Florida Governor Ron DeSantis emphasized in a podcast episode released Monday that he does not wear high heels masquerading as boots.
DeSantis sat down with podcaster Patrick Bet-David, who showed the 2024 Republican hopeful footage of a viral TikTok video of DeSantis in his boots in which the creator asked, “Tell me he’s not wearing hidden heels.”
TikTok user Spamellina had sketched the shape of a high heel over the photo of DeSantis in his boots, then shared a photo of a pair of women’s wedge boots for comparison.
Bet-David wrongly assumed that DeSantis’ staff had alerted him to the brazen conspiracy theory and then had to explain, “Okay, what they’re trying to say is that you have heels in your boots.”
“No, no, no, they’re just standard, off-the-shelf Lucchese,” said DeSantis, spotlighting a popular cowboy boot brand.
Podcaster Patrick Bet-David (left) asked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (right) about a viral video that advanced the conspiracy theory that the 2024 hopeful’s heeled boots contained real high heels
TikTok user Spamellina had sketched the shape of a high heel over the photo of DeSantis in his boots, then shared a photo of a pair of women’s wedge boots for comparison
Bet-David interrupted DeSantis to ask the governor about his height.
“5’11,” DeSantis replied.
Bet-David then asked why DeSantis wasn’t wearing tennis shoes or dress shoes.
“I wear tennis shoes when I work out, yes, 100 percent,” DeSantis responded.
The podcaster said he went shoe shopping in Ferragamo for the governor, carrying a red shopping bag.
“I don’t accept gifts, I can’t accept,” DeSantis said from across the table. ‘I’m sorry.’
The 2024 presidential candidate, who has seen his poll numbers trail former President Donald Trump, then referenced Yogi Berra and noted that the iconic Yankees catcher “doesn’t look like a Yankee.”
DeSantis surprised Bet-David by revealing he hadn’t heard there was a conspiracy theory about his high-heeled boots
“And Yogi basically says, OK, you can say I’m ugly, that’s fine, but you don’t hit a baseball with your face,” DeSantis said.
“And so what we do is, I think addressing the problems, the leadership, the people who bully you for different things – that’s fine, but ultimately it’s not – I think it’s a sign of strength.” , the candidate said. added.
Bet-David used DeSantis, who was unaware of the high heel rumors, to more broadly condemn the governor’s “marketing team.”
“I’m a big fan of yours, okay, I’m not a fan of your marketing team, I’m just not,” Bet-David said. “I think your book was a miss.”
DeSantis asked why it was a miss.
“It was the number one book in the country for two weeks,” the Florida governor noted.
Bet-David emphasized that it could have been bigger.
“Yeah, that’s not long though,” the prominent YouTuber said. “You are the man who should be the leading man for the presidency,” he said.
Long considered Trump’s most formidable opponent in the 2024 Republican primaries, DeSantis performed strongly in the second GOP debate, but his campaign has yet to catch fire.
The latest polls in Iowa, the state hosting the first Republican caucus, showed Trump with 43 percent support and DeSantis and a former U.N. official. Nikki Haley finished in second place with just 16 percent of the potential Republican votes in Iowa.
Senator Marco Rubio, one of the Republicans who lost the 2016 presidential primaries to Trump, was also criticized for wearing heeled boots during the campaign.