Ron DeSantis floats ‘insurrection’ meme when talking illegal immigration

Insurrection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

That’s one takeaway from Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ comments on Thursday’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

Discussing footage of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a cannabis farm worked by migrants, DeSantis was blunt about the resistance to federal will.

“Well, if kind of the roles were reversed, the left would be saying it’s an insurrection, right? I mean, like, you have federal law enforcement that have clear authority to enforce clear federal law. And if you are illegally employed in this country, that is a violation of federal law. And so when you have folks, particularly in California, who are trying to interpose themselves in between the lawful process that this country has, you know, that’s a big, big problem,” DeSantis said.

The Governor has playfully riffed about what he perceives to be an overreaction to the Jan. 6, 2021, protests that interfered with the certification of the 2020 presidential election, including describing protests at the Florida Capitol as insurrectionist back in 2023.

During Thursday’s cable hit, he added that “in California, they’ve really developed a sense of entitlement to simply disregard federal laws they don’t like, particularly with regard to immigration.”

“And this has been happening for many, many years. And so I think the situation has escalated, I think that clearly they’re in the wrong, but this is likely not going to stop in California anytime soon, because I think this has just been embedded in the psyche there that somehow they can disregard laws they don’t want to follow.”

DeSantis also discussed this weekend’s tour of “Alligator Alcatraz” for federal and state legislators during the segment, quipping that while the facility exceeds standards for prisons, it’s not the “Four Seasons.”

He also offered a warning to those who may attempt to use the occasion to express their opinions about the groundbreaking pre-deportation internment camp, saying his invitation would not “provide them with a platform to virtue signal and to have some politicized photo op.”