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No, I don’t care if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reveals as much as a catastrophe sporting white boots evocative of the go-go dancer footwear I adored in junior highschool, now bought on-line as a Halloween costume.
To make sure, knee-high boots over tight denims was a bizarre selection of apparel for a homophobic-talking man who has gone drag queen-hunting in Miami.
However, hey, at the least DeSantis’ cheesy Florida man trend sense, whereas on a Monday go to to DeSoto County, introduced a uncommon second of comedian aid to the devastation left alongside Hurricane Ian’s path.
We would have liked the LOLs and quickly-assembled memes on social media.
No, right here’s what I strongly object to: DeSantis’ ill-conceived selection of phrases — earlier than the hurricane made landfall and now throughout his day by day press conferences and photo-ops — which might be extra like a marketing campaign than they’re informational.
‘Freedom’ over security
After all, when it grew to become clear that the hurricane was headed to Florida, he suggested individuals in low-lying areas to evacuate.
However then, he couched the recommendation with politics. He emphasised that Floridians had the “freedom” to not evacuate, echoing his tradition wars and the “Maintain Florida Free” marketing campaign indicators individuals have on their lawns.
He wouldn’t, he stated, mandate something within the “free” state of Florida.
God is aware of what number of lives which will have price.
As of this writing, the loss of life toll attributed to Ian stood at 100 throughout 10 Florida counties, 54 of them in decimated Lee County and its barrier islands.
DeSantis’ penchant for politicizing a catastrophe when he must be the individuals’s protector — not the instigator of doubt for private profit — is as disgusting as when he did it through the pandemic, urging “freedom” over masks amid a surge in COVID circumstances that led the nation.
He sows defiance amongst individuals who look to him for management. He performed politics when he ought to have proven urgency. He performed the protagonist and did not ship a robust sufficient message to do the proper factor. He ought to have let the state’s prime emergency managers be the voice of authority.
Those that drank his Kool-Help might have paid with their lives.
And, how silly does he look now once we certain might use all these “unauthorized aliens” he demonized and shipped to Martha’s Winery to assist rebuild Southwest Florida?
Day by day, this tragedy, too, is one other installment of the DeSantis Each day Present, throughout which he offers little details about damages and lives misplaced.
Florida newspapers are asking legitimate questions on evacuation orders in Lee County, the place individuals got a scant 24 hours to flee earlier than Ian made landfall at 3:05 p.m. in Cayo Costa.
However as an alternative of holding himself and others in cost accountable, the governor resorts to his favourite pastime: bashing the media.
Please.
Hurricanes wobble and shift monitor — and this was a mammoth hurricane aiming proper at us for days. As I wrote in my column on Sanibel, when individuals had been leaving late Tuesday night time after securing their properties, ocean waters had been already rising into low-lying streets and the causeway.
And now we’re not presupposed to ask the governor main the operation or his surrogate native officers questions?
READ MORE: Devastated by Ian, Sanibel will rebuild and stay the island of our summer time goals | Opinion
DeSantis excursions the harm first, delivers the soundbite that there was “biblical storm surge” in beloved Sanibel, however doesn’t need to give particulars. He offers the “not now” excuse to keep away from answering legitimate questions — and conveniently criticizes the media for asking them.
As typical, it’s an indication that he’s hiding one thing and/or overlaying up for an ally. Finally, we’ll dig them up ourselves, as we did throughout COVID.
Main in disaster
There’s a giant distinction between main a state by a disaster and doing what DeSantis does finest: taking part in the cheerleader by paying lip service to the helpers and first responders — the straightforward stuff, and all of us ought to thank them profusely.
After which there’s the advantageous stuff: utilizing the hurricane to advertise himself.
If he weren’t on the marketing campaign path, he can be visiting DeSoto County to perform one thing aside from hand-shaking together with his spouse in tow. He would have been sporting the jacket with the state brand — as governors do whereas on official state enterprise — as an alternative of the one he has been sporting Monday together with his “DESANTIS” marketing campaign brand.
Small stuff, but it surely says quite a bit about DeSantis, who doesn’t want the hijinks as polls constantly present him profitable reelection and, because of Donald Trump’s fall from grace, he’s an early GOP favourite within the 2024 presidential race.
However that is the self-serving tunnel imaginative and prescient with which he leads Florida.
Hurricane Ian uncovered how unreliable our state’s authorities is. Voters shouldn’t confuse shiny white boots with excessive efficiency.
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