As RedState reported, a group of self-proclaimed neo-nazis marched in Florida on Saturday. Naturally, that meant the press went wild reporting on it because giving neo-nazis attention is obviously how you diffuse their ideology or something. 

Who were these imbeciles? Apparently, the leader of the march is from Maine. Most of the rest of the group remained masked and unidentified. Yes, these supposed Florida neo-nazis don't even appear to have been from Florida.

Facts don't matter in situations like this, though, and it wasn't long before outlets like Rolling Stone rushed to publish stories claiming the marchers were supporters of Ron DeSantis. 

“We’re all DeSantis supporters!" one marcher shouted. https://t.co/aYFxOyOZT9

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) September 3, 2023

Is that an accurate representation of what the neo-nazies said? As my colleague Nick Arama shared (with video evidence) in her piece on the matter, the marchers were clearly being sarcastic. They were mocking DeSantis, with the same person who said "We're all DeSantis supporters" saying "**** Ron DeSantis" just moments later. They also called DeSantis a "joke."

How bad is what Rolling Stone did from a journalistic standpoint? It's really, really bad. RedState, even being a site that allows heavy amounts of commentary, has editorial standards that would see my head on a rhetorical pike if I misled our readers that way. Rolling Stone's story was supposedly hard news, which makes it even worse.

That's the thing. This wasn't some honest oversight. The full video that shows the actual context of the remarks about DeSantis is linked in the Rolling Stone article. That means that the author knew they weren't telling the truth when they composed the piece, and still, it got published. And to be sure, this is far from the first time Rolling Stone's editors and writers have tossed all journalistic ethics aside to try to slander someone on the right. You might recall their coverage of Sound of Freedom, which they falsely boiled down to being a QAnon conspiracy, or their attacks on Oliver Anthony's hit song Rich Men North of Richmond.

Rolling Stone has become a complete joke. We are talking about a publication that used to pride itself on being counter-cultural. Now, it's nothing more than a left-wing mouthpiece with a penchant for pushing authoritarianism. 

This shouldn't have to be said, but Ron DeSantis, a perfectly normal family man, is not a nazi. Anyone pushing that narrative should be dismissed out of hand as an unhinged lunatic. Americans should be able to disagree on politics without stooping to such insane character attacks (assuming they aren't based on evidence). Neo-nazis want attention. That's the entire point of them holding marches. Rolling Stone was happy to give it to them because the outlet figured they could get a shot in on a popular Republican. It's disgusting, but expected. Treat these dumpster fire publications accordingly.