President Joe Biden’s campaign blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ culture war platform as a “contrived political stunt” on Tuesday in his first comments about the Republican presidential nominee.
DeSantis launched a proposal, in a speech in South Carolina, to “start the awakening of the military” by removing it, in part, from any group that focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, banning quotas from race and gender and banning drag shows on bases.
“We’re in a situation now where we’re seeing the military going down a very different path,” DeSantis said. “He is a military man who has been ordered by civilian officials to follow a political ideology.”
However, later in the day, DeSantis said during an interview with CNN that many people do not know the term “awakening” and do not know how to define it.
“Well, but I think there’s a problem: Not everyone really knows what the wake is,” DeSantis said after being presented with an Army survey showing the “awake” was nowhere near the top of the list of concerns. that service members had. “I mean, I’ve defined it, but a lot of people who have criticized the awakening can’t even define it.”
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a statement on health care coverage and the economy, at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 7, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Biden’s campaign seized on the Florida governor’s remarks.
“Ron DeSantis himself just said on CNN ‘not everyone really knows what awakening is,’ admitting that his campaign issue is a gimmicky political stunt,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz told ABC News.
“If Ron DeSantis truly cared about the military, he would ask Senator Tuberville to stop the unprecedented damage he is doing every day to the military and military families by blocking hundreds of military nominations and promotions,” Munoz said.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has blocked many military nominations for months because of his opposition to the Pentagon’s policy of supporting service members who travel for abortions.
DeSantis, who has struggled to advance in the Republican presidential primary against former President Donald Trump but remains the second-most popular candidate in early polls, made embracing “woke” ideology a cornerstone of his agenda as to governor and has campaigned to take his national fight while on the campaign trail.
“Florida is where the awakening is going to die,” DeSantis said, repeatedly promoting that message to audiences across the country. However, Democrats believe it is what they can beat.
“It’s proof of the biggest problem facing MAGA Republicans in this race,” Muñoz added. “They have a deeply unpopular agenda that Americans have rejected time and time again, so instead they recycle the same divisive culture wars and attacks on fundamental freedoms to tear Americans apart.”
