Like just about everything else, the recent hurricanes that have hit the southeastern United States have been fertile ground for presidential politicking.
Florida has experienced three hurricanes since August: Hurricane Debby in August, Hurricane Helene in September and Hurricane Milton in October.
One of them, Helene, left a wide path of destruction, with western North Carolina being particularly hard hit by what was left of the storm after it traveled up from Florida.
During all of them, the Sunshine State’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has been at the helm, making sure his state was well prepared and also making sure to keep its residents informed and up to date before and after they hit.
DeSantis, along with Florida Division of Emergency Management director Kevin Guthrie, “are a well-oiled machine” when it comes to these things, as acknowledged by Weather Channel storm-reporting legend Jim Cantore during a broadcast amid Hurricane Milton’s arrival on the Florida coast.
So with all of that in mind, it was rather perplexing and yet predictable to see the mainstream media launch a hurricane-related hit piece in DeSantis’ direction just a few days before Milton made landfall.
In the anonymously sourced story, NBC News claimed without evidence that DeSantis “refused” to take Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ call after Helene hit the state in late September.
They reported that an aide supposedly told them, “Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer.”
My first thought when I read this story was, “Why would Kamala Harris be trying to connect with DeSantis over these storms?” Vice presidents have little to nothing to do with hurricane preparations/relief efforts, as it is the president who is typically involved in getting the ball rolling as far as federal help goes.
This was confirmed by DeSantis himself, who, when first asked about it, said he wasn’t aware she had even tried to call him. Further, in another interview, he noted how Harris had never reached out to him before or after prior storms that his state faced, and was doing so now only because she was running for president.
In response to the report, Harris predictably took the bait, proclaiming that “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.”
Except it’s Harris who has been “playing political games” and acting “selfish,” not DeSantis.
You don’t even have to be a DeSantis fan to know that when storms are headed to Florida, he’s the guy you want in your corner.
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 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 move forward.
That he would be called “selfish” by someone like Harris, who desperately wants voters to view her as presidential material, is pretty rich.
Fortunately, the attacks have backfired, as Joe Biden himself has repeatedly praised DeSantis’ leadership and has said how “gracious” DeSantis has been when they’ve talked.
When Americans take to the polls next month, one of many things they should take into consideration is that Harris chose to politicize Hurricane Milton by attacking DeSantis some 48 hours before the storm, which had been predicted to be devastating, began lashing Florida.
DeSantis was prioritizing his state and its residents. Harris was prioritizing herself and her presidential campaign. Think about it.
North Carolina native Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym Sister Toldjah and is a media analyst and regular contributor to RedState and Legal Insurrection.
