Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Florida's New Republican Nominee for Governor Was an Admin on a Hate-Filled Facebook Group Until This Week, and People Aren't Surprised

Florida's New Republican Nominee for Governor Was an Admin on a Hate-Filled Facebook Group Until This Week, and People Aren't Surprised
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 28: U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) speaks during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee June 28, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. While scheduled to discuss the Justice Department Inspector general report released this month on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, Republicans were expected to use the opportunity to press for release of documents subpoenaed by the committee that detail FBI actions in 2016. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Well that's certainly on brand.

For a candidate who just won Florida's Republican primary for governor, Ron DeSantis is having a rough week.

Fresh off of referring to his opponent Andrew Gillum, Florida's first black gubernatorial nominee, as "articulate" and warning Floridians not to "monkey this up" by electing him, DeSantis was discovered to be the administrator of a Facebook group called "Tea Party," whose 94,000 members regularly share racist, conspiratorial, and otherwise hateful memes and posts. DeSantis has since left the group, but not before Media Matters employee Natalie Martinez exposed him.


The gubernatorial nominee was not the only DeSantis family member in the group.

As an administrator of the group, Mr. DeSantis had the power to moderate posts and ban members who frequently posted content believed to be unsuitable, which makes some of the posts all the more shocking.

Some are racist.

Some are homophobic.

At least one spouted similar rhetoric as DeSantis's monkey comment.

And people on Twitter don't seem too surprised.

Some were still outraged.

But perhaps most shamefully, DeSantis wasn't the only Republican politician moderating the group.

Martinez found that a shocking five other congressional candidates moderating the group.

Including West Virginia Attorney General and Senate hopeful Patrick Morrisey, who was later no longer listed as an administrator of the group.

Other candidates include Daniel Crenshaw, a candidate for the Texas House of Representatives; Danny Tarkanian, a candidate to represent Nevada in the House; Corey Stewart, a candidate for Virginia's senator; and Matt Rosendale, also running in the senate to represent Montana.

What's more, not all of the candidates are ashamed.

The fact that politicians who are still conducting campaigns feel comfortable moderating a public Facebook group that bullies high school shooting survivors, refers to black people as monkeys, and paints all Muslims as terrorists, to many, illustrates the level at which the president's rhetoric and belligerence has emboldened bigotry.

More from People/donald-trump

Signal app logo; J.D. Vance
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Signal's Founder Epically Roasts Vance Over The Disastrous Group Chat Debacle

Signal founder Matthew Rosenfeld, better known by the pseudonym Moxie Marlinspike, mocked Vice President J.D. Vance after the app found itself at the center of the Trump administration's group text scandal.

Rosenfeld's post came amid revelations that Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was invited into a Signal chat with high-level Trump administration officials, particularly Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, discussing military strategy surrounding war strikes in Yemen.

Keep ReadingShow less
MTG, Martha Kelner
C-SPAN

MTG Blasted For Her Unhinged Reaction To A UK Reporter Asking Her A Question

Far right Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was bashed for viciously shutting down a British reporter who had a question about the Signal group chat scandal, AKA "Signalgate."

Republican President Donald Trump's administration continues to downplay concerns after The Atlantic'seditor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was mistakenly added to the Signal messaging app's group chat in which U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared with top intelligence officials the specific weapons programs regarding the U.S. war strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Rachel Maddow
MSNBC

Rachel Maddow Gives Trump A Blistering Reality Check After His 'Perfect' Presidency Claims

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow criticized President Donald Trump after he claimed "we've had two perfect months" to start out his presidency—conveniently downplaying "Signalgate" and ignoring all the scandals that have thus far struck his administration.

You can see his comments to reporters in the video below:

Keep ReadingShow less
train crossing in small town
craig kerwien on Unsplash

People Share Their Most Embarrassing Small Town Stories

I lived most of my life in a very small town in Northern Maine. There were about 200 kids in my high school and there were 56 kids in my graduating class—we were tied with the class of 1961 for the largest class ever.

When the primary employer in town—Pinkham Lumber Mill—shut down, the town got even smaller. Now the senior class is considered large if it reaches double digits.

Keep ReadingShow less
A post-it with "I Quit" written on it over a computer keypad
a yellow notepad on a keyboard
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

People Reveal Why They Quit Their Job On The First Day

As much as anyone may want to quit a job, at the end of the day it's easier said than done.

For one thing, even if people are working soul-sucking jobs that barely cover expenses, they still can't afford to lose the paycheck, until something better comes along.

Keep ReadingShow less