Ron DeSantis High Heels Conspiracy Theory

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About

Ron DeSantis High Heels Conspiracy Theory refers to speculation that Florida Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis purposefully wears shoes with tall heels or height-increasing insoles in order to make himself look taller and appeal to voters. Though initially these claims were brushed off as DeSantis wearing "cowboy boots," subsequent appearances by DeSantis, particularly an interview with Bill Maher, intensified scrutiny that DeSantis was purportedly wearing shoes or inserts to artificially increase his height.

Origin

On February 13th, 2023, Twitter user @PatDennis,^[1] a Democratic oppo researcher, posted several pictures of DeSantis in boots with elevated heels, writing, "Ron DeSantis consistently wears high-heeled boots in order to appear taller." The tweet gained over 400 retweets and 490 likes in nine months (shown below).

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The Pat Dennis tweet was initially brushed aside, as Fox News^[2] quoted several people who argued that he was simply wearing cowboy boots, not "high heels." However, the idea that DeSantis was artificially inflating his height with his shoes continued to persist online in the following weeks and months.

On February 23rd, 2023, Twitter user @RonFilipkowski^[3] tweeted an image of DeSantis (purported to be 5'9") appearing to be the same height as the 6'1" Tiger Woods, joking the governor "must have had a growth spurt," gaining over 400 retweets and 4,600 likes in eight and a half months (shown below).

More scrutiny came in the media over the following months. On March 7th, Slate^[4] joked about DeSantis wanting to appear taller, noting that no President has been shorter than 5'11" since Jimmy Carter. The piece recalled a 2022 Vanity Fair^[5] profile of DeSantis that said his wife Casey purchased cowboy boots to "help with his image."

On March 15th, Redditor Tara_is_a_Potato made a post to the /r/PoliticalHumor^[8] subreddit with an image and title referencing DeSantis at a children's table wearing high heels, inspiring numerous comments speculating on his potential use of boosting shoes or insoles to increase his height. The post received over 4,600 upvotes and 400 comments in 11 months.

Jokes about DeSantis's heels persisted occasionally throughout the year. On April 28th, Twitter user @sadmonsters^[6] posted a photo of DeSantis and quipped, "DeSantis’s heel-lifts are so high it looks like he’s being photographed mid-Rapture," gaining over 6,300 retweets and 70,000 likes in five months (shown below).

On September 30th, 2023, DeSantis then appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher. On October 3rd, Redditor beastmodeChadF posted a photo of DeSantis sitting, outlining where they believed his feet would be in his boots. The drawing made the heel look comically tall or suggested an insole, gaining over 57,000 points in /r/ThereWasAnAttempt^[7] in two days (seen below).