Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appearance speaking to supporters in Oklahoma over the weekend sparked questions and derision on social media.
On Saturday (June 10), the Florida Governor and Republican Presidential candidate received an endorsement from Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt before speaking at the Never Back Down PAC in Tulsa.
Stitt became the first governor to endorse DeSantis officially. Announcing his support for DeSantis, Stitt called the Florida Governor “the right guy to beat Biden.”
In his speech, DeSantis tried to convince voters that he was a better choice for the GOP presidential nominee than former President Donald Trump, who received more than 65 percent of Oklahoma’s vote in 2016 and 2020.
DeSantis has been trailing Trump, the GOP front-runner, in polls.
However, the former President’s status as a favorite in the GOP may be in jeopardy as he faces dozens of criminal charges accusing him of illegally gathering classified information.
Trump has denied the allegations and said he did “nothing wrong.”
After DeSantis’ speech, photos of the Florida governor in a shirt drenched in sweat went viral on social media.
“Ron DeSweaty in Oklahoma,” attorney Ron Filipkowski, who says he oversees the far right, tweeted alongside a photo of DeSantis from the event.
Some Trump supporters were quick to mock DeSantis, while others criticized the venue’s lack of air conditioning.
Far-right and anti-Muslim activist Laura Loomer, a staunch Trump supporter, tweeted a photo of DeSantis from the event, claiming his appearance showed DeSantis’s “billionaire donors” apparently “didn’t budget for air conditioning or deodorant” during the campaign trail.
Trump Save America PAC-affiliated Alex Bruesewitz, a Republican strategist, tweeted about Desantis’ claims that “he had an overflow crowd in Oklahoma,” suggesting that really “people just didn’t want to [enter] the building because there was no AC.”
