在他2018年首次竞选佛罗里达州州长期间，当时的国会议员罗恩·德桑蒂斯正在公开处理困扰他竞选的一系列种族问题。
在一次事件中，德桑蒂斯因在选举前发表的公开评论而受到抨击，他在评论中敦促佛罗里达州选民不要“试图接受社会主义议程，把事情搞砸”——这招致了他的非洲裔美国对手、民主党人安德鲁·吉勒姆的强烈指责。
德桑蒂斯当时进行了反驳，称该评论“与种族无关”。
现在，美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)独家获得的德桑蒂斯团队在2018年竞选州长期间模拟辩论会议的视频片段显示，他和他的顾问坦率地讨论了如何应对“猴子”评论的反弹——德桑蒂斯将这个问题比作“迷你版的卡瓦诺”，显然是指引发的轩然大波性侵犯指控针对当时的最高法院大法官提名人布雷特·卡瓦诺(Brett Kavanaugh)，卡瓦诺强烈否认。
根据美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)获得的近两个半小时的私人2018年辩论准备镜头，德桑蒂斯在讨论中说:“如果我在这方面表现出任何弱点，我认为我会失去我的基础。”。“我认为我看起来不像一个领导者，所以我认为我必须全力以赴，承认这是错误的。”
德桑蒂斯在视频中说，他想在这个问题上强硬起来，并“对那些认为“政治正确已经走得太远的人说话”。
另一方面，他当时的顾问众议员马特·盖兹继续支持前总统唐纳德·特朗普的第三次问鼎白宫——告诉德桑蒂斯，他在这个问题上“太过火”了。
2023年5月6日，佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯在威斯康星州罗斯柴尔德的一次活动中发表讲话。
Scott Olson/Getty Images，文件
“值得热!”德桑蒂斯感叹道。“我是说，对不起!”
“卡瓦诺表明，当你说‘f-this’时，”德桑蒂斯在谈到对当时被提名人的指控时说。我们做了这么糟糕的工作，从一开始就推掉了所有这些愚蠢的故事。他将快速背出一份清单。"
在私下里，德桑蒂斯说，如果他是指种族主义的评论，他会道歉。
“没有人认为这是你的意思，”一名顾问在镜头外告诉德桑蒂斯，德桑蒂斯回应道，“对，这是一件事。我是说，如果我真的想-我会道歉的，我是说，因为那是不对的。我是说，我会像个男人。”
最新获得的视频来自美国广播公司新闻最近的报道，德桑蒂斯的团队已经悄悄开始辩论准备对于即将到来的共和党初选，包括回顾过去的辩论表现，熟悉准备工作的消息人士说。消息人士称，尽管之前有报道，德桑蒂斯现在可能不会宣布成立探索委员会，而是预计在下个月发起一场全面的运动。
在2018年的辩论准备会议期间，德桑蒂斯似乎也淡化了右翼作家大卫·霍洛维茨(David Horowitz)被批评为种族主义者的评论，他主持了德桑蒂斯曾在其上发言的一些会议。“大卫做了这么伟大的工作....德桑蒂斯在2015年谈到霍罗威茨时说，“我一直非常崇拜一个直截了当、告诉美国人民真相、坚持正义的组织，”霍罗威茨曾批评美国黑人对白人在结束奴隶制方面的“牺牲”没有感到“感激”。
在2018年10月针对吉勒姆的一场公开辩论中，德桑蒂斯回避了这个问题，他在回答主持人关于这个话题的问题时说:“我怎么可能知道别人的每一句话?”
但私下里，根据美国广播公司新闻获得的辩论准备会议的录音，德桑蒂斯淡化了霍洛维茨的评论，称这是“愚蠢的”，但不是种族主义。
“他们说的很多东西甚至不是种族主义。就像大卫·霍洛维茨说的，“哦，黑人应该感谢白人结束了奴隶制。”这是一个愚蠢的评论，但这不是一回事，”德桑蒂斯说。
盖兹打断了他，明确地说:“你不会赢得这场争论”。
“我不想谈这个，”德桑蒂斯表示同意。"我知道我不会-我赢不了，我知道。"
“关键是，他们拿走了与我无关的东西，但他们也让事情变得比实际情况更糟，然后试图描绘，你知道，描绘一个故事。这是胡说八道，”德桑蒂斯说，指的是他当时面临的批评，因为他的“胡闹”评论，他与霍洛维茨的联系，以及关于他担任一个种族主义脸书团体管理员的报道。对此他予以否认。
“所有这些东西，我的意思是只是一堆废话，我的意思是它真的是，”德桑蒂斯在磁带上说。
在一次准备会议期间，州长的妻子凯西试图为州长的“猴子起来”评论提供一个解释:德桑蒂斯只说了“猴子”，因为他在晚上给他们的孩子读他们女儿最喜欢的书，“五只小猴子在床上跳”。
当凯西问房间里的人这个解释是否“重要”时，盖兹很快回答说，“没人在乎。”
“没人管?”镜头外的凯西回答道。
“一点也不，”盖兹说。
支持德桑蒂斯的超级政治行动委员会(Super PAC)的沟通主任艾琳·佩兰(Erin Perrine)在给美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的一份声明中说:“痛苦的前工作人员泄露的五年前的材料实际上表明，州长驳回了废话，并专注于关于他的目标和记录的事实。”。“德桑蒂斯州长从不向偏见媒体让步，这是美国人首先支持他的一个重要原因——因为他们也厌倦了自由媒体。"
In 2018 debate prep, recordings show DeSantis feared becoming 'mini version of Kavanaugh' over racial issues
During his first run for governor of Florida in 2018, then-CongressmanRon DeSantiswas publicly grappling with a number of issues regarding race that had plagued his campaign.
In one incident, DeSantis came under fire for a public comment he made ahead of the election in which he urged Florida voters not to "monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda"-- which drew a strong rebuke from his African American opponent, Democratic Andrew Gillum.
DeSantis pushed back at the time, saying the comment had "zero to do with race."
Now, video footage exclusively obtained by ABC News of the DeSantis team's mock debate sessions during that 2018 run for governor show him and his advisers candidly discussing how to handle their response to the "monkey" comment backlash -- with DeSantis comparing the issue to a "a mini version of Kavanaugh," an apparent reference to the firestorm that arose oversexual assault allegationsleveled against then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, which Kavanaugh strongly denied.
"If I show any weakness on that, I think I lose my base," DeSantis said during the discussions, according to the nearly two and a half hours of private 2018 debate prep footage obtained by ABC News. "I think that I appear to be less than a leader, and so I just think I've got to come at it full throttle and say that's wrong."
He wanted to come at the issue hard and "speak to those people" who felt "political correctness has gone too far," DeSantis said in the video.
At another point, his then-adviser Rep. Matt Gaetz -- who has gone on to support former PresidentDonald Trump'sthird bid for the White House -- told DeSantis he was coming in "too hot" on the issue.
"It deserves to be hot!" DeSantis exclaimed. "I mean, I'm sorry!"
"Kavanaugh showed that when you say 'f--- this," DeSantis said regarding the accusations against the then-nominee. "We did such a horrible job of pushing back on all these stupid stories from the beginning. He's going to rattle off a list."
And behind closed doors, DeSantis said that if he had meant the racist comment, he would have apologized.
"Nobody thinks that's what you meant," an adviser off camera told DeSantis, who responded, "Right, that's a thing. I mean, if I honestly meant -- I would have apologized, I mean, because it would have been wrong. I mean, I'll man up."
The newly obtained videos come amid ABC News' recent reporting that DeSantis' team has alreadyquietly begun debate prepfor the upcoming GOP primary, including reviewing past debate performances, sources familiar with the preparations have said. DeSantis is now likely to skip announcing an exploratory committee, despite previous reports, and instead is expected to launch a full campaign next month, sources said.
During the 2018 debate prep sessions, DeSantis also appeared to downplay a comment criticized as racist made by a right-wing author David Horowitz, who had hosted a number of conferences that DeSantis had spoken at. "David has done such great work .... and I've been a big admirer of an organization that shoots straight, tells the American people the truth and is standing up for the right thing," DeSantis said in 2015 of Horowitz, who among other things had criticized Black Americans for not feeling "gratitude" toward whites for their "sacrifices" in ending slavery.
At one of the public debates against Gillum in October 2018, DeSantis sidestepped the issue, responding to a moderator's question on the topic by saying, "How the hell am I supposed to know every single statement someone makes?"
But privately, according to the recordings of the debate prep sessions obtained by ABC News, DeSantis downplayed the comment made by Horowitz, saying it was "stupid" but not racist.
"A lot of the stuff they're saying isn't even racist. Like, David Horowitz said that, 'Oh, Black people should thank white people for ending slavery.' That's a stupid comment, but that's not the same thing," DeSantis said.
Gaetz cut him off, saying clearly: "You will not win" that argument.
"I'm not gonna get into that," DeSantis said in agreement. "I know I'm not gonna -- I can't win that, I know."
"The point is, is that they're taking things that have nothing to do with me, but they're also making it way worse than they even actually were, and then trying to paint, you know, paint a narrative. And it's bull----" DeSantis said, referring to criticism he was facing at the time over his "monkey it up" comment, his association with Horowitz, and reports that he served as an admin for a racist Facebook group,which he denied.
"All this stuff, I mean is just a bunch of crap, I mean it really is," DeSantis said on the tape.
During one of the prep sessions, the governor's wife, Casey, attempted to provide an explanation for the governor's "monkey it up" comment: that DeSantis had only said "monkey" because he had been reading their daughter's favorite book, "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," to their kids at night.
When Casey asked the room if that explanation would "matter," Gaetz quickly responded, "Nobody cares."
"Nobody cares?" Casey, off camera, replied.
"Not even a little," Gaetz said.
"Half-decade-old material leaked by bitter former staffers actually shows the governor dismissing nonsense and focusing on the facts about his goals and record," Erin Perrine, communications director for Never Back Down, the Super PAC supporting DeSantis, said in a statement to ABC News. "Gov. DeSantis' never backing down to the bias media is a big reason why Americans are behind him in the first place -- because they are also tired of the liberal media."
A representative for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
