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
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcWtgaYZ6e9GopZiclaiur8DIrJahnZOguaawvpuwmKiipMGmv9OoqayXkamsqrvWmpasrJGpsqCywKKpmJ%2BflK%2Bir8qYq6iXlqG8s7XDmmY%3D