- Ron DeSantis ended his GOP presidential campaign with a Winston Churchill quote.
- But the quote appears to be fake.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ended his campaign for the Republican 2024 nomination with a quote he claimed was by the late UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Only, it appears to be fake.
On Sunday, DeSantis posted a five-minute video on X alongside the quote: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."
But according to the International Churchill Society and Churchill scholars, there is no evidence that Churchill said those words.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 21, 2024
- Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/ECoR8YeiMm
"We base this on careful research in the canon of 50 million words by and about Churchill, including all of his books, articles, speeches, and papers," said the society, in response to late US Sen. Max Cleland falsely attributing the quote to Churchill in 2013.
Inspirational fake quotes by famous people are widespread, with so-called "zombie claims" continuing to be shared online years after they're debunked, the Poynter Institute said.
Literary scholar and quote researcher Gerald Krieghofer told Deutsche Welle in 2021 that people often cite quotes to appear sophisticated, and they are often misattributed to famous people to give them more authority.
"What's new these days are photos with quotes on the internet. And I bet you half of them are falsely attributed," Krieghofer told the outlet.
Ron DeSantis was once considered among the frontrunners for the presidency in 2024, but his campaign failed to live up to its promise.
Among its problems, critics said, was that it was "too online", or influenced by fringe internet trends.
He ended his campaign ahead of the GOP New Hampshire primary after polls showed him trailing his rivals.