NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: On August 21, ‘Morning Joe’ welcome former United States representative and GOP candidate, Will Hurd. Host Mika Brzezinski questioned Hurd about fellow GOP candidate and Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.

As reported by ‘Morning Joe,’ The Hill, and other sources, in Atlanta, DeSantis promised to “leave suspected drug traffickers “stone-cold dead” at the US southern border.” This statement was reiterated on ‘Morning Joe’ as Hurd was asked his thoughts about the same.

As MSNBC posted a clip of this conversation on YouTube and shared it on X (formerly Twitter) as well, the internet slammed and mocked DeSantis for the same.

Ron DeSantis' statement addressed on ‘Morning Joe’

Mika Brzezinski asked Will Hurd, “Congressman, I want to ask you about some of the rhetoric being used here. Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is vowing to leave suspected drug smugglers, quote, stone cold dead, at the southern border if he is elected president.”

‘Morning Joe’ then played a clip of DeSantis’ statement in Atlanta, after which co-host Joe Scarborough compared DeSantis to Donald Trump, “So, this sounds like Donald Trump talking about shooting people in the legs outside the White House, or down at the border, what’s your response?”

Will Hurd responded to Scarborough and said, “The Ron DeSantis campaign is circling the drain, and he is trying to talk tough, to try and be a clone of Donald Trump. And people that talk tough is usually because they don’t have experience.”

In addition to the conversation with Hurd, ‘Morning Joe’ also tweeted, “DeSantis: I'll leave drug smugglers 'stone cold dead at the border'”

Internet responds to Ron DeSantis’ statement

Several people have pointed out that a lot of the “drug smugglers” that Ron DeSantis has mentioned are Americans. One person wrote, 85% of the drug smugglers are Americans. (From watching a hearing on the border crisis. Said by a border patrol agent; it’s on tape).

Another person also tweeted, writing, “Most of them are American Citizens!” The internet has relentlessly mocked DeSantis over this particular statement he made in Atlanta as one person wrote, “As he gets more desperate this’ll evolve into a “let god sort ‘em out” policy.”

A fourth person wrote, “Yeah, this is a guy who’s afraid of books and a mouse. I’m sure drug smugglers would quake with the image of Ronnie White Boots threatening them."

Some have also labeled it “murder” as one person questioned in their response, “Wouldn't that be murder?” while others pointed out that saying “odd things” has become a habit for DeSantis, declaring, “He has a habit of saying odd things. Like he’s going to start “slitting throats” when he becomes President. Not normal.”