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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed for 'bullying' masked students and sleeping during SOTU

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was slammed for his rude and aggressive behavior with college and high school students in Tampa

TAMPA, FLORIDA: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has faced criticism for his rude and aggressive behavior with college and high school students as he made an appearance in Tampa on Wednesday, March 2. The Republican apparently told University of South Florida students as well as students from Middleton High School to take off their masks as he went toward the podium to address the crowd. The video of the same has gone viral on the internet.

DeSantis was heard saying in the footage, “You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it's not doing anything and we've gotta stop with this Covid theater. So if you want to wear it, fine. But this is, this is ridiculous.” After which, many students removed their face coverings, while at least three of them did not follow others.

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As per reports, the governor went to Tampa college to announce a $20 million funding for creating cybersecurity opportunities at the University of South Florida. He said, “One of the things we’ve tried to do since I became governor was increase Florida’s competitiveness in terms of workforce education. And that’s really looking to see what’s in high demand. And that’s really a diverse thing, in terms of what’s going on right now.”

DeSantis then added, “This funding will be coordinated through the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at USF which will work with regional partners to expand programs that help middle school, high school and college students obtain credentials in cybersecurity. The funding will be used to train new teachers, purchase training equipment that will be used by students, and other associated endeavors. This is really the first of its kind program, there’s really no other state that’s using a regional model that will allow students as early as middle school to start learning credentials in IT and cybersecurity.”

During the event, the 43-year-old leader also spoke about President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address that happened on Tuesday night, March 1. He claimed, “I watched most of the State of the Union, I did fall asleep during it, I confess.” However, he held his children responsible for his sleep as he stated, “I've got three kids five and under, so a lot of times by the time it gets past 9, we're a little tired.”

DeSantis then went on to attack Biden while saying, “The striking thing is we have a lot of problems in this country. And that's obviously something you've gotta deal with. But it's striking that so many of these problems have been created by Biden and his administration since he's become president.”

He condemned the president’s decision of shutting down the Keystone pipeline and suspending drilling licenses in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as he noted, “So consequently you're importing more from countries like Russia - so that's bad for consumers ... but that's also bad for our national security.”

However, DeSantis’ snapping at the students was not taken well by the people as a user asked, “He was bullying h.s. kids by trying to humiliate them in front of the cameras. What part of that is either heroic or admirable to you? What part of behavior spells out a love of freedom?”

The second user tweeted, “I wish one of them had had the presence of mind to say, ‘My mom/dad/brother/sister/roommate/classmate has asthma/diabetes/cancer/immune disease, and I don't want to give them COVID, sir.’”

One tweet read, “The Free State of Florida means kids get publicly bullied by the Governor for doing what they should be doing to protect themselves and everyone around them.”

Another tweet read, “DeSantis is vaccinated. His children attend a school that requires vaccines and mask. He's the one doing theater.”