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‘4 Questions, 3 Attempts at a Pivot’: Newsom Blasts DeSantis Over Holocaust Denier
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is keeping the pressure on Ron DeSantis, blasting the Florida Republican Governor for struggling to say Republicans should not be dining with Holocaust deniers.
“A very simple question — should Republicans dine with a holocaust denier?” Gov. Newsom asked on social media, posting video of DeSantis speaking with CNN earlier Wednesday.
“It takes Ron DeSantis 4 questions, 3 attempts at a pivot, and over a minute to give an even semi-coherent answer,” he observed. “Listen for yourself…”
DeSantis was being asked about Nick Fuentes, a Christian nationalist and self-avowed white supremacist and antisemite. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “Nicholas Fuentes is a white supremacist leader, organizer and podcaster who seeks to forge a white nationalist alternative to the mainstream GOP.”
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ADL says that “Fuentes believes that he is working to defend against ‘leftist’ cultural changes that are destroying the ‘true America:’ a white, Christian nation,” and “Fuentes has been embraced and praised by far right-wing and mainstream conservatives, providing him a larger platform for elevating the America First movement.”
The Republican Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Dade Phelan, on Monday demanded Lt. Governor Dan Patrick give away $3 million in donations he received from Defend Texas Liberty PAC, whose President, Jonathan Stickland, the Speaker said, “fraternized for six hours” with Fuentes, who he described as “a notorious, anti-Semitic, nazi sympathizer who denies the existence of the Holocaust.”
In a widely-denounced dinner in November at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump dined with Nick Fuentes and another antisemite, Kanye West.
DeSantis’s response to CNN’s John Berman were so evasive that the host at one point was forced to say, “You didn’t answer my question on Nick Fuentes. I’ll move on if you’re not going to give a direct answer to that.”
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Ultimately, DeSantis said “I would not do that” when pressed if Republicans should be eating with Nick Fuentes.
Watch below or at this link.
A very simple question — should Republicans dine with a holocaust denier?
It takes Ron DeSantis 4 questions, 3 attempts at a pivot, and over a minute to give an even semi-coherent answer.
Listen for yourself…pic.twitter.com/BSRyYfgW3r
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 11, 2023
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