Ron DeSantis' Beach Photo With His Wife Has Everyone Pointing Out a Bizarre Detail: "You Could Have..."

A 2015 campaign photo of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his wife, Casey resurfaced last year, sparking widespread ridicule on social media due to an unusual detail. The image, originally posted during DeSantis’s Senate campaign, shows the couple walking along a beach, but eagle-eyed netizens noticed that neither DeSantis nor his wife left footprints in the sand. 

The photo, shared on his X (formerly Twitter) account, was accompanied by a quote from Casey DeSantis, "As an Iraq veteran & current officer in the US Navy Reserve, Ron understands the needs of our vets.” Although intended to showcase the couple in a positive light, the lack of footprints quickly became a source of mockery when it was reposted in 2023 by a Flickr account called 'DeSantis for Senate'.

“Yeah, but can your candidate walk on the beach while leaving zero footprints behind?” one user joked. Another quipped, “Oh dear, here's a man of integrity, meatball Ron standing with his wife in a studio in front of a beach poster. Ron is so unwoke that he doesn't leave footprints. Literally.” Others mocked the quality of the photo itself. “This is the worst green screen job I’ve ever seen in my life. You live in Florida and couldn’t be bothered to take an actual photo on an actual beach? LOL,” one netizen remarked.

Another agreed, “Maybe if you were actually in Florida once in a while, you could have actually taken a picture on the beach instead of photoshopping yourselves there.” A third chimed in, “Your social media team needs some lessons in photoshopping. This is laughable.” The followers didn't stop at the comments. Many created memes and parodies of the image. Some photoshopped the couple's picture into unconventional settings, including Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, where DeSantis served as a Navy lawyer. One internet user placed them alongside the Statue of Liberty. 

Other versions included Nancy Sinatra, the green M&M, and Lt. Dangle from Super Troopers. This is not the first time DeSantis’s campaign has faced allegations of manipulating media. According to Raw Story, his team was previously criticized for using AI-generated images in campaign ads, including a fabricated image of President-elect Donald Trump appearing to hug Dr. Anthony Fauci. Criticism of the photo has also extended to DeSantis’s political opponents.

Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called him a 'plastic politician,' stating, “It’s just an example of another plastic politician who’s beholden to his donor masters that’s running around the country pretending like he’s governing in the State of Florida while actually, we all know he is running a Presidential campaign.” According to The Independent, his moves also provoked criticism from Trump, who has referred to his leading Republican rival as 'disloyal' for considering a presidential run.