It's November 2, 2018. We live in a world where the President of the United States, in an attempt to make us hate each other even more than we already do, says that South Central American migrants who throw rocks at U.S. troops will be treated as armed.
In Florida, that same head of state has called the Democratic gubernatorial candidate a thief, while his opponent Republican Ron DeSantis, continues to run away from "monkey this up" (and other racist) comments he made about Andrew Gillum after the black Tallahassee Mayor's primary win in August.
**Caution, what you are about to read is disturbing.**
Now, NBC says that some Sunshine State voters are (again) receiving a "robocall that refers to Andrew Gillum as a 'negro' and a 'monkey.'"
Florida voters who receive the call hear a man impersonating Gillum, writes NBC, which obtained audio of the call.
**Last warning, what you're about to read is deeply upsetting.**
"Well hello there. I is the negro Andrew Gillum and I'll be askin’ you to make me governor of this here state of Florida," the voice reportedly says. “My state opponent, who done call me monkey, is doin' a lot of hollerin’ about how ‘spensive my plans for health care be."
The report also says that a chimpanzee noise is played during the word “monkey.”
In August, Florida voters were hit with a similar robocall which the Tampa Bay Times said featured "a 'paid for by' disclaimer listing a neo-Nazi website and podcast, The Road to Power, as the source. The source of this latest call is unclear.
Outgoing Florida governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Rick Scott condemned that August robocall writing that "There is no room for any racial politics here in Florida - none. Florida is a melting pot of people from all over the globe, and we are proud of it. No attempts to divide people by race or ethnicity will be tolerated, from anyone. THIS. STOPS. NOW."
Gillum's campaign called the latest robocall as "disgusting" and "abhorrent," and even a spokesperson for DeSantis said that the campaign "joins those in condemning it," adding that it had "absolutely nothing to do with" the robocall.
Which begs the questions: What kind of person is OK with this kind of thing? And why aren't even more people — including supporters of best buds Trump and DeSantis — aggressively bringing attention to items like this robocall and condemning them as utterly wrong and not the way to run a campaign? At what point are the truly virtuous members of the "Silent Majority" going to actually loudly break the silence on racism in American politics?
Good God, the world may never know. Did we mention that there's an election on November 6?
