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In regular occasions, the politics of catastrophe dictate {that a} president and a governor from reverse events come collectively to indicate the victims of a pure catastrophe — and potential voters throughout the nation — that they care.
These are usually not regular occasions.
On Friday, a spokesman for Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican searching for his get together’s nomination for president, stated the governor doesn’t “have any plans” to fulfill President Biden on Saturday when he visits a Florida group ravaged by Hurricane Idalia.
At a information convention, Mr. DeSantis stated he had instructed Mr. Biden that it “can be very disruptive to have the entire form of safety equipment” that comes together with a presidential go to. He stated he instructed the president that “we wish to ensure that the ability restoration continues, that the aid efforts proceed.”
The governor’s assertion got here simply hours after Mr. Biden confirmed to reporters that he would meet with the governor throughout his go to to the state. White Home officers responded by saying the president had instructed Mr. DeSantis he deliberate to go to earlier than asserting it publicly — and that the governor had not expressed any considerations at the moment.
“President Biden and the primary woman look ahead to assembly members of the group impacted by Hurricane Idalia and surveying impacts of the storm,” stated Emilie Simons, a deputy press secretary on the White Home. “Their go to to Florida has been deliberate in shut coordination with FEMA in addition to state and native leaders to make sure there isn’t any impression on response operations.”
The discrepancy underscored the tensions between the 2 politicians, whose campaigns have been lashing out at one another for months. A current Biden for President e-mail referred to as Mr. DeSantis a politician who oversees an “inflation scorching spot” and helps an “excessive MAGA blueprint to undermine democracy.” On the Republican debate final month, Mr. DeSantis stated the nation is in decline beneath Mr. Biden and accused Mr. Biden of staying “on the seashore” whereas the individuals of Maui suffered by devastating fires.
The stakes are excessive for each males. Mr. Biden has struggled with mediocre approval rankings and arrives in Florida following criticism that his preliminary response to reporters on the Maui wildfires was a lackluster “no comment.” Mr. DeSantis has seen his polling numbers plummet as his onetime benefactor, former President Donald J. Trump, has change into a fierce rival, attacking at each flip.
Jason Pizzo, a Democratic state senator from South Florida, stated Mr. DeSantis’s determination smelled like politics.
“Marketing campaign technique has changed civility and decorum,” Mr. Pizzo stated.
Politicians have been caught out prior to now for appearing cordial with their opponents.
In 2012, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a Republican who was contemplating an eventual run for president, greeted President Barack Obama warmly on a go to to New Jersey within the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
“That’s what civilized individuals do when somebody involves your state to supply assist,” Mr. Christie argued afterward Fox Information. “You shake their hand and also you welcome them, which is what I did.”
However Republicans thought the greeting — wrongly referred to as a hug in some quarters — was too heat, and Mr. Christie suffered for it. A few of his conservative critics by no means forgave him for what they noticed as being too pleasant with the enemy.
Earlier this week, earlier than Mr. Biden introduced his journey, Mr. DeSantis recommended that it was necessary to place politics apart within the pursuits of his state.
“We have now to take care of supporting the wants of the people who find themselves in hurt’s approach or have difficulties,” Mr. DeSantis stated earlier this week when requested about Mr. Biden. “And that has obtained to overcome any sort of short-term political calculation or any sort of positioning. That is the true deal. You might have individuals’s lives which have been in danger.”
White Home officers appeared to take his feedback at face worth. On Thursday, Liz Sherwood-Randall, the president’s prime homeland safety adviser, instructed reporters that Mr. Biden and Mr. DeSantis “are very collegial when now we have the work to do collectively of serving to People in want, residents of Florida in want.”
However 24 hours later, that collegiality appeared to have pale.
Mr. Biden and Mr. DeSantis have put politics on maintain — for probably the most half — prior to now when confronted with catastrophe. Mr. Biden and the governor met within the aftermath of the collapse of a condominium constructing and later have been cordial collectively after Hurricane Ian.
A go to on Saturday would have been their first joint occasion since Mr. DeSantis formally introduced he was operating for president.
After Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28, Mr. Biden waited seven days earlier than visiting Florida on Oct. 5. Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida on Wednesday.
Hurricane Idalia, which hit Florida as a Class 3 storm, pressured Mr. DeSantis off the marketing campaign path. However it additionally allowed him a chance to mission energy, which he has not all the time accomplished as a presidential candidate. Mr. DeSantis launched his candidacy with a disastrously glitchy occasion on Twitter. He has at occasions struggled to tackle the front-runner for the Republican nomination, Donald J. Trump, and has repeatedly rebooted his marketing campaign amid a fund-raising shortfall, layoffs and a shake-up of his senior employees.
Going through the highly effective hurricane, nonetheless, the governor sprang into motion, as many Florida governors have accomplished prior to now.
He blanketed native and nationwide airwaves with hurricane briefings, telling residents within the storm’s path that they wanted to evacuate. His official schedule confirmed that he began his workdays at 4 a.m. And early surveys after the storm had handed confirmed that the harm was not as severe as initially feared, although many properties and companies have been flooded and the world’s cherished fishing trade may be in long-term peril.
Mr. Biden’s administration additionally moved shortly to confront the storm. Officers stated that by Friday there have been 1,500 federal personnel in Florida coping with the storm, together with 540 City Search and Rescue personnel and three catastrophe survivor help groups.
FEMA made accessible greater than 1.3 million meals and 1.6 million liters of water, officers stated. Different efforts have been underway by greater than a half-dozen different federal businesses.
Thus far, state officers have confirmed just one demise as being storm-related as of Friday. Energy had been restored to many properties. Roads and bridges have been being reopened.
“We have been prepared for this,” Mr. DeSantis instructed Sean Hannity on Fox Information on Wednesday night time, as he spoke in entrance of a historic oak tree that had fallen on the governor’s mansion. “The general public did evacuate, and so we’re cautiously optimistic that we’re going to finish up OK on that.”
(Mr. Hannity arrange the interview by displaying photos of Mr. Biden vacationing on a seashore in Delaware in mid-August.)
Undoubtedly, Mr. DeSantis was helped that Idalia, whereas it made landfall as a Class 3 storm, struck a sparsely populated part of the Gulf Coast referred to as Massive Bend. In distinction, Ian overwhelmed a much more dense and developed a part of Florida, killing 150 individuals within the state and changing into its deadliest storm in a long time. Rebuilding efforts from that storm are nonetheless removed from over.
Now, having placed on a solid display in final week’s Republican debate, Mr. DeSantis will doubtless hope to return to the marketing campaign path from a place of energy. He usually tells voters in Iowa and New Hampshire about his response to Ian, notably his efforts to right away restore bridges and causeways to barrier islands that had been lower off from the mainland. The short return of energy and low variety of fatalities from Idalia could also be added to that litany.
And with the storm gone, Mr. DeSantis’s marketing campaign has began to renew regular operations. On Friday, his marketing campaign despatched out a fund-raising enchantment, providing signed baseball caps with the phrase “Our Nice American Comeback” on them.
“He autographed 10 hats for us to launch a brand new contest for YOU to win and lift the sources we have to defeat Joe Biden,” the textual content enchantment stated. “Let’s present the nation that now we have what it takes to defeat Joe Biden and the far Left.”
