Ron DeSantis raps Chicago for George Washington disrespect: ‘Leftism run amok’

Honoroed and revered: George Wahington's birthday brings accolades and history lessons.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ongoing war of words with Chicago and its Democratic leadership continues, as he weighs in on a now-reversed decision to remove a statue of George Washington.

“Leftism run amok. George Washington is our greatest American,” DeSantis posted to X.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson floated removing the tribute to the first President before rescinding his decision, a fact lost on the Not the Bee website that urged readers to recall “when it was a cOnSpIrAcY ThEoRy to say that the liberals would eventually come after statues of the Founding Fathers? We were saying it back in the early Trump years when the libs were tearing down Confederate statues.”

Whether DeSantis is aware that the Mayor changed his mind is unknown, but the balance of his post suggests not.

“The revolution would not (have) been won, the republic would not have been founded, and the Constitution would not have been created without Washington. It was his character — defined by service above self and a willingness to refuse power — that held it all together. We should be building more statues of Washington, not tearing them down,” the Governor wrote.

Chicago critiques and monument defenses have been a big part of DeSantis’ rhetorical arsenal in recent years.

“You have a city going down the tubes and they elect somebody (Johnson) that’s going to put it down the tubes even faster. I can tell you this, Naples property values are going to be going up in the state of Florida,” the Florida Governor told the New Hampshire Republican Party in 2023, when he was beginning his campaign for President.

He made similar points in speaking to businessmen in Japan.

“Chicago used to be one of the greatest cities in America. It’s had huge problems and there’s really a major need to go a different direction, and they elect someone that’s going to keep going in the same bad direction at an accelerated pace,” DeSantis lamented.

He has also suggested that monument removal is a slippery slope.

The Governor said in February that calls for the removal of “some Civil War general or whatever” have evolved into other forms of historical erasure, such as “taking down Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt and (Abraham) Lincoln, taking Washington’s name off schools.”