RYE, N.H. —Right-wing extremist Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., apparently went off the deep end in a weekend presidential campaign swing in New Hampshire, especially against federal workers. The Floridian’s proposal—mass murder of the feds—really upset Everett Kelley, the president of the Government Employees (AFGE), whose union represents them.
New Hampshire Public Radio reported DeSantis, already known for his hatred of unions, public schools and their teachers, voter repression and for saying enslaved Blacks benefited because some learned occupations, really went to town in the Granite State.
“We’re going to ensure the ‘woke’ agenda ends up in the dustbin of history,” DeSantis told attendees in Rye. “Woke” is a favorite Republican social issue target, opposing teaching about centuries of oppression Blacks suffered and suffer. DeSantis was just getting started.
Then, the radio reported, DeSantis told the heavily Republican crowd, Mexican drug cartel members “would be shot stone cold dead.” There’s been no reaction yet from Mexico, whose government is battling the cartels.
DeSantis’s third and most horrific promise was mass murder of “bureaucrats,” a favorite Republican denigration of government workers—local, state, and federal.
“We are going to start slitting throats on Day One” of the federal employees, he stated.
Federal workers are a preferred Republican piñata, but mass murder’s going overboard, Kelley said—especially considering right-wingers have committed mass murder of federal workers: The Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building bombing in 1995. Patriot Movement right-wingers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols killed 168 people and injured 680 more.
“Gov. DeSantis’s threat to ‘start slitting throats’ of federal employees is dangerous, disgusting, disgraceful, and disqualifying,” Kelley, a military veteran like a third of his members and fellow federal workers. The federal government employs two million people, the same number as it did six decades ago.
Federal workers “dedicate their lives to serving their fellow Americans. They support our military, provide health care to veterans, enforce our laws, safeguard our communities, deliver benefits to America’s most vulnerable citizens, keep our skies safe for air travel, protect human health and our environment, and much more,” Kelley continued.
“These public servants deserve respect and commendation from our nation’s leaders. No federal employee should face death threats from anyone, least of all from someone seeking to lead the U.S. government. Gov. DeSantis must retract his irresponsible statement.
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