Ron DeSantis Vows to Start ‘Slitting Throats’ on First Day of Presidency
Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images
Governor Ron DeSantis has made bold promises to take a hard stance against the “deep state” if he becomes president, using an aggressive metaphor that he would “start slitting throats on day one.”
The Republican governor from Florida was in New Hampshire on Sunday positioning himself as a determined leader for the 2024 Republican nomination, despite polls indicating he is trailing behind former President Donald Trump among GOP voters.
During a three-day visit to the early primary state, DeSantis attended a barbecue in Rye, hosted by former GOP Senator Scott Brown. According to a report by New Hampshire Public Radio, DeSantis stated: “We’re going to have all these deep state people, you know we’re going to start slitting throats on day one.”
While it’s clear DeSantis didn’t mean this literally, Newsweek has reached out to his presidential campaign for further clarification of his comments.
One attendee at the barbecue, Norm Olsen, who identified himself as a GOP primary voter, expressed disapproval of the governor’s choice of words, saying: “If I was in charge of his PR, I would have said, ‘Don’t use that terminology.'”
In his Rye speech, DeSantis heavily emphasized his campaign against the so-called “woke” agenda, promising on Sunday: “We’re going to ensure the woke agenda ends up in the dustbin of history.” He also pledged to take tougher measures against Mexican drug cartels.
In Florida, DeSantis has passed the “Stop Woke Act” and signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which has been the cause of significant controversy. These moves have led some campaigners to accuse him of homophobia and caused tension with corporations like Disney.
Recently, it has been reported that 38 of DeSantis’s staffers were either fired or left in an effort to bolster his campaign’s poll ratings. However, a recent Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey of Florida voters conducted exclusively for Newsweek found that only 15 percent think DeSantis is “most likely to be the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election,” with 51 percent believing Trump to be the most likely candidate.
