DeSantis Defends Anti-LGBTQ+ Campaign Video

What's the story?

• Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis shared an anti-LGBTQ+ ad as part of his media campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
• The online ad, since deleted, was made by the Twitter account Proud Elephant and shared by the DeSantis War Room Twitter account on the last day of Pride Month. It criticized opponent Donald Trump for being lenient on LGBTQ+ issues, calling him the former president "who did more than any other Republican" to celebrate Pride Month.
• The video had been viewed more than 22 million times as of Monday. Watch portions of the clip here.
• FiveThirtyEight published polling data that shows DeSantis at a 23% approval rating, down from 37% at the beginning of the year.

What is in the video ad?

• The ad features a segment of DeSantis with laser beams coming out of his eyes, clips of shirtless male bodybuilders, and club music.
• It features headlines about DeSantis' anti-trans policies, like "DeSantis Signs 'Most Extreme Slate of Anti-Trans Laws in Modern History'" and it praises him for signing a draconian anti-trans bathroom bill.
• The ad draws parallels between DeSantis and the heroic figure in the film "Top Gun," Jordan Belfort in the film, "The Wolf of Wall Street," and Christian Bale's serial killer character in the film "American Psycho."

What are people saying?

• The video ad has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike. Richard Grenell, Trump's national intelligence director and the first openly gay cabinet member, said the ad was "undeniably homophobic."
• Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said:

"I'm going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of you in between oiled-up shirtless bodybuilders and just gets to a bigger issue that is on my mind whenever I see this stuff in the policy space, which is, again, who are you trying to help? Who are you trying to make better off?" 

• Steven Cheung, Trump's campaign spokesman, said the ad was:

"[Part of] a desperate DeSanctus campaign, with a flailing candidate, in its last throes of relevancy."

• DeSantis justified the ad, saying:

"Identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream, where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants – I think that's totally fair game because he's now campaigning saying the opposite."

Do you support the DeSantis campaign?

—Emma Kansiz