Satanic Temple Leader Calls Out Ron DeSantis For Blaming Holiday Display on Trump: ‘Pathetic Little Coward’

Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves tore into Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis on Thursday and challenged him to a debate after DeSantis blamed a Satanic altar in Iowa’s State Capitol on former President Donald Trump.

During an appearance on CNN’s NewsNight just hours after the Satanic Temple’s controversial “holiday display” was torn down by a Christian military veteran, Greaves told host Abby Phillip that the vandalism “was a real act of cowardice” and “cowardice dressed up as heroism.”

Phillip went on to ask Greaves about DeSantis’ comments, Tuesday, which blamed Trump for the erection of the altar as the IRS had granted the Satanic Temple tax-exempt status as a religion during the Trump administration.

“Did the Trump administration’s actions actually give your organization a legal standing to have this display?” asked Phillip, to which Greaves replied:

No. We have a system in place where we have a system of checks and balances and we have static institutions like the IRS that work under a certain set of rules, and they’re supposed to act neutrally in regard to viewpoint and just follow rote practices in which if we fall within the parameters of the law, our rights will be respected the same as anybody else’s.

We don’t want to yield some kind of power to the government to begin picking and choosing between religious groups. People might hate us, and people might want to exclude us, but that simply opens the door to more sectarian battles and it certainly won’t stop there.

Greaves insisted, “Our IRS tax-exempt application certainly never came across Trump’s desk. Trump wouldn’t have comprehended it if he had seen it, and I think DeSantis knows that. It’s just another display of cowardice from a politician who wants to play ignorant.”

The Satanic Temple co-founder concluded, “I think he knows better. I would be happy to debate him at any point, but I do think he is being a pathetic little coward when he calls us– when he tries to use us as a ploy to appeal to a mob of people who just don’t understand what somebody like him very well should understand and should convey to the public instead of riling up fears and animosity between different people.”

Watch above via CNN.