Media Matters: We checked. No record of DeSantis having used "monkey this up" phrase publicly

[highplainsdem]

Media Matters was responding to this tweet from Ali Velshi:

Link to tweet

DeSantis' spox tells me this is something the congressman says “frequently" to express something that was messed up or not done right.

Spox says it “had nothing to do with race or anything like that" but just talking about the situation in Florida.

Media Matters:

Link to tweet

We checked. In fact, there is no record of DeSantis having used the phrase publicly.

Link to tweet

DeSantis did not use the phrase in any available Fox News, Fox Business, or other media appearances he made that appears in Nexis.

Link to tweet

DeSantis also has not used the phrase in interviews with any major national newspapers or major Florida papers (Tampa Bay Times, Orlando Sentinel, or Sun Sentinel).

Link to tweet

Nor has the phrase appeared on DeSantis' personal or campaign Twitter accounts.

Link to tweet

A Google site search of DeSantis’ official U.S. House website also produced no results.

Link to tweet

The only example of DeSantis saying the word “monkey” was during an August 2017 Fox Business appearance where he said Democrats were trying to “throw a monkey wrench” into the Trump administration agenda. This bears no resemblance to the issue at hand today.

Link to tweet

And finally, the DeSantis campaign has not produced evidence that he often says “monkey this up.”

[malaise]

1. I knew this Con wanna be would be caught in less

Than 24 hours.

Damn they lie and lie and lie and lie. One more racist exposed.

Get thee to the greatest page

[Cracklin Charlie]

27. Needle moved really quickly on this gaffe.

Should deliver many votes to Gillum.

Almost instant karma rocks!

[malaise]

28. Wasn't too clever here

What an idiot

[czarjak]

2. Sure thang...

Ronnie!

[spanone]

3. they all lie then lie about their lies....

[madaboutharry]

4. He very much meant to call his opponent a monkey.

Racist Republicans have a habit of referring to African-Americans as primates. The internet was flooded with photoshopped pictures of the Obamas as monkeys and apes. It’s a common theme with racist.

DeSantis said it on purpose. He thought he could get away with it on Fox.

[Blue_true]

5. We Florida democrats have a fight on our hands. I for one am ready for it.

The fact is, there are "economically anxious" whites who won't vote for Gillum if he put 10 pounds of solid gold into their hands. But there are far more folks that will listen to a good policy argument, we need to target the later and defeat the former.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

15. Yes - if I have to listen to that jerk DeSantis for 4 years, I will be turning off my tv a lot.

Can't stand listening to him. My boyfriend also can't and yells "turn him off." I think this guy could possibly backfire on the Repubs because he is such a tool.

Plus, I really am liking Gillum. Very likable.

[BannonsLiver]

6. That he said it on Fox is the clincher

He knew who was watching, what their audience is made up of and how ready it was to receive his dog whistle.

[David__77]

7. Maybe he frequently uses it in reference to black people.

In that sense, his campaigns story could be correct.

[tulipsandroses]

8. I am so not surprised that nothing has been found of him saying that phrase

He knew what he was doing. Typical of this administration.

[hay rick]

9. Time for the obligatory insincere apology from DeSantis...

Maybe "Some of my best friends are monkeys."

[lpbk2713]

24. "If anyone was offended by ... "

The standard rethuglican quasi-apology.

[joet67]

10. They're not looking very hard. I heard it with my own ears on tv just today. nt

[highplainsdem]

14. They're NOT talking about his use of the phrase today. They've checked on his

spokesperson's claim that it's a phrase he uses often.

[joet67]

19. Ok, thank you. That's what I get for assuming. Mea culpa. nt

[Staph]

11. A friend of mine has been trying this evening to convince me

that:

1) it's a common phrase that everyone knows (by linking to a definition of "monkey around" )

2) when corrected, linking to a definition of "monkey up" (according to Webster's Dictionary, it's from the Dictionary of Computing and is a synonym for "kluge up" )

3) when told that DeSantis has no computing background (and I have 40 years in the industry and never heard the term!), claiming that he (my friend) heard the term all the time as a kid. His example was an aunt who was told that if she kept "monkeying with" the stew, she would mess it up.

(I call him my friend. He's actually my former brother-in-law. He's a libertarian who thinks he's a free-thinker.)

[caraher]

12. What is Media Matters doing?

Plain as day. Time magazine has the footage (probably elsewhere too)

[highplainsdem]

13. They're disproving the DeSantis spox claim that he's used the phrase frequently.

They're NOT denying that he said it on Fox, speaking about Gillum.

[caraher]

16. Thanks

I find it so hard to untangle all these Twitter threads. Now it makes some sense. I needed their tweet to say something more like "No record of him saying this publicly before." But I do get that tweets are often not super precisely worded

[highplainsdem]

17. I understand, and I'm sorry it wasn't clearer from the OP.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

18. My parents would frequently say to us "stop monkeying around," when we would be rough housing.

I have found myself saying it a time or two. I should probably watch that.... I don't get the phrase "monkey up," however, it makes no sense.

[Caliman73]

25. Monkeying around is not racist.

That is taken by the way the monkeys and apes play with each other, which is to wrestle and rough house. There is no analog for DiSanto's statement. He either made a very stupid mistake in his words, or he deliberately made a racially loaded comment.

Given his proclivity for Trump style rhetoric and policy, I go with the latter.

[herding cats]

20. "Monkey up" isn't a phase. It's an obvious dog whistle and a stretch even at that metric.

Monkey around would have been a defendable dog whistle, but a dog whistle all the same.

I think he screwed up and took it to a higher, more racist level, and now is stuck. That's what happens when racist play word games. They're not the brightest crayons on the box and it can easily backfire on them.

[Brother Buzz]

21. It's unpossible to put a dog whistle back in the tube

[herding cats]

22. Yep!

That's exactly right!

[Cha]

23. Yeah, LIARS.

[drray23]

26. They think they can behave like mini trumps without consequences

Apparently, only trump can get away with behavior like that. I'm not sure why he does. I do enjoy seeing these trump wannabes go down in flame.

Same for Duncan hunter. Trump is flaunting the emolument clause, likely using the presidency to enrich himself, yet he gets away with it (so far). That does not extend to crooks like Hunter who is going to land in jail.