When it comes to breakfast food, Ron DeSantis is a waffler

Image via AP.

As Florida sits in the midst of storm season, many are familiar with the so-called “Waffle House Index,” used to gauge a storm’s severity.

Florida’s Governor, however, discussed the establishment in a different context as he held a post-Hurricane Debby press availability.

Talking about Floridians “bouncing back” in the wake of the storm exiting the state earlier this week, Gov. Ron DeSantis revealed his children’s breakfast preferences and how they helped him seem like a “hero” to the alliteratively named Madison, Mason and Mamie.

“I used to do the waffles at home, I’d get the Waffle House (batter). They’ve got really good batter you can get and … my kids loved it. I was, like, the hero for doing it,” DeSantis told media.

Eventually, the Governor made an executive decision to take the waffle show on the road.

“Well, finally, I was like, why don’t I take you to a Waffle House? (In) the last six months, we started going in person and you know, they will get a waffle with chocolate chips and whipped cream and Madison and Mason will that entire thing and then Mamie, she’ll just eat the chips off the Waffle, she doesn’t eat the waffle,” the second-term Republican said.

He told Mamie, his youngest daughter, that “the waffle is good” and “you need to do it.”

“She’ll just sit there and eat the chocolate chips,” he lamented, before suggesting the family’s culinary options may broaden further in the future.

“They’re big fans of Waffle House and now they’re asking me if there’s other places like that. And so maybe we’ll have to go to International House of Pancakes at some point,” DeSantis said.

We obviously will provide updates if the Governor reveals what goes down at IHOP.

This is far from the first time DeSantis has offered unsolicited commentary on his children’s dietary choices, of course.

“Let’s just put it this way. Our family’s daily rhythms would change if Chick-fil-A did not exist,” DeSantis said last year. “That’s probably our kids’ favorite thing. And look, it’s not like you just do it every day, but when you’re going from a baseball game to this or that, to be able to do it’s important.”

DeSantis had previously told supporters of a trip to Raising Cane’s.

“So I’m going through taking (Mason) through the, like a late night drive through at Raising Cane’s chicken fingers,” the Governor noted in May. “I don’t know if they have that here, but it’s good.”

“But, you know, on like a Saturday night at that time it’s like drunk Florida State students and me and Mason going through the drive-thru and so we do it and I’m just thinking to myself like, I mean, you know, this is a pretty crazy whirlwind, you know, that we’re doing here as you know, as parents.”

He has also revealed that his children like “purple” ice cream, deviating from his stated preference for “cookies and cream.”

Despite the high amounts of simple carbs and fat in the DeSantis family diet, the Governor found time to offer dietary advice to at least one child during his presidential campaign last year.

Greeting a child in July 2023, he asked the youngster what she was drinking.

“An Icee, yeah? That’s probably a lot of sugar, huh?”