Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ® said he would support the legal fund of a man who is accused of vandalizing a display by The Satanic Temple inside the Iowa Capitol on Thursday.
Michael Cassidy was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief for knocking over and destroying a statue erected by the temple inside the capitol, The Des Moines Register first reported.
“Satan has no place in our society and should not be recognized as a ‘religion’ by the federal government,” DeSantis said on X, formerly Twitter. “I’ll chip in to contribute to this veteran’s legal defense fund. Good prevails over evil — that’s the American spirit.”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ron DeSantis ® said he would support the legal fund of a man who is accused of vandalizing a display by The Satanic Temple inside the Iowa Capitol on Thursday.
Michael Cassidy was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief for knocking over and destroying a statue erected by the temple inside the capitol, The Des Moines Register first reported.
It consisted of a figure of the demon Baphomet with a bejeweled goat head alongside prayer candles.
“We don’t want to yield some kind of power to the government to begin picking and choosing between religious groups,” Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves said in a CNN interview Thursday.
Cassidy’s legal defense fund raised more than $20,000 in just its first few hours, Newsweek reported, including $10,000 from conservative activist group Turning Point USA.
Cassidy previously ran for a Mississippi congressional seat in 2022, losing to Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.)
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