Source: BRYAN R. SMITH / Getty
During a news conference about Hurricane Milton on Wednesday, President Joe Biden complimented Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling him “gracious” following a conversation the two men had as the Category 5 storm began its path of devastation across Florida.
But a source told NBC News that when Biden was singing DeSantis’ praises, he was unaware that the governor was playing with people’s lives by engaging in vulgar, petty politics. He’d steadfastly refused to speak with Vice President Kamala Harris when she, in her current official role, attempted to contact him several times to help coordinate a federal response that would serve the people of his state.
The failed presidential candidate resorted to a predictable Trumpian rationale: he said he believed she was only reaching out in an attempt to “politicize the storm”– as if his decision to refuse her call wasn’t absolutely political. Plus, what would he have said if the vice president of the United States–who is also the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate–hadn’t called?
One can speculate all one wants to about her motivation, but the fact remains she was doing her job. He was not.
From NBC:
On Wednesday, Biden delivered a widely televised address warning the public about the potentially catastrophic impact of Hurricane Milton, which began ravaging Florida’s coastline Wednesday night.
A reporter then asked Biden whether DeSantis should be taking Harris’ phone calls. He praised DeSantis and dodged answering the question directly.
“All I can tell you is I’ve talked to Gov. DeSantis. He’s been very gracious,” Biden said. “He’s thanked me for all we’ve done. He knows what we’re doing. And I think that’s important.”
“He wasn’t tracking a specific back-and-forth,” the source told NBC, adding that Biden was “focused on the response itself.”
OK, fair enough. Perhaps Biden was too busy being the president during a natural disaster that came on the heels of a similar natural disaster, Hurricane Helene. Maybe Biden was so focused on what was important that he–and his advisors–completely missed every single headline about DeSantis taking time out of what should have been a busy day for him to go on Fox News and take arbitrary shots at Harris just for making a phone call.
“I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them,” he said. “She’s the first one who’s trying to politicize the storm, and she’s doing that just because of her campaign. I don’t have time for political games.”
Why is DeSantis out here pretending he’s not playing “political games?” He refused to take Harris’ call, so he actually had no way of knowing what her motives were. Maybe DeSantis realized that Harris is currently leading Trump in most polls, meaning she’s dangerously close to being elected into the White House, and the last thing he wants to do is allow her to be painted in an authoritative light.
“Playing political games at this moment…It’s utterly irresponsible…selfish and… about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do,” Harris told reporters in response to DeSantis’ unproven and unprovable claims.
Harris comforts hurricane survivors in Atlanta. Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty
And yet, it’s a safe bet that if Trump reached out to DeSantis, he’d take the call.
