Ron DeSantis Schools CNN Reporter Pushing Misleading Hurricane Narrative

OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.

Florida is recovering from Hurricane Ian and liberals are already arguing this is “DeSantis’ Katrina.”

The evacuation order for Lee County, Florida, came just 48 hours before Hurricane Ian hit land due to inaccurate tracking that forecasted the hurricane would hit closer to St. Petersburg and Tampa.

Nadia Romero, a CNN reporter, asked DeSantis, “Do you stand behind Lee County’s decision to not have that mandatory evacuation until the day before the storm?”

DeSantis responded, “Well, did you, where was your industry stationed when the storm hit? Where you guys in Lee County? No, you were in Tampa. So they were following the weather track, and they had to make decisions based on that. But you know, 72 hours, they weren’t even in the cone, 48 hours they were on the periphery, so you gotta make the decisions as best you can.”

The storm was said to be hitting Tampa. The curve was well north of Lee County. Heading north would not have worked out.

DeSantis explained why some counties north of Lee had evacuation orders.

DeSantis said, “Well, yes. That’s because those “neighboring counties,” such as Sarasota County, were further north of Lee County and much closer to Tampa, where the storm was projected to go (again, by outlets like CNN). Counties do not exist on top of each other. One county doing something does not naturally dictate another county following suit. Otherwise, the entire state would have been evacuated, which is impossible to do.”

The more the media tries to harm DeSantis, the better he looks.

More on this story via RedState:

DeSantis launched off again, dispelling the misinformation with the facts on the ground and suggesting that second-guessing over a hurricane abruptly turning is ridiculous. He’s right, of course. Until that Tuesday, the storm was supposed to hit 100 to 150 miles further north. Weather is unpredictable, and there can be no perfect response outside of blind luck. In the main, Florida did an excellent job evacuating people, and it has done an excellent job since then getting power back and helping people in need.

The media’s obsession with trying to harm DeSantis only makes him look more sane and competent, and perhaps one day, reporters will learn that they aren’t going to catch him off guard. He knows his stuff, and he’s always ready. That’s precisely why they fear him so much.