Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wants to be president so damn badly! How badly? Enough so that he’s willing to let thousands of Floridians die of COVID-19 while he pretends that everything is just fine in the Sunshine State. He insists mask mandates won’t be allowed on his watch, no matter how many children and senior citizens wind up on ventilators and die in complete isolation, unable to see their families as they take their last, labored breath.
So it should come as no surprise that DeSantis would snipe at the current resident of the White House, President Joe Biden, simply because Biden made this remark on Wednesday while discussing the rise in COVID cases being seen in the states of Florida and Texas:
“I say to these governors: Please help. But if you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way. The people are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives.”
Biden is trying to save lives, even in Republican-controlled states, because he’s doing what he promised he’d do when he was running in 2020: Be a president for all Americans.
How did DeSantis react to Biden’s remarks? Like a spoiled child. Like a man who cannot accept constructive criticism. We’ve had a president like that, and his name was Donald Trump. He’s one of the main reasons we’re in the fix we see before us right now as it pertains to the coronavirus.
DeSantis told reporters this while he was visiting Panama City and was asked about what the president had said:
“Why don’t you do your job. Why don’t you get this border secured, and until you do that I don’t want to hear a blip about Covid from you.”
Shortly after DeSantis made that snippy soundbite, he was also using it to try and raise money for his reelection efforts in 2022, sending out a blast email in which he pretended to be a tough guy:
“Joe Biden has the nerve to tell me to get out of the way on COVID while he lets COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands. No elected official is doing more to enable the transmission of COVID in America than Joe Biden with his open borders policies.”
The governor wants us to believe the reason COVID is spreading is because of immigrants coming into the United States, though he has never presented a scintilla of evidence to support his allegation. He’s bullshitting. He’s lying. He’s using hatred and fear of “the other” to try and cover up his own heartlessness and incompetence.
Or, to put it another way, Ron DeSantis is pulling a Trump.
But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had the perfect response to Gov. DeSantis, telling reporters at Thursday’s daily press briefing:
“25% of hospitalizations in the country are in Florida.
“It is also a fact that the governor has taken steps that are counter to public health recommendations. So, we’re here to state the facts. Frankly, our view is that this is too serious, deadly serious to be doing partisan name calling. That’s what we’re not doing here, we’re focused on providing public health data information to the people of Florida, to make sure they understand what steps they should be taking, even if those are not steps taken at the top of the leadership in that state.”
That’s how you deal with an empty suit, wannabe tough guy like Ron DeSantis. The governor should be ashamed of himself. But to feel shame, you have to possess a conscience. Clearly, DeSantis has no conscience. Just hubris, bluster, and bile.