On Tuesday, Ron ‘Slavery Was Good’ DeSantis suspended Monique Worrell—Florida’s only Black female state attorney. DeSantis, who is currently vying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, announced Worrell’s suspension stemmed from “neglect of duty.”
DeSantis, who has used his governorship to constantly attack marginalized and disnenfranchised communities, said that Worrell was too soft on criminals. He cited her failure to charge a teen accused of shooting and killing a 9-year-old girl and two more people in a gang-related incident last year.
However, Worrell explained that witnesses who testified in the case gave muddled accounts and could not identify the suspect in a photo lineup, since the gunman was wearing a mask during the incident.
DeSantis announced news of the suspension at a press conference where he was accompanied by two local sheriffs, though neither serve a county that intersects with Worrell’s jurisdiction. During the event, one of the sheriffs held up a photoshopped sign that turned Worrell into a disrespectful meme which showed her in a burning cartoon room with the phrase “this is fine” above her head.
Worrell held her own press conference and stated that she plans on fighting back. “I am a duly elected state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit,” she commented. “And nothing done by a weak dictator can change that.” Worrell served the liberal areas of Orange and Osceola counties and won 67% of the vote to obtain the position.
Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Nikki Fried dubbed the suspension “a political hit job.” However, in a press release, DeSantis claimed that Worrell’s “practices and policies have too often allowed violent criminals to escape the full consequences of their criminal conduct, thereby endangering the innocent civilians of Orange and Osceola counties.”
This latest stunt comes as DeSantis presidential campaign continues to flop, as it remains plagued by low poll numbers, wealthy donors putting a stop to their contributions and multiple staffers being fired.