Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blasted a reporter Thursday for her apparent desire, and that of the broader media, to attack President-elect Donald Trump and give blameworthy Democratic leaders a pass in their coverage of the Golden State’s devastating fires.
A day after holding a closed-door meeting in Washington, D.C., with Republican senators, Trump hosted a dinner for 22 of America’s 27 Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago, where he discussed various matters, including manufacturing concerns, the possible purchase of Greenland, the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, and the fires in California. Following the dinner, DeSantis and several of his peers fielded questions from the press.
One reporter asked whether it was “appropriate” for a president or president-elect to criticize Newsom at this time.
The reporter was apparently prickled by Trump’s commentary this week on Truth Social. In a post on Wednesday, the president-elect said, “Gavin Newscum and his Los Angeles crew have contained exactly ZERO percent of the fire. It is burning at levels that even surpass last night. This is not Government. I can’t wait till January 20th!”
In a subsequent post, Trump highlighted Newsom’s apparent culpability, writing:
Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid.
DeSantis, not buying the holier-than-thou setup, responded to the reporter, “Is it appropriate for people in your industry to try to create division and to try to create narratives any time these things happen?”
Liberal media outfits previously rushed to politicize Hurricane Milton in October, pestering DeSantis about taking phone calls from Kamala Harris while he was busy working with the White House, federal agencies, and his own people on relief efforts.
‘You also got to hold these other people accountable, and I have not seen that.’
“Now you’re not as interested in doing that because Newsom is a D,” continued DeSantis. “If Newsom was a Republican, you guys would go — you would have him nailed to the wall for what they’re doing over there. And I know we’ve dealt with it. We just assume in Florida, any time something happens, it’s gonna be politicized by the media. So you guys sitting in judgment of Donald Trump — I mean, excuse me, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad.”
The Florida governor emphasized that the media has a double standard when covering natural disasters, displacing blame when Democratic leaders are involved or even culpable and ascribing blame when a Republican is in charge.
“When I got elected governor, I was meeting with some of the other Republican governors, and what they would say is, ‘Hey, if you have a natural disaster, just know media is coming at you, they’re going to do it,'” said DeSantis. “It’s not the same. That mayor of L.A.? If that were a Republican mayor, I could only imagine what [the media] would do.”
As her city burned and the water supply proved insufficient to counter the flames, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) was taking in the sights in Ghana, Africa, as part of a U.S. delegation attending the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama.
Critics have called on Bass to resign, given that she previously called on Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) to resign after taking his family to Cancun while a severe winter storm hit his home state, writing, “Ted Cruz fleeing Texas in the middle of a deadly crisis is part of a larger pattern of the GOP abandoning folks in crisis. We need to build a movement to kick them all out.”
DeSantis added, “You know that the fires are at high risk and you try to go to Africa, or wherever she was, to go on some kind of voyage? Should have been there preparing and doing that, and yet I don’t see a lot of heat being directed in that thing. And so I’d just like to see some balance on how this is done. You could criticize the president-elect, but I think you also got to hold these other people accountable, and I have not seen that.”
ABC News noted that DeSantis further indicated that despite the media’s divisive spin, Trump will collaborate with all states, regardless of whether they are red or blue.
“I worked well with Biden during his time with natural disasters, and I worked well with Donald Trump,” said the governor. “So I’m very confident, as a state that knows — we face these — that a Trump administration is going to be very strong and going to be there for the people regardless of party.”
DeSantis indicated Wednesday that his state would provide support to California, stating, “When disaster strikes, we must come together to help our fellow Americans in any way we can. The state of Florida has offered help to assist the people of California in responding to these fires and in rebuilding communities that have been devastated.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Wildfires, Fires, California, Gavin newsom, Ron desantis, Donald trump, Desantis, Trump, Newsom, Florida, Governor, Media, Liberal media, Fake news, Politics