Andrew Gillum Staffer Hurls Chocolate Milk At College Republicans, Calls Them ‘Nazis,’ Is Arrested
As the midterm elections inch ever closer, it would appear that some partisans are having some difficulty in maintaining their belief in the political axiom that states “cooler heads prevail.”
One such political operative — Shelby Shoup, an intern with Andrew Gillum’s campaign — recently lost her cool, as Fox News details. During a videotaped exchange that took place on campus at Florida State University, Shoup can be seen becoming increasingly agitated by the presence of several members belonging to the local College Republicans branch.
“You’re supporting nazi’s, do you understand that?” Shoup levies accusations at the Republican activists. “And you’re supporting communism?” one right-leaning respondent replies.
“Yeah, I f****** am,” Shoup responds — to which her counterparts retort, “They’ve [communists] killed way more people, dude.”
When another College Republican tells Shoup not to throw her coffee on him, she immediately responds by doing so, emptying most of the bottle on him, and defiantly declaring, “F*** you, I will!”
The coffee in question is later identified as chocolate milk.
The clip goes on to illustrate a heated debate between Shoup and her political adversaries over the definition of fascism and nazism — with Shoup maintaining that the focus should remain on the “national” part of National Socialist while her counterparts contend that the latter word is more indicative of the ideology in toto. Shoup, visibly upset, strings a variety of expletives along with her arguments as her impromptu debate opponents bait her further.
FSU is a diverse community that values and respects each person. FSU expects each member of the community to embrace the values of civility and ethical conduct and obey the law. Regarding Tuesday's incident, the individual was identified, arrested and charged with battery.
— Florida State University (@FloridaState) November 2, 2018
According to a tweet made by Florida State University in the aftermath of the exchange, it appears that Shoup was arrested and will face charges of battery for her conduct. The Andrew Gillum campaign has allegedly not returned a request from Fox News for comment.
Tensions are high leading into the race between Gillum and the Republican candidate in the Florida gubernatorial race, Ron DeSantis. Florida Politics indicates that the current polling shows Gillum with a two-point lead over his Republican opponent, leading the race by a 48 percent to 46 percent tally. Given that the margin of error for this latest round of state polling rests at approximately two percent, the contest remains a statistical tie.
Florida has long been considered to be a battleground state, with Trump having eked out a victory over Clinton in 2016 in the Sunshine State with 48.6 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 47.4 percent. Whether or not the immense amount of rallying that both Trump and his Democratic counterparts on the other side of the partisan divide — namely Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey — will have an effect on statewide races remains to be seen.
The midterm elections take place on Tuesday, November 6.
