A.G. Gancarski
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass continues to take fire for visiting Ghana during her city’s devastating wildfires, including from a Florida leader who himself took heat for a political trip during a once in a 1,000 year flood event in a South Florida city in 2023.
“You’re the Mayor of LA, massive city, and this is a dire threat to your city. And you know five days out this could happen and you leave, and that’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever seen,” Gov. Ron DeSantis told Mark Levin.
DeSantis went on to say that a move to recall the Democratic chief executive would be justified.
“It’d be akin to me seeing a storm in the Gulf of Mexico that may be coming to Florida six days out and deciding to what? Go to France or something and leave the area? That’s the time you got to be there and you got to be offering support. And some of it is you actually have to be meeting with people, you got to be working the phone, you got to be doing all that, issuing the orders,” DeSantis said.
Nearly two years ago, however, DeSantis took criticism for a campaign trip to Ohio — where he ultimately did not even appear before voters in the 2024 presidential race after he withdrew following the Iowa caucuses — while historic floods hit Fort Lauderdale.
“Fort Lauderdale is under water and DeSantis is campaigning in Ohio right now instead of taking care of the people suffering in his state,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X.
“Governor DeSantis has not yet called,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said.
The Florida Governor, addressing the Butler County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner on April 13, 2023, said during that trip that he represented so-called “Ohio values.”
“I can stand here representing Ohio values because the two most important women in my life (are from Ohio),” DeSantis said. “My mother is from Youngstown, and my wife is from Troy, and so my family reflects your family.”
He also participated in a policy roundtable about election security, went to First Lady Casey DeSantis’ elementary school, and to what Fox News called her “favorite burger joint.”
The DeSantis of 2025 clearly doesn’t endorse what the DeSantis of 2023 did, based on his comments about Bass’ failed crisis management.
“Part of it is you just got to be out there informing the public about what’s going on, the preparations that are going to be made. And when people see that, when they see that you have a command of the situation, it lowers the anxiety level. People are able to make good decisions about what they need to do to protect themselves and their family,” he told Levin.
The political travel continued that week for DeSantis, though he did come to the state to sign the Heartbeat Protection Act banning abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy late at night. He went to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he talked to Liberty University students, and to Manchester, New Hampshire.
His Granite State speech was besieged by protesters.
Ultimately, he left the race before the New Hampshire Primary, polling in the single digits in the state.
8 comments
Marge Ynnal
January 16, 2025 at 9:16 am
Weaker than usual, AG. The Fort Lauderdale storm was not predicted a week out like California was. In fact, just hours before the flood the weather bureau called the risk of an unusual event “marginal.” As soon as it was clear what had happened, DeSantis declared a state of emergency. DeSantis and other state officials also immediately contacted other leaders in Broward County to offer assistance to them and the citizens.
AG, your journalistic swing and miss rate is skyrocketing.
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KathrynA
January 16, 2025 at 9:17 am
The fires had not broken out when Karen Bass left for Ghana and she came back immediately. Was she supposed to have ESP??
MH/Duuuval
January 16, 2025 at 9:57 am
This is typical slander by MAGAs. A prolonged drought and record-high winds created the environment for big fires and nothing Bass could do in the short term could alter this — though perhaps Donald the Great could have brought rain, like he brings in a flood of cash from his admirers or lobbyists.
Even if Bass had been on the spot from the git-go, how would she have made a difference in the tactics or strategies of the public safety professionals?
Is having the governors of Florida relay hurricane info the best means of conveying information gathered by professionals?
Nor could Dee have halted the rising waters in Ft. Lauderdale — like Moses parting the Red Sea.
Bob Smith
January 16, 2025 at 10:46 am
Perhaps Mayor Bass could have not slashed the Fire Department’s budget by over 17 million dollars, when she knows what a threat forest fires are in California?
Moody Blue
January 16, 2025 at 11:03 am
17M out of an 800M+ total LAFD budget is not exactly “slashing” as Fox would have its automaton audience believe. You are parroting rightwing propaganda.
Doug
January 16, 2025 at 11:45 am
Since you libs think that Trump is the big bad wolf, maybe you should ask him to huff and puff and blow out the LA fires.
Moody Blue
January 16, 2025 at 10:52 am
Well, that’s because he’s a hypocrite and liar.