CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris made a “huge campaign mistake” by criticizing Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for not taking her call ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
Harris previously accused DeSantis of “playing political games” by not taking her call on the destructive hurricane heading toward Florida, though President Joe Biden confirmed Monday that he has been in contact with the Florida governor for “firsthand reports” on Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Jennings criticized Harris in an appearance on CNN, saying that she shouldn’t politicize a weather emergency by attacking the governor.
READ: Mark Halperin Says Harris’ ‘Achilles’ Heel’ Is ‘Her Lack Of Decisiveness’
“In all of your public communications, no matter what you’re doing, you have to always show that American people that you have their fellow citizens in your heart,” Jennings said. “This is the kind of historic storm that some people aren’t gonna survive it, there’s gonna be widespread property devastation, you have to just show the empathy that people would expect out of the American president. I think that’s campaign communications number one. Number two, what she can’t do is try to insert politics into this, and I think, honestly, when Kamala Harris attacked Ron DeSantis as he was preparing for this hurricane, that was a huge campaign mistake for her.”
“She should not have done that, Biden came out and corrected the record, saying he and DeSantis are working well together. That was the proper response,” Jennings continued.
Former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield argued in the segment that Republican nominee Donald Trump is playing politics with the hurricanes by accusing the Biden administration of spending Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds on illegal immigrants. She said politics “should take a backseat” as the state and federal governments tackle the damage that Hurricane Milton will bring.
READ: CBS Quietly Edits Harris Word Salad Response In ’60 Minutes’ Interview
DeSantis said he had no knowledge that Harris tried to contact him and has “zero time” to pay attention to the vice president’s “political games” during a Tuesday interview with “Fox & Friends.”
“It’s not about you, Kamala,” DeSantis said. “It’s about the people of Florida. My focus is exactly where it should be, and I can tell you this, I’ve worked on these hurricanes both under President Trump and President Biden, neither of them ever tried to politicize it. She has never called on any of the storms we’ve had until apparently now. Why all of a sudden is she trying to parachute in and inject herself when she’s never shown any interest in the past? We know it’s because of politics, we know it’s because of her campaign. I have zero time to entertain these political games.”
Jennings praised DeSantis’ handling of the historic storms hitting his state, calling him “the best emergency management government executive” in the U.S.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.