OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden threw his vice president, Kamala Harris, under a bus — figuratively speaking — during a press conference on Thursday as Hurricane Milton bore down on Florida, the second major storm in as many weeks.
After Harris earlier in the week criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis for allegedly refusing her phone call, which he denied, and calling him “selfish” and “playing political games,” Biden praised the Republican leader and said he was doing a “great job” preparing for Milton.
“It is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do,” Harris claimed.
DeSantis has since responded by claiming that he was unaware of Harris’s alleged attempts to reach out to him and asserting that she has never played a role in the Biden administration’s efforts to assist Florida in preparing for or recovering from storms in the past.
“She has no role in this process. I’m in contact with the President of the United States. I’m in contact with the FEMA director, I’m obviously managing all of our state agencies, we’re supporting all our local government,” he told a news conference.
“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. I’ve got people whose lives are on the line, I’ve got people whose homes and possessions are on the line, and we are focused 100% on that mission,” he added.
Earlier this week Biden was asked, for some reason, if DeSantis was being “cooperative” as Florida and federal agencies prepared for the monster storm.
“The governor of Florida has been cooperative. He said he’s gotten all that he needs. I talked to him again yesterday and I said, ‘No, you’re doing a great job. It’s being, all being done well. We thank you for it,’” said Biden.
“Every governor, every governor from Florida to North Carolina has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this team is doing. And they’re doing an incredible job. We’ve got a lot more to do,” Biden noted further.
During an interview on Fox & Friends earlier in the week, the Florida governor was asked about Harris accusing him of “not putting politics aside” and “playing political games with this moment in these crisis situations.”
“She should look in the mirror. We have been on an emergency footing for two weeks straight, around the clock, 24/7. We have been working. My office, our division of emergency management, is helping people prepare for Hurricane Helene and helping effectuate rescues of people after Hurricane Helene,” DeSantis said.
“Helping people pick up the pieces of their lives after Helene and then have to also turn around and prepare for major impacts and maybe even more impacts from Hurricane Milton, be able to have rescue personnel ready to help people and then, of course, help with the power restoration, all these things to do. So that’s been my sole focus,” DeSantis continued.
“My focus has not been on dealing with Kamala Harris. I saw the news report, I didn’t know she tried to contact me. But I would also say it’s not about you, Kamala it’s about the people of Florida. My focus is where it should be. I can tell you this I have worked on hurricanes under President Trump and President Biden. Neither of them ever tried to politicize it,” he said.
