'Mickey Mouse would disagree': Twitter shatters Mike Lee’s claim that Ron DeSantis values 'individual rights'
United States Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) appeared on Fox News on Thursday and defended Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' right-wing style of leadership, which features banning books, restricting LGBTQ+ rights, forbidding the teaching of Black history in schools, mistreatment of asylum-seeking migrants, shutting out the free press, proposing a militarized police force that he would control, voter suppression, and a bizarre ideological war on The Walt Disney Company.
DeSantis' extreme policies have generated enormous public backlash, including allegations that the forty-four-year-old second-term governor and anticipated 2024 presidential contender is dancing close to the edge of authoritarianism.
But DeSantis' track record raises no red flags for Lee, who joined congressional Republicans in their efforts to overturn former President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden before ultimately abandoning the cause. Lee has also issued statements that suggest he opposes democracy.
Speaking from the Capitol Rotunda, Lee offered a full-throated defense of DeSantis.
"There is nothing about Governor DeSantis that is a fascist. Never once has he tried to centralize government power. Never once has he tried to, uh, aggregate power at the expense of the individual, the expense of the family," the senator said.
"He's all about individual rights, uh, just as President Trump had been before him," Lee continued. "And so as a result of all this, we see that the use by the left of the word fascist and symbols like the swastika to depict anything they don't like. It cheapens the meaning of the word."
Social media observers wasted no time firing back.
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Ex-GOP Hillary: "Fox Not News, where people go to lie."
Pierre Atlas: "LMAO. Tell that to LGBTQ youth, Disney, state university faculty, or K-12 public school teachers in Florida."
erica crist: "That Lee can say this with a straight face, let alone believe the words coming out of his mouth, is astounding."
Kate: "@MikeLeeforUtah if you can't see it, maybe look at the forest and not the trees. Fascism is a nationalistic, top-down system with rigid class roles that is ruled by an all-powerful dictator."
shelly - MCV-research / CATS Initiative: "Coming from the Senator that publicly said he doesn't believe in Democracy."
John McKay: "Mickey Mouse would disagree so would trans kids who already jumped through hoops. Blacks who wanted to vote or Women who want autonomy with their bodies."
Garbageman: "I guess the view must be bad from Utah."
Watch Lee's remarks below or at this link.
\u201cSen. Mike Lee (R-UT): \u201cThere is nothing about Governor DeSantis that is a fascist. Never once has he tried to centralize government power. Never once has he tried to aggregate power at the expense of the individual.\u201d\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1682004515
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