Ron DeSantis compares Kamala Harris to economic ‘arsonist,’ says she would ‘deep six’ economy if President

DeSantis AP
'We know when that's been tried, it's been an utter failure.'

Florida’s Governor is continuing to take Kamala Harris to task as she promises to fix the economy.

During a press avail at Titusville’s Valiant Air Command, Inc. Warbird Museum, Gov. Ron DeSantis used a fire safety analogy to question the proposition that the Vice President can fix an economy he believes the Joe Biden administration has broken.

DeSantis said Harris is misleadingly “being portrayed” as “the change agent,” who is “offering this fresh start” as he advanced the comparison.

“I’m thinking to myself, you know, if your house was on fire, would you bring in the arsonist to put out the fire or would you actually try something different?”

As he did during another press conference Wednesday, the Governor took Harris to task for economic policies under this administration’s watch, and said that “price controls” would not stop “price gouging” at grocery stores that already operate under narrow margins.

“Look, if you could control prices from the government, you know, I would just say charge everyone five cents for eggs. Right? I mean, why not?” DeSantis said.

“If that’s how it could be done, we would just do that. We know that doesn’t work. We know when that’s been tried, it’s been an utter failure. So this price control, that is a ruse just to try to mask the fact that the underlying problems that people are having to deal with were government created and particularly Biden-Harris created.”

DeSantis also characterized a proposal to tax unrealized capital gains as a way to “deep six” the economy by disincentivizing investment, likening it to federal income tax as a millstone around the necks of the middle class.

“Now, the media will say, ‘Oh, she only wants to do this for very wealthy people.’ Well, that’s what they said when they introduced the income tax in 1913, 1914, they said this is only going to hit (Andrew) Carnegie and (John) Rockefeller and all that. And now is there any middle-income tax worker who doesn’t pay income tax?”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. He writes for the New York Post and National Review also, with previous work in the American Conservative and Washington Times and a 15+ year run as a columnist in Folio Weekly. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


15 comments

  • Michael K

    August 22, 2024 at 11:14 am

    This reeks of pathetic desperation from a miserably failed (and jealous) presidential candidate who put all of his eggs in the “anti-woke” basket that was soundly rejected by every single county in Iowa.

    I’d like the governor to explain how Florida Statute 501.160 “price gouging” policies work.

    • Day 32

      August 22, 2024 at 12:08 pm

      There is no desperation here. DeSantis is calling out Kammy on her economic policies. She won’t defend them and she can’t if there is no teleprompter aiding her. She knows it. The media knows it, and you know it as well as all of you are fine with Basement Joe 2. In regards to a failed presidential run, what say you about Kammy’s run in 2019? Kammy got the VP nod from Joe for one reason and one reason only.

      • Yrral

        August 22, 2024 at 1:32 pm

        Any woman that is a woman,who support Chester the Molester Trump is not a reasonable woman

      • Bill

        August 22, 2024 at 3:23 pm

        You again and the teleprompters – you’ve got nothing but that blathering idiot Trump who uses teleprompters and still can’t stop meandering off into his greatest hits even as his supporters head to the exits during his rallies.

      • Tjb

        August 22, 2024 at 4:19 pm

        Day 22
        Most Wall Sreeters predict that Trump economic policies will tank our economy.

    • Michael S

      August 22, 2024 at 1:08 pm

      LOL, but I’m not sure Ron knows how to look up cites to statutes. Let’s make it easier for him to understand…

      Even Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican and Trump supporter, called price gouging an “egregious act,” during a 2021 news conference in Osceola County.

      “When I became the attorney general, realizing that Florida truly is a microcosm of the rest of the nation in terms of our diversity, our communities, we wanted to make sure that everybody had the ability to report wrongdoing, scams and price gouging,” Moody said then, promoting a “No Scam” app for smart phones that her department had developed.

      • Day 32

        August 22, 2024 at 1:22 pm

        I think DeSantis understands just fine. Let’s see your resume compared to his. Come on let’s see it.

        • Yrral

          August 22, 2024 at 1:36 pm

          Maybe you are waiting for Trump blow job

          • Day 32

            August 22, 2024 at 2:47 pm

            Huh? You are talking like Willie Brown. Now where is Kammy? 😜

  • Jojo

    August 22, 2024 at 11:27 am

    Our governor is an ideological sycophant. Like our former president, it’s all about what the government can do for me and my wealthy friends.
    And now he wants to build golf courses and pickleball courts in our pristine state parks- at a time when parks can’t even find the money to fix the bathrooms!

    • ScienceBLVR

      August 22, 2024 at 11:45 am

      Pity the poor current inhabitants of our parks who would be tortured by the endless pong pong of the pickleball all day and find the well bone dry when they need to quench their thirst-takes a lotta H2O to keep a golf course looking pristine. Heck, maybe throw a casino in there for good measure.

    • Michael K

      August 22, 2024 at 1:26 pm

      Speaking of our former president, has anyone him that the job he seeks is one of those Black jobs he talks about?

  • Skeptic

    August 22, 2024 at 4:43 pm

    He should lighten up. When he has to hold out the tin cup to fund the failing economy in this state (horrific insurance rates, terrible inflation compared to the U.S., likely emergency funding for overdeveloped coastal areas), she might have a memory of his comments. As Wasserman-Shultz said, Florida is already a cautionary tail — Governor, PLEASE put the matches away.

  • Vote for Brat

    August 23, 2024 at 7:54 am

    Rona just can’t face facts so he makes stuff up and sounds foolish. The Biden administration fixed our economy and we have record job creation and low unemployment. Tramp ballooning the debt with tax cuts for the wealthy helped run up the debt. Facts. Hey Rona, our Florida property insurance mess isn’t going away and just wait until the next major landfalling cyclone!

  • Dont Say FLA

    August 23, 2024 at 1:36 pm

    “….That’s been tried, it’s been an utter failure.”

    Did somebody suggest to Rhonda that they run for President?

Comments are closed.


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