Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis insisted 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 images from 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 and then shared a picture of a pair of women’s wedged boots for comparison.
Bet-David assumed, wrongly, that DeSantis’ staff had clued him in on the cheeky conspiracy theory and then had to explain, ‘OK, what they’re trying to say with this is that in your boots you have heels.’
‘No, no, no those are just standard, off the rack Lucchese,’ said DeSantis, name-dropping a popular cowboy boot brand.
Podcaster Patrick Bet-David (left) asked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (right) about a viral video that pushed a conspiracy theory that the 2024 hopeful’s heeled boots contained actual high heels
TikTok user Spamellina had sketched the shape of a high heel over the photo of DeSantis in his boots and then shared a picture of a pair of women’s wedged boots for comparison
Bet-David cut DeSantis off to ask the governor his height.
‘5’11”,’ DeSantis answered.
Bet-David then asked why DeSantis didn’t wear tennis shoes or dress shoes.
‘I do wear tennis shoes when I work out, yeah, 100 percent,’ DeSantis answered.
The podcaster said he went shoe shopping at Ferragamo for the governor, putting a red shopping bag between them.
‘I don’t accept gifts, I can’t accept it,’ DeSantis said across the table. ‘I’m sorry.’
The 2024 presidential candidate, who has seen his poll numbers flatline behind former President Donald Trump, then referenced Yogi Berra, noting how the iconic Yankees catcher ‘doesn’t look like a Yankee.’
DeSantis surprised Bet-David by divulging that he hadn’t heard that there was a conspiracy theory about his boots containing high heels
‘And Yogi’s basically like 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’re doing is, really I think doing the issues, the leadership, people that are poking at you for different things – that’s fine, but ultimately that is not – I think it’s a sign of strength,’ the candidate added.
Bet-David used DeSantis being unaware of the high heel rumors to more broadly condemn the governor’s ‘marketing team.’
‘I’m a big fan of yours, OK, 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 No. 1 book int he country for two weeks,’ the Florida governor pointed out.
Bet-David pushed that it could have been bigger.
‘Yeah that’s not a long time though,’ the prominent YouTuber said. ‘You’re the guy that should be the leading guy for president,’ he said.
DeSantis was long considered Trump’s most formidable opponent in the 2024 GOP primary and had a strong performance in the second GOP debate but his campaign has yet to catch fire.
The latest polling out of Iowa, the state that holds the first GOP caucus, showed Trump with 43 percent support and DeSantis and former U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley tied for second place with just 16 percent each of the potential Iowa Republican vote.
Sen. Marco Rubio, who was among the Republicans who lost the 2016 presidential primary to Trump, also took heat for wearing heeled boots on the campaign trail.