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‘That’s nonsense, stop politicizing!’ DeSantis blasts agenda-driven reporter over ‘lax response’ to storm

September 28, 2022 | | Print Article

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis put the verbal smackdown on a reporter Tuesday whom he believed was trying to politicize his state’s emergency preparedness as Hurricane Ian is set to make landfall on the western peninsula.

“FEMA Administrator [Deanne] Criswell said today that she acknowledged concerns that Florida [inaudible] lax response to the storm so far and that–” the reporter began.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Give me a break,” DeSantis interjected. “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 argued.

“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.”

The reporter’s attempt to besmirch DeSantis followed an earlier White House press briefing in which FEMA chief Deanne Criswell evaded questions concerning why President Joe Biden had not contacted the governor as the state prepares for the potentially catastrophic hurricane. Biden has, however, contacted several mayors in the state, and his disdain for the Florida governor isn’t exactly a mystery.

So much for a unifying leader.

For his part, DeSantis seemed unbothered by the snubbing and was instead pleased with the response from FEMA, especially since the state requested an emergency declaration well in advance of typical hurricane emergency declarations in comparison.

“So I have not personally spoken with the president, but FEMA has approved our pre-landfall request,” DeSantis said.

“We feel like we have a good relationship with FEMA,” he continued. “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,” DeSantis concluded. “But we are — we do appreciate the quick approval of the pre-landfall declaration.”

The president finally spoke with DeSantis on Tuesday night.

At the time of this writing, Hurricane Ian has achieved Category 4 status with wind speeds just shy of Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The National Hurricane Center has warned the tropical cyclone is “an extremely dangerous major hurricane.”

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Frank Webster
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