Ron DeSantis confronted for saying he wants to start “slitting throats” of federal employees

2024 presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is not sorry that he used violent, inflammatory rhetoric against federal employees during a campaign speech this summer.

While speaking at a New Hampshire event in August, DeSantis sparked outrage by declaring his vendetta against “deep state people”: “We’re going to start slitting throats on day one and be ready to go. You’re going to see a huge, huge outcry because Washington wants to protect its own.”

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“If the line is not drawn here, there is no line at all.”

In a recent appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, correspondent Willie Geist acknowledged that he knew DeSantis’s comments weren’t literal but asked if the governor still regretted using that kind of rhetoric given our hostile political climate.

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“No, because I think people knew it was a figure of speech,” DeSantis said.

He added that he didn’t just say he’d fire them because he was being “colorful.”

“Basically you need to bring in serious accountability,” he continued, voicing reasons why various bureaucrats need to be fired. “I’m not just going to go up there and be nice about it. We are going to take very swift action to resize this government…”

Geist continued to push him, saying he understood his point on accountability but asked if it was at all important to “turn down the temperature” of his rhetoric given the increasing number of threats federal officials have endured in the wake of January 6 and election controversies.

DeSantis replied, “I stand by what I said. I don’t think anyone could reasonably have taken that and acted like I’m somehow advocating anything other than robust political process and robust political accountability.”

According to RealClearPolitics, DeSantis is currently polling in second place in the Republican primary, trailing far behind first-place candidate Donald Trump with 13.4% to Trump’s 59.3%.