HOAX: DeSantis tells Biden “Go F*** Yourself”
Introduction
Social media was buzzing about rumors of the Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, telling President Joe Biden to “go f*** yourself,” early in February 2021. The article discussed was originally found on the website Real Raw News, among many other biased articles. The article includes a picture of Governor DeSantis and includes a dialogue between the President and the Governor concerning travel restrictions to and from the state of Florida. When reading the headline of the article, “Gov. DeSantis Tells Biden: “Go F*** Yourself,” the reader is automatically concerned as this is a severely unprofessional thing to say to the President of the United States (Baxter). Digging deeper into the article, there are several words used to hint at a biased opinion and that this article may not be something to believe. Further research concludes that this article was in fact purely fake.
Research Results
Visiting Snopes.com quickly confirmed that this article about Governor DeSantis telling President Biden to go f*** himself was a fake story written for an audience that absolutely hates the President (Palma). Snopes presented the evidence to prove that article was fake by first explaining that there were no news reports from any credible sources reporting on this bizarre topic. Snopes also posted a video, originally posted on Twitter by Governor DeSantis, that showed the Governor declaring that he will stand by Florida and fight the travel restrictions with swift action. It was a very professional statement being given, nothing like what the fake article describes. Doing a Google search to find more information only discredits the authenticity of the article posted on Real Raw News.
The claim that Governor DeSantis reacted poorly by telling President Biden to go f*** himself has been falsified with evidence to back up the falsification. The reason for this procured story was to get Floridians angry about President Biden trying to restrict travel to and from Florida. However, in the statement that Governor DeSantis gave in response to Biden’s travel restriction idea, he responds:
I think it would be unconstitutional. I think it would be unwise and it would be unjust, DeSantis said Thursday during a news briefing in Port Charlotte. Any attempt to restrict or lock down Florida would be an attack on our state done particularly for political purposes. We will not back down. If anyone tries to target us, we will respond swiftly.
According to Snopes, the quote was “…fabricated in response to news on Feb. 10, 2021, reported by McClatchy, that the Biden administration was considering travel restrictions within the United States in an effort to mitigate the spread of more contagious mutations of the COVID-19 virus,” (Palma). With no mention of how Governor DeSantis handled the situation, the author of the biased article put words in DeSantis’ mouth and made him look like the hero to the Floridians who opposed President Biden.
Social media is where most people get their news from, but the problem is not all of it is true. Fact checking is extremely important, especially in cases like this one, where a governor being accused of reacting poorly to something the President deems important to the health and safety of Americans. Reading a headline posted on your Facebook page and automatically assuming it is real and then spreading that news on to the rest of your family and friends is unwise unless research has been conducted and multiple news sources have reported the same thing. Do the right thing, check your source before spreading fake news.