Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris traded verbal jabs on Monday, accusing each other of playing “political games” as the Sunshine State braces for the impact of Hurricane Milton. With the Category 4 storm expected to make landfall by Wednesday night, Harris claims that DeSantis is “selfishly” rejecting her calls, while DeSantis insists that Harris is only injecting herself into Florida’s hurricane preparations to bolster her campaign.
According to an NBC News report citing unnamed aides within the governor’s administration, DeSantis has dodged several calls from Harris since Hurricane Helene swept through northern Florida nearly two weeks ago. The aide claims that “Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” as the calls “seemed political” in nature.
“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,” Harris remarked to reporters in New York. “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.”
.@VP Harris on FL Gov. DeSantis: "Moments of crisis…should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader, presidential politics aside, put the people first…playing political games at this moment…is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish…" pic.twitter.com/3PpQElZwy8
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 7, 2024
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But during a press conference that same day, DeSantis denied any knowledge of these phone calls
“I didn’t know that she had called,” he said. “I’m not sure who they called. They didn’t call me. Their characterization of it was something that they did. It wasn’t anything that anybody in my office did, in terms of saying it was political.”
Later, DeSantis appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” to fire back at the vice president, accusing her of reaching out with her own selfish motives and pointing out that she has never involved herself in storm preparations before.
“For Kamala Harris, to try to say that my sole focus on the people of Florida is somehow selfish is delusional,” he said. “She has no role in this. In fact she’s been vice president for three-and-a-half years, have dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts. So what I think is selfish – trying to blunder into this – know and here’s the thing – she has no role – know, she has no role in this process.”
He continued:
I’m in contact with the president of the United States. I’m in contact with FEMA director. I’m obviously managing a lower state agencies. We’re supporting our local government, and I will say this: I had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I work well with both of them.
She’s the first who is trying to politicize this storm and she is doing that just because of her campaign. She’s trying to get some type of an edge. She knows she is doing poorly. And so she is playing these political games. I don’t have time for political games. I’ve got people whose lives are on the line. I’ve got people whose homes and their possessions are on the line. And we are focused 100% on that mission. I’m not worried about playing her political games. She is being selfish by trying to blunder into this when we’re working just fine.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden confirmed that he had been in contact with DeSantis, completing the governor on his handling of the situation and establishing a direct line of communication.
Biden, responding to screaming reporters trying to get him to attack Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with false claims he’s being political about #Milton and not chatting with Vice President Harris:
“The Governor of Florida has been cooperative. He’s said he's gotten all that he… pic.twitter.com/0q5tUxZptQ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) October 8, 2024
More than 50 counties on the west coast of Florida have been placed under a state of emergency, with evacuation orders issued for Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Sarasota, St. Johns, and Volusia counties.
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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