As RedState reported earlier, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press briefing on Monday to discuss the state’s preparations for Hurricane Milton, which is projected to hit the Sunshine State Wednesday night as a devastating Category 3 storm.
Understandably, DeSantis wanted to provide assurances to residents that the state was doing everything it could ahead of the storm. Unfortunately, one of the so-called reporters decided to play politics during the briefing by pressing DeSantis over an anonymously sourced NBC News story that alleged he refused to take a call from Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris after Hurricane Helene hit.
“Some of these questions are just trying to create some sort of political angle,” DeSantis stated as he shut down the journalist’s line of questioning. “I understand that’s the business model [for your news organization], but I don’t want to talk about politics.”
READ MORE: Ron DeSantis Responds Accordingly After Reporter Plays Politics During Hurricane Milton Briefing
But at the end of the day, the media is always going to do media things, which is exactly what happened when they brought the latest DeSantis “scandal” to Harris herself.
Harris, as RedState readers will recall, has notoriously largely avoided taking questions on the tarmac (or anywhere else for that matter) since becoming the nominee. But she pounced and seized on this one, accusing DeSantis of playing politics and saying this was not the time:
“Moments of crisis, if nothing else, should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader says they’re going to put politics aside and put the people first. People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it’s just utterly irresponsible and it is selfish.”
Watch:
VP Kamala Harris responds to @NBCNews reporting that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is refusing to take her call on Hurricane Helene:
“Playing political games with this moment … is just utterly irresponsible and it is selfish.” https://t.co/Cr3NXing2g pic.twitter.com/0XtfEItg5z
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) October 7, 2024
Kinda fascinating that in accusing DeSantis, without evidence, of “playing politics” that playing politics is exactly what she herself is doing by attacking him ahead of a potentially deadly storm?
Obviously, DeSantis has a lot on his plate right now so as he indicated earlier, he’s not going to engage in a public war of words with the vice president (nor the media) on the irrelevant matter of phone calls. As he indicated in the briefing, he’s been engaged directly with FEMA who have not denied any of his requests, regardless of missing alleged calls from Joe Biden and Harris.
But if he did want to air this out in public, I imagine he might bring up the fact that it is Harris herself who has shown a cruel insensitivity to the suffering of the people in the southeastern states hardest hit by Helene, first by jetting off to ritzy campaign fundraisers the very weekend the storm wreaked havoc. Then, some 48 hours after the catastrophic storm hit, she tweeted out a clearly staged photo pretending that she was being “briefed by FEMA” while the paper she was “writing” on appeared blank and her phone headset wasn’t plugged into her phone.
Further, there was also the little issue of Harris sitting down last Tuesday for a campaign-related “interview” with a sex podcaster for the “Call Her Daddy” show, something she prioritized ahead of visiting storm-ravaged states like Georgia and North Carolina.
There is absolutely shameless and then there is Kamala Harris, who wouldn’t have a shred of shame even if it made a million-dollar donation to her campaign.
The fact of the matter is that when it comes to natural disasters, there is no one you can count on more than DeSantis to take charge and make things happen, which is what he’s done countless times before, during, and after storms have hit his state.
He’s inarguably one of the most visible governors in the aftermath of these weather events and is unquestionably one of the most active state leaders in this country in getting what is needed from the feds while cutting through the red tape at the state level to get things running again and to get people the things they need to recover and move forward. I think this is something even most of his ardent critics would (begrudingly) agree with.
Contrast that to how Kamala Harris has handled things like the border crisis during her time in office. She’s been a miserable failure, and then some. I could be wrong here, but when it comes to what leadership in a time of crisis looks like, I suspect most Florida residents would choose DeSantis any day over the vapid ramblings of the woman who had the presidential nomination handed to her rather than winning it (earning it) the old fashioned way, which is through hard work, something about which Harris knows precious little.
RELATED–>> ‘Full Biden Mode’: Reporters Detail Troubling Tactic From Kamala Harris Post-Border Visit, Helene
