Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not taking calls from Vice President Kamala Harris about storm recovery just over a week after Hurricane Helene hammered parts of his state.

A source familiar with the situation said he was dodging the Democratic presidential nominee’s calls because they “seemed political,” according to a DeSantis aide.

“Kamala was trying to reach out, and we didn’t answer,” the DeSantis aide told NBC News.

The same person said “not to my knowledge” when asked if DeSantis had spoken to President Joe Biden.

  • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    TN governor did this too. Refused Biden’s efforts to stage relief crews prior to the storm, then the night the storm hits he calls the White House to ask for aid. These petulant children shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near government leadership positions

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Isn’t this happening? I read that Biden is sending a thousand troops to these areas to help under a federal order that bypasses these boneheaded state officials … unless I misunderstood.

        • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          He added another 500 troops this morning I believe. Anarchists in Asheville are doing a great job leading the way with mutual aid.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          1 month ago

          They should be making it into a whole PR thing then.

          The Democrats are so fucking bad at messaging. Maybe they wouldn’t have to spend all their time and political capital preventing fascists from taking over, if there was more of a level playing field with regards to propaganda. But the right is just sooooooo much better, and have been at it (in earnest) for 30+ years.

  • ALQ@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Two other officials with DeSantis’ office said that so far, there has been no effort by Biden to reach out to the governor on Hurricane Milton.

    This is such a bullshit thing to say. If the sadistic antihuman monster known as DeSantis didn’t accept contact from them regarding Helene, why would he expect them to immediately reach out to him on Milton? Current administration’s efforts would be better spent coordinating with someone who is actually interested in the well-being of Floridians.

    • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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      1 month ago

      “They haven’t said a word about Milton… I mean, they’re calling us every hour on the hour but I assume it is about Helene.”

  • Vox@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    No fucking duh it’s political, she is an a political post, you are in a political post. Not all politics is bad, some of it is about finding a way to get the government to actually help people in need

    • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      get the government to actually help people in need

      This is the part conservatives cannot do.

      If you want to save some money, just remind them that vulnerable groups have also been impacted. They will refuse all help just to make sure the out-groups continue to suffer.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 month ago

        The GOP gave up on attempting to even put up a facade of “we’re trying to help you” at least a decade ago. At this point, they’ve convinced their voters that we cannot afford to help everyone, so we only help minorities. And because of that, they would rather we just help nobody.

        When the reality is, we could very easily provide for all of the needs of every citizen several times over if people actually paid their fair share in taxes.

        But you add in the “temporarily embarrassed millionaire” mindset that has infected the minds of American workers, and you end up with a bunch of sad, angry, jingoistic people who do everything they can to make sure nobody gets any help for anything.

        Well, that is, until they personally need it. Then it’s different.

        Almost as if there’s been a concerted effort for decades to push concepts like “rugged individualism” over collectivism, and “American exceptionalism,” while literally sabotaging our own education system so that people remain ignorant enough to continue voting against their interests…

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      some of it is about finding a way to get the government to actually help people in need

      And here is where you lose conservatives, and why, at its core, it is a rotten ideology.

      Until it is literally them that needs the help. But then its different. They’re different.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    You would think any man that short would want all the help he can get when the water starts rising.

    • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      No doubt. What kind of man would let a hurricane named Helene push him around. He should meet her at landfall and tell her to go to a liberal state instead.

  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    If Biden’s team bypasses DeSantis entirely and coordinates directly with the impacted counties and communities, that would make DeSantis look 100% useless on the national stage.

  • RagingSnarkasm@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Tampa’s mayor should get in contact directly. This is going to be very bad, and they are going to need all the help they can get.

  • Avg@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    This is where the democrats fail to gain favor amongst conservative voters. They should be playing ads throughout the state showing they have attempted to provide assistance and have been prevented from doing so by the little bitch they call governor, give them a way to bypass their bullshit of a local government and go directly to the federal government for support.

    • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      It would make them liars though. Desantis did talk to Biden, they will get the aid, and it will just show Desantis not treating Harris seriously, which Publicans would love. And they’d flop it as Democrats fake news with evidence…

      Would be a horrible ad to run

    • Crashumbc@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Most conservatives have been conditioned to believe everything they hear from News and/or “libs” is fake…

      This would actually just make things worse.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I’ll say this, if trump had won I don’t know a democratic governor who would consider not taking a call from pence after a national disaster. Every governor pulling this needs recalled

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    I knew this was gonna happen. I honestly wondered a few hours ago “I wonder how many times the WH has tried to call Desantis and he just didn’t take the call to be petty.”

    If he’s got legit governor stuff to do when there’s a Cat 5 on the way, I get it. I live on the coast. But I knew he would pull a stunt like this just to be a dick.