If Biden is ‘attacking Florida,’ let the attacks keep coming

Gov. DeSantis, who claims that he’s not running for president, sounded again like someone running for president during a Republican Party dinner Saturday in Ocala.

He also sounded like someone who doesn’t think before he speaks.

“If President Joe Biden would spend less time attacking Florida and more time doing his job as commander-in-chief,” presidential wannabe DeSantis said, “we may have 13 service members that would still be alive today.”

Oh, governor. You don’t want to go there.

DeSantis referred to the 10 Marines, two soldiers and one sailor who died from a terrorist bombing as the United States executed the withdrawal from Afghanistan that Donald Trump negotiated and Biden carried out. Though DeSantis added the qualifying “may have,” he implied that incompetence caused needless deaths.

The governor has a law degree. As they say in court, he opened the door on this topic. Let’s walk through.

In August, Florida set a record for COVID-19-related deaths — 5,721. If Gov. Ron DeSantis had spent less time attacking proven methods to contain the virus and more time encouraging vaccines, we may have far more Floridians who would be alive today.

If Gov. Ron DeSantis had spent less time touting anti-Anthony Fauci merchandise and more time following the scientific advice that Fauci dispenses, Florida’s COVID-19 death rate may not have reached the top 10. We’re now ninth and climbing.

In March of last year, DeSantis told New Yorkers to quarantine for 14 days if they came to Florida. The governor worried that they would “seed” the virus.

Florida just passed New York in COVID-19-related deaths. If Gov. Ron DeSantis had spent less time criticizing Democratic governors and more time following science, he might not be in such bad company. All 14 states with the highest death rates over the last seven days have Republican governors.

If Gov. Ron DeSantis had spent less time running for president and more time caring about the people of this state, Florida might not have been the last to apply for $820 million in supplemental food assistance. Contrary to the governor’s sunny prognosis, many Floridians still need such basic help.

If Gov. Ron DeSantis had spent less time fighting with school districts and more time caring about public education, Florida might have submitted its plan for $2.3 billion in federal money. Florida is the only state not to have told the U.S. Department of Education how it would spend that money.

While we’re on that subject, let’s discuss DeSantis’ accusation that Biden is “attacking Florida.”

In March, with not one Republican vote, Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan. After DeSantis complained that Florida would get too little money, he and Republicans in Tallahassee used roughly $9 billion from the legislation to balance the state budget.

Then DeSantis spent $3.6 million on paper checks for “bonuses” to teachers and first responders rather than the usual direct deposit method. The checks — some of which bounced — carried the governor’s logo, making it seem as if they came from DeSantis. The governor previously had bragged that his COVID19 policies accounted for the fat new budget.

In July, after the condo collapse in Surfside, Biden visited the site and appeared with DeSantis. The governor praised the president for being “very supportive.”

In fact, Biden hasn’t attacked Florida. He’s attacked DeSantis — with good reason.

DeSantis and like-minded Republican governors enabled the nation’s worst COVID-19 surge just as widespread availability of vaccines raised hopes for a happier, less deadly summer. Having refused for months to push vaccinations — the number of newly inoculated Floridians is lagging badly — and having foolishly resisted mask mandates and vaccination passports, the governor now targets employers that impose vaccine mandates.

With his comment in Orlando, DeSantis implied that Biden didn’t care about those 13 deaths in Afghanistan — the last of 2,461 just among U.S. service members. But DeSantis hardly acknowledges Florida’s 55,000-plus COVID-19 victims.

Doing so would distract from the governor’s narrative that he alone got it right on COVID-19. If DeSantis spent less time denying reality and more time accepting it, we would have a much better Florida.