This past Tuesday evening, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) went off on a reporter for reportedly attempting to try and politicize the hurricane that at the time was making its way to the state, and is now ravaging its way across.
The question that kicked off the incident from the reporter took place just after the White House earlier that same day chose to dodge questions concerning just why Old Uncle Joe had not attempted to speak with Governor DeSantis despite having the time to call quite a few mayors from the state instead.
“FEMA Administrator [Deanne] Criswell said today that she acknowledged concerns that Florida [inaudible] lacks response to the storm so far and that–” started the reporter.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Give me a break,” DeSantis shot back quickly. “That is nonsense. Stop politicizing, okay? Stop it. We declared a state of emergency when this thing wasn’t even formed.”
“We’ve had people in here, you’ve had counties doing, they’ve done a lot of hard work and honestly, you’re trying to attack me, I get, but like you’re attacking these other people who’ve worked very hard,” he went on. “And so that’s just totally false. I don’t think we’ve ever, certainly since I’ve been governor, declared a state emergency this early. We made sure that we were very inclusive with it. We said that there was a lot of uncertainty and then we’ve worked to make sure the preparations that have been done and all the stuff, you talk to the people at the counties, when they’ve needed something, stuff gets there very quickly because of what Kevin and his team have done.”
WATCH:
The media can't help themselves – everything must be politicized. No opportunity to smear opponents is too low. This reporter misrepresented FEMA Director's words@RonDeSantisFL won't accept it. He'll always stand up for Florida & our world class emergency response professionals pic.twitter.com/Uemzm5vcPH
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 27, 2022
Governor DeSantis dismantles a false media narrative before it can take hold.
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/9zIDGJvB6p
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 28, 2022
DeSantis went after Biden via some of his statements for failing to even try and reach out much sooner despite reportedly having the time to speak with Mayor Jane Castor of Tampa, Mayor Ken Welch of St. Petersburg, and Mayor Frank Hibbard of Clearwater.
One reporter stepped up to ask the governor just how he would describe his conversations with Biden as the hurricane was making its way to the state.
“So I have not personally spoken with the president, but FEMA has approved our pre-landfall request,” stated DeSantis.
“We feel like we have a good relationship with FEMA,” he went on. “You know, I’m happy to brief the president if he’s interested in hearing what we’re doing in Florida, you know, my view on all this is like you got people’s lives at stake, you got their property at stake, and we don’t have time for pettiness. We got to work together to make sure we’re doing the best job for them.”
So, my phone — my phone line is open,” finished DeSantis. “But we are — we do appreciate the quick approval of the pre-landfall declaration.”
The statements from DeSantis took place just as the hurricane started to build up even more power while making its way through the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to make landfall as a category 4 hurricane.
A warning from the National Hurricane Center also came forth to state that Ian is “an extremely dangerous major hurricane.”