Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is no stranger to condemnation from leftists and radical, woke agenda proponents or criticisms from the media. However, he might consider media insiders coming to his aid surprising.
On Tuesday, Jon Cooper, Former National Finance Chair of Draft Biden 2016, Long Island Campaign Chair for @BarackObama & Majority Leader of Suffolk County Legislature, NY. @DukeU alum and boasts 1 million followers, according to his Twitter profile, retweeted a post from Salon, writing “ICYMI.”
ICYMI: Ron DeSantis signs bill requiring Florida students and professors to register their political views with the state https://t.co/cWzHyhhmIw
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) July 5, 2022
The article from Salon was entitled, “DeSantis signs bill requiring Florida students, professors to register political views with the state.” Although published online in June 2021, it was debunked as false information after publication.
After Cooper’s tweet, Democratic strategist Dash Dobrofsky jumped on the bash DeSantis bandwagon, claiming DeSantis’ actions fascist and calling for people to vote for Charlie Crist, one of DeSantis’ gubernatorial challengers.
Ron DeSantis is forcing teachers to identify their political affiliation to Florida’s GOP state legislatures. If the Legislatures aren’t “satisfied” with the answers, they can defund those public schools. This is not Freedom of Speech. This is Fascism. Vote for @CharlieCrist.
— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) July 5, 2022
The post had gone viral, with several individuals calling out the document as debunked and inaccurate information.
But ABC’s Jay O’Brien made the obvious even more painfully obvious when he tweeted.
This viral post is inaccurate.
Further, it references a law passed in 2021 and makes a claim that was debunked that same year. Even the article it links to was written in 2021.
Look before you retweet. https://t.co/0BOMrchsTF
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) July 5, 2022
On Wednesday, O’Brien tweeted follow-up remarks.
Twitter, a frequent target of @GovRonDeSantis, just added a fact check to a viral post that was pushing a debunked claim about a Florida law. pic.twitter.com/4CopTKzeFa
— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) July 6, 2022
PolitiFact deemed the article false in June 2021.
It is easy to miss a publication date and post or tweet an article. O’Brien gave solid, sound advice for anyone engaging in the cyber-world medium – “Look before you retweet.”
