Andrew Gillum Fires Back at Trump After ‘Failed Socialist’ Barb: He’s ‘Creating Fairy Tales’
Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum appeared on MTP Daily on MSNBC to talk about the controversy raised by his opponent’s “monkey this up” remarks as well as President Donald Trump calling him a “failed socialist.”
Rep. Ron DeSantis made the remarks in reference to Gillum, who he also claimed embraced “a socialist agenda” and then later tried to downplay the remarks.
“Let me start with the controversy today by your opponent, Congressman Ron DeSantis,” host Chuck Todd said. “You heard something and you said it was a page from the Donald Trump campaign manual. Do you want an apology from Congressman DeSantis? Do you think you’re owed one?”
Gillum replied:
“Let me be articulate and clear here, which is we’re better than this in Florida. I believe the congressman can be better than this. I regret that his mentor in politics is Donald Trump. But I do believe that the voters of the state of Florida are going to reject the politics of division. They believe that we’re better than that, which is why I’m going to spend my time the next two plus months getting around the state talking about the issues that matter to everyday voters in this state. Kitchen table issues, health care, education, making sure we clean up our environment which our government has been derelict with the Republican legislature to do. I think that’s how we’re going to win in November. But it’s clear that the congressman is going to join Donald Trump in the swamp. We’re going to leave them there and continue to press toward a higher mark.”
The Democratic nominee for governor also addressed both Trump and DeSantis calling him a socialist.
“President Trump and, I think, Ron Desantis said the s-word when talking about your ideology or your stances, –socialist,” Todd asked. “I think he used the word socialist today on Twitter. What do you make of the label? Do you accept it?”
“Yeah, well, I mean it shouldn’t surprise you,” Gillum said, referring to this tweet where Trump referred to him not only as a socialist, but a failed one:
Gillum added about the presidential slam: “It doesn’t surprise me that the president is again creating fairy tales on his Twitter feed.”
Then when asked, “You do not ascribe to being a socialist?” Gillum replied, “No, I’m a Democrat. I ran as a Democrat, I am a Democrat. And frankly, the values that I hold are consistent with the values of the Democratic Party.”
Watch above, via MSNBC
[image via screengrab]
