Governor Ron DeSantis, who continues to slide in the national polls, took a swipe at Trump and MAGA movement during his interview on MSNBC.
DeSantis insisted Trump could have pardoned all of the J6rs before he left office. How was President Trump supposed to know that the DOJ and FBI was going to arrest over 1,200 Trump supporters, including hundreds who walked inside the open doors on the US Capitol on January 6?
Ron DeSantis: It’s interesting on the, on the January 6 protest. I mean, he, he called that rally knowing that that was going to be in DC where things could get potentially out of hand. And he’s now saying he would do clemency for the, I guess the nonviolent, but he could have done that when he was president. He could have said, look, this was, he could have taken responsibility. He could have said that the people that went, not the violent people, obviously, that’s a different bird of a different feather. But on the people that were there just as protesters and kind of got caught up in it, he could have granted clemency to them. And he chose not to because I think he was told that if he did that, he could potentially risk being convicted at a Senate impeachment trial. So the idea that now he’s going to help people that were railroaded, he could have done that before he left office.
Joe Scarborough: Do you think there were people that were railroaded that took part in the January 6 riots?
Ron DeSantis: I think there were people, Joe, that came because he said to protest the election. I don’t think that they intended to do it. Some of the people that were convicted of things like trespassing, you see videos where you’ll have police officers actually motioning for people to go in. You’ll see that where they were just taking pictures in statuary hall… So the issue with that is that obviously they would not have been there but for the Trump rally. And those were his people. And so the question is, somebody that was there nonviolent probably didn’t have intent to do anything when they showed up that day. He could have done things to potentially alleviate burdens on them, and he didn’t do, now he says he’s going to do it, but he didn’t when he was president.
It’s not clear how Ron DeSantis expects to pick up the MAGA voters if he continues to insult Trump and his voters.
THE NEW @RonDeSantis J6 TALKING POINTS
He calls MAGA “his people” (President Trump)#Trump2024 #Iowa #DilleyMemeTeam pic.twitter.com/9UGsDJwzF6— miguelifornia (@miguelifornia) December 18, 2023