During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) slammed the media for not putting “a lot of heat” on California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D).
DeSantis’ remarks came during a Thursday press conference with other Republican governors, where they discussed the ongoing wildfires that are devastating the Los Angeles area — which have been directly caused and exacerbated by Newsom, Bass, and other Democrat officials in the deep-blue state. These officials have systematically decimated fire prevention procedures over the years — ending fire mitigation practices that would have removed dead brush in forests that fuel wildfires all because of the climate cult, cutting the fire department budget, making DEI more important than hiring qualified firefighters, and choosing to prioritize the Delta Smelt fish over actually filling up reservoirs and fire hydrants that could have been used to put out the wildfires.
LA Mayor Karen Bass requested the Fire Dept slash nearly $49 million from their budget
Last year Gavin Newsom cut the Fire budget by $100 million
Now we find out a reservoir in Pacific Palisades was empty and closed.
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/u7wuZOmiSu
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 10, 2025
Despite all of these massive failures, the mainstream media has refused to lay the blame where it belongs: at the feet of Democrat politicians like Newsom and Bass.
DeSantis called this out during the press conference after he was asked by a reporter whether it was appropriate for President-elect Donald Trump to be criticizing Newsom for his response to the wildfires.
“Is it appropriate for people in your industry to try to create division and to try to create narratives anytime these things happen?” the Florida governor fired back. “Now, you’re not as interested in doing that because Newsom is a D. If Newsom was a Republican, you guys would have him nailed to the wall for what they’re doing over there.”
“And I know we’ve dealt with it,” DeSantis added. “We just assume in Florida, anytime something happens, it’s going to be politicized by the media. So you guys sitting in judgment of Donald Trump, I mean, excuse me, I think your track record of politicizing these things is very, very bad.”
The Republican governor went on to note that this same heat should also be applied to Bass, who went on a trip to Africa just before the wildfires broke out even though she was warned that the conditions were perfect for this kind of devastation, only returning after the fires had been burning down her city for nearly an entire day.
“That mayor of LA, if that were a Republican mayor, I could only imagine what that would do,” DeSantis said. “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 on that thing.”
"If Newsom were a Republican, you guys would have him nailed to a wall."
"When we had the Surfside tower collapse, I had people from the Washington Post trying to blame me for it."
"That Mayor of L.A. ..you know the fires are at high risk and you try to go to Africa?"– DeSantis pic.twitter.com/MICYxZkTTn
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) January 10, 2025
