Gov. DeSantis on events commemorating Jan. 6 insurrection: ‘I think it’s going to be nauseating’

On the one-year anniversary of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Gov. Ron DeSantis said he won’t watch any commemorations connected to the events that led to deaths and injuries, while slamming the “corporate press.”

DeSantis said at a Thursday morning press conference in West Palm Beach that he expects the media to politicize the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“I don’t expect anything from the corporate press to be enlightening, I think it’s going to be nauseating, quite frankly. And I’m not going to do it,” DeSantis said.

“It’s interesting how everything in our society becomes very politicized…honestly, I am not going to watch any of it. But you’re going to see the D.C. and New York media, I mean this is their Christmas, Jan. 6, okay. They are going to take this and milk this for anything they could to try to be able to smear anyone who ever supported Donald Trump,” DeSantis said.

His remarks came early Thursday morning, during a press conference on COVID-19 testing and other COVID-related matters. The governor took questions from reporters following the COVID-related issues. The last question related to the Jan. 6 anniversary of the insurrection.

During his remarks, DeSantis went on to compare the Jan. 6 riots to a past event that he claimed didn’t get much media attention. DeSantis described a shooting that took place when he was a member of Congress where a gunman shot “a bunch of people,” he said, adding that the Capitol police protected them and saved lives.

He said that was “a one-day, two-day story,” in reference to the event. “That’s not something that the Capitol-based press wanted to talk about. Why? Because it totally undercuts their preferred narratives. Jan. 6 allows them to create narratives that are negative about people who supported Donald Trump,” he said.

“I just look back and compare when I was in Congress, what event that we faced was the attempted assassination of Republican members of Congress on the baseball game,” DeSantis said of the event.

“I was actually on the field, this guy, who was a big Bernie Sanders guy, it definitely was a politically motivated attack, came up and pulled his van in…we walked out to go to the car and we came in contact with him. He wanted to know if it was Republicans out there.”

At one point during DeSantis’ remarks, the Republican governor made claims that some people have compared the insurrection to the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States by a terrorist group.

“But let’s just be clear here, when they try to act like this is something akin to the September 11 attacks, he said. “That is an insult to the people who were going into those buildings and it’s an insult to people when you say it’s an insurrection and a year later nobody has been charged with that.”

As previously reported by the Florida Phoenix, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol a year ago in an attempt to challenge President Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win.

Biden, joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, both delivered speeches Thursday morning at the Capitol in remembrance of the brave Capitol police officers who responded to the riots, while slamming Trump for not accepting defeat in the election and inciting violence.

“One year ago today, in this sacred place, Democracy was attacked, simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault,” Biden said.

Biden added: “For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol. But they failed. They failed. On this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such attack never, never happens again. I’m speaking to you today from Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol.”

Meanwhile, Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz issued a statement about the Jan. 6 anniversary, including: