At an international press event for his book tour, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) went viral. Just not in the way he wanted. Now, the Ron DeSantis Shaking GIF is a thing.
For once, DeSantis didn’t come across as scripted, which is a common criticism of the governor. Unfortunately for him, when a reporter asked him a question, he seemed at best rattled and at worst manic.
Now the clip has become a popular GIF online.
In Japan, a reporter asked for his thoughts about polls showing him significantly trailing former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical matchup for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“I’m not a candidate, so we’ll see if and when that changes,” DeSantis replied.
The answer was a classic political dodge. If no one had been recording, it probably wouldn’t have attracted much attention, if any.
A clip shared by CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins went viral. As of this writing, her version is closing in on 8 million views on Twitter.
People have had a blast making fun of DeSantis.
One person joked that he looked like “one of those animatronic dolls from Disney World’s future ride.”
“He’s a walking meme,” another said.
Still another said he “bobbled-headed himself.” Many others suggested the way he shook his head made him look like the novelty toy.
Many people wondered if the clip was doctored. It wasn’t.
Now the inevitable has happened. DeSantis is a GIF.
People love it.
“Ha ha ha! Ron created his own self-damaging meme,” wrote one.
DeSantis may take some comfort in the fact that the GIF is tagged “happy” and “excited,” rather charitable descriptions of the clip.
Florida’s governor has bigger problems than being a GIF, though.
On Wednesday, Disney announced that it is suing him for using the government to retaliate against it. DeSantis has been trying to seize control of its Florida theme park since it publicly opposed his signatire “Don’t Say Gay” law and suspended political donations in the state.
