• At Politico, Florida Bureau reporter Matt Dixon saw the need to beat other reporters to the punch in slandering the governor over his hurricane response – the hurricane that has yet to hit the state’s west coast. Dixon wants to open the door to calamity and invite criticism on DeSantis over his response to the imposing beast of a storm.
• The hurricane is on track to make landfall in the state just six weeks ahead of the November elections and, depending on how well the governor responds to the potentially catastrophic storm, DeSantis may emerge more popular or open himself up to criticism.
• Although Dixon lays out numerous ways that the governor has been working with preparedness, he still saw the need to inject politics into the mix.
• While no elected official wishes for a major natural disaster, hurricanes offer almost unlimited access to free national media, a huge boost to any governor’s political fortunes.
• “Fail a response: hard to get reelected, and your agenda stalls,” former Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate, who served as Bush’s emergency management director, said in a text message. Do well, though, and it “adds capital to your agenda, and sets you up for higher office.”

Tagged: News of the Weird