Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) traveled to Tampa on Sunday to deliver a speech at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit where he said sales for his “Don’t Fauci My Florida” merchandise are “through the roof.”
“Let me just give you a personal welcome to the free state of Florida,” DeSantis told the crowd of young conservatives. “Here in Florida, we believe in lifting people up, not locking people down. We believe in the rights of kids to get an in-person education, and the right of people to earn a living — the right of people to maintain their businesses. Florida chooses freedom over Fauci-ism.”
Last week, DeSantis began selling branded merchandise featuring slogans like “Don’t Fauci My Florida” in an effort to push back against National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci, a move for which media elites criticized him.
DeSantis’ campaign store features t-shirts and koozies with the slogan, “Don’t Fauci My Florida,” and one koozie with the message, “How the hell am I going to be able to drink a beer with a mask on?”
DeSantis brought up the Fauci merchandise initiative, telling those in attendance that he is selling the merchandise because people are getting “Fauci’d.”
“If a kid gets locked out of school for a year, that kid got Fauci’d,” DeSantis said. “If someone is out of work for a year because of lockdowns, that worker got Fauci’d. If a family loses a business due to the lockdown, that family got Fauci’d. We’re not gonna allow that in the state of Florida.”
DeSantis then began discussing “corporate media’s” fallout over the merchandise, saying their “spasm caused sales to go through the roof.” He also urged those in the crowd to purchase a piece of merchandise if they have not already, telling them that he does not believe “CNN is going to be very happy with that.”
DeSantis also poked fun at Fauci’s willingness to throw out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals Opening Day game against the New York Yankees last year. “He doesn’t know how to throw a baseball,” DeSantis said. “He did the worst first pitch that I’ve seen anybody do.”
“This is a guy who thinks he has been right on everything, and he’s been wrong on so much,” DeSantis continued. “He deserves to be held accountable for the money that went to the Wuhan lab. This leaked out of the lab, and we need Fauci and these other bureaucrats to be held accountable.”
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