Ron DeSantis Blames Donald Trump for Satanic Altar Erected Inside Iowa’s State Capitol: 'They Recognized It as a Religion!'
Ron DeSantis blamed Donald Trump for the controversial Satanic altar recently erected inside Iowa’s State Capitol building.
Ron DeSantis blamed Donald Trump for the controversial Satanic altar recently erected inside Iowa’s State Capitol building, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The Florida governor and GOP primary candidate’s scathing remarks against Trump came on Tuesday during a town hall event hosted by CNN.
CNN's Jake Tapper asked DeSantis whether the Satanic altar should remain inside Iowa’s Capitol building during a town hall event on Tuesday.
Network host Jake Tapper, who moderated the town hall event, asked DeSantis whether the Satanic altar should remain inside Iowa’s Capitol building – at which point DeSantis slammed the Trump Administration for recognizing the Satanic Temple as a religion back in 2019.
“So, it’s interesting, I heard this and then I was like, well how did it get there?” the Florida governor said. “Is that even a religion? And lo and behold, the Trump Administration gave them approval to be under the IRS as a religion.”
“So that gave them the legal ability to potentially do it,” DeSantis continued. “So, I don’t know what the legislature – what they, how they analyzed it, but it very well may be because of that ruling under Donald Trump that they may have had a legal leg to stand on.”
According to DeSantis, he would not have recognized the Satanic Temple as a religion if he were president.
DeSantis and Nikki Haley battled it out on the stage of the fifth GOP primary debate in Des Moines on Wednesday night.
“My view would be that’s not a religion that the founding fathers were trying to create, but I do think that IRS ruling – I was really surprised to see that they did that,” he told Tapper.
“I don’t think that was the right decision,” the GOP primary candidate added. “We’re going to recognize Satan as a religion? That’s wrong.”
Meanwhile, DeSantis was forced to circle back to Tapper’s original question – which was whether the Satanic altar should remain inside Iowa’s State Capitol building.
DeSantis appeared to skirt the question, although he suggested removing the altar from the building even if it resulted in a lawsuit against Iowa under the First Amendment due to freedom of religion.
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The Trump Administration recognized the Satanic Temple as a religion in 2019.
“I think if they are going to get sued on it, I think you fight that fight, but think it may be – and I don’t know how the legislature analyzed – it very well may be because of that ruling they feel that they may lose,” he responded.
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“So I don’t know what they did to do it,” DeSantis added. “But yeah. In Florida, I don’t think we probably would have had it up.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, DeSantis and Trump have butted heads numerous times amid the ongoing GOP primary race for the 2024 White House.
DeSantis claimed conservative media and 'Fox News people' are afraid to call out Trump.
While Trump remains the clear frontrunner in the GOP primary race with an average of more than 61 percentage points, DeSantis has managed to secure second place with an average of 12 percentage points.
GOP primary challenger Nikki Haley is reportedly closing the gap between herself and DeSantis in the polls with less than one month to go before the Iowa caucuses on January 15.
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