Less than 12 hours after the Florida primary election results were in, the general election race for governor got heated.
President Trump has been quite vocal about his support for Republican Congressman Ron DeSantis, who edged out Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam to become the GOP nominee for governor on Tuesday.
Trump tweeted about his victory the next morning.
Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican Primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream....a failed Socialist Mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime & many other problems to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 29, 2018
Minutes later, Gillum quote tweeted the president's original post with his response.
What our state and country needs is decency, hope, and leadership. If you agree, join us at https://t.co/fm0ODFFGWU. Also, @ me next time, @realDonaldTrump. https://t.co/59dQy8RLsm
— Andrew Gillum (@AndrewGillum) August 29, 2018
The “@ me” comments on social media were popularized by younger users, who use the phrase to call out passive aggressive tweets they suspect were posted about them — or in this case, were blatantly about a person, Gillum, who was named but not tagged in Trump’s tweet.
DeSantis, meanwhile, took to Fox News to talk about his unexpected opponent after Gillum's upset victory.
The Republican congressman first praised the Tallahassee Mayor, calling him articulate, then said, "The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state."
Given Gillum is the state's first black Democratic nominee for governor, the use of the word "monkey" relating to him in any way at all was criticized by many Democrats, who accused DeSantis of being racist.
In a statement, DeSantis' campaign clarified that he had not been referring to Gillum and rather meant to urge voters to reject his opponent's progressive policies.
