Florida GOP Congressman Carlos Gimenez said everyone needs to “chill out” over President Donald Trump posting racist, AI-generated memes on CNN Thursday morning.
On Monday, the president posted a widely-derided, AI-generated video that gave Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a mustache and sombrero. Democrats publicly slammed the video as bigoted and racist, while Republicans, including House Majority Leader Mike Johnson, slammed it privately.
Speaking to CNN’s John Berman, the 71-year-old, Cuban-born Gimenez said, “You’re gonna see more of these things happen, and so people need to develop a little bit thicker skin.”
Gimenez said such lowbrow tactics come with the territory of being a politician. “If you complain about it, you’re just going to get more of it,” he said.
“No one would ever meme you,” said Berman in response.
Giminez’s stance on the outrage sparked by the video echoes Vice President JD Vance’s, who said the video of was evidence of the president “just joking” and “having a good time.”
The Florida congressman’s CNN interview spread widely online, as commenters found it hypocritical that Republicans would adopt a nonchalant stance toward the president’s racist attacks mere weeks after many cheered on the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel over jokes about Republican posturing in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Gimenez was among the Republican politicians who voiced disagreement with ABC’s decision to suspend Kimmel, saying, “The government has no business in trying to censor anybody, even for dumb remarks. People are allowed to have dumb remarks, even on the air.”
Though Giminez said he is “not in favor of any kind of censorship,” he petitioned Florida governor Ron DeSantis earlier in September to suspend Palmetto Bay Councilman Stephen Cody for a social media post that didn’t sufficiently mourn the late Charlie Kirk.
Cody posted a Kirk quote reading, “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God given rights.” He added, “Charlie Kirk is a fitting sacrifice to our Lords: Smith & Wesson. Hallowed be their names.”
Writing to Governor DeSantis, Gimenez wrote, “In multiple instances, you have exercised your constitutional authority to suspend local officials whose actions or behavior undermined the confidence Floridians have in their government. This is one of those moments where such decisive action is necessary.”
