Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis mocked Democrats who have regularly criticized him during the pandemic, noting that many of them choose to vacation there rather than their own “draconian” states.
His comments to reporters came after New York Democrat Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was caught maskless in Miami as cases of coronavirus reached a record high in New York.
DeSantis quipped, “If I had a dollar for every lockdown politician who decided to escape to Florida over the last two years, I’d be a pretty doggone wealthy man, lemme tell ya.”
“I mean, Congresspeople, mayors, governors, I mean, you name it. It’s interesting, though, the reception that some of these folks will get in Florida because I think a lot of Floridians say, ‘Wait a minute. You’re bashing us because we’re not doing your draconian policies and yet we’re the first place you want to flee to, to basically be able to enjoy life,’” DeSantis added.
“And so I’m not surprised to see that continue to happen. I could tell you, there are probably about a half-dozen governors who had restrictions on their people and then were spotted at various points in Florida. Some of it’s been public; some of it’s not been public, but you know, people tell me these things and so these things are spotted,” he continued.
“And so that’s just the reality that we’re dealing with,” he said. “I’m happy, though, that Florida’s a place where people know that they can come and they can live like normal people; they can make their own decisions.”
Florida Sen. Rick Scott riffed on Ocasio-Cortez as well after the New York Democrat’s visit to the Sunshine State over the holidays.
The GOP senator went on to make a bold prediction as well: That soon, ‘AOC’ will be a resident of the state because she will find it much more appealing than her home state.
“First they come down here on vacation to Florida. They say, ‘This is nice,’ then they go buy their condo and they say ‘Well, we’re just going to come down here a little bit.’ Then they eventually move here because the job opportunities are better, the weather is better, the taxes are lower. I have a lot of freedom,” the Florida Republican said.
“So she’s just started the process. She’ll move down here eventually,” Scott said on Fox News’ “Mornings with Maria.”