It’s been a week of political rifts for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who in a matter of days has gone from the top end in the Biden White House to a willing partner with the president and his team
It was on September 20 that the White House was on alert over the potential that DeSantis was organizing a flight of migrants from Texas to President Biden’s home state of Delaware, his latest move to draw attention to the surge of immigrants on the southern border and what he saw as the responsibility of blue states to share the burden.
A week later, DeSantis was on the phone with Biden in the first of three calls the two men have made this week to coordinate the response to Hurricane Ian when the storm knocked out power, flooded communities and destroying homes throughout the state of Florida.
The balancing act between antagonist and partner comes as DeSantis tries to juggle building his goodwill among conservatives if he decides to run for president in 2024, potentially against Biden, and lead his state through what he and others have described as a generational storm.
“DeSantis is proving, while the process is ongoing, that he can play both the political culture warrior and the governor in charge of the entire state,” said Republican National Committee spokesman Doug Heye, who calling DeSantis “Trump with substance.”
DeSantis has been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration over the past year and a half, prompting frequent responses from the White House briefing room podium and at one point last year referring to the Biden administration as the “Brandon administration.” in a nod to a popular conservative meme mocking the president.
The White House has argued with DeSantis over his ban on mask mandates in schools; his support for a law restricting discussion of sexual orientation in the classroom; and most recently his decision to fly migrants from Texas to Massachusetts.
Those migrant flights dominated headlines as recently as last week, when DeSantis argued that outrage over the flights was out of proportion to the lack of outrage over the millions of migrants who have crossed the border illegally since Biden took office.
As DeSantis was lining up a flight to bring another group of migrants from Texas to Delaware, where Biden regularly spends the weekend, the president responded sarcastically.
“He should come visit. We have a beautiful coast,” Biden said.
But much has changed in just over a week, as both men have warned that Hurricane Ian, which made landfall Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, poses a serious threat to residents of much of Florida and could be the deadliest storm in recent years.
Biden and DeSantis have spoken by phone three times this week, with the governor praising the assistance of federal partners in getting resources on the ground to help those without power or shelter.
The quick transition from foil to friendly is the latest in what some have seen as changes in DeSantis’ positions in recent years.
DeSantis’ 2013 opposition to federal funding for New York in the wake of Hurricane Sandy has come under scrutiny as he calls for federal aid to help Florida recover from Ian.
“When people are fighting for their lives, when their entire livelihood is on the line, when they’ve lost everything, if you can’t put politics aside for that, then you can’t,” DeSantis said. on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show this week.
CNN published a story this week noting that DeSantis was urging Floridians to heed the warnings and instructions from some of the same local officials that the guide said they ignored early in the coronavirus pandemic. as he pushed for the state to reopen businesses and drop mask mandates. .
“Of course, there’s a difference between heeding local emergency evacuation orders and excessive COVID lockdowns. The governor has been clear: This storm must be taken seriously and this is no time for to politics or pettiness,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, tweeted in response to the story.
Hovering over each of DeSantis’ decisions and statements in recent months has been the potential that he will run for president in 2024, with Biden his most likely opponent should the governor win the GOP nomination.
The two men appeared together after the condo collapse in Surfside, Fla., last year, and Biden has indicated he would like to travel to Florida to survey the storm damage in the coming days when he would not be a burden on to emergency responders.
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Yet former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (right) offers something of a cautionary tale at a time when the country is increasingly polarized. The former governor was dogged during the 2016 GOP primary campaign for attacks he embraced on then-President Obama during a visit in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, forcing Christie to address it head-on as a liability with the voters
But strategists believe DeSantis will ultimately benefit politically from showing he can be a strong leader in a time of crisis like a major natural disaster, even if that means appearing publicly with Biden and showing him gratitude.
“Voters have a reasonable expectation that in times of crisis, governors and presidents of different parties should work together,” Heye said. “If either party fails to do that, it potentially opens them up to criticism of not doing their job when voters need it. That’s a much bigger problem than a criticism of essentially ‘Voice doing the job of representing everyone voters too well.”