President Joe Biden and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) are playing up the positives as they work together in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, and how well they do so could have major implications for each of their futures.
The two men could be opponents in the 2024 presidential race, leading to intense questioning from reporters about how well they’re getting along. So far, each has complimented the other, but Biden did take a veiled shot at his most recent White House predecessor before heading to Puerto Rico on Monday.
HURRICANE FORCES BIDEN AND DESANTIS TO TRY TO BURY THE HATCHET — FOR NOW
“I’m heading to Puerto Rico because they haven’t been taken very good care of,” Biden said, referencing the Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in 2017. “They’ve been trying like hell to catch up from the last hurricane. I want to see the state of affairs today and make sure we push everything we can.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was even more direct in her comments while discussing the more than $10 billion authorized by the president for Hurricane Fiona cleanup.
“The last administration, as I said at the top, restricted [the] ability for Puerto Rico to access $5 billion in funds,” Jean-Pierre told reporters traveling on Air Force One. “And so that’s including for critical recovery and reconstruction needs, and so that’s what we saw in the last administration.”
Biden has been nothing but complimentary of DeSantis so far, saying they’ve spoken plenty of times and calling questions about their talks irrelevant. DeSantis thanked the administration for its help during a Fox News appearance, saying it’s important to work together regardless of party lines.
Still, controversy has swelled at the margins as Ian recovery effort begins in earnest and Biden spends parts of his week in Puerto Rico and Florida.
DeSantis’s camp got in a row with Vice President Kamala Harris over the role that equity will play in the recovery, leading Jean-Pierre to weigh in as well. Questions have been raised about DeSantis accepting federal funds while criticizing Biden and his opposition to some federal funding spent on Hurricane Sandy a decade ago.
Presidential historian Craig Shirley said both men are handling the situation well but that Biden will see the biggest benefit.
“It’s going to be a 50-pound weight on DeSantis,” he said. “It will hold him back within the Republican Party. Just by being a conservative associated with a liberal, the conservative suffers.”
Shirley, a former political consultant, said hurricanes usually work to a presidential incumbent’s favor because they can be seen responding to the situation in an affected state and doling out federal money to help. He worked on George H.W. Bush’s campaign in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida. Bush lost his reelection bid but won the Sunshine State.
Since then, several high-profile hurricanes have played out in presidential politics — and not always to the incumbent’s advantage. A few examples.
- Hurricane Katrina, 2005: Perhaps the most infamous of all presidential hurricane responses belongs to George W. Bush, who was sharply criticized in the weeks after Katrina hit New Orleans. Bush was accused of mismanagement and viewed as out of touch after images showed him flying over storm damage aboard Air Force One. Some pundits say Bush never recovered politically from the storm.
- Hurricane Sandy, 2012: Slamming the New York City area just days before the 2012 election, Sandy was widely seen as boosting President Barack Obama’s reelection bid. Obama toured affected sites, led response efforts, and gained a polling edge in the campaign’s final days over GOP challenger Mitt Romney.
- Hurricane Maria, 2017: President Donald Trump drew negative headlines for his response to Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico five years ago. Trump visited the island to survey damage caused by the storm, a trip largely remembered for his tossing rolls of paper towels into a crowd alongside government officials. The Trump administration’s Maria cleanup was also tainted by scandal, as a Montana company tied to then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and a former Federal Emergency Management Agency official accepted bribes connected to $1.8 billion in rebuilding contracts.
Biden took care to distance himself from Trump before even boarding Air Force One to visit Puerto Rico this time. He’s going to Florida on Wednesday.
While the president and DeSantis have so far avoided conflict over Ian, that resolve will be tested in the days and weeks ahead.
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Several mini controversies have emerged already. CNN host Don Lemon raised a few eyebrows for attempting to link Ian to climate change, and DeSantis was questioned about a late evacuation of Florida’s Lee County and for reminding any would-be looters that Florida is a “Second Amendment state.”
“Everything is political now,” Shirley said, noting the difference between today’s environment and when Hurricane Andrew hit 30 years ago. “When Andrew hit in 1992, it was not political at all. It was never political. Now, everything is political all the time.”
