Known for His Pointed Questions, a 15-Year-Old Is Ejected From a G.O.P. Event

jeffw@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 930 points – Known for His Pointed Questions, a 15-Year-Old Is Ejected From a G.O.P. Event
nytimes.com

The GOP’s worst enemy: non-senior citizens

Highlights: Quinn Mitchell wanted to know if Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida believed that former President Donald J. Trump had violated the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021.

But the teenager said he was not prepared for what happened on Friday, when he was briefly ejected by police officers from the First in the Nation Leadership Summit, a candidate showcase organized by the New Hampshire Republican Party. The two-day event in Nashua, N.H., featured Mr. DeSantis and most of the G.O.P. field, but not Mr. Trump.

“They said, ‘We know who you are,’” Quinn, who has his own political blog and podcast, said in a phone interview on Saturday from his home in Walpole, N.H., referring to the organizers of the summit.

“Are you in high school? said Mr. DeSantis, who has faced criticism as a candidate for not being fluid when interacting with voters and journalists, a dynamic that has made for some awkward exchanges on the campaign trail.

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“Are you in high school? said Mr. DeSantis, who has faced criticism as a candidate for not being fluid when interacting with voters and journalists, a dynamic that has made for some awkward exchanges on the campaign trail.

The Florida governor pivoted, arguing that if the 2024 election focused on “relitigating things that happened two, three years ago, we’re going to lose.”

That’s not why you’re going to lose, Ron. You’re going to lose because we can all see what a weak and uncharismatic loser you are. This man is the governor of a state, and he’s too weak to answer a 15 year old kid’s questions. What a coward.

He's used to vetted and sanitized interactions. At every event, every speech, photo, journalist, and question is heavily curated.

Of course he's afraid of anything outside the carefully manufactured safe space.

That was a pretty simple question, too. The reason he won't answer, though, is because if he says yes, he pushes away the Maga morons (though they aren't voting for anyone but trump) and if he says no, he pushes away the establishment assholes.

Which shows he's a terrible politician, since a good one can response to a question without giving a yes or no. Isn't that a first year class, Ambiguity 101?

Which shows he’s a terrible politician, since a good one can response to a question without giving a yes or no.

To be fair though, we've all pretty much picked up on that technique by this point, it's obvious when they do it, and usually they get dismissed out of hand for doing it.

Yeah, the headline made me expect some super loaded question or something. But it's a very reasonable question that is obviously of great importance. DeSantis is just that big of a coward.

Trump isn't exactly the strongest, most charismatic person, either. His speeches are rambling messes, and he has notoriously thin skin.

I'm honestly not sure how that compares to DeSantis, but still.

Trump was a much better speaker in 2016 than he is now. Maybe his speeches didn't make much sense, but to get people excited you don't have to.

DeSantis was never a good speaker.

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Hold on, they're rambling incoherent messes.

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The event staff fucked up thinking they were ejecting some no-name punk. This young man has a platform and the ability to do damage to campaigns that are afraid to answer tough questions and who instead toss out the people asking them. He's built up a following online and has made a bit of a name for himself in New England.

Does he have a sister? Or a brother who was shipped off to military school at age 6?

Edit: This is an Ender’s Game reference to Peter Wiggin people.. The response comments get it. Not sure why I’m downvoted so harshly and they’re upvoted.

Edit: This is an Ender’s Game reference to Peter Wiggin people… The response comments get it. Not sure why I’m downvoted so harshly and they’re upvoted.

Could you explain the relevance then, in relation to what's being discussed?

Peter Wiggin (Locke) as well as his sister Valentine Wiggin (Demosthenes) are Ender Wiggin's siblings. After Ender was

shipped off to military school at age 6

, Peter convinced his sister to write on "the Nets" about the war, posing as adults using the Pseudonyms Locke and Demosthenes. They managed to get a significant amount of influence, especially considering they were like 10 years old.

Also, relevant xkcd.

This is the correct response. They gained so much influence through their posting to the nets, that they were able to sway the global politics of their time which is exactly what OP of this thread was claiming Quinn could do.

If I remember correctly, Peter later also became ruler of Earth just through his political influence.

You would be correct! Through his influence his name was floated as Hegemon (Figure head ruler of earth) after he had negotiated a ceasefire between world powers. At that point he revealed himself as Peter instead of Locke and that he had to decline the position because he was not yet of age. The rules were changed and the world voted him in anyway. He then spent the next couple books of the Ender’s Shadow series changing that from a figure head position to an actual position of power and unifying the world under one peaceful, people led government, the Free People’s of Earth.

Not sure why I’m downvoted so harshly and they’re upvoted.

Because votes on this platform are largely done by bots and alts and in no way reflect the true opinions of the majority of Lemmy.

Stop caring what the numbers say

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Thank god the cops didn't beat the shit out of the kid too. They would have if he was black.

The Florida governor pivoted, arguing that if the 2024 election focused on “relitigating things that happened two, three years ago, we’re going to lose.”

Oh, you mean the shit you guys last did when in power?
I wonder why you might not want to talk about that?
Do you not want to admit that you're going to do exactly the same shit all over again?

'Can we please stop talking about all the illegal and unethical things we did? Uhhh Hillary's emails!'

hunter biden did a drugs guys why r we talking about giving out nuclear secrets

Brought to you by the party of "just asking questions".

What a bunch of delicate fragile snowflake princesses. Reminder that these candidates are running for the toughest job in government and feel threatened by interacting with a child.

Wow, NYT article published Oct. 14th, but this was all over the news back when it happened, first in June when he got the question asked, and again in July when they bounced him from the events.

Soooo... "Behind the times?" :)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/08/26/quinn-mitchell-new-hampshire-2024-presidential-primary/70601906007/

Maybe it's about stopping the people from talking about Palestinian deaths, support 15yo pointy question asker, and shit on desantis?

Rightfully shitting on D. Sand-ass, but wrongfully drawing attention away from the current crisis in the Middle East.

Rhonda Sand Tits absolutely deserves every bit of vitriol the internet can muster, as does the Zionist theocracy. Authoritarian bullshit is happening all over

Nah, they've been following this the whole time. I have read at least three NYT articles about this kid over the summer.

How is this not the onion?

What do you mean? The republican party has a long history of ousting the people who ask questions they can't answer. This is par for the course.

Their base has been brainwashed to the point that they don't even understand why it's appalling.

I think they mean how the fuck is this a real headline that we have allowed to become reality, when a bunch of grown ass adults are afraid of a teenager talking.

Oh right, it’s the loud snowflakes. Again.

Oh these young GOP idealists are in for a rude lesson.

Then again, the Log Cabin Republicans, LGBT for Trump, and similarly ludicrous groups are still attracting members, so…

I read the article and watched the NBC interview with the kid and I couldn't get any sense of his ideological leanings. He seems to be legitimately a politics geek and aspiring journalist. I can't confidently categorize him as a "young GOP idealist."

But to your second point, I always have a hard time understanding how anyone who isn't an old white guy could get behind the GOP.

I'm glad to see a young person taking these pieces of shit on.

I'm 62 and I've never voted for one of these RepubliKKKlan motherfuckers in my life.

It's not hard to see why young people could be disaffected. Wages have been low and housing costs are through the roof.

It's great to see a young guy taking them on And the repuplicnlown reaction: clutch pearls in terror.

“Are you in high school? said Mr. DeSantis

Can he not answer a high school student's question?

Also, centrists: I've seen you use this exact phrase when talking to people who disagree with you from your left. DeSantis acts like you do.

Anyone who calls themselves a Centrist in 2023 is saying they're Republicans except they're pussies and don't want to be directly associated with a fascist group. Idk what's worse, psychos that are proud of being fascist or cowards that don't want to admit it.

There's always the lite dems who are too afraid to do the right thing 'cuz it might upset conservstives... The 3rd way acolytes...

If you are scared of being questioned by those with differing political beliefs you aren't cut out to be the leader of a country.

If you are scared of being questioned by a 15 year old, you aren't even fit to be leader of a high school.

Yup.. new Hampshire is full of trashy 3 percenters and criminals.

Our cops are jokes that don't help people in need.

We have 3%ers working in our government positions.

It's all criminal gang shit.

NH is tries to look good but it's really a shit hole of people kept quiet for corruption. Never underestimate naive regular citizens that will bend for criminals.

Asking all them questions, making statements, assuming?

This is the best summary I could come up with:

It was the type of tough question a Republican presidential candidate might get on a Sunday morning talk show, only the person asking it was 15: Quinn Mitchell wanted to know if Gov.

So did the pair’s next encounter at a July 4 parade in Merrimack, N.H., where a video showed Quinn, an aspiring journalist, being shooed away by a handler for the Florida governor.

But the teenager said he was not prepared for what happened on Friday, when he was briefly ejected by police officers from the First in the Nation Leadership Summit, a candidate showcase organized by the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Quinn, who received a guest credential for the summit from the state’s G.O.P., said a person associated with the event had told him that he had a history of being disruptive and had accused him of being a tracker, a type of political operative who records rival candidates.

According to his website, Quinn has attended more than 80 presidential campaign events since he was 10, taking advantage of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation status in the nominating process to pose questions to candidates.

said Mr. DeSantis, who has faced criticism as a candidate for not being fluid when interacting with voters and journalists, a dynamic that has made for some awkward exchanges on the campaign trail.

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