Ron DeSantis' Churchill-Inspired 'Never Surrender' Speech Sparks Backlash

Ron DeSantis has come under fire online after delivering a speech in which he appeared to mimic a famous address from Sir Winston Churchill, Britain's prime minister during the second world war.

The Florida governor, who announced he is running for the Republican presidential nomination on May 25, was speaking at a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday.

Polling indicates DeSantis is the second most popular potential 2024 GOP candidate with Republican voters, after Donald Trump, making him the former president's closest primary opponent.

During his address DeSantis commented: "I recognize that the woke mind virus represents a war on the truth, so we will wage a war on the woke. We will fight the woke in education, we will fight the woke in the corporations, we will fight the woke in the halls of Congress."

The remarks seemed based around an iconic speech delivered by Churchill on June 4 1940, in the U.K. House of Commons, as the German army moved across France and British troops had to be rescued from the beaches at Dunkirk.

Seeking to boost British moral, Churchill asserted: "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

DeSantis's address triggered a backlash on social media, with some offended by the apparent comparison between him and Churchill.

Richard Stengel, who served in the Obama administration as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs between 2014 and 2016, tweeted: "DeSantis deliberately evoking Churchill ("We will fight them on the beaches"), but Churchill was fighting Nazism, an enemy bent on world domination, while DeSantis is fighting, well, empathy and compassion. Not the same."

Russell Drew, a New York based "political junkie," added: "Pathetic that Ron DeSantis is trying to channel Winston Churchill's famous 'We will never surrender' speech with his anti-woke nonsense, considering that what DeSantis is advocating for more closely resembles the agenda of Joseph Goebbels: bans, books, and bathing suits."

A third Twitter user, based in Washington D.C., said: "Even if you agree with his ideas, you have to admit the contrast of #DeSantis with Obama and Churchill, whose style he's trying to copy, is pretty jarring. It's like watching dudes try to dance to Justin Timberlake at his concert."

Another account, with over 60,000 followers, wrote: "Ironic that DeSantis is trying to be Churchill. Churchill was inspiring a country to fight fascism, DeSantis is a fascist trying to incite a country to surrender to it."

Newsweek has contacted Governor DeSantis for comment by email.

DeSantis has made his campaign against "woke" ideology the centrepiece of his presidential bid, which he described as a "form of Cultural Marxism" on Saturday when questioned by NBC reporter Dasha Burns.