Internet mocks DeSantis for quitting with fake Churchill quote: 'It's in books he banned'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ended his 2024 presidential campaign using a fake quote from Winston Churchill and critics are calling it the perfect end to what has been a strange campaign.
It began with a flub on the social media site "X," which was formerly referred to as Twitter. The campaign was supposed to be launched using a new feature, that is more akin to an online conference call. The social media site failed so severely that the launch became the presidential announcement not heard around the world.
It was a "fitting coda for his train wreck of a campaign," said Intercept reporter Ken Klippenstein.
"DeSantis quit with a fake Churchill line! Maybe the actual quote is in one of the books he banned?" mocked activist Christine Pelosi.
Conservative Bill Kristol cited a similar quote more befitting the governor: "Churchill actually wrote, in Their Finest Hour, 'No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.' DeSantis neither deserved success nor had it."
Republican turned Independent Tara Seetmayer at the Lincoln Project explained, "DeSantis campaign is more Greek tragedy than Churchill."
"it's so on-brand for DeSantis to attribute a quote to Churchill when there's no proof Churchill ever said it. An expert on quotations traces the saying to a 1930s Budweiser beer ad campaign," ex-Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob agreed.
The International Churchill Society released a statement about the quote, saying: "We can find no attribution for either one of these . . . They are found nowhere in his canon . . . An almost equal number of sources found online credit these sayings to Abraham Lincoln."
"We base this on careful research in the canon of fifty million words by and about Churchill, including all of his books, articles, speeches and papers,” the group explains.
It turns out the quote came from a 1930s Budweiser ad, saying "Quote Investigator."
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Forbes ridiculed the Republican by encouraging him to look at other Churchill quotes that would be better and is a legitimate quote from the former prime minister.
“Success always demands a greater effort," is a quote they suggested.
"I’m sorry I can’t get over Ron DeSantis ending his campaign by misattributing a line from a Budweiser ad to Winston f--king Churchill lmao," Voters Tomorrow ED Santiago Mayer laughed.
"Winston Churchill went to war to defend democracy against the spread of fascism. DeSantis went to war with Mickey Mouse. We shouldn't mention them in the same sentence," noted user Harry Giannoulis.