DeSantis put on the spot on MSNBC over 'slit their throats' threat
In the middle of a wide-ranging interview with Ron DeSantis on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," co-host Willie Geist put the Florida governor on the spot over inflammatory comments he made in New Hampshire when he expressed the desire to slit the throats of government bureaucrats.
After being questioned about his faltering campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, Geist took over from co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to call out DeSantis and remind him of the events of Jan 6.
In August DeSantis told a crowd, "On bureaucracy, you know, we’re going to have all these deep state people, you know, 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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Speaking Thursday with DeSantis, who was making a rare appearance on MSNBC, Geist began, "Governor, I want to ask you about the temperature of our politics right now. Because of so much rhetoric, because of what's been happening in this country, let's say over the last decade, we saw the consequences of that on January 6th. We have judges being threatened and witnesses and juries being threatened and people who work in our electoral process being threatened. The FBI warns of domestic political violence again right now around the next election. when you say something like in New Hampshire that you want to, quote, 'slit the throats' of federal bureaucrats, you didn't mean that literally, but do you have any pause about using that rhetoric given our political climate?"
'No, because I think people knew it was a figure of speech," the Florida governor protested. "I think people want to see big change —."
"Why not say you're going to fire them?" Giest interrupted.
"Well, because you're being colorful with some of the stuff," DeSantis offered. "But you basically -- you need to bring in serious accountability. I think back about some of the things with this government: the Afghanistan debacle, no one has been fired as a result of that. That was one of the biggest fiascos we've ever had."
"Governor, I take your point about accountability," the MSNBC host persisted. "I'm talking about the rhetoric. I mean, you know, you see it? We all watched January 6th. We've seen what's happened since, and to federal officials and elections and volunteers. Don't you think as a country and political leaders we should turn down the temperature on things like that?"
"Well, look. I stand by what I said," DeSantis shot back. "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."
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