Florida’s Governor is defending language he used saying his presidency would “slit” throats of federal bureaucrats as simply “colorful” phrasing.
During an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe“, Ron DeSantis said that the language was really meant to say he would hold federal employees “accountable.”
“I think people knew it was a figure of speech,” DeSantis said. “You’re being colorful at some of the stuff, but you basically, you need to bring in serious accountability.”
DeSantis rejected the idea that his phrasing could be seen as a call to violence.
“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.”
The questioning revives a controversy from August that had gone dormant until Thursday’s interview.
During a barbecue event in New Hampshire hosted by former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, DeSantis said: “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.”
In addition to vowing to start “slitting throats” in New Hampshire, the Governor said he wanted a Defense Secretary who was ready to “slit some throats” and be “very firm, very strong” in imposing their will as part of his effort to reform the military.
“I think the idea that you take a flag (officer) or general officer who recently retired and put them as (Secretary of Defense), I think it is a mistake,” the Governor said.
“You know, they may have to slit some throats. And it’s a lot harder to do that if these are people that you’ve trained with in the past or that you know,” DeSantis added. “So we’re going to have somebody out there, you know, be very firm, very strong, but they are going to make sure that we have the best people in the best positions, and there’s not going to be necessarily prior relationships that would cloud that judgment.”
Federal unions recoiled at the Governor’s phrasing at the time.
The American Federation of Government Employees’ head said DeSantis had “no place in office” after the Governor’s vow to eliminate members of the federal workforce by violent means. The National Association of Letter Carriers also blasted the image as “dangerous,” “criminal,” and “out of line.”
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