DeSantis Blasts ‘Groveling’ CEOs After Elon Musk, Others Attend Event with China’s Xi Jinping

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, R, accused Americans CEOs of "groveling" to China's President Xi Jinping during a recent trip to the United States.

A number of business leaders, including Elon Musk and Tim Cook, were in attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation event that was part of the Chinese president's diplomatic trip to the U.S., which included meeting with President Joe Biden.

Biden referred to Jinping as a "dictator" following their meeting.

DeSantis accused leaders in attendance of "empowering" an adversary to the U.S.

"I look to see what’s going on, what went on in San Francisco the last couple days. You know, the city is in squalor, there's poop on the streets, there's people using drugs, people getting mugged, crime, all this stuff," DeSantis said in a video posted to X by his campaign. "But then Xi Jinping’s coming to town and what do they do? They get the poop off the sidewalk, they clear the homeless, they stop the drugs, they stop the crime."

He told American CEOs who offered applause for Jinping that they were "groveling."

"You got some of these American CEOs basically just groveling in front of this dictator. And that just shows you, even with where we are now, and China wants to have more power over our country," he said, "but how many people in this country bend the knee to the whims of the Chinese Communist Party. Those guys make money on Wall Street and stuff, but they're empowering an adversary at the expense of the well-being of the American people."

Relying on China as a trade a trade ally is a "big, big mistake," the 2024 GOP hopeful said.

Musk took to X on Thursday to post an image of himself shaking hands with Jinping.

"May there be prosperity for all," he wrote.