Ronald DeSantis, Climate Change Denier and Disaster Relief Refuser, May Finally Face Reality

Sadly for Floridians, it’s too late—if it even really happens.

From Esquire, by Charles P. Pierce:

Seems like the good times, back when the sun was shining and folks were laughing about some plane rides to Massachusetts, are all in the wind now.

Things were a bit different back in July. From Orlando Weekly:

Continuing to target what he calls “woke” corporations, Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to prohibit state investments that use “environmental, social and governance” ratings, which can include taking into account impacts of climate change.

DeSantis plans to have the State Board of Administration, which oversees investments, direct pension-fund managers against “using political factors when investing the state’s money.” So-called ESG policies have drawn criticism from Republicans across the country. “We want them (fund managers) to invest the state’s money for the best interests of the beneficiaries of those funds, which is, again, the people that are retired cops and teachers and other public employees,” DeSantis said Wednesday during an appearance at Harpoon Harry’s Crab House in Tampa.

Things were a bit different last year. From the Orlando Sentinel:

As reported by Laura Cassels in the Florida Phoenix, DeSantis — while speaking in Pinellas County on Dec. 7 — referred to climate change as “left-wing stuff” and neglected to even use the word, “climate change.” He said, “What I’ve found is, people when they start talking about things like global warming, they typically use that as a pretext to do a bunch of left-wing things that they would want to do anyways. We are not doing any left-wing stuff.”

That’s not “left-wing stuff” in the streets of Tampa, and Naples, and what used to be the streets on Sanibel Island. It’s the damn Gulf of Mexico. For a tinhorn politician with lofty plans for the future, DeSantis has been handed some actual governor-ing to do, now and for at least the next year, right up into the festivities in Iowa and New Hampshire. He has to admit by deed, if not by word, that he needs help from the big, bad Washington government headed by President Joe “Open Borders” Biden. He has to answer questions about why, when he was merely a Tea Party nuisance in Congress, he voted against similar relief for the victims of Superstorm Sandy. He has to confront the fact that it cost the state $12 million for his little stunt with the asylum seekers, which is $12 million it doesn’t have now to help the citizens on his state’s west coast.

Yes, Pinocchio, you’re a real boy now. Your state has been dealt a historic blow, intensified by natural phenomena that your political base doesn’t believe exists. They’re watching in Des Moines and in Nashua, certainly. But they’re struggling to survive in Tampa and Naples. Where’s your head going to be? Where’s your heart?