OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democrats and other leftist detractors were put in their place after verbally attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and accusing the Republican leader of being “missing” in action while he was attending his wife’s cancer treatments in recent days.
In addition, according to DeSantis representatives, the governor was also spending time in his office and attending to his official duties — he just wasn’t making many public appearances.
Newsmax reported:
Democrats and liberal media activists claiming Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis was “inexplicably missing” were the ones missing the fact DeSantis was in the office every day and was attending to his wife Casey’s cancer treatments, according to his press secretary.
“Churnalism. WFLA posted this story AFTER it was disclosed that on 12/29 Governor accompanied First Lady for cancer treatment, & they failed to report that Governor was at Capitol every day this week but Wed. They made sure to include accusations by liberal activist Demings though,” Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ communications director, tweeted Friday evening.
Churnalism. WFLA posted this story AFTER it was disclosed that on 12/29 Governor accompanied First Lady for cancer treatment, & they failed to report that Governor was at Capitol every day this week but Wed. They made sure to include accusations by liberal activist Demings though https://t.co/8YkjQm5lVb
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 31, 2021
She was referring to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who claimed the state “should be outraged” about DeSantis’ lack of COVID-19 press briefings through the holidays.
“Our residents, all Florida residents should be outraged, and they should ask the question, ‘Now, where’s our state? Where’s our governor?'” Demings said. “Where is Ron DeSantis now? When was the last time you saw the governor do a press briefing regarding COVID-19?”
Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who hypocritically was vacationing maskless in Florida while her own state was being inundated with new omicron cases and facing new COVID restrictions, sounded off.
“Hasn’t Gov. DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like 2 weeks,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, hitting back at criticism she went to the Sunshine State instead of her own district while on holiday break from Washington, D.C. “If he’s around, I would be happy to say hello. His social media team seems to have been posting old photos for weeks.”
Hasn’t Gov. DeSantis been inexplicably missing for like 2 weeks?
If he’s around, I would be happy to say hello. His social media team seems to have been posting old photos for weeks.
In the meantime, perhaps I could help with local organizing. Folks are quite receptive here 🙂 https://t.co/LmmqT8eLDh
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 31, 2021
“In the meantime, perhaps I could help with local organizing. Folks are quite receptive here.”
DeSantis announced in October that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Just FYI, @GovRonDeSantis is not on vacation,” communications staffer Kyle Lamb tweeted. “Literally no one from our office has said that he is. Anyone pushing that could have easily seen the public schedule and seen that he’s taking calls and meetings this past week. Not having public events does not = ‘vacation’.”
This is a really odd, desperate attempt to make a controversy where none exists.
Last year, there were no public events on the calendar between Dec. 22-29. The Governor is doing work behind the scenes with a lighter public schedule just like last year.
— Kyle Lamb (@kylamb8) December 31, 2021
Other DeSantis allies jumped in to defend the increasingly popular governor after Nikki Fried, a Democratic gubernatorial challenger in this year’s election, attacked the GOP leader for the high political crime of attending to his sick wife: “As governor, I’ll show up.”
As governor, I’ll show up.
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) January 1, 2022
As aggregated by The Daily Wire:
- Erick Erickson, radio host: “The Governor was with his wife for her cancer treatment. This is gross stuff. He showed up where it mattered most. It kills me I can’t go with my wife to her oncology visits because of hospital guidelines. I’m glad DeSantis was able to be with his wife.”
- John Cardillo, political commentator: “This trash lowlife knows DeSantis was with his wife at her cancer treatment. Hey @NikkiFriedFL , remember when you showed up at Ft. Lauderdale PD and abused your office to cover the domestic between you and your now fiancé?”
- Liz Mair, political strategist: “Nikki Fried placing a LOT of bets here that the online left has got it right in claiming DeSantis wasn’t really with his wife for cancer treatment… and I don’t think we have a Sanford situation here so the odds look pretty long for her…Charlie Crist probably thrilled with this tweet and where this could all be headed, quite frankly.”
- Curtis Houck, editor: “Attacking a guy for going to his wife’s cancer treatments to own the cons[ervatives].”
- Christina Pushaw, DeSantis press secretary: “But if someone you love gets cancer, you wouldn’t show up to their treatments? Wow.”
- Travis Wester, political commentator: “Referring to being there for your spouse during her cancer treatment as ‘giving up’ is the kind of cheap shot that makes the vote a referendum on you, not your opponent. Good luck Nikki.”
