President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Governor Ron DeSantis in the Oval Office of the White House. The | Photo by Evan Vucci / AP
Florida
The Republican governor has aligned himself with Trump’s philosophy of fully opening schools and not requiring masks, but now he’s going crazy.
TALLAHASSEE – Governor Ron DeSantis followed President Donald Trump’s example for months as he fought a local battle against the coronavirus in Florida. That loyalty was rewarded with contempt from the White House this week as a scrutiny of the state’s handling of the Covid-19 ratchets in the closing months of the presidential campaign.
Twice in two days, Trump and his aides put pressure on DeSantis, a fellow Republican.
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“Florida is in a slightly tough or very tough position,” Trump told reporters this week.
Now, DeSantis, a Trump ally, is painted in a corner: He needs to deliver the battlefield the president must win, something the state’s rising cases and death rate are reducing, while staying in good graces. Trump as once. the highest approval ratings sink. Without Trump’s backing in the 2018 Republican primaries, DeSantis surely would not have been elected.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway followed the president’s forceful assessment with her own criticism Wednesday of states that have become hotspots, saying that some companies, specifically nightlife, opened too early and contributed to the increase in infections.
“They opened some of the industries too quickly, like bars,” he told reporters. “The governors wanted complete freedom over when their states would open, they strongly rejected … Republicans and Democrats, when it was falsely rumored that the President was going to be in charge of opening the states.”
Conway did not call Florida directly, but his comments clearly included the state, which reopened the bars at partial capacity in early June, and DeSantis soon scoffed at promoting the “United States dance party.” On Tuesday, Florida reported 9,752 new cases and a positivity rate of 10.5 percent.
DeSantis, now and from the beginning, has presented the state’s response in the most positive light, even as cases rise, the positivity rate reaches double digits, and healthcare providers begin to feel the strain. The daily death toll has also increased. His administration also aligned with Trump’s call to fully open public schools.
As Trump used the White House information room to focus the nation’s attention on Florida on Monday, DeSantis was in Tallahassee talking about hospitals. He held a joyous briefing with medical officials and in a tweet noted that his administration had delivered 50,000 vials of remdesivir, a promising coronavirus treatment, to state hospitals.
DeSantis spokeswoman Meredith Beatrice deflected criticism of the governor on Wednesday, saying he has been “driven by data and science” and took early action.
“Florida remains poised for a strong recovery and will continue to collaborate with local leaders on how to reopen in a targeted and measured way,” he said in an email. “The Governor’s actions to protect our most vulnerable in long-term care settings predate any federal guidance to the states, and his actions have been recognized as saving lives.”
As the coronavirus outbreak spread this spring and summer, Trump refused to order states to take action. DeSantis has reflected the president’s movements and has openly said that some of his decisions were based on clear signals from the White House, such as dismissing the idea of imposing masks, an idea that, according to him, was inapplicable.
When spring break vacationers arrived in Florida and the virus spread, DeSantis refused to issue a state order to stay home, breaking up with dozens of other governors.
He relented on April 1 after Trump himself thawed on state shutdown orders, giving DeSantis political cover to move on.
“It is a very serious situation,” DeSantis said at the time. “When you see the president up there and his behavior in the last few days, it’s not necessarily the way it always is.”
Conway said Wednesday that Trump had criticized Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, in late April for opening some businesses too quickly. Just the week before, the president had urged states to “free” their people from blockades. But, Conway said, Trump’s criticism of Kemp showed that he had not pushed aggressively to reopen the economy.
Trump “rejected the Governor of Georgia, a Republican, whom he, frankly, helped elect.” He turned it down early, ”said Conway. “He said publicly … ‘I think it’s too soon. Why don’t we wait a little longer?
The anecdote was an outlier, the president’s only anticipated nod toward moderation amid his consistent message that the economy needed to reopen.
When DeSantis convened a working group of business leaders in late April to discuss the reopening of stores, parks, gyms, and restaurants, he was in line with Trump’s public messages, whose focus at the time was on saving the economy from the nation.
“I feel increasingly confident that our economy is in the early stages of a very strong comeback,” Trump tweeted June 3. “Not everyone agrees with me, but I have few doubts. Look out for September, October and November. Next year will be one of the best in history, and look at the Stock Market NOW!”
That day, Florida entered phase two of its reopening, which allowed gyms to open, expanded restaurant capacity, and allowed bars to serve a limited number of customers.
Weeks later, Trump’s focus remained on reopening the country. On June 18, he held a “America’s Small Business Reopening” roundtable and made it clear what his approach was.
“Under my administration’s strategy to beat the virus and restart our economy, small businesses across the country are now safely reopening: Across the country, they are reopening at levels never seen before,” Trump said at that moment.
The DeSantis administration also followed Trump in reopening schools.
On July 7, when Trump tweeted, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN AUTUMN,” Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran issued an order forcing schools to reopen at least five days a week beginning in August.
The same day the order was made public, Trump applauded DeSantis.
“Governor DeSantis of Florida is doing an excellent job. He just announced that the schools will be open in the fall,” the president said at a White House press conference. “We are going to put a lot of pressure on the governors and everyone else to open the schools. “
