Democrat Rahm Emanuel, a one-time adviser to former President Barack Obama, infamously advised to never let a crisis go to waste.
Charlie Crist, the Democrats’ candidate for governor of Florida, illustrated that.
On Tuesday, the Twitter account DeSantis War Room, which supports incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, posted a video of Crist using Hurricane Ian to try to make bank for his flailing campaign.
The 58-second video shows a tweet by Crist, who attempted to blame DeSantis for the state’s property insurance crisis. Crist tweeted a website at which he invited to “share your story” about losing their property insurance.
DeSantis War Room followed to link to another page, which invited users to submit their contact information.
In the news: Florida Gov. DeSantis Directs FDOT To Have Sanibel Island Accessible By End Of October
Part of the text on the website says, “If you suffered damage from Hurricane Ian and have recently been dropped from your insurance, or if the property insurance crisis has impacted you and your family in any other way, we want to hear your story.”
The video then shows DeSantis War Room entering a ZIP code and a generic email address.
The website offers a prompt that says “Join Now,” and when clicked it opens to a pitch page to make a contribution to Crist’s campaign.
The opening sentences note, “Thank you for supporting Charlie Crist’s campaign for governor. Now, if you’re able, can you take the next step and make a quick donation?”
Crist undoubtedly needs the money.
DeSantis has raised more than $177 million for his re-election bid. That is not only a new record for a gubernatorial candidate from any state, it all came from donors, whereas the previous high were posted by candidates who self-funded their elections.
With the most recent campaign finance reports, the incumbent holds about an 11-1 lead over his Democratic challenger.
On Twitter, DeSantis War Room noted, “Florida Democrat gubernatorial candidate @CharlieCrist is specifically targeting Floridians who ‘suffered damage from Hurricane Ian’ to ask them for donations to his campaign. Awful. How do you look at people who lost everything and ask them for money?”
That was Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night, DeSantis War Room offered an update:
“UPDATE: After @CharlieCrist drew harsh criticism for targeting devastated #HurricaneIan survivors to solicit donations for his political campaign, he quietly changed the link so it redirects to a policy page rather than a DONATE page. Has media covered this at all???”
Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GiveSendGo or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook Here Or Twitter Here.
Copyright 2022 The Free Press, LLC, tampafp.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.