'Stop bullying kids': Gov. Ron DeSantis widely criticized over mask confrontation with students

Gov. Ron DeSantis has risen to prominence within the GOP as a zealous opponent of COVID-19 restrictions, but in aiming his indignation over masking at a group of high school students he tested the limits of the nonstop COVID warrior approach.

A short video clip of the governor’s interaction with the students Wednesday went viral, generating millions of views.

DeSantis was widely criticized over the exchange, with many people focusing less on his mask position and more on his willingness to impose his views on children in a way they found bullying.

Related: Calling it 'COVID theater' DeSantis asks high school students to remove masks at event

DeSantis walked up to the Middleton High School students during an event at the University of South Florida and spoke to them in an aggressive manner, asking them to remove their masks and punctuating his remarks by pointing at them.

"You do not have to wear those masks,” DeSantis said in the video captured by WFLA News Channel 8, Tampa’s NBC station. “Please take them off. Honestly, it's not doing anything. We've gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you wanna wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous."

DeSantis then turned away from the students, sighed, shook his head and launched into a press conference about cybersecurity.

Critics said the brief episode was highly revealing.

“This clip shows you who he really is,” said Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat running for governor.

Parents of some of the students the governor told to unmask were upset. Parent Kevin Brown told WFLA that DeSantis should "stop bullying kids."

"The governor has no right to tell no kid or no one... they can or can't wear a mask," Brown said.

University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett noted that DeSantis already had a reputation for being "standoffish" and lacking "public empathy" and said this episode could reinforce that view of him.

“It does reveal something that a lot of people have noticed, and that’s in some ways he doesn’t have great people skills," Jewett said.

WFLA political anchor and reporter Evan Donovan promoted an 18-second clip of the incident in a tweet that was shared more than 26,000 times. The video embedded in Donovan’s tweet had more than 14 million views as of Thursday afternoon. Everyone from celebrities to members of Congress weighed in on the incident.

“Ron DeSantis bullying students for wearing masks is the most Ron DeSantis thing I’ve seen all day,” tweeted Seth MacFarlane, a comedian, actor and director who has 13.7 million followers on Twitter.

George Takei, a liberal activist and actor of Star Trek fame, sarcastically tweeted “he seems nice” to his 3.3 million followers and included a link to a story about the DeSantis mask incident.

Major media outlets across the country covered the episode.

Polling indicates DeSantis is among the most popular GOP elected officials in the nation. A straw poll taken at the Conservative Political Action Conference – the Super Bowl of conservative politics – last weekend found that DeSantis is by far the favorite to win the GOP nomination for president if former President Donald Trump doesn’t run again.

In case you missed it: DeSantis top choice again in CPAC straw if Trump doesn't run in 2024

DeSantis owes much of his reputation to his aggressive approach to fighting COVID-19 mask mandates, vaccine mandates, lockdowns and other public health measures. He regularly touts Florida as a bastion of freedom and blasts "authoritarian" COVID restrictions elsewhere, taking aim at Canada, Australia and Europe in his CPAC speech.

More from CPAC: DeSantis slams 'authoritarian rule' in Australia and Canada as Russia invades Ukraine

Yet fighting mask mandates and lecturing children for voluntarily wearing masks are two different things, and the governor may have finally found a target in his war that many people believe should be off limits.

Except that some leading conservatives cheered the governor. One reason the incident was so widely disseminated is because right wing media outlets also shared it, but approvingly.

"This is phenomenal," said conservative political commentator Clay Travis, host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, in a tweet to his 875,000 followers that shared the video clip of DeSantis and the students.

DeSantis shared the clip himself. It's featured as part of an ad his campaign put out Thursday.

"It's curtain call for COVID theater," DeSantis said on Twitter, where he shared the ad.

The governor's campaign also sent a fundraising email highlighting the mask incident with the students.

"The legacy media and the left want young people to wear cloth masks in perpetuity — regardless of the harm," the email reads.

DeSantis' combativeness is a big part of his appeal, reminding many Republicans of Trump.

Conservative commentators Sean Hannity and Ben Shapiro -- who have more than 9 million Twitter followers between them -- both tweeted about the governor's mask exchange with the students. Hannity shared an article posted on his website, which states that DeSantis "took a moment to teach some students about COVID theater."

When a WFLA reporter posted a video of one of the student's mothers complaining that she was "very upset" about what the governor did, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw responded on Twitter with a meme making light of the incident. The meme is a picture of the student taking off his mask with the words: "When mom says no but dad says yes."

In a statement responding to the incident, Pushaw repeated DeSantis's view that masks are unnecessary and said "it’s unfortunate that so many young people were misled by adults in positions of power."

It's not the first time the governor and his team have responded with defiance when DeSantis was criticized over a mask incident.

After being photographed last year not wearing a mask at the Super Bowl in Tampa, DeSantis said: "how the hell am I going to be able to drink a beer with a mask on?" His campaign later sold beer koozies with the quote on them and an image of DeSantis with a beer.

However, it could be harder for the governor to shrug off the latest controversy when he has been so outspoken about parents' rights.

"We’re going to find new ways to be able to empower parents’ rights to decide what is best for their children,” DeSantis said at an event last year. “Parents across the state should know that their freedoms are going to be protected here, and that the state of Florida has your back.”

Jewett said there's no doubt DeSantis will run for re-election on his COVID-19 record.

“DeSantis fans, Trump fans, they love it and there are probably enough swing voters that are at least generally supportive of the idea of freedom, they don’t like government telling them what to do," Jewett said.

The governor's confrontation with the students shows there may be limits to that approach, though.

“Is there a limit? I suspect there is, in fact I know there is," Jewett said. "We have definitely seen politicians cross boundaries that irreversibly harm their political careers."

Follow Herald-Tribune Political Editor Zac Anderson on Twitter at @zacjanderson. He can be reached at zac.anderson@heraldtribune.com

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ron DeSantis widely criticized over high school student mask incident