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Anti-DeSantis Attack Ad Mocked For Promoting Freedom In Florida: ‘Honestly, Did Ron DeSantis Write This Commercial?’

   DailyWire.com
VIERA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - 2021/09/01: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holds a news conference at the Florida Department of Health office in Viera, Florida to announce that the state of Florida has provided more than 40,000 monoclonal antibody treatments to COVID-19 patients statewide at 21 state treatment sites.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

An anti-Ron DeSantis PAC released a new ad targeting Florida’s Republican governor on Wednesday that immediately backfired as critics mocked it online.

Remove Ron is a PAC launched by Florida attorney Daniel Uhlfelder who gained national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic by walking along Florida’s beaches in a grim reaper outfit in a morbid protest of DeSantis’ decision to leave beaches open. Uhlfelder’s PAC released the attack ad, called the “Florever Purge,” attacking DeSantis for trusting “people to make their own decisions” regarding vaccines and COVID-19.

The ad, based on the movie “The Purge,” opens with a crowd of people flying to Florida on a commercial airplane, watching a warning video of DeSantis condemning “vaccine passports” and promoting individual responsibility.  The ad ends with a series of pandemic-related news clips hyping the spread of COVID-19.

“This reminds me of my recent flight back from CA to FL, and my complete and utter relief at being in a state where the governor says things like ‘We trust people to make their own decisions in this state.’ Honestly, did Ron DeSantis write this commercial?” Daily Wire editor emeritus Ben Shapiro, who resides in Florida, wrote on Twitter.

“Also, ‘The Florever Purge’? This is so bad the Lincoln Project must be in some way connected to it,” Shapiro mocked. “But I do hope that covid-panicked already-vaxxed blue state Democrats watch this video and stay the hell out and leave us alone. So it’s a win for everybody!”

“I need this recut so that the cutaways to Florida are of people eating at restaurants, going to the beach, and attending sports games. Because that’s the reality out here. We’re living life normally,” he added.

National Review senior writer Charles Cooke, another Florida resident, called the ad “one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”

“The best part is when they amp up the scary music while DeSantis says, ‘We trust people to make their own decisions in this state, we’re not going to be bludgeoning people,’” Cooke said. “The plane lands, and then the screen flashes ‘terrifyingly evil,’ by which point in real life everyone on board would have alighted and been on their merry way to Universal Studios.”

“And the juxtapositions are delicious. DeSantis says ‘if you’re trying to lock people down, I’m going to stand in your way.’ And the screen flashes ‘A DARK DYSTOPIAN STORY,’” he continued.

“I like DeSantis even more now. Thanks for this,” The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh quipped.

“Ah, the classic Lincoln Project move – a long, self-indulgent video appealing to libs on Twitter for fundraising that accidentally makes a target look awesome,” GOP communications adviser Matt Whitlock posted. “I imagine the DeSantis camp is thrilled you’re bringing attention to his fight against vaccine mandates, passports, etc.”

“What scares Very Online Liberals the most: The freedom to think for themselves. ‘Governor DeSantis is the worst… he forces us to make our own decisions! As if we’re responsible adults with rights!’” DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said.

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