The latest issue with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not a new policy or something he’s said on the campaign trail — it’s whether he’s padding his staple boots to appear taller.
What started as posts on social media calling attention to the Republican’s oddly shaped boots has gained traction. In a Politico report Tuesday, three expert shoemakers weighed in on what they think about the governor’s boots, and all three said he is probably wearing height boosters.
“[Mr. DeSantis] is wearing lifts; there’s no doubt,” Zephan Parker, a bespoke bootmaker who owns Parker Boot Company, told Politico.
Mr. Parker, along with the two other experts, noted different features of the boots, such as the heels, the instep and where his toes seem to be, all pointing to him probably having 1.5” height lifts inside.
The GOP candidate hopeful has downplayed the questions, but while appearing on businessman Patrick Bet-David’s PBD podcast earlier this week, he said he hadn’t seen the jokes about his shoes and denied that his boots have heels.
“Those are just standard, off-the-rack Lucchese,” he said after Mr. Bet-David showed him a viral TikTok video that suggested his boots have heel inserts.
When asked how tall he is, Mr. DeSantis said he is 5’11”.
When the podcast host asked why he doesn’t wear dress shoes or tennis shoes, Mr. DeSantis replied, “I do wear tennis shoes when I work out, yeah, 100%.”
A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis also denied the claims to Politico, and called the report a “hit piece.”
Nevertheless, the denials have not stopped the public and politicians alike from running with the idea.
Former Ambassador to the U.N. and fellow GOP candidate Nikki Haley said she wants to see whether Mr. DeSantis “can run in them.”
While guest hosting “The Daily Show” Wednesday night, Charlamagne Tha God asked Ms. Haley if she would be “wearing higher heels than Ron DeSantis” to the third GOP debate next week so she could “look taller than him on stage.”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to figure that out,” Ms. Haley said. “I can tell you I’ve always talked about my high heels. I’ve never hid that from anybody,” she said.
“I’ve always said, don’t wear them if you can’t run in them,” she said. “So we’ll see if he can run in them.”
In a press release sent out by the Trump campaign Tuesday, his spokesperson said that Mr. DeSantis has resorted to “borderline psychotic behavior by lying to the American people” about his boots.
“Is that what his country wants in a President?” the release said.
The Washington Times has reached out to the DeSantis campaign.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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