Video footage recently fueled speculation that California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is being prepped to oust President Joe Biden from the presidential ticket in 2024.
The left-wing governor visited the White House last week, while Biden was overseas on his Middle East trip.
But while he was in Washington, and despite Biden’s absence, Newsom showed he picked up Biden’s penchant for lying.
During an interview with the Sacramento Bee, Newsom claimed he started running ads against Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last month because DeSantis allegedly targeted the Special Olympics, which were held in Orlando earlier this year.
“He did something that tipped me very directly, and that was going after the Special Olympics. I had an emotional response to that,” Newsom told The Bee. “That led to the consideration of doing something a little bit more expressive and that was the determination on the ad.”
The truth is that DeSantis spared Special Olympics athletes from a Newsom-like COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Just before the Olympics began, the Florida Department of Health notified organizers of a new state law that banned vaccine passports and fined those that did not comply.
Requiring each athlete to get the jab would have cost the organizers $27.5 million in fines.
They opted to drop the mandate.
And while one web search will reveal many stories about how DeSantis “bullied” the Special Olympics, what one won’t find is any story about an outbreak of COVID among the athletes.
In fact, according to the CDC, the seven-day rolling average of new infections in the Orlando area is lower now than it was before the start of the Olympics.
Florida first lady Casey DeSantis countered Newsom’s misleading comment, noting that her husband’s policies actually worked to ensure athletes, especially those who were immunocompromised and unable to be vaxxed, could compete.
“For those who need a reminder… this is why we fight,” Casey DeSantis tweeted. “Isabella competed in the Special Olympics because @RonDeSantisFL stood up and fought for her and all the other Special Olympians who would have been sidelined. We will never stop fighting for people like Isabella.”
The tweet includes video of Florida Special Olympics golf team member Isabella Valle and her mother, Elaine, appearing with DeSantis at a press conference after the vax mandate was canceled.
“Florida says inclusion, I’m just so thankful we’re especially here in Florida… I’m glad that our team is back together,” Elaine Valle said at the time in thanking DeSantis and the Department of Health for giving Isabella and the other athletes the opportunity to compete.
Newsom may also want to take note that, according to the website Stacker.com, California ranked fifth among states sending the most newcomers to Florida, just behind New York, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
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