Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) criticized former President Donald Trump after a Black Lives Matter (BLM) leader endorsed Trump in the 2024 election. The former president announced the support on social media and thanked Rhode Island BLM co-founder Mark Fisher for the nod.
Fisher made the endorsement on Fox News Tuesday, criticizing the “duplicity of the Democrats, the hypocrisy.”
“We’re not stupid. The brothers are not stupid. We understand when someone’s for us and when someone is not, and it’s obvious that the Democratic Party is not for us,” he said on Fox & Friends.
He said that the policies at stake “actually strike at the heart of the Black family and the nuclear family.”
Fisher argued that the Democratic Party didn’t “value” the Black vote in a separate interview in November, accusing Democrats of being a “racist party.”
NEW: Black Lives Matter Rhode Island co-founder Mark Fisher is supporting Donald Trump for the 2024 election because Democrats are “not for us.”
Didn't see that one coming 🔥🔥
“We’re not stupid. The brothers are not stupid. We understand when someone's for us and when someone… pic.twitter.com/6IBso13lQk
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 28, 2023
“Donald Trump is just the opposite. He’s going to tell you how it is. He’s going to give it to you straight,” he said. “Trump has done more for the Black community than any president I can think of in my lifetime.”
Trump praised the endorsement on Truth Social, stating that Fisher was a “great guy.” The former president added that he was “very honored to have his and BLM’s support.” Trump stated that he had done “more for Black people than any other President (Lincoln?).”
DeSantis criticized the endorsement, writing that Trump’s praise made “perfect sense.”
“When BLM was burning down cities and assaulting police officers in cities across this country, Trump did nothing but sit in the White House tweeting ‘LAW & ORDER!” DeSantis wrote on social media.
The candidate said that his state’s response to the 2020 George Floyd riots was done “differently in Florida,” including calling up the National Guard.
“We were not going to let our cities burn. As President, I will not sit idly by and watch rioters torch American cities,” DeSantis wrote.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called DeSantis’ criticism that of a “desperate eunuch.”