(presidentialwire.com)- Before Hurricane Ian even made landfall in Florida, the American corporate media was eagerly hoping the storm would become Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Katrina” moment. And after the storm passed, reporters repeatedly tried and failed to get the better of Florida’s firebrand governor.
In a press conference last Wednesday, a Politico reporter decided to misrepresent a statement from FEMA administration Deanne Criswell to paint the DeSantis administration as failing to respond appropriately to the storm.
The reporter set up the question by claiming Criswell “acknowledged concerns” over Florida’s lax response to Hurricane Ian.
But DeSantis was having none of it. He stopped the reporter short, saying the claim was “nonsense.” DeSantis told the reporter, “Stop politicizing it.”
The Florida governor pointed out that he declared a state of emergency early on and his state had been working around the clock to prepare for the hurricane making landfall.
He said he understood that the reporter was trying to attack him. But in doing so, the reporter was also “attacking these other people who have worked very hard,” adding, “that’s totally false.”
The media can't help themselves – everything must be politicized. No opportunity to smear opponents is too low. This reporter misrepresented FEMA Director's words@RonDeSantisFL won't accept it. He'll always stand up for Florida & our world class emergency response professionals pic.twitter.com/Uemzm5vcPH
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 #FloridaStrong (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 27, 2022
And it was totally false. What Criswell actually said was the Florida Gulf Coast has not experienced a direct hit from a hurricane this size in a very long time. She said nothing about the state’s preparedness.
For context, here is the exchange between reporters and FEMA Administrator Criswell at the White House today. pic.twitter.com/qi1CSmsEtr
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 #FloridaStrong (@DeSantisWarRoom) September 27, 2022
The corporate media smears continued over the weekend when a CNN reporter attempted a “gotcha” question on DeSantis as he was in Acadia touring the damage.
CNN reporter Nadia Romero asked DeSantis why he was standing by Lee County’s decision not to order a mandatory evacuation until the day before Hurricane Ian hit.
DeSantis pointed out that nobody knew Lee County was going to be hit, asking Romero why CNN was positioned in Tampa and not Lee County before the storm hit.
Every punch she tried to land was easily swatted away by DeSantis.
DeSantis just wrecked a CNN "reporter" pic.twitter.com/t7Hm8xitsV
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) October 3, 2022