Ron DeSantis vents about cheap Chinese toys, says they break within ’48 hours’

DeSantis Law Enforcement
'It's the cheapest stuff imaginable.'

Gov. Ron DeSantis is still down on toys from communist China, recycling previous complaints during a campaign stop in Iowa Saturday.

The 2024 presidential candidate expressed his frustration with toys he’d bought a previous “Christmas” for his three children, including the dubious durability of the playthings, as well as the arduous assembly process.

“These toys made in China, literally, they break within 48 hours. It’s the cheapest stuff imaginable,” DeSantis said Saturday.

“A lot of times they don’t even have the full parts, and I burned a lot of hours putting together dollhouses and all this stuff. The worst feeling is you sink two hours into it and then there’s a part missing and you can’t complete it,” he added. “So a lot of the stuff from China is just cheap stuff that they’re dumping.”

Complaints about Chinese toys have been an occasional refrain for the Governor on the campaign trail and even before.

“This cheap stuff from China, you know, when my wife and I get our kids Christmas presents, and the stuff made in China breaks, it’s like you can’t even last two days after Christmas without the toys breaking. And so, it’s really, really cheap stuff,” DeSantis lamented in Texas this summer.

During remarks in January in Bonita Springs, the Florida Governor warned St. Nick against Chinese toys, the highlight of comments denouncing the “hostile” regime in Beijing.

“And I’m just thinking to myself like, ‘OK, you get it from China because it’s cheaper to pay.’ But if it doesn’t even last a week, then what difference does it make? So a lot of these things we got? Santa Claus may need to not do Chinese toys because let’s just make it here … honestly anywhere, but not China.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


14 comments

  • Tom

    October 14, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    Is there anything he doesn’t have an opinion on? As someone else mentioned, throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if anything sticks. Maybe he should stick to reading ‘the art of the deal’ to his kids – never too early to start brainwashing them.

    • Julia

      October 14, 2023 at 5:11 pm

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  • My Take

    October 14, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    Ĺong ago that was the reputation of Japanese products.
    Before Nikon and Toyota and now many such.

    • TJC

      October 15, 2023 at 12:33 pm

      That’s exactly what I was thinking. And while China does of course make a lot of cheap toys — because there’s a demand for them — they also make a lot of very sophisticated, high quality toys as well. They just cost more. So, perhaps someone needs to tell the Gov, you get what you pay for.

  • WhatNow

    October 14, 2023 at 2:55 pm

    So I’m sure he’ll be giving them good old American made (toy, maybe?) guns to play with.

  • Unwoke and Going Broke In Florida

    October 14, 2023 at 3:23 pm

    Complaining Christians blame others (“the Chinese” in the example here) for anything and never offer an action solution, ie ‘so we’re going to do this…’

    No solutions, just Karening.

    • Barbara K Doty

      October 14, 2023 at 10:54 pm

      Thank You! You get it, so tired of Karening without any solutions at all. Won’t even listen to anyone on anything. Me me me.
      We NEED some new blood all around

  • PeterH

    October 14, 2023 at 3:27 pm

    The whining is deafening!

  • My Take

    October 14, 2023 at 3:55 pm

    Easy solution — Buy them good toys.
    Many American and European items.
    No doubt others too.

  • Ron DeSantis wears Clown Shoes

    October 14, 2023 at 8:06 pm

    Republicans have been spending decades doing everything they can to kneecap unions and keep labor costs as low as they can for their Corporate Overlords. Then they complain about the natural result of these efforts and quality of products that the cheapest overseas labor can produce. What a clown.

  • Sonja Fitch

    October 15, 2023 at 5:06 am

    Desantis IS EXPLOITING ANY Damn thing!
    Get out Desantis!

  • Michael K

    October 15, 2023 at 11:36 am

    Throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

  • Biscuit

    October 15, 2023 at 12:29 pm

    Want to know why he’s so upset about the toys not working? He didn’t buy those toys for his kids.
    Arf.

  • Joe

    October 15, 2023 at 4:11 pm

    Yawn.

Comments are closed.


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