By now, we know that Ron DeSantis is a very odd person. It doesn’t matter if he is acting in an official capacity as the governor of Florida, or if he is out and about as a Republican presidential candidate. The man is going to do some weird stuff! And now it appears that he is embroiled in an ongoing feud with a 15-year-old boy, Quinn Mitchell. Yes, one of the frontrunners for the Republican nomination has beef with a teenager.
Teenagers are scary, especially in an, “Oh my gosh I don’t know this latest dance trend and they may laugh at me,” kind of way. But DeSantis seems actually afraid of this teen’s capabilities. Mitchell has made a name for himself by asking political candidates questions when they campaign in his home state of New Hampshire. Most people are somewhat normal (even Republicans), and so they look forward to talking with the young guy! Mitchell, who describes himself as an independent, is very into politics and asks thoughtful questions of the visiting politicians.
If politicians handle his questions reasonably, it can be a political win. Positive interactions with the future generation of voters can show a politician’s personable side, which is unquestionably a boon to their campaign. Unless, of course, you are Ron DeSantis. The man is terrible at connecting with voters (or anyone at all); it is literally one of the things he is worst at. I mean, he can barely manage a human smile.
According to a timeline by Uproxx, Mitchell first asked DeSantis about Trump during a town hall in June, asking, “Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power, a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?” It’s a common question for Republican candidates and one that DeSantis should already have an answer for. DeSantis gave his generic non-answer about not getting “stuck in the past”. He went on to mock the teenager, asking “Are you in high school?”
Yes DeSantis, obviously. This teenager in front of you who clearly looks like a high schooler is indeed in high school. He could’ve laid the ball up and said, “A peaceful transfer of power is important.” But no. That was too hard and normal for Ronnie. I guess the exchange wasn’t the best for DeSantis and his team took notice. Even though Mitchell apologized to the governor, he had an odd encounter during a 4th of July Parade. After shaking hands with DeSantis, security guards and aides tugged at him and pulled him away. Allegedly, a security guard also cornered Mitchell and ordered him not to move for five minutes. The teenager was shaken by the encounter and told his mom about the incident. To remedy the situation, or something, Casey DeSantis (Ron’s wife) visited Mitchell’s mom. She accused Mitchell of lying but then said she would figure out what happened and invited them to another event.
Now we are in August of the ongoing feud. When Mitchell got to the campaign event, DeSantis’ security team surrounded him and wouldn’t let him get close to the governor. Furthermore, the Never Back Down PAC took photos of the teenager, which were then shared by campaign staffers on Snapchat with the caption “Got our kid.” It seems like the DeSantis team is really treating this kid like a true menace. If you go back to his June question about the insurrection, it wasn’t even a “gotcha” or embarrassing question. Most Republicans, especially those in the national spotlight, have been asked about Trump and January 6 multiple times. And if they haven’t, they should be! Why did DeSantis seem to take such tremendous offense? The ongoing measures taken to block Mitchell from interacting with the presidential candidate just seem outrageous. Again, Mitchell is literally a minor.
This fiasco could be viewed as just a throwaway news story, but I think it speaks more to DeSantis’ character. He is an incredibly unlikeable person. Not everyone who wants to be president has to have the charisma factor of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. But I think they should be able to relate to human beings and act at least like 1/10th of a normal person. I do not think DeSantis has those abilities. I really do believe that he is too out of touch and too out there to be President. His policies and views are clearly egregious, so I don’t even need to go into depth there. But a person’s demeanor and personality matter when they want to lead our country. Having some weird vendetta against a high schooler is just downright odd. You know what would be interesting though, a Mitchell v. DeSantis debate! Team Mitchell all the way!
(via Uproxx, featured image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
