republican florida Governor Ron DeSantis Democratic former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hit back at former President Trump after claiming he had “done better” in combating the coronavirus pandemic despite Cuomo’s infamous nursing home scandal.
DeSantis struck back at Trump on Friday after the former president said Cuomo handled the coronavirus better than Florida’s governor. Mr. DeSantis called the claim “very bizarre.”
“First of all, Florida had a lower excess mortality rate than California or New York,” DeSantis said. “Part of the reason is that states like California have had excess mortality due to lockdown policies, which is really, really avoidable mortality.”
Trump’s bizarre reaction to DeSantis announcement causes chaos online
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said that Democratic former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has “done better” in the fight against COVID-19, despite the deadly nursing home scandal. In response, he fired back at former President Trump. (Ricky Carioti/Washington Post via Getty Images)
“But if he thinks Cuomo handled it better, it shows that if something like this happens again, he’ll double down and do what he did in March 2020. ,” DeSantis said on The Ben Shapiro Show.
“That was a difficult situation. We didn’t have all the facts, and people would kind of understand if we did things that might have gone wrong,” said the Republican presidential candidate.
“But today, in 2023, we all have to sit here and look back at March 2020 and say, ‘Faucism was wrong. Faucism was destructive. Faucism was the CARES Act.’ And the Fed printed money and caused inflation, got us down this road, and caused some of the economic problems we have today.”
Then-President Donald Trump listens to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talks about coronavirus in the James Brady Briefing Room in Washington, March 24, 2020. ((AP Photo/Alex Brandon))
“So if he could do it again, would he do the same?” DeSantis added. “I hope not.”
DeSantis also said that Fauci “should have been fired” by President Trump during his presidency, and that the former president “handed over the reins” to Fauci and “responded” to the pandemic by “elevating” him. also said he did.
Cuomo’s case is just the latest example of a tussle between Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump this week following Mr. DeSantis’ formal entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
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Cuomo has been widely criticized for his administration’s handling of the pandemic, including sending coronavirus patients back to nursing homes and changing the state’s reporting of deaths in nursing homes.
A study found that Cuomo’s decision to house coronavirus patients may have directly contributed to more than 1,000 deaths.
