Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has fired back at Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris for playing political games as his state braces for the devastating impact of Hurricane Milton.
As Slay News reported, Miltion is barreling toward Florida and is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.
On Monday, the storm was upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane as the winds intensified.
The monster storm has been recording winds of over 170 mph.
If it sustains the intensity, Milton could be one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit Florida.
As a result, the state is trying to evacuate as many residents as possible.
However, as DeSantis battles to keep the inevitable death toll and destruction as low as possible, Democrats and their corporate media allies have tried to politicize the issue.
Outlets have been pushing claims that DeSantis allegedly refused to meet with Harris.
Harris is reportedly trying to meet with the governor before the hurricane makes landfall.
A DeSantis aide told NBC News that “Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer” because it “seemed political.”
DeSantis himself, however, denied refusing the call in the way the media characterized it.
“I didn’t know that she had called,” he said in a Monday press conference.
During an interview on Fox News, DeSantis blasted Harris for interfering in the storm response and attacking him for “ignoring” her.
On Monday, Harris was asked about reports that DeSantis was not taking her calls on hurricanes and providing resources.
“People are in desperate need of support right now, and playing political games at this moment, in these crisis situations — these are the height of emergency situations — it’s utterly irreconcilable, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first,” Harris told reporters.
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity played a clip of Harris’s remarks to DeSantis.
DeSantis said that he is “leveraging all resources available, including from the federal government” to prepare for Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall Wednesday evening.
He added that he has been in touch with both President Joe Biden and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials in preparation.
DeSantis responded to the clip by accusing Harris of politicizing the storm.
“And so for Kamala Harris to try to say that my sole focus on the people of Florida is somehow selfish, is delusional,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis noted that he has managed several storms during his time as governor and spoke highly of his working relationship with both Biden and President Donald Trump.
“She has no role in this,” DeSantis said of Harris.
“In fact, she’s been vice president for three and a half years.
“I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration,” he continued.
“She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts, and so what I think is selfish is her trying to blunder into this.
“I will say this: I’ve had storms under both President Trump and President Biden, and I’ve worked well with both of them.
“She’s the first one who’s trying to politicize the storm, and she’s doing that just because of her campaign.
“She’s trying to get some type of an edge,” he said.
“She knows she’s doing poorly until she’s playing these political games.
“I don’t have time for political games.
“I’ve got people whose lives are on the line.
“I’ve got people whose homes and their possessions are on the line, and we are focused 100 percent on that mission.
“I’m not worried about playing her political games.
“And so she is being selfish by trying to blunder into this when we’re working just fine,” he continued.
WATCH:
🚨WOW: Gov. DeSantis NUKES Kamala after she FREAKED today & attacked him for ignoring her phone calls:
“She’s delusional. She has no role here. She’s been VP for 3 years and never contributed anything to these storm efforts. She politicizing the storm to save a failing campaign” pic.twitter.com/GZQ5gGSThI
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 8, 2024
READ MORE – Florida Braces as Hurricane Milton ‘Rapidly Intensifies’ into Category 5