In something that seemed to undermine the Kamala Campaign’s talking point that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been putting politics ahead of preparedness in dealing with Hurricane Milton and recovery from Hurricane Helene, President Joe Biden praised Gov. DeSantis and said he has been doing his job well and working with the administration as he ought to do.
As background, the Kamala Campaign spoke to the media on Monday the 7th of October and claimed that Gov. DeSantis is, instead of doing his job ahead of Hurricane Milton, “playing political games” and refusing to speak to VP Harris on the phone about the hurricane, a claim that Gov. DeSantis strenuously denied in a press conference.
Speaking to reporters on Monday the 7th about Gov. DeSantis, Kamala claimed, “You know, 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.”
She continued, “And playing political games at this moment in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, is just utterly irresponsible and it is selfish.” She then added, “And it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”
President Joe Biden, however, claimed quite the opposite when giving his opinion on Tuesday, October 8. In fact, in his comments about the situation, he quite undercut the Kamala Campaign’s claims and instead said that Gov. DeSantis has done a superb job of working with the government to deal with the hurricane situation.
President Biden said, commenting on the job the Gov. DeSantis is doing alongside the federal government, “The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he’s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday, and I said – no – you’re doing a great job, it’s all being done well and we thank you for it.”
Continuing, Biden noted that all the governors have been cooperating with the federal government to get resources in place and respond to the devastating hurricanes. He said, “There was a rough start in some places, but every governor, every governor – from Florida to North Carolina – has been fully cooperative and supportive.” Watch him here:
President Biden also spoke about the hurricane and didn’t criticize Gov. DeSantis during a press conference about a different subject, jobs, on October 8. Introducing the matter, he said, “Before I begin, I want to say we’re prepared for another horrible hurricane to hit Florida. I’ve directed my team to do everything it can to save lives and help the communities before, during, and after this hurricane.”
Continuing, he said, “The most important message today for all those who may be listening to this in the impacted areas is listen to the local authorities, follow safety instruction, including evacuation orders. This is serious. And you got to be safe, because people are dying. People have died so far — not from this hurricane, but from the last one.”
Gov. DeSantis denied claims that he isn’t working with the government, saying, “No, I didn’t know she called me. I saw [the report], but I was not aware of that.” He added, “So Biden called me a couple days ago with Helene when I was on the helicopter. I didn’t have any issues. They had helped us with what we’ve done. I’m not aware that he’s tried to call since then. Certainly hasn’t called my phone so I don’t know quite where they’re getting that information.”
He then said that he is in touch with the authorities, saying, “At the same time we got the approvals that we need. If there’s something else that we need you know I’ll hop on the phone very quickly whether that’s a FEMA administrator or the president and we will press the case to be able to get approvals for what we need in Florida but we have gotten approvals for everything that we’ve asked for.” Watch him here:
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