Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was filmed telling a group of high school students to remove their face masks and stop engaging with the “Covid theater”
“You do not have to wear those masks,” the Florida Republican told students at the University of South Florida before he walked to the podium for a speech on Wednesday.
DeSantis, who has been one of the nation’s most outspoken governors against the draconian covid rules and mandates, told the students to “please take them off”
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He continued. “Honestly, it’s not doing anything. We’ve gotta stop with this Covid theater. So if you wanna wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.”
The clip later went viral on social media
BigLeaguePolitics reports: The clip quickly garnered reactions from conservatives all over the web who praised the governor’s down-to-earth stance on the idea of a fellow human being hiding their face from others in public.
“This is phenomenal,” Outkick.com founder Clay Travis posted. “Ron Desantis tells USF kids they don’t have to wear their masks because they don’t do anything and it’s time to stop with all the political theater.”
“This is the correct attitude toward mask wearing,” posted conservative radio host and former CIA analyst Buck Sexton.
Fox News reported that many liberals were upset by the interaction in the clip. DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw responded to such complaints, telling the outlet that “the kids laughed after he said it,” and that “they knew he wasn’t frustrated with them but with the peer pressure around masking in schools.”
A simple viewing of the clip all but confirms Pushaw’s claims; at least two out of three of the students are seen laughing and removing their face masks following DeSantis’ comments.
“As the governor said, ‘You can wear them if you want,’” Pushaw added. “But there’s no evidence masks make any difference. That has been clear for a long time and the data informed our state official’s guidance.”
