This is what a President does
Perhaps one of the worst aspects of the former guy’s presidency was the way in which he felt no obligation to those who didn’t give personal allegiance to him – even if it’s a direct contradiction to the principles of the office that he ran for. While it seemed like little more than an embarrassment at first, it took a darker turn when he refused to offer disaster relief to the west coast after they were faced with a brutal season of forest fires.
It should also be clarified that this trend of behavior didn’t even start with the former guy. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, House Republicans voted against disaster relief for the east coast, with their apologists trying to defend it on TalkRadio – among them was a newly elected congressman from Florida named Ron DeSantis.
In contrast to the Trump presidency and only rewarding his loyal subjects, President Biden was already meeting with DeSantis before the storm hit and approving potential emergency aid to Florida – putting the needs of the people of that state before politics. Republicans, however, tried to politicize this moment – with both Ron DeSantis and Marco Rubio sending fundraising e-mails for their campaigns even throughout the storm – despite the fact that there are people in Florida who wouldn’t be able to even access them.
Publicly, however, DeSantis acknowledged the president’s assistance, refusing to be baited into complaining about it on right-wing media when he appeared on Tucker Carlson, while President Biden refused to let the media try to frame everything with 2024 in mind by saying that DeSantis thanked him for his rapid response.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making