New racial controversy

New racial controversy batters DeSantis

This is the fifth race-related issue concerning the Florida candidate, his gubernatorial campaign or one of its supporters.

By MARC CAPUTO

A Republican activist who donated more than $20,000 to Ron DeSantis and lined up a speech for him at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club recently called President Barack Obama a “F---- MUSLIM N----” on Twitter, in addition to making other inflammatory remarks.

Steven M. Alembik told POLITICO on Wednesday he wrote the Obama tweet in anger, that he’s “absolutely not” a racist and that he understood that DeSantis’ campaign for governor would need to distance itself from the comments — which the campaign promptly did.

“We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: we adamantly denounce this sort of disgusting rhetoric,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Stephen Lawson said in a written statement.

The controversy comes after DeSantis sent his campaign into a tailspin the day after the Aug. 28 primary by using the awkward phrase “monkey this up” in describing how the economy could falter under the plans of his opponent, Andrew Gillum, the Florida Democratic Party’s first African-American nominee for governor.

That comment drew harsh criticism for its racist dog-whistle connotations — Gillum called it a bullhorn — with the state Democratic Party chairwoman calling the remark "disgusting."

DeSantis denied he had any racial intent in using the phrase. But the pattern of racial controversies, including the Alembik remarks, highlights a problem that is getting harder to overlook in this racially diverse swing state: Despite DeSantis’ denunciations of bigotry, this is the fifth race-related issue concerning the candidate, the campaign or one of its supporters to erupt since the start of the general election campaign.

Alembik, a self-employed data and email services provider in Boca Raton who has had some Republican campaign clients, said it was unfair to call DeSantis a racist. Alembik, who has contributed $22,920 over the years to DeSantis, said there is a double standard when it comes to using the N-word.

“So somebody like Chris Rock can get up onstage and use the word and there’s no problem? But some white guy says it and he’s a racist? Really?” the 67-year-old Alembik said, adding that what’s considered racially charged language now wasn’t racist when he was a kid. “I grew up in New York in the ’50s. We were the kikes. They were the n------. They were the goyim. And those were the spics.”

On Sept. 8, Alembik acknowledges, he used the N-word in anger in responding to a tweet from the Republican National Committee that criticized Obama for saying that “over the past few decades, the politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party.”

“Without a hint of irony, Obama smears President Trump’s 63 million Republican voters as divisive & resentful,” the RNC wrote, prompting Alembik to quote the tweet and write in all capital letters: “FUCK THE MUSLIM NIGER-.”

Initially, Alembik said he didn’t believe he wrote that but then, after reviewing the tweet, said “when I write anything inflammatory, it’s because I’m seriously pissed off. I’m an emotional human being. Do I have a filter on what I say? In public, yes. Would I use that word in public? No. This is Twitter.”

Alembik deleted the tweet after speaking with POLITICO.

Weeks before, as DeSantis was under fire for his “monkey this up” comment, his defenders said the phrase is commonly used (it isn’t) and alleged that if critics had their way, any phrase with the term "monkey" in it would be banned.

One Twitter user listed a number of phrases — such as “monkey wrench” — and asked, “Are there any other ‘monkey terms’ that are off limits for the race-baiting Snowflakes?” In response, Alembik wrote, “I banged a Monkey your honor & I am so so sorry.”

Asked about the tweet, Alembik said he was riffing off of a comedic act from Lewis Black and that there was no racial intent.

Alembik has also in the past pointed out that more Jews have won the Nobel Prize than Muslims. When asked if the comments might appear to some to be anti-Muslim, he said, “Of course they would. But it’s not meant to be. These are just the statistics and the facts. ... I’m not anti-Muslim. I’m anti-people-trying-to-kill-me.”

Alembik’s criticisms of Islam and support for Israel found a home at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in February where he organized a gala for a conservative group called “Truth About Israel.” Speaking at the event: DeSantis and fellow Florida Republican Congressman Brian Mast, to whom Alembik has contributed $6,900 since 2017.

Originally, the gala was supposed to be held at a nearby resort. But Alembik switched to Mar-a-Lago amid a wave of event cancellations there in August 2017 after the president said there were “very fine people” on both sides at the protests in Charlottesville, Va., that included violent white supremacists, one of whom killed a woman.

“I’d like to come here and show our support for the president of the United States,” Alembik, speaking at the gala, said he told the event booker at Mar-a-Lago.

Alembik said he was able to get DeSantis to attend the event because they’ve known each other for years. “I told him the next time I see him I’m going to charge him because I’ve got more pictures with him than I have of my kids,” Alembik joked.

The campaign sought to distance itself Wednesday from Alembik by noting that, on June 11, the Friends of Ron DeSantis political committee returned $11,000 Alembik had contributed earlier in the year in two installments. But $2,000 more in additional contributions from Alembik made at the start of the year were not returned.

Alembik said he had asked for the money back because his accountant told him he issued the contributions from the wrong bank account. The balance of Alembik’s contributions to DeSantis, $11,920, have been made to DeSantis’ congressional campaigns since 2015, his gubernatorial campaign and two state political committees that have supported him.

Gov. Rick Scott’s Senate campaign, which had received $1,000 from Alembik, also distanced itself from him in reaction to news of Alembik’s statements.

“We will be donating his contribution to Shriners Hospital. These comments are disgusting. As the governor has said, there is no room for any racial politics here in Florida. No attempts to divide people by race or ethnicity will be tolerated,” Scott’s Senate campaign told POLITICO.

Earlier Wednesday, in response to general questions about the racial controversies, DeSantis told reporters in Orlando that “we’re not playing this game of any single person who says something on social media or does this or that, I can’t do that. I’m responsible for what I post and I’m happy to be that. I’m responsible for what I run on, my commercials, and I’m happy for, I’m responsible for anyone who is officially employed on the campaign. But I’m not going to go down these rabbit holes and say this person did this, that person did that, at some time on social media or everything. You know, that’s a rabbit hole.”

But Zach Hudson, spokesman for the liberal research group American Bridge, which unearthed Alembik’s tweets, said “there seems to be no end to the long line of white supremacists Ron DeSantis associates with, the latest being a donor who used the ‘N-word’ to describe President Obama,” Hudson said. “These aren't isolated incidents, these represent a pattern for DeSantis, and that is what's most disturbing about these connections.”

Among the instances that have unfolded every week since the primary:

On Friday, The Miami Herald reported that DeSantis’ campaign blocked from co-chairing a fundraiser for his campaign a former Miami state lawmaker who left office after using racial slurs and threatening a colleague. "Ralph Arza’s name was removed because of hurtful and disgusting racial slurs that he has used in the past. He is not affiliated with our campaign," the DeSantis campaign said in a written statement.

• On Sept. 9, The Washington Post, building upon a Miami New Times story from earlier in the campaign, reported DeSantis “spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe their freedom to white people and that the country’s ‘only serious race war’ is against whites.“ DeSantis disavowed the comments about slavery but has refused to take other questions about the event held by the Freedom Center, for which Alembik’s company, SMA Communications, has done work.
• On Sept. 4, POLITICO reported that DeSantis called on an Orlando-area GOP official to resign her position after she posted what he called a “disgusting” racially-charged Facebook meme falsely claiming that Gillum wants blacks to be “paid back” because of slavery. Scott also denounced the comments.
• On Aug. 30, the Miami New Times reported that DeSantis was “outed” as an administrator of a tea party Facebook group in which commentators repeatedly make racist and racially charged posts. DeSantis said he was unaware he was an administrator and withdrew from the group.
• In speaking to reporters in Orlando, DeSantis urged the press to pay attention to his platform concerning education and the environment.

“We got to focus on the issues here, so please judge our campaign on our ideas, on our agenda, on what we are saying, and I’m happy to defend that,” DeSantis said, “and I thank you guys for coming out. Thank you.”