The strong, crisis-driven cooperation between Ron DeSantis and the Joe Biden administration continues through Hurricane Idalia.
That’s the take from Wednesday’s White House briefing, as expressed by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell.
“The President contacted Gov. DeSantis to let him know that the federal family continues to be there to support him. The Governor expressed that all of his needs are met currently,” Criswell said.
“The President reiterated that if anything is needed from the federal government, we will be able to support,” Criswell added. “And we have over 1,000 personnel currently deployed prepared to support not just Florida but all of our states that are in the path as needed.”
Criswell said she has been directed to “travel immediately into the area and I will be traveling later this afternoon to join Gov. DeSantis tomorrow to do assessments and see firsthand what the impacts from this storm are and I can be able to report back to the President exactly what I see what we think the needs might be and where the federal family can continue to assist.”
Criswell described the Biden conversation with DeSantis in more detail, saying it was “reiterating the fact that we already have over 1,500 personnel there in the area to be able to support and the Governor currently has no unmet needs.
“But as we begin to assess, right, as the Governor assesses and as I get on the ground tomorrow to assess, we’ll see what additional needs might be there,” she said.
The Governor paused what he called “political season” for storm response this week, canceling scheduled travel to South Carolina and promising to work smoothly with the Biden administration.
“There’s time and a place to have (a) political season, but then there’s a time and a place to say that this is something that’s life-threatening. This is something that could potentially cost somebody their life, that could cost them their livelihood. And we have a responsibility as Americans to come together and do what we can to mitigate any damage and to protect people,” DeSantis said Monday.
DeSantis and Biden cooperated in the wake of 2022’s Hurricane Ian, and the President said DeSantis had been “pretty remarkable” in the wake of the storm.
DeSantis and Biden were together after the storm for an event in Southwest Florida, with Biden vowing to be with the region’s residents as they all worked to “build back better.” Biden said he and DeSantis were working together “hand in glove” at the time.
During Fox News hits at the time, the Governor took credit for building a relationship with the President.
“Well, I’ll tell you what. I mean, what I told him is that the media was making a big deal that he wasn’t talking to me or whatever. And I told him, I was like, ‘Look, I want to work together for these people. Because these people are from all walks of life. Republicans, Democrats, they expect us to be able to put our differences aside,’” DeSantis said last October.
DeSantis and Biden also worked together in the aftermath of a condo collapse in Surfside in June 2021, where they again downplayed the rhetoric of the so-called “political season” to present a united front in the face of tragedy.
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