Nazi protestors wave swastika & Ron DeSantis flags outside Disney World

Horrified passersby captured a group of Nazi protestors gathered outside Disney World on Saturday holding flags bearing swastikas as well as racial and homophobic slurs. Their signs also showed support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for president.

“This is the 2023 Republican Party,” wrote gun violence activist Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, alongside a photo of the demonstration.

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Two dozen white supremacists are outside the main Disney World entrance in Orlando right now, marching with signs featuring Gov DeSantis’s face, swastikas, the n-word and homophobic slurs.

This is the 2023 Republican Party. pic.twitter.com/ISh5dkDGYe

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 10, 2023

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“Absolutely disgusting,” said state Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (D), whose district encompasses the Orlando area.

Eskamani posted video that was sent to her of the Nazis, in which they can be heard yelling, “Go back to Mexico.”

Nazis outside of Walt Disney World right now — absolutely disgusting. pic.twitter.com/WeXtRi3OSL

— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) June 10, 2023

Journalists and groups like Miami Against Fascism have been working to publicly expose the identities of the protestors.

One of the neo-Nazis outside of Disney appears to be Ronald Murray Junior, who has appeared at multiple anti-LGBTQ protests in Texas https://t.co/TpyAn00Vc9 pic.twitter.com/ZTFOoJt8jv

— steven monacelli 🆓 (@stevanzetti) June 10, 2023

Always good to remember these people have names and addresses.

This one at the flag wave known as “Grandfather” is 74-year-old veteran David Howard Wydner. https://t.co/1cNEPiqcDQ

— Miami Against Fascism 🌴☕️ (@MIAagainstFash) June 10, 2023

This scumbag Nazi at the Disney flag wave is Jason Brown.

Included in his long criminal rap sheet are charges following him getting fired in 1999 from his position as a corrections officer in Dillon County, South Carolina for forcing an inmate to perform oral sex on him. https://t.co/nYHjghnaww pic.twitter.com/ParcJ9fGzu

— Miami Against Fascism 🌴☕️ (@MIAagainstFash) June 10, 2023

the guy in the skull mask is holding a flag bearing the logo of the american futurist, a website founded by former members of the terroristic neo-nazi group atomwaffen divison.

i reported on one of the guys behind it, jack espinoza, in 2021: https://t.co/s5V6KoEe2y https://t.co/2e8MTQE9fu pic.twitter.com/Skupb0r31I

— hannah gais (@hannahgais) June 10, 2023

It is no surprise that the white supremacist group was expressing support for DeSantis, who has used the demonization of people of color and queer folks as a cornerstone of his political career.

DeSantis has gone to war with Disney over its opposition to his Don’t Say Gay law, launched numerous blindsides attacking “woke indoctrination” in schools and taken control of the state’s education system with handpicked administrators and the power of the bully pulpit. His staff has regularly smeared LGBTQ+ people and allies on social media with vile slurs and insinuations of sexual abuse.

White supremacist groups have thrown their support behind DeSantis for a while. Last summer, DeSantis ignored repeated calls for him to denounce a group of Nazi demonstrators marching outside a Turning Point USA event. In addition to swastika flags, the group held posters expressing support for DeSantis.

DeSantis has also repeatedly spoken about his desire to abuse executive power to get what he wants, should he manage to win the presidency.

The Nazis likely chose Disney as their venue to wave their flags due to DeSantis’s ongoing feud with the corporation. Disney is currently suing DeSantis for “a targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company spoke out against the Don’t Say Gay law.