Ron DeSantis rips media double standard in soft coverage of California leadership failures

Florida’s Governor is not holding back when it comes to blasting California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in the wake of mismanagement of the fires in the L.A. area.

During comments Thursday night at Mar-a-Lago, Ron DeSantis fired back at media who questioned whether it was “appropriate” for President-elect Donald Trump to be criticizing the Democratic leadership of the Golden State as thousands of acres have burned due to a lack of water in recent days.

Trump has called for Newsom to resign and has argued that the state’s water management policies left Californians high and dry, as the Governor didn’t agree to a “water restoration declaration” that would have “allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”

“Is it appropriate for people in your industry to try to create division and to try to create narratives any time these things happen? Now you’re not as interested in doing that because Newsom is a D. If Newsom was a Republican, you would have him nailed to the wall for what they’re doing over there,” DeSantis said. “We just assume in Florida anytime something happens, it’s gonna be politicized by the media. So you guys sitting in judgment of Donald Trump. I mean, excuse me, uh, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad.”

DeSantis noted that after the Surfside tower collapse, he “had people from the Washington Post trying to blame me for it immediately without having any facts or anything, ‘Oh, he didn’t declare a State of Emergency.'”

“First of all, (a lack of a) state of emergency doesn’t mean you can’t respond,” DeSantis said. “You guys are trying to make an issue of it when I have watched from this seat.”

“When I got elected Gov., I was meeting with other Republican governors and what they would say, if you have a natural disaster coming at you, they’re gonna do it,” he added, referring to the media.

From there, he pointed out that if Mayor Bass were Republican, he “could only imagine what (the media) would do” if she left during a disaster.

“I mean, you know the fires are at high risk and you try to go to Africa or wherever she was to go on some type of voyage? You should have been there preparing and doing that, and yet I don’t see a lot of heat being directed in that thing. And so, you know, I just would like to see some balance on how this is done. You criticize the President-elect, but I think you also have to hold these other people accountable, and I have not seen that” DeSantis thundered.

DeSantis offered help to California as the blazes began to rage, but he clearly recognized a political double standard.