Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is being condemned after saying that he will “start slitting throats on day one” to combat the “deep state” in the White House.
During a Q&A session at a campaign barbeque event in New Hampshire, DeSantis told the crowd that he intends to take out the entrenched officials in executive branch agencies.
Ron DeSantis must retract his threat to ‘start slitting throats’ of federal employees if he's elected president.
— AFGE (@AFGENational) August 3, 2023
No federal employee should face death threats from anyone, least of all from someone seeking to lead the U.S. government.
Full statement from @AFGEPrezKelley: pic.twitter.com/omEbzj4zkN
The Florida governor also used graphic imagery in previous interviews, saying last month that he would target the Department of Defense.
“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,” DeSantis told Real America’s Voice.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
DeSantis’ comments received backlash from various groups, with the American Federation of Government Employees releasing a statement in response.
“Federal employees – over a third of whom are veterans now wearing their second uniform in service to their country – have dedicated their lives to serving their fellow Americans. They support our military, provide health care to our nation’s 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,” National President Everett Kelley said.
“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. Governor DeSantis must retract his irresponsible statement,” the statement continued.
This comes as DeSantis is trailing behind former President Donald Trump in the polls. Most recently, DeSantis dismissed the poor polling and reiterated that he is still the best candidate to beat President Joe Biden.
“Of any Republican in the country, I have the best record of defeating the left. On issue after issue, and we’ll be making that case over the next six or seven months. I’m running to win in January and February. I’m not running to juice polling now,” he said in an interview recently.
