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Ron DeSantis’ latest campaign advertisement that has attacked former president Donald Trump has sparked relentless trolling online. The video that was posted by Twitter account Proud Elephant proudly rallied against the LGBTQ community and portrayed the former as a hero. However, the clip has also garnered massive backlash online with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also giving his two cents.
The controversial clip which has amassed over 20 million views on Twitter was also posted to the Twitter account DeSantis War Room. The clip portrays the former president as someone who is sympathetic toward transgender rights. It also shows Ron DeSantis as a contrasting figure who has taken radical measures to curb LGBTQ rights.
The video starts off with Donald Trump promising to do anything he can to support the LGBTQ community, it proceeds to show the former president stating that transgender celebrity activist Caitlyn Jenner can use any washroom she pleases when she visits the Trump Tower.
The video also includes Trump expressing support to include transgender women in the Miss Universe pageant which he previously owned.
The video proceeds to show Ron DeSantis and a series of news headlines that read:
“DeSantis Signs ‘Most Extreme Slate of Anti-Trans Laws in Modern History'”
“DeSantis shuts down Florida school’s ‘Drag & Donuts’ event featuring drag queen ‘Momma’ Ashley Rose: report”
“Ron DeSantis Signs Draconian Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill Into Law”
The video also strangely included built athletes in between clips of DeSantis which appeared incredibly confusing to viewers. Many could not understand what the bodybuilders had to do with Ron DeSantis.
Netizens relentlessly troll Ron DeSantis’ latest campaign ad
Internet users found the clip hilarious. Many trolled the presidential candidate endlessly. This also included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who accused DeSantis of trying to look masculine by using bodybuilders in his campaign ad. During CNN's State of the Union, he 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 get to the 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?”
Buttigieg went on to add:
“I just don’t understand the mentality of somebody who gets up in the morning thinking that he’s going to prove his worth by competing over who can make life hardest for a hard-hit community that is already so vulnerable in America.”
A few other reactions to the viral video read:
In response to the viral video, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump commented that the clip showed “a desperate campaign in its last throes of relevancy.”
Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP organization that represents the LGBTQ community also noted that the video in question was “divisive and desperate.” They also added that Ron DeSantis’ rhetoric has ventured into “homophobic territory.”
DeSantis has drawn immense fire from the LGBTQ community after signing the Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act. This restricts classroom instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten to the 12th grade.
