Ron DeSantis branded a 'fascist' after Trump supporters are barred from book signing
Tensions are boiling over within the Republican party after Trump supporters were told to leave a book store Ron DeSantis was speaking at.
Donald Trump supporters told to leave at Ron DeSantis event
Trump supporters were barred from entering a book store where Ron DeSantis was speaking at to promote his new book ‘The Courage to Be Free’, in which offers a “blueprint for America's revival”. The latest skirmish comes after Donald Trump has repeatedly bashed the man he endorsed in 2018, and some of his supporters have followed suit.
Now, outside a Books-a-Million in Leesburg, Florida, a group of Trump supporters were asked to leave.
“They told me to say anybody wearing Trump has to go right now,” a uniformed officer said in video posted online by far-right activist Laura Loomer.
“DeSantis people are in there telling me to come out to tell you guys not to be here while he’s here,” the security guard said.
The failed congressional candidate and conspiracy theorist fired back: “Governor DeSantis, he always talks about how he’s in favour of free speech.
“So do we have a first amendment right to be here, to rally in support of President Trump?”
“Right you do,” said the guard. “But not now.”
Loomer asked if “DeSantis’s people told you that we have to leave”, to which the guard said: “Yes.”
In an other clip, the guard tells the crowd he is a Trump supporter himself but says they are “acting like the far left”.
Others on both sides of the political divide chimed in, with Trump critic and entrepreneur Brian Krassenstein calling DeSantis a “fascist”.
“DeSantis hasn't even announced he's running and the election isn't for another 20 months and this stuff is already happening,” he said.
“The GOP is going to split like a banana split and Democrats will gobble it up.
“Of course a Fascist would suppress people's right to wear a name on their shirt.”
READ MORE: TikTok star arrested for domestic violence after injuring daughter
Attorney Ron Filipkowski, formerly a Republican and federal prosecutor, also said on Twitter: “Trump supporters show up outside Leesburg Mall today to troll Desantis’s book signing.
“Officer comes out and said he was told that anyone with a Trump sign had to leave. Desantis’s fascist tactics, meet Trump supporters!”
Leesburg Police Department Captain Joseph Iozzi told The Daily Beast the pro-Trump activists never officially trespassed.
“When we got there, the people were compliant and ultimately moved to the public area surrounding the mall,” Iozzi said.
“There were no official trespass warnings issued.”
It comes as relations between Trump and DeSantis continue to deteriorate, with the former President claiming the Governor will send seniors to an early grave if elected to the White House.
“Great Poll numbers are springing forth for your favourite President, me, against Ron DeSanctus (& Biden)”, Trump gloated on Truth Social.
“I guess people are finding out that he wanted to cut Social Security & raise the minimum age to at least 70, at least four times. Likewise with Medicare, wanted big cuts.
“He is a wheelchair over the cliff kind of guy, just like his hero, failed politician Paul Ryan, the FoxNews ratings destroyer who led Mitt Romney’s Presidential Campaign down the tubes.
“Globalist’s all! We want America first!!!”