Ron DeSantis now says it would take '12 hours' to 'flatten' the Bahamas

[RandySF]

Ron DeSantis continues to maintain that the Bahamas would be no match for the United States in the event of armed conflict or insurgent attack.

“If someone was firing missiles from the Bahamas into, like, Fort Lauderdale, we would never accept that. We would flatten. Anything that happened, it would be done like literally within 12 hours, it would be done,” the 2024 presidential candidate said in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Despite the need for the U.S. Embassy in Nassau to clarify that his comments don’t reflect American foreign policy, the Governor continues to use this metaphor to draw a parallel between hypothetical attacks on the U.S. from Nassau and the situation in Israel.

DeSantis has switched up the rhetoric before, saying it would take much less than 12 hours to obliterate the Caribbean archipelago.




https://floridapolitics.com/archives/650673-ron-desantis-bahamas/

[nocoincidences]

1. Has he lost his mind?

Firing on the Bahamas?

[Lunabell]

18. Did he ever have one?

He sure doesn't have a heart.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

79. You beat me to it!!

[Attilatheblond]

60. Ah, yes, it takes me back....

Reagan going to war against Grenada. So manly, so alpha, so farcical.

What is it with these GOP cowboys?

[Earth-shine]

73. In the movie Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood's character "Gunny" single-handedly wins the war against Grenada.

"Gunny" might be the most frequently assigned nickname in the military.

[albacore]

81. Gunny is short for Marine Gunnery Sergeant...the rank that Eastwood's character held. nt

[Omnipresent]

103. Why, was he so outraged by resort fees over there?

That would be the only offense, i could see.

[madinmaryland]

2. What a fucking maroon! How did Florida elect this guy...

Forget that last question.

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. Because a FUCK TON of voters stayed home in 2022.

1st, He won in 2018 by the hair on his chinny chin chin, and then in 2022 about 1.5 million fewer voters participated, not to mention Crist was a crappy opponent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Florida_gubernatorial_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Florida_gubernatorial_election

[csziggy]

92. You've got it - plus the Florida Democratic Party is incompentent

And can't run a campaign worth talking about. They never used Rick Scott's past against him - though that would have resonated with the older population, him stealing from Medicare and all.

Even though I detest Crist, I held my nose and voted for him, but too many Democratic Floridians just couldn't make that choice.

[Ocelot II]

3. Are we at war with the Bahamas? I had no idea.

[thomski64]

51. ...it was the element of surprise..

[Midnight Writer]

95. I'm afraid they left us no choice. They went...woke.

[sakabatou]

4. State Department needs to tell him to STFU

[yardwork]

93. I think they already have! Why does he keep saying this?

[Yavin4]

5. Ron DeSantis is a Harvard grad, right? n/t

[WarGamer]

7. on paper... he's highly educated.

And then he opens his mouth.

[Yavin4]

8. Either he's a dumb man that says dumb things. Or...

He's a smart man that says dumb thing bc he thinks that will win him votes.

Honestly, I don't know which one is worse.

[Cha]

29. DeStupid is a Desperate Vicious Idiot.

[Attilatheblond]

64. OR... he's a useless man with a wife who has a dream of redecorating the White House

and could be a harpy/shrew who might nag him to appear more macho to get votes.

Be taller!

Have broader shoulders (former tailor here, trust me, he is having his suits more and more padded across shoulders)

Pretend you can smile

Scarf down food like a REAL man

Be snarky

Hey, act like a War Time President

I can almost hear Casey pushing him around so she can be Tackie O

[localroger]

15. So is Sen John Kennedy of LA

Unfortunately, one of my senators. Sounds dumb as a pallet of bricks. But he's educated, and people who new him before he got into politics all agree that it's an act and he's really not stupid at all, just playing an act for the stupid masses he needs to vote for him. Of which there are an unfortunately large number in this state.

[WarGamer]

16. I believe it.

[moondust]

20. And Elise Stefanik.

[FailureToCommunicate]

62. Ah yes. Forced out of Harvard grad school -as a fellow- because she refused to

leave due to her MAGA spouting nuttiness.

[Yavin4]

66. To me, that's far worse than being stupid.

It's an elitist insult.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

104. Many people are smart (clever) but profoundly unwise

Like tRump. He is very clever about two things: 1) using media for his own purposes, and 2) using other people's money (bankruptcies, "university" and "charity" scams, highest US trade/budget deficits). And we all know how profoundly unwise (stupid) he is.

[viva la]

11. And served in the military.

He knows better. He just thinks his potential voters are impressed with violent rhetoric.

[2naSalit]

13. Maybe...

This is one of the reasons he's not in the military anymore. They had no use for crazy nut job like him. Probably glad to be rid of him.

[RandySF]

23. He aided and abetted the torture of prisoners at Gitmo.

[viva la]

39. Now I'm kind of glad he's not going to get a dog.

Imagine how he would treat that poor creature.

[Dan]

59. To be fair, as I understand it

His job was collecting and analyzing urine.

[RandySF]

71. That's sort of like playing piano in the brothel.

[Captain Zero]

77. Piano players get tips.

Nt

[EYESORE 9001]

12. From what I've seen

Some of the stoopidest MFers ever to walk the face of the earth went to Ivy League schools. Lookin’ right at you, stencholini.

[Yavin4]

17. The most intelligent person that I've ever known went to UCSB.

Most of the people that I know that went to Ivy League schools are good at getting into Ivy League schools. That's why most of them wind up working for a consulting firm where all that they do is network themselves into a career without really accomplishing anything of significance.

[paleotn]

50. Every school produces its share of idiots.

Ted Cruz went to Princeton and was known around campus as one weird mf'r. I knew some real knuckle heads at "enormous state university." Guys on the "7 year plan" who kept failing Thermodynamics. Haven't a clue what happened to them. Probably in Congress.

[sop]

54. Yale then Harvard law.

[rubbersole]

55. Harvard graduates socially awkward people all the time.

Something that has a name in psychology books pertains to pudding fingers. He's a couple sandwiches short of a picnic.

[WarGamer]

6. warmonger wants Israel to flatten GAZA.

[dflprincess]

49. Following his logic,

he should also want Ukraine to flatten Russia.

But he doesn't.

[TheFarseer]

87. I'm shocked they don't want to support Ukraine

They have said Russia is the devil for 100 years and now we just let them win like we couldn’t care less? I don’t understand. But we have to help Israel beat up people who have virtually no capacity to fight a war.

[Whiskeytide]

99. Many of them are on Putin's payroll now and have abandoned their previous hostility. They want the Rubles. n/t

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

88. Russians are white.

He only wants to bomb brown people.

[DemocraticPatriot]

9. What??? Are we angry with the Bahamas now? I lost track...

In my own pointless simile, allow me to say that it would take less than 12 hours for the United States military to flatten Florida, should they choose to deny the legal superiority of Federal law over that of DeSantis and the Florida legislature....

or Texas, for that matter...


Of course, we wouldn't do that, we would contest the matters in the Courts---
unless they start the shooting first....!

[Jarqui]

10. What an asinine thing to say ... nt

[2naSalit]

14. The sound of...

Flop sweat.

[Kennah]

19. In boots?

[LudwigPastorius]

37. !

[Marcus IM]

21. If he said he would flatten Cuba, he'd have cheers from the crowds and full-throated support from most all corners. n/t

[getagrip_already]

45. Actually, no... he would be pillaried by the cubans in FL

With family still living there. They hate the government, not their families.

He would lose massive support. Removing the Cuban government and restoring properties seized is very popular. Destroying the Cuban people isn't.

[Marcus IM]

69. Restoring the properties they abandoned is very popular in Miami. Not in Cuba.

Neither is restoring any part of the US oligarchy.
I don't know many Cubans IN Cuba who hate their gov't.
They dislike the poverty and the shortages - which are mostly due to US extraterritorial sanctions - but they like their system of gov't.

And before anyone comes at me over this, know that I am from Cuba.

[Elessar Zappa]

72. Dictators suck, I don't care which country we're talking about.

Cuba is not a democracy so I have no use for it.

[EX500rider]

94. "They dislike the poverty and the shortages'

And i bet they love the freedom of the press in Cuba...or not

The country has ranked low on the Press Freedom Index, a list published by Reporters Without Borders which reflects the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations, and netizens have in a country. Cuba has been ranked among the index's “least free" countries for a decade

"Only 25 percent of Cubans use the internet, while only five percent of homes are connected",[2] making it one of the Americas' least-connected countries. A number of websites are blocked, and access to information is scarce. Non-governmental organizations, such as Amnesty International, UN Special Rapporteurs, have had their access to Cuba restricted.

On the island, critics of the government and activists often have their mobile and internet connections tapped.[4] Around the time of Pope Benedict XVI's 2012 visit,[5] the government blocked NGO communications from abroad to prevent them from obtaining information on Cuban prisoners

And the whole totalitarian Police State thing may be unpopular..

Human Rights Watch:
The Cuban government continued to systematically deny its citizens the right to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, association and assembly, the right to privacy and due process, and the right to travel. The guarantees written into Cuba's laws do more to hinder than to protect those rights. And in any event, Cuba lacks institutions independent of the government and the governing Communist Party that could ensure respect for basic rights. Although all Cubans are affected by the institutionalized suppression of civil and political rights by the 32-year-old military government of Fidel Castro, the target increasingly has been the fragile "civil society" that began to emerge in 1988 when international scrutiny of Cuba's human rights practices was at its height.

There is no free press in Cuba. All media are state-owned or state-controlled. Nothing is permitted to be published on government-controlled printing presses that is not "in keeping with the objectives of socialist society." Attempts by human rights and other independent activists to distribute newsletters, type-written and reproduced on carbon paper, have been relentlessly suppressed under the law against "clandestine printing."

Cuba is a one-party state. Opposition political parties and independent civic groups are illegal. Cubans are permitted to belong only to officially controlled "mass organizations," which serve as little more than a medium for them to demonstrate their "revolutionary integration." Rights advocacy groups have been repeatedly denied official recognition. Members of such groups are imprisoned for "illegal association."

Freedom of movement is restricted. Only Cubans over a certain age -- 40 for women and 45 for men (recently reduced from 50 and 55) -- are free to travel abroad and return to Cuba. Cubans apply to emigrate at the risk of losing their jobs, belongings, and homes. Those who try and fail to flee illegally by crossing the Florida straits on a boat or raft are imprisoned.

[getagrip_already]

98. I was only referring to us politics...

The reactions of Cubans in Florida to him saying he would "level" Cuba would not be positive.

That would mean a lot of dead family.

Am I wrong there?

[Marcus IM]

106. They voted for tRump. tRump destroyed any/all positive moves on normalization that Obama had initiated.

Miami Cuban expats are hardline RW. That hated President Obama's moves.
It is they who manipulate US policy that starves and punishes their own families in Cuba.
The exile community concerns are only performative. They simply don't care about the wellbeing of Cubans in Cuba - most of whom were born after the Cuban Revolution that ended the blood-soaked US backed Batista dictatorship.
Attracting poor Cubans with extra special US socialist perks available to only Cuban expats has turned Florida bright red.
And who here on DU wanted that?
Why laud the intransigent RW Cuban exile community as liberty minded "experts" on democracy?

I live in Miami. I am Cuban-American.
I espouse full normalization of relations w/Cuba and an end to the collective punishment heaped upon Cubans for 60+ years.

[getagrip_already]

108. I'm not disagreeing you on gop politics in general, I agree they have the cuban vote...

We were talking about desantis though. What would be the reaction if he said he would wipe out cuba? Destroy it completely, as he has said he would do to the bahamas?

Would the cuban community support desantis?

[Marcus IM]

109. Yes.

During the day of the largest global protests against W's illegal invasion of Iraq, in Miami the Cuban and Venezuelan community united with prominent city and county mayors and commissioners and other representatives at a PRO war march with the leading banner that read:
President Bush, Today Iraq, Tomorrow Cuba And Venezuela!

They marched on two streets named after Cuban exile terrorists -Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles - who blew up a Cuban airliner with Cuban and Honduran sport team youngsters aboard, killing them all in the 1970's.

When they tell you who they are, believe them.

[Eugene]

22. Hypothetical attack from a country with no army or air force?

Obvious dick waving and race baiting aimed at winning over the most ignorant of tRump supporters.

Stupid stunts like this only hurt Florida.

[Emile]

24. His statesman skills need work, 😮.

[Demovictory9]

32. They do

[ismnotwasm]

25. I hate him

I really do. Worthless as a human being

[Deuxcents]

26. He's worthless as our governor

Everything is in secret here with him..he has ruined this state. He is a little man who wants to be an authoritarian. Little in stature and character.

[Skittles]

43. could you tell me

WHY did so many people vote for him? I mean - he is vile in every way I can think of.

[Deuxcents]

67. Imo, he did not have an opponent that the DCCC even supported with much effort

[Skittles]

78. and it's very telling about his critical thinking skills

that he thought that "popular win" would translate into coasting into the White House

[sop]

85. I blame it on the Red Tide.

Not the one that's been polluting the beaches and killing millions of fish, but the toxic Red Tide of millions of older, more affluent, religious and conservative people moving here every day and polluting this state's politics.

Florida was once solidly Democratic, then it became a swing state, now it's reliably red. Any Republican on the ballot will win statewide office here.

[Skittles]

112. that makes sense

I guess it's not just that it turned red, but that so many people there seem to favor dictator-wannabes

[gratuitous]

27. But what if the Bahamas had the Hulk? Didn't think of that, did you Meatball Ron?

Checkmate dimwit.

[CatWoman]

28. we're at war with the Bahamas?

[nocoincidences]

30. What audience is he playing to?

Who hates the Bahamas?

Is he jealous of the Bahamas because people hurry through the shithole state he has created to get to that paradise?

He has lost any ability to reason if he actually ever had some smarts, which many of us are doubting.

His choice of boots are enough to make one question if he has 2 neurons rubbing together in that hideous head.

[sop]

91. Only a small number of Bahamians live and vote here (about 0.14% of Florida's population), mostly living

in Miami-Dade. There's a small Bahamian community in Coconut Grove, Miami's oldest neighborhood. Their Bahamian ancestors first settled in South Florida over a century ago, when the state was still an undeveloped swamp. They're predominantly black.

DeSantis doesn't have to worry about offending Bahamians. There aren't many of them, they're largely black, and they probably wouldn't vote Republican anyway. Threatening to wipe The Bahamas off the map is politically safer than mentioning Puerto Rico or Cuba.

[lpbk2713]

33. WTF??

Can this clown get any more idiotic?

[Hekate]

34. Is he insane?!

[Blue Owl]

35. He's probably figured out how long it would take to individually slit throats

Fucking sick fuck weirdo…..

[mcar]

36. Fcking idiot

and he's all ours here in Florida.

[dobleremolque]

38. Hey Ron, have you been there? They're already flat! Sometimes all you can do

is speculate on whether you are dealing with a natural imbecile or with one who's taken special training.

[lonely bird]

47. Thanks!

You almost owed my an iPad for that one!

[CloudWatcher]

40. Do the Bahamas have a foreign legion?

I'm tempted to sign up, I had no idea Florida was considering a war with them.

[Skittles]

41. is there a HUGH1! LBGTQ presence in the Bahamas?

[3825-87867]

42. Possibly he's thinking of that massive military Juggernaut...

Grenada!

Good thing St. Ronnie showed how big and powerful the U.S. was in the 80s by vanquishing that danger in about 3 whole days!

St. Ronnie was worried about some U.S. student who might have been used as hostages.

Remind you of anyone else's excuses?

[not a texan]

44. Ronnie had to get the Beirut barracks off the front page

It was not good for Ronnie to have the loss of our soldiers on the front page, he was looking weak. So he invades a small island in such a hurry our communications were not even set up correctly. But is is OK if you are a republican

[Aristus]

46. Like Reagan with Grenada.

Power-crazed right-wing bullies want to make their bones beating up a fourth-rate military power.

[Evolve Dammit]

48. What a stupid mother f'er. This boy ain't right. At all.

[hadEnuf]

52. What a tough guy.

I'll bet he could flatten a 12 month old in 12 seconds too.

I guess that's what suffices for tough with the MAGA crowd.

What a complete ass DeSantis is.

[MerryBlooms]

53. I just got home from work a little while ago, did Bahamas

Declare war on Florida? WTF, is this idiot on about? It's kinda holiday today, folks are loaded by 5, at least by what I saw driving home tonight. Cops everywhere, staters, county, you name it. One definite major response with 4 combined sheriff's, local, blocking lanes. One gal in front of me couldn't keep it between the lines, and that was just 4:30pm. No license plate to report. A temporary taped in a super dark back window SUV. She pulled into a parking lot, and I hope she stayed there a good long while. 😥

[hay rick]

56. LOL. This is what desperation looks like.

[Woodwizard]

57. I thought this was an Andy Borrowitz skit.

[Kid Berwyn]

58. Hobnailed white rubber boots.

Los cuatro dictadores (1962) by Eduardo Arroyo



Four European dictators, from left-to-right: Francisco Franco of Spain, Benito Mussolini of Italy, António Salazar of Portugal, and Adolf Hitler of Germany.

[Permanut]

61. He's not a complete idiot..

Some parts are missing.

[democrank]

63. All boots, no cattle

Now it’s Trump’s turn to say he could do it in 8.

[OAITW r.2.0]

65. For what reason? Little dickus general spout needs some one to beat up?

[Takket]

68. looknig forward to his vanishing into obsurity in 2024.

[Bucky]

70. He sounds jealous

Like Israel's having all the fun with its leveling buildings and racking up thousands of collateral deaths.

[elias7]

74. Perhaps he was suggesting that if Israel was truly genocidal, Gaza would have been flattened long ago

[LeftInTX]

75. Aren't they flat already?

[Texasgal]

76. Why would we want to "flatten" the Bahamas?

For what fucking reason? This guy is a damn LOON!

[Pachamama]

80. Hurricane Ron

He must be feeling really bold and big these days

[SoFlaBro]

82. Rhonda ScanPiss is one fucked up chump. He bullshitted his way into the governor's mansion and shitted up Florida.

[spinbaby]

83. What the hell is wrong with him?

Any normal person would realize how deranged this sounds.

[onethatcares]

84. should I cancel my anniversary cruise?

I'm sure the port will be left standing, or sinking. Whatever ports do that is..

[ProfessorGAC]

86. Aside From His General Idiocy...

...it doesn't even work as an analogy.
The world's most expensive, powerful, & sophisticated military could pummel a country of 5,400 square miles?
That's self-evident. So, he's not really making any point.

[Renew Deal]

89. We should invade the Bahamas to fix the menus at Atlantis.

“Invade the Bahamas” is what passes for new ideas in the Republican Party.

[uponit7771]

90. DeathSentence sounds like a middle school kid making a meaningless point about his strength

[LiberalFighter]

96. He is helping others defeat him with his stupidity.

[Norbert]

97. Joseph Goebbels was well educated & earned a scholarship

Sometimes education isn't a good measure of a man.

[Runningdawg]

100. I guess FL (and maybe TX) have put invading MX with "shock and awe" on the back burner for now?

[ecstatic]

101. Keep alienating folks, Ron.

Please proceed. This is actually perfect. Your boy trump is headed to prison and you'll be the next up to bat, but you won't have a shot in fucking hell next year.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

102. Only makes sense if the goal is genocidal "flattening" of all of Gaza

"flattening" Gaza would kill hundreds of thousands of people.

It seems De Santis imagines all the Bahamians would simply swim out to sea and tread water until the flattening was done.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

105. Why would the US attack the Bahamas?

[LeftInTX]

107. Hidden pirate booty? Stashes of rum?

[Rebl2]

110. My exact thought

Why would we attack them? Why would he even bring it up?

[Chainfire]

111. He is missing the important enemy. How long will it take Ron to flatten Canada???????

He is a damn idiot.