DEMS/ELECTION/GOP/RACISM/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Republican U.S. Congressman Ron DeSantis came under fire on Wednesday [8-29-18] when the President Trump-backed Florida gubernatorial candidate said his state should not ‘monkey this up’ by electing Democratic Mayor Andrew Gillum, who is African-American. Gillum scored a surprise victory in Tuesday’s [8-28-18] Democratic primary for one the United States’ most competitive races for governor. If the 39-year-old Tallahassee mayor wins the Nov. 6 election, he would become the most populous U.S. swing state’s first black governor. Critics on Wednesday blasted DeSantis, a staunch Donald Trump supporter who won his party’s nomination the previous day, for comments they said had racist undertones. Interviewed on Fox News, DeSantis said, ‘The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases,’ after calling Gillum ‘an articulate’ spokesman for far-left views. Words like ‘monkey’ or ‘ape’ have been used to demean African-Americans and calling a black man ‘articulate’ can be seen as racist.”
–Letitia Stein, “Trump-backed candidate’s ‘monkey’ comment draws fire in Florida race,” Reuters, August 29, 2018 8:32 am