Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) on Tuesday became the object of widespread ridicule on Twitter after he posted a video warning "communists" that they should not even think of coming to visit his state.
"If you're a communist or a socialist... I would think twice if you're thinking about taking a vacation or moving to Florida," Scott said in his video.
Scott went on to state that Florida residents know communism is "not good for anybody" and then added that "we like freedom liberty, capitalism, things like that."
Many of Scott's followers were quick to pile on the senator's video.
"These people are clowns," wrote Brian Klaas, an Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London. "Every aspect of modern Republican politics is geared toward performative pandering to the extremist base. The idea that a senior US politician would take the time to record a video telling 'communists' not to vacation in Florida…is just absurd."
David Simon, the creator of the acclaimed television series "The Wire," had a comical warning of his own for Scott to stay out of his hometown of Baltimore.
"I'm warning you not to set foot in Baltimore, where when we get the scent of a... submoronic demagogue, we cease all intramural violence and converge in socialist frenzy on the f---er, capture him, then sell him off in parts to pay for our crack vials and Utz crab chips," he wrote.
Princeton historian Kevin Kruse, meanwhile, found it ironic that Scott railed against left-wing totalitarianism but found no time to condemn the neo-Nazis that have been marching at Disney World in recent days.
And Shannon Watts, the founder of the gun safety advocacy organization Moms Demand, pointed out how many residents of Florida benefit from the "socialism" that Scott decries.
"Florida is the second highest state in the nation with the most welfare recipients - including SNAP, TANF and Medicaid - and the second highest number of social security beneficiaries," she wrote.
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