Gov Ron DeSantis Mocked by ex-Military Pilot – Accused of Stolen Valor
Governor Ron DeSantis recently featured an ad spoofing a parallel between himself and a Navy pilot, labeled as “Fighter.”
An ex-military pilot was not amused and openly mocked DeSantis and accused him of stolen valor.
Navy Pilots Mock Ron DeSantis for Cringey ‘Top Gun’ Ad
Highway to the Douchebag Zone!
By Chelsea SteinerAug 24th, 2022, 5:09 pmFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis is many things: a wannabe fascist dictator, an anti-LGBTQ bigot, and the presumed GOP nominee for president in 2024. But despite his best cosplay attempts, he is not a Naval fighter pilot. DeSantis premiered a new ‘Top Gun: Maverick’-themed campaign video where he wears a flight suit, pretends to fly a fighter jet, and rails against wokeism and corporate media. DeSantis’s jingoistic “Top Gov” ad campaign is meant to capitalize both on the box office success of Top Gun: Maverick, and to highlight DeSantis’s own naval career. But the Top Gov never got anywhere near Top Gun.
According to the Florida Phoenix, DeSantis’s naval career didn’t see him dog-fighting in the skies. Instead, he was a lawyer and a Judge Advocate General’s Corps Officer, aka JAG. DeSantis’s Top Gun roleplay was not well received on social media, with actual Naval pilots slamming the governor for stolen valor. Former Naval pilot Ken Harbaugh mocked DeSantis in a video for progressive PAC Meidas Touch saying “It’s not just cringey, … It’s literally Navy pilot cosplay.”
There may be room for a better choice of ads, but it also may be a far stretch to label this as stolen valor.
After all, aren’t there other prominent politicians that sport bomber jackets and aviator sunglasses?
I’m not saying it is right to wear these, and I’m not saying it is justified because others are doing it. What I am saying is that I don’t think they are passing themselves off as fighter pilots and having served in the military as such. They probably desire the optics of wearing such apparel to convey an image of toughness and being a “fighter.” I don’t think it is much more than that.
[NOTE: Ken Harbaugh appears to have been in the US Air Force vs. the US Navy, so the article above has that fact incorrect.]
Category: Politics, Stolen Valor
Maybe Karen should get the knot out of her panties if the worst she can say is “He’s not a real fighter pilot!” Yeah, we know that.
Fucking leftists
Yes, Karen errr Ken can fuck off…
The Governor is only wearing a flight suit, and there are NO WINGS displayed. He’s no Da Nang Dick…
Say what you will about W, he was a pilot and served in the ANG. The last Democrat to serve was Jimmy Carter (1946-53)…
Slick Willie smoked weed and skipped off to England
Barry hates America, so of course he did not serve
Pedo Joe supposedly had ‘asthma’, but managed to play HS football and be ‘recruited’ to play ball at the USNA.
Also, go to his YouTube and downvote the fuck out of this asshole…
THIS! Also, make memes of this turd sam’itch until he cries, then make memes of him crying.
I went to this video and explained to him why this wasn’t “Stolen Valor”. I also warned him that he needed to be more careful about making such accusations on a public platform. This guy strikes me the same way those dip shits do that will attack anyone who is wearing a piece of military clothing; screaming; “MY FRIENDS DIED WEARING THAT UNIFORM, YOU ARE STEALING THEIR VALOR!”
No they’re not….they’re wearing a piece of a uniform, not trying to pretend they’re soldiers.
I don’t like Bush, but giving the devil his due, that bird he flew was one of the most dangerous in the Air Force inventory, and he flew it well.
DeSantis critic Ken Harbaugh is also not a “real fighter pilot”.
Ken Harbaugh was a Naval Aviator who flew Navy EP-3 aircraft as a junior officer. No TOP GUN; no heroics; no combat awards.
Ken Harbaugh – Wikipedia
“He served for nine years in the United States Navy as a naval aviator. His qualifications include Electronic Warfare Aircraft Commander,[6] the lead pilot of an EP-3A Aries II electronic reconnaissance aircraft.[7]”
No offense to AW1Ed, AW1 Rod, and the other Navy P-3 Naval Aviators, Naval Flight Officers, and Naval Aircrewmen here on Team TAH, but the Navy EP-3 is not a fighter aircraft.
Ken Harbaugh was never a Navy “fighter pilot”, and he shouldn’t be talking shit and implying that he was.
How about THAT for Stolen Valor, Kenny?
Don’t know if he ever flew into the “danger zone.” But he certainly never had to land on an aircraft carrier. The four-engined EP-3 is strictly a land-based aircraft.
No one has ever vitiated the context of aviator sunglasses more than The Delaware Doosh, Joe “ShitBird” Biden.
As to Mr. Top Gun with the little dick? Learn to take a f’n joke before becoming one.
<heh>
“Want some candy, little girl?”
Chelsea Steiner may…..
It’s a parody of a movie. Is she retarded? Tom Cruise isn’t a fighter pilot either, he is a douche bag though. It’s a far cry from a movie or a commercial to stolen valor. As far as I can tell the Gov never tried to pass himself off as a fighter pilot and if this offends you you may need professional help.
Actually, Cruise is. He has had his pilot’s license since 1994, I read, and owns/flies his own P-51.
He owns and flies a P51 that has no weapons anymore. It was a fighter, he is not a fighter pilot. I’m a pilot but would never call myself a fighter pilot even though I might occasionally get to fly a former military aircraft.
Len Morgan, who flew C-47s in the big o0ne, later flew P-51s in the national Guard before he got on with Braniff. He said there is a large difference between flying a fighter, and being a fighter pilot. No truer words have ever been spoken.
— SIGH —
Tom Cruise is NOT a “fighter pilot”.
Charlie: “Are you a pilot?”
Maverick: “I’m a Naval Aviator.”
If your gonna call someone names for using the trappings of a profession to convey an image of strength, at least get the name of that profession right.
sarc/
It doesn’t really count for Bush the Younger because he actually was a fighter pilot.
However, by this guy’s logic, any actor who ever played a fighter pilot is guilty of stolen valor.
I had the same thought. He wasn’t a “naval aviator” (Air Force Reserves IIRC) but his Dad certainly was.
Bush the Younger was a F-106 pilot in the Texas Air National Guard.
Correction: F-102.
Yep, I was just going to post this. Whether you liked him or not, W was, in fact, a qualified fighter pilot, while none of the others in that photo montage ever served in the military AFAIK (not sure about Pence?)
No NDSM for Pence, but his father received a Bronze Star for Korea and he has a son who is currently a 1LT Pilot in the Marine Corps.
I thought the Gov had his tongue firmly in cheek for this one. I can’t imagine anyone stupid enough to think that’s the message he’s sending and not see it as a parody. Yet, here we are.
“Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is many things: a wannabe fascist dictator” <– that’s when I stopped reading.
You mean Gov’ner ‘Fuck it, open up the economy’ DeSantis?
Out of all Government officials as of late, that man is on the podium for preservations of freedoms. (Just don’t criticize the terroristic state of Israel)
Funny how the left calls people that believe in freedom and less government fascists and authoritarian, when their side is the ones that have a sick need for conformity and an elitist ideology of superior moral values that must be followed by the uneducated serfs. Pretty interesting how definitions can get twisted.
You shall be free to obey your betters
Is how the Left rolls.
See! I always knew Top Gun was a US Navy docudrama. Especially the original. Now we have proof. Otherwise why would they GAF?
*sigh* Don’t you have a shelter to halve, or whatever it is you people do out in the woods?
Weird.
This made me giggle way too much
Giggling is known to be a rather common squidly trait… 😉
Obviously ms chelsea got her panties in a wad because she is a member of the perpetually offended religion. One would have thought as a Vet she had grown a thicker sin or at least a wider set of values but she seems stuck on the gay programming in regards to politics and displays the common lack of tolerance for opposing points of views. IMO she is merely static on the radio, something to be ignored.
“One would have thought as a Vet she had grown a thicker sin…”
You’d think so. Young Poe sure did… 😜
My sin is too thick as it is.
I bet over half the people commenting on that video claiming to be “ashamed veterans” are actual stolen valor keyboard warriors.
“A target rich environment.” — Maverick “Top Gun”
I’m a veteran that’s ashamed of my government. Not the same thing.
Let’s face it. Most veterans, especially pilots, have seen as much combat as the Gov., so the most valor most have shown is to eat the mystery meat without flinching.
I would venture a guess that less than 10% of us who served in Viet of the Nam ever pulled a trigger, dropped a mortar in the tube, or pulled an arty lanyard in combat. There were likely seven or eight REMF’s for every guy humping a rifle and a rucksack in my war.
Yep, even in the infantry battalions it wasn’t 100%. Close, but there were some who never came under fire.
It wasn’t close to 100% because you had HHC, and in the line companies you had a couple of clerks, an armorer, a company 1SG, a company XO and a supply sgt. in the rear. I never had more than about 100 men in the field in the three line companies I commanded. Plus, in each battalion there was a barracks full of shitheads who were awaiting court martials, mostly for refusing to go to the field or drug crimes.
Eh, it’s all relative. When I got off the plane from the US right at the end ofTet ’68 the whole damn country was the front line. Sitting on the bus from the airfield at Cam Ranh Bay to the replacement center I worried about where I should sit; a window seat so I could unass the bus quickly when we were ambushed or an aisle seat so the guy in the window seat would take the bullets. When I was in the mortar platoon the rear was a firebase. When I was in a rifle platoon, the rear started at the mortar platoon. When you are out on an ambush or OP the rear is the company perimeter.
I once read somewhere that only about 1 in 10 “combat veterans” engage in actual combat, not that it’s a bad thing. I’m proud to be a door kicker that actually engaged in combat, but I couldn’t have done my job if a plethora of other people hadn’t done theirs and I have nothing but respect for those men and women.
28 months of Infantry Ops; doing the business, kicking the doors, rolling TCPs, dropping in to say ‘Mister, gimme pencil’ on HVTs at all hours, shaking hands with some stone cold killers (and then proceeding to use hand san), making ‘friends’ named Muhammed…;
I was around violence, responded to violence, reacted to contact, almost got my head popped with shrapnel in the Green Zone, again on MSR Whatever outside Kirkuk, potshots galore…
discharged a weapon or two…
But to say I was ‘in combat’? Comparatively or IMHO? No. I happened to be doing Infantry shit which took place in a declared ‘Combat Zone’.
Saw the video of what my Brother Company went thru in Sadr City. Now THAT was combat!
You don’t have to be Infantry to see actual combat. I may have been Infantry and once stopped a very small portion of an IED with my face, but I knew several “soft skill” MOS people that were kick ass and saw a whole lot of combat. I know that I wouldn’t want to drive a tanker full of fuel down Route Irish.
To your point about our P.O.G. Brethren and Sistren, hell yeah they got hit with many performing very well given the shit deal.
I wasn’t trying to take that away from anyone, think I was driving it was all ‘luck’.
That being said, I wouldn’t take status away from the recon pilot nor the JAG jerkoff either! (P-8 (3?) crew, not so much…)
In spite of some of us looking for trouble, and ready in mind to embrace the suck, none found us.
The only ‘truism’ I’ve found: only the good die young.
Reminds me of a Bill Maudlin cartoon;
Officer in front of a map is briefing a bunch of truck drivers on their next convoy. He says “some of you may not make it back from this one–a French convoy has been reported to be on the road.”
Another one—
Bill Mauldin wrote three books. I highly recommend all of them if you can find one.
timactual:
Uh oh; you’ve busted us.
You’ve exposed one of our best-kept military aviation secrets: we Aviators/pilots never fly in combat.
Yup; the biggest threat that we ever face is eating the mystery meat in the ship’s Ward Room or having our drinks mixed improperly at the O’Club bar.
Everyone knows that.
Read it again.
Oh FFS. The ads are pretty cheesy, even for political campaigns. Nothing more.
For the record, all Naval Aviators are pilots. But not all pilots are Naval Aviators.
“But not all pilots are Naval Aviators.”
You mean like the ones who don’t paint vapor trail dicks and balls in the azure firmament? 🙄
There I was, knee deep in wadded up paperwork and paperclips, trying to meet a court filing in one hour. Suddenly, a deposition was thrust upon me in 15 minutes with no co-counsel backup support. Copier jammed, stapler empty… but my training kicked in and fought through it.
Out along the edges
Always where I burn to be
The further on the edge
The hotter the intensity
Highway to the Danger Zone
Archer:
Been there, done that. Except I never had only 15 minutes notice I had to cover a depo. I did fly an IFR flight to appear and argue an appeal before our Supreme Court once. That was somewhat tense.
I had to fill out supply paperwork in 10 minutes to get important material to Macho Grande.
That was a tough night.
I….I don’t think I’ll ever get over it…….
You never get over it having experienced the battle of Macho Grande.
Howie was a rock!!
Buddy came to pieces?? 😜
Its a Navy fighter pilot.
Pussies. Talented. But Pussies.
Who cares?
Oh FFS. Really?
Navy fighter pilots are “talented pussies”?
You actually posted that here at TAH?
The TDS is strong in this one.
We think you forgot someone…
😉😎
Let us not forget this Dude..
“Do you know who I am?”
Bomber Jacket = Flying = Using Jet Fuel = Save The Planet…
Top Gun Is Bad For The Environment.
*sarc*
🤭
Lurch is wearing the Navy G-1 flight jacket. I bought one at the Navy Exchange at the Boston Navy Yard Exchange for about fifty bucks back in 1972. They are made out of goatskin. Anybody can buy the repo ones. Except the issue ones have USN stamped in pinholes in the wind-flap. Needless to say, one can’t buy one for fifty bucks anymore, even at the exchange.
Slick Willie is wearing the Air Force version. The original WWII ones were made out of horsehide.
Claw can likely give us the FSN for both.
Of course there will be a different FSN for each size, but here’s a start point:
8415-286-7802 Navy G-1 Flight Jacket Size 46R
John Fonda-Kerry actually spent about four months longer in Vietnam than Richard Blumenthal.
Really sick of that douche. Everyone in CT needs to get to the polls even if they think it doesn’t matter. If you are from CT and don’t vote please don’t complain, you’re just an asshole if you do.
And I spent eleven months longer in Vietnam than Lurch.
🕶🎶
Here ’tis.
*grin*
Whaaatttt????
*chokes on coffee*
KoB: We think we FINALLY persuaded our beloved AW1Ed to walk away from the Dark Side this coming December…Miracles Do Happen..God Does Answer Prayers😉😎
Now we need to brainwash Mick…
gabn/gabaf/hbtd/rtr
Patience, Grasshopper. That IS NOT our Beloved AW1Ed…that is his evil twin that hijacked his ‘putor. We will NOT turn him from the Dark Side…even with the offer of Cheese Grits with Shrimps and bacon, Grilled Crabcakes, or the offer to be the Technical Advisor for the Top Gun III Motion Picture. Brainwash Mick? Marines have brains? Wow, who knew? 😜
gabn/gabaf/rtr/hbtd
In TG-III, Maverick has retired and finally gotten “the cut”. She is living in Coronado with Kaitlyn Jenner writing Power Point slides as a contractor for the Navy SEAL inclusion program to put the first TG person through BUDS.
They call Mav out of her retirement to lead a spirited defense of an unnamed island off the coast of China from an unnamed super power.
This thing practically writes itself…
All the boxes are checked on this project. I’m sure it will get green-lighted.
Whaaaat??? Did ol’ Poe fool around and miss the opening of squid season? 😝
Open season year round ol’ Poe. Check the DA Form 6. Only restriction is you can’t get ’em over baited fields…you know…like beach volley ball courts, karoke bars, Ladies Rooms, movie houses showing Navy Documentaries… 😇
I forgot who shared this (SFC D? Sappy?) but since no one asked, HERE YA GO!
Roh-Dog:
It was our beloved Chipster.
😁
I’ll add that data to my file’s info.
Thanks much, ninj!
Hoo-Aahh, Roh-Dog!!!
Thank You for posting that funny meme…It never gets old!!
😆😅🤣
I cannot take credit for this cinematic masterpiece.
::shakes head in wonder::
Are we sure our beloved AW1Ed didn’t get hacked with his new computer?
😆😅🤣😂😆😅🤣😂😆😅🤣😂
So DeSantis served. I did not know that until today.
Cool.
I used to wear my dads leather flight jacket that he wore on
B-17 missions as a gunner togglier.
Wore it on Halloween a few times as a kid. Got lots of candy.
Don’t let the Navy guys see you wearing it or they will be calling Don Shipley on you.
I used to fly a fighter jet. I often had my afterburners kick in just as I exhausted all my machine gun rounds. Then…
… I ran out of quarters.
Maybe these idjits would rather have a Navy “veteran” candidate that led the fight by snorting coke offen hookers’ bodies?
UH OH, I own a pair of Randolph sun glasses. Should I shit can the glasses in the circular file or give them the float test behind my house in the sump/lake that used to be the 2nd hole on the defunct Delray Marina Golf course, now homes.
Kenny Loggins, age 74, performing “Danger Zone” in 2021.
Not a joke.
3 minutes.
“KENNY LOGGINS – “Danger Zone” | Exclusive Acoustic Performance (Live at The Church Studio, 2021)”
Apparently, “Naval Aviator”, Ken Harbaugh doesn’t care for Gov. DeSantis. Time to put my shades on.
“Ken Harbaugh is a former United States Navy pilot and nonprofit executive. Harbaugh was the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives representing Ohio’s 7th congressional district in the 2018 election.”
Born in 1973. Attended Duke and Yale. Third Generation Fighter Pilot.
Served in the US Navy from 1996-2005.
Was an Electronic Warfare Mission Commander and a Combat Reconnaissance Crew Mission Commander.
Wrote this article in 2015 (we previously shared this article because we thought it was interesting) criticizing what he regards as a lax VA disability compensation program:
“The Risk of Over-Thanking Our Veterans
By Ken Harbaugh”
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/opinion/the-risk-of-over-thanking-our-veterans.html
*Continue*
Navy OCS Graduate (Top Graduate).
OEF Veteran. OPERATION SOUTHERN WATCH.
LT (O3).
Some of his awards. Navy Commendation Medal. Navy Achievement Medal (2). NDSM. AFEM. GWOT Service and Expeditionary.
Wow, an Ossifer and he didn’t get himself a BSM for his overseas “attaboy”, likely a Major Moonbat variety of Ossifer?
😆😁😅🤣😂😁😆😅🤣😂
As others pointed out, he does not understand “Parody”.
Wonder if he ever saw “Blazing Saddles”, “Young Frankenstein”, “Space Balls”, “Airplane!” “Hot Shots” “Hot Shots Deux” or even “Stripes”?
Probably has every one of ’em taped.
In his Drama Collection… 🙄
Typical ‘skull & bones’-type douchebaggery from a well-connected thug.
Right now I’m doing a little digging on his LLC and the co-allined ‘charities’. Oddly enough my computer froze up….
If I find some sauce about what he and his brother are up to I’ll drop some links.
Getting that “likes to dress up like a clown for children’s parties” vibe.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏
Dude probably has no clue who Mel Brooks is…and was way too young when SNL premiered in 1975.
Most likely, he would get his feelings hurt if we walked up to him and whispered “gabn”…😆
I dug around, nothing concrete but it all seems very sus. Dude likes to play with horses and there is a ‘Motor Cycle Club’ involved in the same sphere…
That’s all I gotta say about that.
I’m trying to get access to the TX Criminal Records without registering with the website.
“…nonprofit executive.”
Usually means a parasite who is not required to be competent enough to make a profit or produce anything useful.
My thoughts exactly. With millions of dollars it ain’t hard to make a couple e vap or ate
Like our friend Mikey Weinstein?
This guy Harbaugh plays right into the stereotype of pilots as prima donnas. He needs to get a sense of humor. As we used to say when I was a kid, “Fuck you if you can’t take a joke”.
PS
I’ll bet his call sign was ‘hairball’.
Check Out His Jacket…
😉😎
Standard issue Navy G-1.
You NAILED IT, timactual!!
It doesn’t qualify as Stolen Valor. It’s kind of like those guys who wear camo jackets or pants that still have markings or patches on them. They’re not trying to pretend to be vets, they’re just wearing clothes, and if they’re not trying to gain anything by wearing those things, then no harm, no foul.
In the case of Ron DeSantis I was fully aware that the commercial was making a point, and not trying to say he was a fighter pilot. Why is that? BECAUSE I HAVE A BRAIN!
In fact, it wasn’t until I read this story that I even knew he had been an officer in the Navy.
So, this “offended” pilot can pack up his panties and punch out like Goose.
So……Chelsea Steiner et al are ok with Twerpy Tommy portraying a fighter pilot in a movie, but NOT ok with Gov DeSantis making a political ad parody? (which I found extremely entertaining and edifying, BTW.
Ok, got it. Ignore two douches with twisted panties.
Well, this is interesting. Roh-Dog: What do you think? From 2018:
“Democratic Congressional Candidate Ken Harbaugh Pays Thousands In Taxes Over Residency Issue”
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2018/09/democratic_congressional_candi.html
“Ohio Democratic congressional candidate Ken Harbaugh wrote a check on Monday, his campaign said, after Republican political operatives questioned a property tax break he’d received on a house he owns in Connecticut.”
“At issue was a property tax deduction Harbaugh had received on the house for years through a Connecticut state program for military veterans. Harbaugh, a formal U.S. Navy pilot, had been eligible for the tax break when he bought the house in 2005.”
*Continue*
“But he and his wife, Annmarie, left Connecticut in 2009, when they moved to Chagrin Falls. They continue to own the house, which they now rent out. They forgot about the tax break and failed to update it after they moved out to reflect they no longer lived there, his campaign said.”
“Harbaugh, who is challenging Republican Rep. Bob Gibbs, wrote a $3,800 check to the Hamden, Connecticut, city government after his campaign said he learned of the issue from a digital campaign attacking him a few days prior.”
“Harbaugh said in an email that unlike Gibbs, who is wealthy, Harbaugh and his family are middle-class.”
*More Info At The Link”
I saw that. It could’ve been an oversight. These Grand List exclusions in CT are applied and will not be taken off unless you go to the town hall to take them off your former residence.
Does it show up on the bill? Yep, but without knowing the law I could excuse the oops.
Still, he probably should’ve known.
Anyone else notice the “colors” he has in the upper left of this video with the carved rhinoceros?
Have to wonder if he gobbled down that “bag” he was offered up thread.