Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pestered high school kids for wearing masks at a photo op/press conference Wednesday, where he also used the Ukraine crisis to take a jab at France.
“You do not have to wear those masks. I mean please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything. And we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theatre,” DeSantis barked. “This is ridiculous.”
As he approached the podium where he was set to give his speech, he let out a heavy sigh (watch below).
While South Florida COVID positivity rates have dropped below 5%, there were still 528 deaths over the weekend and the total death toll has surpassed 70,000.
“Community transmission risks are at CDC-defined ‘medium’ levels in South Florida’s three counties and 24 others across the state,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wrote. In other words: not out of the woods yet. To many of the students’ credit, they didn’t listen to the politician badgering them.
Speaking about the Ukraine crisis, the Republican governor made fun of France. “A lot of other places fold when there’s any type of adversity,” DeSantis said, before unleashing his hypothetical. “Can you imagine if he went into France? Would they put up a fight? Probably not!” (Watch below.)
So, yeah, there’s that. It’s clear that DeSantis wanted to take a dig at France because they’re all the things he’s not: sophisticated, worldly, artistic, able to consume cheese without extreme gastrointestinal distress. He also failed to consider that citizens pushed back considerably when Nazis occupied France during World War II.
Of course, Twitter had a field day, and we’ve posted some of our favorites below.