call the African-American candidate a monkey.
Gillum responded. I love that he didn’t minimize it.
"I don't know the phrase. Looking at the whole clip, I think he was clear about what he meant, he understood the dog whistle that he was blowing" Tallahassee Mayor @AndrewGillum reacts to Congressman DeSantis "monkey this up" comment. pic.twitter.com/onqz2AsMxo
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) August 30, 2018
WATCH: Democratic candidate for Florida Governor @AndrewGillum joins #MTPDaily and responds to his opponent's remark on being "articulate" and telling voters not to "monkey" up the race.@AndrewGillum: “Let me be articulate and clear here. We’re better than this in Florida.” pic.twitter.com/kPXSfv1T7R
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 29, 2018
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Watching the alt-right defend this on Twitter yesterday was beyond stomach-churning. And all had to cling to “articulate.”
I had a back and forth with some dude who kept saying he said nothing wrong and you needed to see the whole context of the statement 🤬
Ben Shapiro had a piece up defending him within an hour and they were all retweeting it everywhere. Because when you need an expert on racist dog whistles, you can rely on Ben Shapiro.
@lightpurple Ben Shapiro is a blight on humanity.
The problem is, we as a country have institutionalized racism and biases. Until we can see and admit that, they will not go away. I really Don’t think DeSantis thinks he was being racist (Not an excuse). Men like him don’t take the time to put in the work on themselves or understand nuanced racism and microagressions. So because his INTENTION was not to be racist, he will never see it. He will never change. Because he could never understand how anything other than the N word is racist.
It came out last night that he is the administrator of a very racist Facebook forum.
You’re giving them too much credit. I had an eye-opening conversation with a progressive woman who is a lifelong Southerner and she said that the former Confederate states see themselves as an independent country under occupation by a hostile foreign power (aka the US government) and that their goal is to reestablish a white ethnostate by any means necessary, including violence. That’s what you are seeing when Republicans make statements like this. Do not give them the benefit of the doubt. They are actively working to reestablish Jim Crow. Every time they make a public statement like this and get away with it, they are an inch closer to achieving their goal.
disagree. he knew what he was doing. “monkey it up” is NOT AT ALL a common saying.
monkey around, sure…but “monkey it up”? just no. he could have used any other word…the VERY COMMON “mess it up”…less common “muck it up”…even less common “cock it up”. but he CHOSE a word that has, for a long time, been used by racists to demean black people.
he was using what he thought was a “dog whistle” that only his racist base would get but he didn’t realize that most of us, black or white, are not stupid.
“it came out that he was not being racist”?? OF course this was an intention racist gouge. To say NEVER WAS A THING “monkey up” after describing a POC as “articulate” and “performing”?? NO ONE need define anyone else when uttering these consecutive collective racist phrases, particularly when claiming alliance w trumpian politics. I have eyes and ears; I’m my own interpreter. The only shocking part was it’s clearly normalized; I live in fear, but that fear quickly turns to action.
I physically recoiled when I heard this sh*thead saying this, I heard the clip on npr. I literally had a physical reaction, I am so fully and deeply disgusted. Dog whistle loud and clear. I hate this so much.
Me too. My hand flew to my mouth, my eyes were probably as big as saucers. I almost vomited. As far down as we have spiraled, this still shocked me. And makes me so angry that I shake with rage.
I admit that I heard this in real time yesterday and didn’t pick up on the dog-whistle (probably because I use “monkey wrench” on the semi-regular) but my sister and twitter quickly me straight. Obviously he knew how to speak to his intended audience. Disgusting.
My neck hairs bristled. I live in Trumpsville and hear this shit constantly, and it never, ever fails to shock, dishearten, and frighten me. It is a scary world to live in.
He did not use A dog whistle, he went straight for the bullhorn. He knows the catch words, articulate, performormer and 🐒. If black or brown people in Florida fall for his excuse and votes for this dotard #2 in November they are brainless.
The dotard let it be known he did not hear his pupil racist statement. If it was said by ANY democrat he would have heard it loud and clear and would be tweeting about it in five minutes. This country has fallen so low with the Dotard and his followers it’s going to take years to bring back decency and civil discourse in our lives.
I honestly don’t think he meant to say that. I think his racism is just so effin deep he can’t help himself. God help his state.
Yes and there’s no excuse. I’m sick of wypipo trying to give me excuses. Thank you to the true allies here, you help more than you know.
I don’t know if Gillum can win in FL, which IMO is getting crazier and crazier and I wouldn’t travel there if you paid me… but I pray he can. I am so sick of these garbage people.
He’s definitely got a chance. Florida has closed Primaries, so when the Independents are able to vote in November, he will have a lot of support
I live in Florida it’s not that bad. I love it. Too many conservatives in my area. I swear i think desantis was running an ad where his kid was “building a wall” at his direction. It was disgusting. I haven’t seen it lately. He’s a POS imo. Not voting for him.
Clips of his commercials were shown the other night, and the building a wall with his toddler was one of them. His commercials were juvenile to the point of being like parodies.
I live in a fairly liberal area of FL, granted it’s a large retirement community, but also a huge college area, we have NOAA and a bunch of scientists in my area.
But my husband and I both voted in the primaries by looking to see who had the best shot of beating the GOP front runner in each race. I hate that that’s now how i feel I have to vote, but anything to get rid of the red flood at this point is where you’ll find me…..
And yes, DeSantos commercials? They are the absolute worst. I mute them or turn off the tv for the night every time i see them, or at least turn to a national station so i don’t have to see his smug, slimey punchable face.
I live in Florida,White,and have in the past considered myself independent and not only am I voting for Gillum,I am compelled to campaign for him.
I saw that ad and my brain truly could not process it. It felt like a parody through and through. I hope he tanks, bigly, in Nov.
I live in Florida. I voted for Gillum in the primary because he was the best candidate IMO, and I’m (duh) voting for him again in the general. He seems to be getting a lot of support. DeSantis is disgusting.
Please calm down with the insults, cause not everyone in Florida voted for Trump, not everyone in florida is garbage and there’s garbage people everywhere.
+100 thank you. I live in Orlando, surrounded in towns full of retired people from all over the country, so it’s completely wrong for someone to label every person living in Florida as being the same way on things like morals, politics, etc. If a person thinks Florida is crazy, full of human garbage, and wouldn’t even visit if they were paid, they can stay home and keep the lines in the stores and the theme parks shorter, but they’re missing out on meeting some great people who call Florida home
I have yet to forgive Florida for Bush and the hanging chads. But I still visit a few times a year. Anyplace where I’m as likely to hear Spanish as English is ok with me.
I live in Florida and am constantly appalled by the disgusting racist behavior I see everywhere. I’ve lived in the south my whole life, but my experience in Florida has been another level. The number of people I saw locally defending this cheesedick’s remarks on social media yesterday made me physically shake with rage. Hi Matt Gaetz, you worthless pile of chicken shit!
But, I also know a lot of wonderful people who campaigned hard for Gillum and I’m hopeful that together we can get him elected.
I live in Orlando suburbs, and did not vote for Gillum in the primary only because I feel that a good portion of the state (central and definitely north) is quite racist, and that his running will be red meat for luring out all the retirees/ rednecks to vote against him. However, I was really impressed and happy that he secured the nomination, and feel kind of bad that I voted otherwise now. Racism is definitely more loud and proud around here since Trump won. I hope south Florida mobilizes, and that normal people get out and vote. I have now donated to Gillum and Nelson, along with Beto and Janz. If Florida ends up with Desantis and Rick Scott it is going to be the fucking worst. I stay hopeful and make donations. Wish us luck!
I live in this shithole of a state and I’m honestly worried he can’t win. I think it will be close, but as always I know most republicans make it a point to vote, especially the old people. I think Gillum is going to have a rough time, but he might just squeeze out a win. I consider myself independent, but registered as democrat just so I could vote in the primaries. I happily voted for Gillum the other day and will do so in November.
The problem is going to be getting younger, more progressive people excited to vote. I live more north in the state closer to all of the rural areas that are mostly occupied by Trump lovers and it sucks. Trumpsters are crazy, but they get out and vote. They try to convince others to vote too and are pretty active. At least once a week I see a crazy man standing at a busy intersection on a busy highway holding signs in support of Trump. Every week. His trailer is right on the same corner and he has huge signs that he’s painted all over his front yard with crazy sayings on them that support Trump and reduce the democratic party to communists (how ironic lol). Just recently for the primaries he was standing on the corner wearing an American flag as a cape holding a sign for one of the local republicans. This is the dedication and exposure Gillum is going to need. I hope he can get it and people will want to get out and vote for him. I wish I had the time or resources to campaign for him.
I too live in FL and don’t think he can win. There are racists everywhere and I live in a suburb of Orlando. Which is why I was hoping Gwen would get the nomination because old white men MIGHT vote for a Democratic female, but a African American man?
I hate Ron DeSantis with the passion of a hundred thousand burning suns and hope he loses, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Unless millennials and Independents overwhelmingly vote for Andrew Gillum, DeSantis is going to win. I pray I’m wrong.
Retired Jewish New Yorkers are reliably counted on to vote democrat
As a former Floridian (and someone super excited to see Andrew Gillum heading to the general election – do the right thing and elect this man, Florida!), I have to clarify one thing: Florida’s reputation as a “crazy” state has a LOT to do with its Sunshine Law, which is basically just a freedom of information act that makes a ton of records publicly available that are otherwise private/unaccessible in many other states. In other words, these shenanigans happen everywhere – it’s just that the public has better access to the details when they happen in Florida. Now, I am NOT giving Floridians a pass for wrongdoing or excusing the zany/often horrible things that definitely happen there, just wanted to point this out.
Thanks, Raindrop. That’s really interesting, I didn’t know about the sunshine law
Yeah, no. Florida is batshit.
Gillum definitely can win Florida. Remember Florida went for Pres. Obama twice. There is racism in areas of Florida, especially in rural areas, but there is a lot of progress being made.
The header photo is perfection!
Republican politician is a racist POS?
This is my shocked face.
I’d never heard anyone say that before, but we all know that “monkey ” is often used in a racist way. Disgusting. DeSantis should be a little civil, and apologize. I voted for Gillum the other day, and will do it again in November
you’ve never heard anyone say it because it’s (almost) never said like that. seriously, it’s the first time I EVER heard the term.
much more often people say “mess it up” or “muck it up”…this guy knew exactly what he was saying. even if he didn’t mean to say it (out loud), the fact that he did means it was right on the tip of his tongue.
Actually, my dad uses “monkey” as a PG alternative to “effed-up” and I’ve used variations myself so I didn’t initially pick up on this as racially-charged but given our current political climate no, I don’t think he meant it harmlessly.
Every payday, I have been donating to Beto O’Rourke’s campaign. I am now adding Gillum to my donation list. All while working to help get Bredesen elected here in Tennessee. Let’s flip every state blue! Florida, I love you. Please don’t let that racist Trump-boot-licker Desantis win!
As if his ads, ‘teaching trump’, weren’t enough to make you cringe..of course it’s racist, because that’s what works..and his hero, grand wizard donnie thinks he’s “brilliant”.
I thought those ads were a parody until my boyspawn told me they weren’t. I’m embarrassed.
Wow! Just when you think people can’t be more disgusting…
Truly, this subhuman, pathologically racist DeSantis makes me almost viscerally ill. The only thing as anguishing is his supporters—of whom one is too many, so the fact that there are multitudes of them is sickening. How can there be so many terrible, terrible people “out there”–meaning, among us? In fact, the one place in the U.S. I would never travel to is the South, I’ve just heard too many awful stories about it from my husband (who is biracial, black/white) and his family to make me want to ever set foot there. YES, I’m aware there are lots of wonderful people in the South, and that stereotyping is divisive and mostly wrong. (I’m from L.A., and the stereotypes of that particular city that I hear from others–many who have not even been here–are quite often completely exaggerated, and even absurd.) Nonetheless, from having heard personal reflections/recollections, I think of the “Deep South” as a genuinely bigoted, racist, scary place overall. I hope passionately—for all the good Floridians and for the crucial boost to the country’s spirits at large, that Gillum wins.
Now Trump is warning there will be violence if Republicans lose the midterms. More dog-whistles from the right.
Funniest response I saw to this was something about how Dems are still tired from the “second civil war” on July 4 and that it won’t be easy to muster up the energy for another “violent battle” in Nov. Lol.
So much happens each day that I had forgotten about the July 4 second civil war.
I imagine the terrible post-election protests in November will be similar to previous pro-Orange efforts — a half-dozen middle aged or elderly folks holding signs on a street corner.
Progressives need to take this seriously. White terrorism is absolutely a threat right now and they have the backing of the president.
He also met with Evangelical ministers and told them to preach this (vote Red, violent reaction if they don’t win, etc) from Sunday pulpits. What I want to know is, where is the IRS in this? This is a clear violation of church and state and if this happens (IF?? what am I saying, it WILL happen!), then this should be used to revoke their tax-exempt status.
Where are the Dems?? WHY aren’t they shouting this out?? WHY isn’t the IRS on this!? I know others caught this, too; I was tweeting about it with others.
The IRS tried it a few years ago, rightly so in my opinion, and the backlash was hysterical and immediate. The Republicans jumped all over it and became the righteous defenders of oppressed Christians because the IRS had the gall to try and enforce a statute that prohibited non-profits from being political. The backlash was too great, the IRS caved, and the Dems dropped it like a hot rock to avoid giving the Republicans an issue that they could campaign on for years.
Thanks, Dara. I don’t remember that.
GOD D*MN!!! What the &*^%$ will it take for ANY Gov’t agency to grow a pair and DO THE RIGHT THING??
The IRS also caved and let’s Scientology be considered a religion for tax purposes. Dropped all IRS investigations into that cult.
@Jan, it was a few years ago, and IIRC the IRS didn’t directly target churches, but were probably contemplating it. Instead, the IRS specifically (and very obviously) focused its efforts on organizations that seemed to be of a conservative bent. “Teapartiers for Change” or somesuch got flagged for extra scrutiny, while similar liberal groups did not. It was an obviously partisan move, and they got nailed for it.
The IRS doesn’t want to touch this because if they were to go after one church they would have to go after all of them. How many churches support Dem candidates and causes openly?
I think some dems are shouting, but there is so much to shout about!
The Fed government is trying to strip CITIZENSHIP from American born people of Hispanic heritage who were born near the border in Texas. When these citizens apply for passports, passport renewals, or try to come back into the country, the gov’t is telling them they don’t think they are really citizens. Some have been put into detention, some have been deported, some have been refused entry back into the United States.
Please, when will this all be over.
This guy is a real a-hole! You muck things up. I never heard of this other expression and really, who in his or her right mind would think it wasn’t a racist smear! He is a trumper, of course he has the right to use vulgarity when speaking on Fox. It was only one step below saying, I hope the voters don’t n…er this up.
Donald Trump tweeted about it and you should see Andrew Gillum‘s Response. It’s awesome and being a Floridian I hope he wins!
I loved Gillum’s response. I don’t know how to link to it, but this was his response:
“What our state and country needs is decency, hope and leadership. If you agree, join us at AndrewGillum.com. Also, @ me next time @realDonaldTrump.”
Gauntlet thrown…Trump doesn’t know who he’s messing with…..lol.
Oh yeah I read that and laughed. People should start calling this dick on his bs!
Best response ever!!
And the campaign added, regarding Trump’s meat puppet Desantis and his ugly dogwhistle comment, “As we say in Tallahassee, bless his heart.” Which, as you know, is southern speech for a big fat middle finger.
All my life that part about being“articulate” has been one of the most insulting things people say to me. I’ve noticed though that the “non melinitated” really think they are complimenting us when they express shock at how well spoken black people are. Since I wAs a little girl I’ve been trying to figure out where these folks are from that they think black people can’t use grammatically correct English. As for the monkey part I don’t even need to address it, we all know what that is.
I’m so sorry you have to deal with that, it’s truly mind boggling.
I remember the talking heads saying the same thing about Obama back in the day, too.
I’m pretty sure even Joe Biden said that about Obama.
This happened to me at the park with my daughter a couple of weeks ago.
A grandma with her granddaughter kept telling me how well spoken I was and covering it up with saying that even in New York ppl have horrible accents. She also kept mentioning how wild her granddaughter’s hair was ( her father is Puerto Rican and mother Caucasian). She said her daughter hated when she didn’t do the little girl’s hair while babysitting bcz you know how unruly those really loose curls can get 🙄.
She kept bringing up race and saying that she cannot believe how racist people still are. As annoyed as I was I felt that she was ignorant of how racist she came off and perhaps not a member of the KKK lol.
This is where the problem lies… Racism is so institutionalized that people do not see that it still exists. They believe people of color are touchy and paranoid because they have never been on the receiving end. Ironically those people are too sensitive and afraid to confront their privilege.
When my children were young, we would take them out to local eateries. They never misbehaved and we would always have a nice time. Often, an older white couple would stop by our table to compliment us on “ how well behaved” our children were. We’d smile and thank them and after they left my husband and I would give each other a glance. My husband and I often talked about how disheartening it was to not be able to accept the compliment at face value because we’ve been so conditioned to constantly having to deal with countless micro agressions daily. Was it a sincere compliment or was the intent behind it that because they were young Black children their good behavior was surprising? People just don’t understand the wear and tear on someone’s psyche when you just can’t live and breathe without having to deal with a bunch of racist bullshit.
IslaLund – Being white, I will never really get it, but having a black child, I do recognize the questioning of agenda behind what seems like just nice compliments on the surface. It’s insidious….
Another bro-like idiot aka Duncan Hunter, a drump supporter who was recently indicted for using campaign donations for personal use. They even look alike.
God, I hope Andrew Gillum wins.
‘Monkey” something up is an idiom I’ve heard before, but in this case, he’s just a dumbass racist. Anybody with a modicum of self-awareness would avoid primate terms when describing black candidates. The use of “articulate” just verifies it for the racist dogwhistle that it is.
DeSantis was a POS long before these latest remarks.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-desantis-trump-kids-ad-20180730-story.html
As a Floridian, Andrew got by vote
I think DeSantis did this on purpose, so that a storm of controversy would hit the airwaves. He is working hand-in-hand with Matt Goetz and others to create major distractions for Trump–one of which is to insist that white GOP members are being “censored.” Also, DeSantis would rather have journalists focusing on his racism instead of his shady finances and useless policy positions. Gillum is a saint to take on this swamp monster.
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
-James Baldwin
Just saw this new news item on daily fail.
McCain: “it should alarm all of us.” John McCain issues warning about Trump and Russia in a documentary set to be released a week after his death.” The film will be released on August 31 nearly a week after the senator died. “Russia has been cultivating Trump long before he was a presidential candidate…” all holy hell is going to be released when this docs airs tomorrow night. We all better buckle up, the dotard May start ww 111.
Thanks for posting this. I’m going to look out for it.
Florida do yourselves a favor and do not vote for this overgrown ugly Cabbage Patch baby (that picture qualifies for ugly cabbage patch doll). Isn’t it time Floridians vote an adult in the office?
Don’t like this? DONATE TO GILLAM’S CAMPAIGN!!! That will show the bigots. Put your money where your mouths are!!
I wish I had money to donate and was able to put money wear my mouth is. It takes more than just $$ to show the bigots though. He had and spent million less than the others campaigning, and he beat them all. I voted for Gillum, and plan on doing it again in November
Why is the press acting surprised? One of his ads featured him building the Dotard’s wall with his son. Why would they think he wouldn’t say what he did about Andrew?
Why does the press keep saying that Ron won because the Dotard backed him, Ron won because Putin and his bots backed Ron. He is being investigated by the Democratic Coalition for fraud, in other words he took campaign money from Russians.
Is that even a dog whistle? Isn’t that just flat out racism?
Keep this up, you racist pos! Keep on exposing yourself like this so that it riles up POC and Democrats to go to the voting booth this November!
Transparent innuendo from a racist guy to rule up his voter base.
Pathetic!
I thought DeSantis had Italian heritage? Either way, he’s white passing even if he has Hispanic ancestry, which makes a huge difference in cultural reception here.
I live in the Florida panhandle. I’m so deeply goddamned embarrassed about pretty much everything that comes out of this state. I’m so friggin sorry. Of course I would drive over my own arms before I’d vote for this racist piece of shit, but I’m fairly certain I’m outnumbered around here. Bigots have cranked the dial up to 11 and broke off the knob since the demented orange baby became president. I still can’t believe that happened.
South Florida, PLEASE VOTE.
Drunken racist
I hate people…
…That’s all.
The echo of Rosanne Barr’s Planet of the Apes comment that lost her her show is deafening.