Florida Is ‘All Crystal Meth and Alligators’ to Voters: Jason Johnson Says DeSantis Could Be Hurt by Perception of His State
MSNBC’s Jason Johnson said that should Florida Governor Ron DeSantis run for president, he may have to grapple with how voters across the country perceive his state.
It is widely believed DeSantis will declare his candidacy for the Republican nomination, which would put him on a collision course with former President Donald Trump, who announced in November.
While guest-hosting Tuesday’s edition of The ReidOut, Johnson noted some states face stereotypes that could hurt candidates from those areas:
In my view, there are three states that you can’t really run from if you’re trying to win across America. You run from New York, you’re too crazy, you’re a liberal. You run from California, you’re too crazy, you’re liberal and you’re trying to make sure I can’t get plastic straws. You run from Florida, it’s all crystal meth and alligators, right? I mean, that’s what people think. And I’m not saying that’s the case. I’m saying those are sort of the national reputations of those states.
So, when you see Ron Desantis running and claiming that he’s going do for America what he’s done in Florida, it seems like that’d be a problem.
He aired a clip of DeSantis boasting about his record.
“So what have we done in Florida? When they were talking about defunding police and slashing budgets, we said, ‘Not on my watch,'” the governor stated. “As much as I’m proud that Florida is doing well, I want the country to do well. I want all of these communities to do well.”
Johnson asked guest Kurt Bardella if the governor’s policies on policing and crime are at the forefront of people’s perceptions of Florida.
“No,” he replied, before pointing to more high-profile issues in the state. “If he thinks for instance, most of this country wants to spend most of their time banning books, that they want to spend their time dealing with mass shootings, if they want to spend their time ignoring the catastrophic impacts of climate change, which by the way, will hit the state of Florida first – that’s not a recipe for a good national conversation, a healthy national conversation.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
