A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Secretary of State again defended his wife’s social media comments expressing support for the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters attempting to stop the certification of the last presidential election, Proud Boys, and other extreme elements on the far right.
“I reject any notion that there’s anything untoward,” Cord Byrd said about his wife’s comments, then blasting critics.
“It’s not that they’re concerned I can’t do the job. It’s that they’re concerned that I’m going to do the job effectively.”
On WJXT’s “This Week in Jacksonville Sunday,” the newly-appointed Florida Secretary of State explained away various incendiary comments made by Esther Byrd, a recent appointee to the Board of Education, as a function of her being a “strong, independent woman” and a patriot.
“Esther after 9/11 joined the Marine Corps because she’s passionate about her love for our country and our community. She’s continued that work after her military service and she’s passionate,” Byrd said. “Politics can … people feel very passionately about the things that she believes in, that they believe in.”
“She loves the Constitution. She loves the Rule of Law. You know me, that’s what we talk about. And sometimes, and this is no surprise to anyone, political rhetoric can get heated. And that’s not unusual,” Byrd explained. “Look in the paper every day and you see that.”
Esther Byrd was appointed to the Board of Education by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year in spite of a long history of incendiary comments.
After the Capitol riots, Mrs. Byrd offered a defense of those “peacefully protesting” the certification of the 2020 Presidential Election.
“ANTIFA and BLM can burn and loot buildings and violently attack police and citizens,” Byrd wrote on her personal Facebook page. “But when Trump supporters peacefully protest, suddenly ‘Law and Order’ is all they can talk about! I can’t even listen to these idiots bellyaching about solving our differences without violence.”
Those comments came after another incendiary post.
“In the coming civil wars (We the People vs the Radical Left and We the People cleaning up the Republican Party), team rosters are being filled,” mused Byrd. “Every elected official in DC will pick one. There are only 2 teams… With Us [or] Against Us.”
Byrd’s promise there: “We the People will NOT forget!”
During former Rep. Byrd’s last campaign for the Florida House, Mrs. Byrd offered an unsolicited defense of the Proud Boys, after Donald Trump infamously urged them to “stand back and stand by” when pressed to condemn the alt-right movement.
Mrs. Byrd, a staunch supporter of the former president, subsequently claimed that many of them and their supporters have been thrown in “FB Jail,” a metaphorical lockdown preventing them from posting to Facebook for some period of time.
“Why do you think Facebook is throwing people in FB Jail who share information about Proud Boys? (Side note: I must really have great friends cause a whole bunch have been locked up! 
) I think it’s because they’ve seen a drastic spike in searches and they are worried that people are educating themselves rather than blindly believing what MSM narrative. Anyone have a better theory?”
Those statements came months after Byrd made comments supportive of QAnon after the couple was photographed on a boat flying a QAnon flag.
Mrs. Byrd asserted on Facebook contemporaneously that the Byrds were in the photograph, but that post is no longer visible.
19 comments
TJC
May 22, 2022 at 10:10 am
DeSantis thinks he can play with the crazies and keep them under control, but Trump thought the same thing when he dug up the unknown DeSantis and plopped him into the governor’s mansion. Now Trump has a problem with DeSantis: can’t control him anymore. Wonder how long it takes before DeSantis loses control of Esther Byrd.
Herb Fouraker
May 23, 2022 at 6:35 pm
Hey TJC, how is it possible to type when your head is so far up your ass?Just wondering.
Ashli no babbit
May 23, 2022 at 7:24 pm
The cop won’t do it I’m whi-“gunshot
Tom Palmer
May 22, 2022 at 10:35 am
It’s gratifying that Byrd was so willing to confirm that he’s a wingnut and has support for his crazy ideas at home
The reason the Justice Department went after the Capitol vandals, rioters and cop killers and not BLM and Antifa is because the former violated federal laws the latter violated state and local laws. And btw, a bunch of those folks were arrested.
.
PeterH
May 22, 2022 at 11:04 am
Cord Byrd is one of DeSantis’s “only the best people!”
LOL
Sally Johnson
May 22, 2022 at 12:38 pm
To clarify the situation:
Cord Byrd is a public servant who is supposed to be concerned about maintaining public trust in his willingness and ability to fulfill his duties responsibly.
But when confronted over public messages from his wife in which she encourages civil wars and expresses untamed, seething hatred of all Democrats, instead of asking his wife to apologize, and vowing that her views will not contaminate his job performance, he attacks the people who brought his wife’s insane public messaging to his attention.
I do not trust Cord Boyd at all.
A sane governor would demand his resignation.
Eric
May 22, 2022 at 4:02 pm
Everyone knows he was installed to make sure republican domination of the state.
Frankie M.
May 22, 2022 at 6:54 pm
Well thank God that’s cleared up. Move it along folks. Nothing to see here.
Michael D.
May 22, 2022 at 9:47 pm
Cord is a political schill for Nazi Ron and his wife is an insane racist. And Ron knows this is exactly the types that will appeal to his ignorant red neck supporters. We are in dangerous times. Just look at 1930’s Germany.
Republican
May 23, 2022 at 3:21 am
Interesting that they have both taken oaths to defend both the state and fed constitution to be in the positions they have been appointed to and yet both support felony murder as 6 people lay dead beside the irrelevant burning of a building.
Ron Sherrin
May 23, 2022 at 2:49 pm
Thank you Florida for giving me 1 more reason, where none was needed to not visit your state again. The whole MAGA G.O.P. is racist, and Quazy. Vote Republican, end Democracy. Any questions?
Mrs. Lovely
May 23, 2022 at 3:27 pm
A peaceful riot that caused injuries or death to innocent citizens.
Michael D.
May 24, 2022 at 4:38 pm
None of that is true, except it was a riot. The only innocent deaths were Capitol Police Officers.
Herb Fouraker
May 23, 2022 at 6:32 pm
Hey AG, I always sometimes read your pieces even though I know you are totally full of shit and everything you write is going to have a far right slant. I never enjoyed any of the writing you did for the Folio and always found your writing to be extremally hard to follow and it does not flow well. I notice you have studied creative writing which is appropriate since your analysis is based on facts created in your own mind. Maybe comic book writing would suit you better or some other type of fiction writing. It is clear you are really impressed with yourself even though no one else feels the same. Just like a Judge would recuse himself from a subject where he has a obvious conflict, you should declare you are a fucking left wing nut. I am sure you do not have the balls to publish my comments.
G.Morgan
May 25, 2022 at 12:56 am
Can we be friends? Hahaha!
Spot on!
Charlie Adams
May 23, 2022 at 6:46 pm
Well, ain’t he just so proud of his wife for turning traitor and flushing her military service down the toilet? Bring on your “civil war”, you treasonous Nazi-loving TRASH. We’re waiting on you. You’ll be dealt with the same way you’ve been threatening everyone else: NO quarter, NO mercy, and NO PRISONERS. Just remember when TSHTF, YOU were the ones who made the rules.
Gonna be fun
May 23, 2022 at 7:26 pm
I could chase down these 50 year old trump voters jogging
Shelia Brooks
May 24, 2022 at 4:23 pm
All of you are obviously DeSantis/Trump haters . She has a right to a different opinion and I totally agree with what she said… not what you all translated what you think she said.
Michael D.
May 24, 2022 at 4:40 pm
You can have your own opinion, but you can’t have your own facts. If you agree with her, you are also a crazy Qanon supporter and racist. What she said is on record.
Comments are closed.