DeSantis official defends tweet doubting antisemitic Orlando rallies were real

A spokesperson for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is sticking to her guns amid a flurry of criticism after she responded to antisemitic neo-Nazi rallies near Orlando by questioning whether those waving Nazi flags and making “Heil Hitler” salutes were perhaps just liberals trying to make conservatives look bad.

Christina Pushaw tells Newsweek that she deleted a tweet in which she questioned whether the group of white supremacists calling Jews “devil” and “fucking kike” were actually antisemitic “because it was attracting trolls and abuse.”

While she tweeted that DeSantis will always condemn hatred and antisemitism, she indicates that she does not know what the “National Socialist Movement” is and is waiting for law enforcement to investigate, while fending off what she says are attempts to tie DeSantis to the rallies.

“In my tweet, I deferred to law enforcement to determine who was behind the protest, because frankly, I didn’t know anything about the group. But I can guarantee it wasn’t the Governor. Attempts to tie the protest to his policies are disgusting political smears,” she says.

Among those to condemn Pushaw are Fred Guttenberg, an anti-gun campaigner whose daughter was killed in the Parkland school shooting.

Holy shit!!! @GovRonDeSantis, two weeks ago your press secretary @christinapushaw made a Hitler joke. This is now her response to the disgusting anti Semitic Nazi behavior taking place in Florida this weekend, targeted at people like me. Is this your public position? pic.twitter.com/9tAUd78hMB

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) January 31, 2022

JFC, @ChristinaPushaw, you unyielding troll.

How do we know they’re Nazis?

If the Nazi salutes weren’t enough, how about when the Nazis pulled someone out of a car and beat them up?

Nazi enough for you? pic.twitter.com/aNW3tIkGXa

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— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) January 31, 2022

I think it was the “heil Hitler” chants and the swastikas but keep defending your people, @ChristinaPushaw. pic.twitter.com/fIKjg8H3Fi

— Brett Meiselas ???????????? (@BMeiselas) January 31, 2022