Florida has a problem with right-wing extremism, and one of the state’s leading newspapers blamed Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican leaders for fanning the flames.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the former Proud Boys national chairman, was indicted on conspiracy charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and his hometown Miami Herald‘s editorial board blasted him and his group’s GOP enablers.
“Tarrio’s indictment is just the latest in a series of extremist connections to Florida, and to Republicans,” the board wrote. “As of January, more Floridians had been charged in the Jan. 6 riots than from any other state. National figures with strong political connections are from Florida, including Roger Stone, a Donald Trump pal who has associated with both Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.”
The newspaper singled out DeSantis for taking part in the GOP’s whitewashing of the deadly riot by refusing to call the attack an insurrection, although two days later Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was charged with seditious conspiracy, and other Republicans also minimized the violent attack at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando — where GOP lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar took part in a white nationalist conference.
“So now prosecutors have added Tarrio’s name to the list of five other Proud Boys charged under this latest Jan. 6 indictment,” the board wrote. “Republicans will, no doubt, continue to deny they have a white supremacy problem. And we can add this episode to the shameful list of extremist connections already distinguishing Florida.”
Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license