CNN reporters are being trashed for politicizing Hurricane Ian to attack Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Hurricane Ian hit southwest Florida on Wednesday afternoon, with winds reading 155 mph, falling short of Category 5 winds by just 2 mph. DeSantis described Hurricane Ian as “basically a 500-year flood event.”
According to Blaze Media, mainstream media reporters didn’t pass up an opportunity to use the natural disaster to disparage DeSantis.
CNN reporter Steve Contorno compared DeSantis’ opposition to government officials’ curtailing civil liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic to the Governor’s calls for residents to listen to local advice during an extreme weather event.
“As DeSantis prepares Floridians for Ian, he is urging residents to heed advice from the same local leaders he suggested they ignore during COVID and praising a federal agency he previously alleged withheld aid to the state because Biden was playing politics,” Contorno said on Twitter.
His official report published in CNN was no better.
“An abrasive political style is what has endeared DeSantis to Republican voters across the country amid his ascent within his party, but it has also resulted in strained relationships with the same local and national leaders DeSantis must now collaborate with to get Florida through this storm,” he wrote.
“After initially ceding coronavirus action to city mayors and county officials, DeSantis made a hard pivot and stripped municipalities of their ability to manage the pandemic while encouraging residents to ignore local precautions on masks and other mitigation measures. This week, though, DeSantis urged Tampa Bay residents to follow the advice of local leaders and lauded county emergency management teams as experienced professionals.”
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt weighed in, saying, “A major test for this 2024 likely presidential hopeful.”
Meanwhile, a “senior” CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere shared the article and wrote, “Hurricanes & politics tend to run into each other in Florida, but this time it’s with a governor who has put himself at odds with many local government officials and who has been looking for fights with a president he may end up running against… 6 weeks before Election Day.”
The backlash to the partisan attacks was swift.
DeSantis rapid response director Christina Pushaw said Floridian lives are in danger “so of course CNN is rooting for the hurricane.”
“Not everything is about politics,” Puhshaw said.
“If you see a Cat 4+ hurricane approaching the coast of the United States and your first instinct is baseless partisan speculation, perhaps you should stop calling yourself a journalist. Because Covid & hurricanes are not the same.”
Radio show host Erick Erickson agreed that COVID is not like a hurricane.
“This is dumb and discrediting analysis.”
Meteorologist Ryan Maue simply responded, “CNN is such trash. Can someone yank this garbage off the air and Internet?”
Omri Ceren, an adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), arguably had the best response, writing, “A lot of you are very mad about this sociopathic tweet from a CNN journo but in fairness to him he’s just doing his job.”
Radio show host Derek Hunter called the comments “pathetic, even for CNN.”
“Weather and a virus are not the same.”
Judge Alex Ferrer observed that Brian Stelter was fired “so someone had to be the new George Costanza at CNN.”
CNN’s comments come as more than two million Floridians remain without power.
