In regular instances, the politics of catastrophe dictate {that a} president and a governor from reverse events come collectively to point out the victims of a pure catastrophe — and potential voters throughout the nation — that they care.
These aren’t regular instances.
On Friday, a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican searching for his celebration’s nomination for president, stated the governor doesn’t “have any plans” to fulfill President Biden on Saturday when he visits a Florida neighborhood ravaged by Hurricane Idalia.
At a news convention, Mr. DeSantis stated he had informed Mr. Biden that it “would be very disruptive to have the whole kind of security apparatus” that comes together with a presidential go to. He stated he informed the president that “we want to make sure that the power restoration continues, that the relief efforts continue.”
The governor’s assertion got here simply hours after Mr. Biden confirmed to reporters that he would meet with the governor throughout his go to to the state. White House officers responded by saying the president had informed Mr. DeSantis he deliberate to go to earlier than saying it publicly — and that the governor had not expressed any considerations at the moment.
“President Biden and the first lady look forward to meeting members of the community impacted by Hurricane Idalia and surveying impacts of the storm,” stated Emilie Simons, a deputy press secretary on the White House. “Their visit to Florida has been planned in close coordination with FEMA as well as state and local leaders to ensure there is no impact on response operations.”
The discrepancy underscored the tensions between the 2 politicians, whose campaigns have been lashing out at one another for months. A latest Biden for President electronic mail referred to as Mr. DeSantis a politician who oversees an “inflation hot spot” and helps an “extreme MAGA blueprint to undermine democracy.” At the Republican debate final month, Mr. DeSantis stated the nation is in decline underneath Mr. Biden and accused Mr. Biden of staying “on the beach” whereas the folks of Maui suffered by means of devastating fires.
The stakes are excessive for each males. Mr. Biden has struggled with mediocre approval scores and arrives in Florida following criticism that his preliminary response to reporters on the Maui wildfires was a lackluster “no comment.” Mr. DeSantis has seen his polling numbers plummet as his one-time benefactor, former President Donald J. Trump, has develop into a fierce rival, attacking at each flip.
Jason Pizzo, a Democratic state senator from South Florida, stated Mr. DeSantis’s choice smelled like politics.
“Campaign strategy has replaced civility and decorum,” Mr. Pizzo stated.
Politicians have been caught out prior to now for performing cordial with their opponents.
In 2015, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican who was planning to run for president, greeted President Barack Obama warmly on a go to to New Jersey within the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
“That’s what civilized people do when someone comes to your state to offer help,” Mr. Christie argued afterward Fox News. “You shake their hand and you welcome them, which is what I did.”
But Republicans thought the greeting — wrongly referred to as a hug in some quarters — was too heat, and Mr. Christie suffered for it. Some of his conservative critics by no means forgave him for what they noticed as being too pleasant with the enemy.
Earlier this week, earlier than Mr. Biden introduced his journey, Mr. DeSantis advised that it was essential to place politics apart within the pursuits of his state.
“We have to deal with supporting the needs of the people who are in harm’s way or have difficulties,” Mr. DeSantis stated earlier this week when requested about Mr. Biden. “And that has got to triumph over any type of short-term political calculation or any type of positioning. This is the real deal. You have people’s lives that have been at risk.”
White House officers appeared to take his feedback at face worth. On Thursday, Liz Sherwood-Randall, the president’s prime homeland safety adviser, informed reporters that Mr. Biden and Mr. DeSantis “are very collegial when we have the work to do together of helping Americans in need, citizens of Florida in need.”
But 24 hours later, that collegiality appeared to have light.
Mr. Biden and Mr. DeSantis have put politics on maintain — for probably the most half — prior to now when confronted with catastrophe. Mr. Biden and the governor met collectively within the aftermath of the collapse of a condominium constructing and later have been cordial collectively after Hurricane Ian.
A go to on Saturday would have been their first joint occasion since Mr. DeSantis formally introduced he was working for president.
After Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28, Mr. Biden waited seven days earlier than visiting Florida on Oct. 5. Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
Hurricane Idalia, which hit Florida as a Category 3 storm, pressured Mr. DeSantis off the marketing campaign path. But it additionally allowed him a chance to venture power, which he has not all the time executed as a presidential candidate. Mr. DeSantis launched his candidacy with a disastrously glitchy occasion on Twitter. He has at instances struggled to tackle the front-runner for the Republican nomination, Donald J. Trump, and has repeatedly rebooted his marketing campaign amid a fund-raising shortfall, layoffs and a shake-up of his senior workers.
Facing the highly effective hurricane, nonetheless, the governor sprang into motion, as many Florida governors have executed prior to now.
He blanketed native and nationwide airwaves with hurricane briefings, telling residents within the storm’s path that they wanted to evacuate. His official schedule confirmed that he began his workdays at 4 a.m. And early surveys after the storm had handed confirmed that the injury was not as extreme as initially feared, despite the fact that many houses and companies have been flooded and the realm’s cherished fishing trade could also be in long-term peril.
Mr. Biden’s administration additionally moved shortly to confront the storm. Officials stated that by Friday there have been 1,500 federal personnel in Florida coping with the storm, together with 540 Urban Search and Rescue personnel and three catastrophe survivor help groups.
FEMA made out there greater than 1.3 million meals and 1.6 million liters of water, officers stated. Other efforts have been underway by greater than a half-dozen different federal businesses.
So far, state officers have confirmed just one demise as being storm-related as of Friday. Power had been restored to many houses. Roads and bridges have been being reopened.
“We were ready for this,” Mr. DeSantis informed Sean Hannity on Fox News on Wednesday night time, as he spoke in entrance of a historic oak tree that had fallen on the governor’s mansion. “Most of the people did evacuate, and so we’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to end up OK on that.”
(Mr. Hannity arrange the interview by exhibiting photos of Mr. Biden vacationing on a seaside in Delaware in mid-August.)
Undoubtedly, Mr. DeSantis was helped that Idalia, whereas it made landfall as a Category 3 storm, struck a sparsely populated part of the Gulf Coast generally known as Big Bend. In distinction, Ian overwhelmed a much more dense and developed a part of Florida, killing 150 folks within the state and changing into its deadliest storm in a long time. Rebuilding efforts from that storm are nonetheless removed from over.
Now, having placed on a strong show in final week’s Republican debate, Mr. DeSantis will doubtless hope to return to the marketing campaign path from a place of power. He typically tells voters in Iowa and New Hampshire about his response to Ian, significantly his efforts to instantly restore bridges and causeways to barrier islands that had been reduce off from the mainland. The fast return of energy and low variety of fatalities from Idalia could also be added to that litany.
And with the storm gone, Mr. DeSantis’s marketing campaign has began to renew regular operations. On Friday, his marketing campaign despatched out a fund-raising attraction, providing signed baseball caps with the phrase “Our Great American Comeback” on them.
“He autographed 10 hats for us to launch a new contest for YOU to win and raise the resources we need to defeat Joe Biden,” the textual content attraction stated. “Let’s show the nation that we have what it takes to defeat Joe Biden and the far Left.”
Source: www.nytimes.com