Ah, the American State Fair. Where you can enjoy a sugary drink, win prizes, and heckle the hell out of out-of-state presidential hopefuls. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the man who spawned a thousand nicknames, took a break this weekend from tanking his state’s economy and suspending a democratically-elected state attorney so that Iowans could get their chance to yell at him. And yell they did. NBC News summarized two days of anti-DeSantis jeering, by land and by air:
Cowbells and whistles: DeSantis’ latest clash with the small group of demonstrators—who say they were there to protest his policies on a range of issues, including abortion and education—was on Saturday morning during his one-on-one interview with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. The protestors used a cowbell and whistles to disrupt DeSantis, who has a close relationship with Reynolds and said he would consider her as a running mate. Two of DeSantis’ rivals for the GOP nomination, Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, were also interviewed by Reynolds, ahead of DeSantis, and neither faced any vocal opposition from the audience.
‘Iowa nice’: “Hey, you know what, you know what? We’re in Iowa,” Reynolds told the protesters. “And in Iowa, we’re Iowa nice. So let’s give everybody the opportunity to hear our candidates.” After the incident, DeSantis called the protesters “radical leftists.” “Well, look, I think when the left comes out that’s a sign of strength because, like, they know that we will beat [Joe] Biden and they know we will be able to turn this country around and they do not want that,” he told reporters.
Tired of being nice: It was the second day in a row that DeSantis was heckled by the apparent left-leaning group. On Friday, the protestors greeted DeSantis at the fair using a megaphone through which they chanted “Ron DeFascist,”… “We’re Iowa nice by nature,” one of the protesters, Heather Ryan, told NBC News on Friday. “That’s what we’re known for. But I’m tired of being nice. I’m tired of getting trampled on for our rights… people like Ron DeSantis… I mean, women’s rights are, like, so unimportant to him that I almost don’t even have to say that he’s taking them away because you already know that.” NBC News was unable to contact Ryan following Saturday’s protest as she had been apprehended by authorities.
Be Likable, Ron! 2024: During his chat with Reynolds on Saturday, DeSantis reiterated his long-standing talking points, from Florida’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic to parental rights in education. He also spoke about how he navigates having three small children on the campaign trail, as a plane flew overhead carrying a banner that read “Be likable, Ron!”—a reference to leaked video from debate preparation during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign where Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican who was a significant DeSantis adviser but now a Trump supporter, told DeSantis to “be likable.”
So we know the reality of how DeSantis has handled the issues of abortion, education, and the pandemic (abominably), despite however he spun it to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Instead I want to spotlight the quoted protestor, Heather Ryan. She and her niece Kara caused enough of a ruckus on Friday that DeFascist cut short his stop at a veterans memorial. Sporting t-shirts for their abortion rights PAC “Bitches Get Stuff Done,” Heather had every right to be there as she herself is a navy vet. News media, please, I’m begging you to make a headline out of DeSantis being heckled by a veteran. Other than that, all I have to say is that I’m totally in favor of Be Likable, Ron! 2024 being the official campaign slogan. It captures the essence of the man and the mission.
Whoever this woman is, she’s a shero.pic.twitter.com/zgchw7yMWs
— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) August 11, 2023
We all know what a shit show Iowa is now. There’s no nice anymore. I kept an eye on their fair news but what really pissed me off was calling the police on the legitimate journalist and them removing him. I’m sick of the police overreach used by MAGAts. I wish there was some way to halt that BS. Maybe sue the department along with the specific cops doing it for a hefty amount. Would having an ACLU lawyer there curb it? Or making a citizens arrest of the cops that actually do the dirty work? I don’t know but surely there’s something that could be done.
As long as the police comply with an illegal command from their MAGA overlords, there really is no law anymore. As long as the police continue to recruit people like them who love fascism and hold racist beliefs, things will not change.
Was she arrested? If yes, on what charge? Was the man who assaulted her while she exercised her right to free speech (in the video of the embedded tweet) arrested for assault?
I know that many times political protesters will get arrested supposedly for disturbing the peace, taken to the police station then released hours later or events next day with no charges filed.
She wasn’t arrested, although threatened with arrest. She was removed and barred from the grounds with the other four protesters for a year and a month. Hope others are there to take her place.
I live in a state adjacent to Iowa. Honestly, I’m surprised they could organize a protest this big. President Obama won Iowa in 2008. It’s been all downhill ever since. Overwhelmingly white, the people of Iowa have been really leaning into their whiteness. The woman in the video embedded in the tweet has all my respect. What she did was dangerous.
He reminds me of Richard Nixon.
Haha he could only wish. Tricky Dick is a better slanderous nickname than Pudding Fingers or Meatball Ron will ever be. He’s a pathetic wanna be strongman enabled by and taking credit for the actions of an extreme fringe Legislature, saying anything he thinks voters want to hear and still falling in the polls.
Nixon was smart. Strategic. Visionary in many ways. Ronnie D. is none of those things.
His wife is supposedly the real brain-trust. Thank God she’s either off her game–or her rep has been greatly exaggerated. Ugh.
I know people who were acquainted with Casey when she was a Jacksonville TV host. Her instincts served her well when he was a budding Congressman and she was able to parlay her local fame to get him front of key players. But his first run for governor would have been a complete failure had it not been for the Hail Mary passes from Trump who endorsed him and assigned him one of his associates Susie Wiles as his second campaign manager (first one was fired), as well as Matt Gaetz helping DeSantis navigate Florida politics. But Casey, who was well known as a user, likely told Ron to accept this help, only to later facilitate burning bridges with Gaetz and Wiles after DeSantis won. His reelection was an easy shot because of Florida’s influx of Republican voters moving to the state, Florida have a well-runned state GOP, and the incompetence of the state Democratic Party. But she participated in that saccharine ad where she sits in front of camera with crocodile tears, praising Ron for taking care of their kids while she was fighting cancer.
The thing she does best is build relationships with rich donors, an area he fails at. She also manages his PR and was able to insulate him from media scrutiny in Florida, instead courting favorable right wing media like Fox where he became a darling in Trump’s absence. She’s also his only policy advisor and the only person he listens to on that front, which scary when you think it. But on a national scale, her instincts that helped build him up locally have reached their limit. And what is worse as that they exist as a team of 2 — they don’t let anyone give sound advice, don’t seek out differing opinions, don’t let the staff do their jobs, don’t trust anyone, etc. So the two of them are basically falling on their own swords here. The added schadenfraude is that after all those years of being considered more charismatic and likable than him by political insiders, primary voters in New Hampshire and Iowa supposedly find her quite annoying when she is speaking at campaign events, lol.
He got heckled by Trump supporters too and had to face a huge “we want Trump” chant at one point. I also read on Politico that a tense stand-off took place between his staff and these Trump supporters. I abhor Trump and his followers, but I am loving this leopards eating his face moment for DeSantis. It easily bothered him more than when dealing with the other group of protesters, though I do applaud them for standing up against everything he’s done.
The First Amendment protects our right to assemble. Heather Ryan was on public grounds protesting. Why was she threatened with arrest? Why was she removed from the fair?
“Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican who was a significant DeSantis adviser but now a Trump supporter, told DeSantis to ‘be likable.'”
–You know the world is coming to and when an idiot with questionable morals who should have been arrested years ago is advising a meatball with a fascist problem to be more likeable. I wish Ron more protests from more “radical leftists” at every event he attends.
You know the world is coming to an end when an idiot with questionable morals who should have been arrested years ago is advising a meatball with a fascist problem to be more likeable. I wish Ron more protests from more “radical leftists” at every event he attends.
Iowan here. The State Fair is always interesting, even without the politicians, but bravo to everyone who heckled DeSantis. It was unfortunate how many people turned up and cheered for Trump. Sigh. Iowa used to be such a progressive state, despite the national narrative that’s spun every election year, but thanks to Reynolds and the GOP, we are now what we’ve been told we are. There are plenty of liberals staying put to fight, but we are pushing our young people to move to blue states!
Someone really needs to tell Ron to stop wiping his nose with his hands right before shaking voter’s hands. He keeps doing it.
I’m surprised that that has not triggered allegations of a nose candy problem, especially by the rabid orange cult.
Iowa hasn’t been nice for a long time. In the early days of COVID (April 2020) my daughter livid in Iowa City getting her PhD. She was practically acousted at a gas pump for wearing a face mask. By a 50 something year old man.
I am a Floridian and am absolutely disgusted with this man. The policies he has enacted and just the all around d*ck moves he has made (like suspended democratically elected officials that he doesn’t agree with) has me counting the days until we can throw his ass out of office. To say I despise him and his “anti-woke” bullshit would be putting it way too mildly.
We love to see it. F you, Ron DeSatan!!!
No one needs to be Iowa-nice or any other kind of nice to this dangerous dickhead who isn’t qualified to lead a dog into the backyard, let alone the USA. Observe if you will the manner in which he has dragged Florida into the toilet with him.
I wonder if old Pudding Fingers recalls that Iowa was one of the first states to legalize gay marriage. Of course he doesn’t hahahahha! Now where can I make a donation to Bitches Get Stuff Done?
Bless any boss-ass woman with a megaphone, esp this one. 💕
This woman deserves a medal. DeSantis is not wanted anywhere outside Florida. Go back to Florida!
All of America needs whistles and cowbells to force Ron beyond Florida to wherever the ocean chooses to carry him. He’s bad for America. Maybe he can be a Putin toady? Take over for the Chef, who surely is long deceased by this time. That’s your job, Ron. Take it!!!
All of America needs whistles and cowbells to force Ron beyond Florida to wherever the ocean chooses to carry him. He’s bad for America. Maybe he can be a Putin toady? Take over for the Chef, who surely is long deceased by this time. That’s your job, Ron. Take it!!!