DeSantis Calls 'Nauseating' January 6 Commemoration a 'Politicized Charlie Foxtrot'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday said Democrats’ plans to commemorate the first anniversary of the January 6 Capitol Riot is “nauseating” and a “politicized Charlie Foxtrot,” which is military slang for a “chaotic situation.” 

“I’m not going watch any of it, but you’re going see the D.C./New York media —I mean this is their Christmas…,” he said when a journalist asked him to comment on the anniversary during a press conference at a West Palm Beach rehabilitation center.

“It’s not something that most Floridians have been concerned about. They’re concerned about their jobs, education, inflation, gas prices — all those things, and I wish the Congress of the United States would be concerned about those pressing issues as well,” he added. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)  released a schedule for January 6 to mark a year since protesters entered the Capitol building — including a designated time for select historians to “establish and preserve the narrative” of what happened that day.

“The House will not be in session, but a full program of events is being planned, based on Member input. These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness,” Pelosi said in a statement last Thursday.

DeSantis slammed corporate media and Democrats for comparing the Capitol Riot to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and said they are creating a narrative in order to “smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump.”

Notably, Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off the Biden administration’s remarks by comparing it to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. DeSantis said:

Look, if you obstruct a proceeding…hold people accountable. If you’re rioting [you should be held] accountable. But let’s just be clear here — when they try to act like this is something akin to the September 11 attacks, that is an insult to the people who were going into those buildings.

The Republican governor reflected on when a former campaign volunteer for Sen.Bernie Sanders(I-VT), who was running for president at the time, went to a Congressional Republican baseball practice and shot and wounded Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and three others. DeSantis said he was on the field during what he called a “politically motivated” attempted assassination,” and if the Capitol Police had not been there, there could have been “a dozen people assassinated.”

“That was like a one-day, two-day story. That was not something that the capitol-based press wanted to talk about. Why? Because it totally undercut their preferred narratives,” he continued. 

He concluded that he did not expect “anything from the corporate press to be enlightening” and added that Democrats are using the day to get more television coverage about to the riot. 

“Some of them who are probably the most loud…will end up vacationing in Florida at some point as well,” he said, seemingly taking a stab politicians like Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who have been spotted vacationing in his state unmasked — despite being critical of Florida’s lack of restrictions.