Ron DeSantis 'thinks he has dominion over this Earth,' says MSNBC columnist
MSNBC columnist Anthea Butler said that a campaign ad by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with his education policies, proved he was a White Christian nationalist.
An MSNBC panel slammed a Ron DeSantis campaign ad, along with his efforts to protect parental rights in schools, as evidence of his "White Christian Nationalist" beliefs.
"He thinks that he has dominion over this Earth and God has given it to him," MSNBC columnist Anthea Butler opined on the network Sunday.
The liberal panel was discussing the Florida governor's "God made a fighter" ad, which is a spinoff of a famous Super Bowl commercial and 1978 speech by radio broadcaster Paul Harvey titled "God made a farmer."
In the black-and-white ad, a deep-voiced narrator says, "And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a protector.' So God made a fighter. God said, ‘I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, kiss his family goodbye, travel thousands of miles for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs, their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness,’ so God made a fighter."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a victory speech after defeating Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist during his election night watch party at the Tampa Convention Center on November 8, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. ((Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images))
‘CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM’ MOVEMENT WILL ‘BREAK’ AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, NEW YORK TIMES GUEST ESSAY WARNS
The likeness of the two ads wasn't mentioned by host Alicia Menendez or her two guests.
Reflecting on most voters turning away from MAGA candidates in high profile congressional races this election, Menendez brought up the DeSantis ad to her guests as proof that there was still a "rising threat of Christian nationalism."
Butler, who's also a professor of religious studies and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania, agreed that DeSantis "thinks that he has dominion over this Earth and God has given it to him."
She also railed against the Republican's Parental Rights in Education Bill as stemming from these alleged beliefs.
"And so when you see this, when he’s against trans kids, and the Don't Say Gay bill, and all of this, this is part and parcel of what he sees his Christian nationalism to be. So when I saw that commercial, I just laughed because I was like, this is exactly who he thinks he is," she said.
A MSNBC panel criticized a Ron DeSantis campaign ad as evidence of his white Christian nationalist beliefs.
MSNBC'S MATTHEW DOWD: ‘WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM’ ENGULFED REPUBLICAN PARTY POLITICS AND RELIGION
Butler went on to argue that those "who believe in Christian nationalism like Ron DeSantis or others, they believe that God has given them dominion. And that dominion means they have dominion over everybody who doesn't believe in God, who doesn’t think like they do, and that God created this nation for them, and specifically for White men."
The columnist added this belief was "also about race."
Fellow guest Rev. Serene Jones doubled down on the idea the Republican was a "White supremacist."
"It is White Protestants who fall into this category of Evangelical who are following Ron DeSantis, and it is White supremacist. It has a long history in the United States of creating just, as Anthea was saying a view of what a leader is. And it's a White person. Underneath, it seeping into it is a White man and it is always implicitly, if not bursting through the surface, explicitly racist," she stated.
Many liberal media figures have pushed the notion there is a "White Christian nationalism" movement underway in the GOP, particularly after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox