DeSantis campaign thugs allegedly manhandle 15-year-old boy

Flailing presidential candidate Ron DeSantis (R) is on the ropes again, tripped up this time by a precocious 15-year-old political junkie who says he was manhandled by thugs on DeSantis’s security detail.

Socially awkward DeSantis first crossed paths with New Hampshire native Quinn Martin at a campaign rally in June. That’s when Martin asked the governor, “Do you believe that [former President Donald] Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power, a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?”

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“At the end of the day, the governor has blood on his hands.”

The question, of course, referred to Trump’s baseless assertion that he actually won the 2020 presidential election, a claim which led to his followers rioting at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

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DeSantis’ stumbling sidestep, as he tried to avoid alienating the disgraced former president’s supporters, went viral, along with DeSantis’s own painful question to the teenager: “Are you in high school?”

Martin, who’s a politics and history buff and has questioned 35 candidates on the campaign trail in the first-in-the-nation primary state, says he actually felt bad about the awkward interaction and political fallout for DeSantis — until two more run-ins led him to conclude the governor’s campaign is just “really stupid.”

Based on those encounters, it’s clear DeSantis’ team and the Never Back Down super political action committee running the campaign became obsessed with Martin after the embarrassing video went viral. They have since done everything in their power to prevent the teenager from initiating a repeat performance.

At a July 4th parade, Never Back Down staffers “were nudging the security guys and pointing at me,” Mitchell told told The Daily Beast. “I actually had a reporter come up and just say, ‘They’re pointing at you and they’re watching you.’”

When Mitchell did manage to get near the governor and share a handshake, DeSantis’ security team body blocked the teen as the governor moved ahead, and demanded he not move from the spot for five minutes.

After Mitchell texted his mom that he was being held against his will, Martin’s mother demanded an explanation from the campaign.

None other than Casey DeSantis, the candidate’s wife and top political advisor, swooped in to diffuse the situation. Instead, her patronizing explanation only made matters worse.

“Well, I’m a mother, too,” Mrs. DeSantis said, according to Mitchell and multiple other witnesses. “I know what you’re experiencing, and we’re all very afraid for our children — even if they’re exaggerating.”

Then in August, Mitchell was accosted again at a campaign event at a firearms factory.

A pair of security guards flanked Mitchell as he made his way through the venue, while Never Back Down staffers took photos of him. A witness observed one staffer take a Snapchat photo and caption the pic, “got our kid.”

After DeSantis ignored the six-foot teen’s upraised hand during a brief Q&A, security blocked Mitchell from joining a group downstage waiting to chat with the governor.

Mitchell’s mistreatment at both events has left the teen cold on DeSantis’ prospects for the White House.

“The campaign, they could have called and said, ‘We’re so sorry, this should have never happened, we’ll get to the bottom of it,’” Mitchell said. “Never got a call like that. They never apologized to us for any of it.”

On the bright side, Mitchell said, “I actually got a free hat” at the firearms factory event.

“Probably the only good thing that happened that day.”