Tweet Share Share Comment This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.
“My first grader, my fifth grader, and my preschooler … they are all Noles and they are big-time fans and they do the tomahawk chop and they were not happy.” —Ron DeSantis, Tuesday
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To catch you up if you’re a reader of political news who doesn’t follow sports: On Sunday, the committee that selects four teams to compete in a playoff for college football’s national championship—the aptly named College Football Playoff—offended many football followers by awarding a berth to the University of Alabama, which lost a game earlier this year, instead of an undefeated Florida State University team that just won its Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
According to the committee’s spokesman, Alabama was chosen over FSU despite not having won as many games because FSU’s star quarterback recently broke his leg and has been replaced by backups who have played poorly. Alabama, the reasoning goes, seems as if it will have a better chance to win going forward than a limited Florida State team does.
This explanation has angered Florida State, its supporters, and many neutral observers because it prioritizes the subjective speculation of an essentially random group of people over actual results. It also arguably overestimates Alabama’s chances because its program has won national championships in the recent past and competes in the powerful, wealthy Southeastern Conference. Essentially, the choice makes the upcoming playoff seem like a staged-for-TV exhibition between brands rather than a contest between teams that earned their way in on the gridiron.
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Read More On Monday, Florida Sen. Rick Scott sent a letter to the selection committee denouncing the decision and demanding a variety of records and documents related to its deliberations. On Tuesday, Florida governor and struggling presidential candidate Ron DeSantis stuck his nose into the situation as well, telling reporters at a news conference that he is asking for $1 million from the Legislature “to let Florida State sue the CFP committee” even though, in ESPN’s words, “the championship will be decided months before a budget is approved.”
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DeSantis elaborated: “My first-grader, my fifth-grader and my preschooler … they are all Noles and they are big-time fans and they do the tomahawk chop and they were not happy,” he said. “We are going to set aside $1 million and let the chips fall where they may.”
This quote, and endeavor, encompasses the whole DeSantis experience:
It weaponizes the government against a private sector entity in a way that signals that DeSantis is a “fighter,”
It probably won’t work,
It makes labored reference to his children, likely because his advisers believe that this helps him seem more relatable to voters, and
It projects anti-“woke” political incorrectness (re the tomahawk chop) with an effortfulness that, in the end, serves only to remind the reader/viewer of Donald Trump’s much more natural, authentic crudeness and racism.
In fact, Trump beat DeSantis to the issue despite his nominal lack of a role in Florida government, posting a Truth Social message Monday morning that attacked the committee for treating FSU “very badly” and blaming DeSantis for failing to lobby more effectively on the team’s behalf. (LOL.) The College Football Playoff semifinals are Jan. 1, two weeks before the Iowa caucus.
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Ron DeSantis’ Response to the Florida State Football Controversy Captures His Entire Off-Putting Essence
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07.12.2023
Tweet Share Share Comment This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.
“My first grader, my fifth grader, and my preschooler … they are all Noles and they are big-time fans and they do the tomahawk chop and they were not happy.” —Ron DeSantis, Tuesday
Popular in News & Politics
How the Supreme Court’s Conservatives Can Solve Their Guns Dilemma Without Losing Face Sam Alito’s Lonely Fight to Defend His Friend’s Harebrained Anti-Tax Scheme Trump’s Attempt to Delay His Jan. 6 Trial Receives a Double Blow Clarence Thomas’ Benefactors Finally Face the Music To catch you up if you’re a reader of political news who doesn’t follow sports: On Sunday, the committee that selects four teams to compete in a playoff for college football’s national championship—the aptly named College Football Playoff—offended........
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