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Ron DeSantis during his retirement speech
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Ron Desantis Campaign / REUTERS
The quote sounds wonderful, but it doesn't come from a great statesman: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis chose a quote incorrectly attributed to Winston Churchill when announcing his withdrawal from the Republican presidential nomination.
»Success is not final.
Failure is not fatal.
It's the courage to carry on that counts," was the title of a four-and-a-half-minute video speech that he posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Next to it was the name of the alleged source of the quote, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
At the end of the speech, DeSantis took the alleged quote himself and blamed it on Churchill there too.
However, Churchill never said anything comparable: this is reported by several US media outlets with reference to the website of the International Churchill Society.
The words used by DeSantis appear on a list of quotes falsely attributed to the British statesman.
There are also other well-known sayings that Churchill probably never actually said, such as: "If you're not a liberal at 25, you have no heart."
If you're not a conservative at 35, you don't have a brain." Regarding the quote used by DeSantis, it is said that it is often attributed to Churchill, but is nowhere to be found in his canon.
A statement from DeSantis' spokesman was not immediately available, as the Reuters news agency reported.
In the video with the apparently false quote, Florida's governor announced his withdrawal from the presidential bid and declared his support for Donald Trump.
Only Nikki Haley can theoretically challenge the former US President's candidacy.
sol/Reuters