PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — Donald Trump has taken to defending Democrats in order to rip his top Republican rival in 2024 – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The former president again blasted DeSantis’ COVID response by suggesting former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo did a better job. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
CUOMO, DESANTIS RESPOND
“Donald Trump tells the truth, finally,” Cuomo tweeted about the comments. “New York got hit first and worst but New Yorkers acted responsibly. Florida’s policy of denial allowed Covid to spread and that’s why they had a very large second wave.”
“Bruh – you literally hid the deaths of nursing home residents,” DeSantis’ press secretary Jeremy Redfern fired back at Cuomo.
In another tweet responding to Trump’s claims, Redfern added: “1) Cuomo forced sick patients into nursing homes when we already knew the elderly were vulnerable. 2) Florida’s all-cause mortality is lower than the state of NY. 3) NY still hasn’t recovered the jobs they lost, their tax base, or their residents.”
On Thursday, Trump stated in a video: “Even Cuomo did better [than DeSantis].”
In January, Trump accused DeSantis of “trying to rewrite history” regarding Florida’s COVID response.
DeSantis himself weighed in on the comments on Wednesday.
“If you say ‘Cuomo did a better job with COVID than Florida did’ – first of all that’s not what he used to say,” the governor told reporters at a press conference. “Six months ago he would’ve never said that. He used to say how great Florida was. Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship. Are you kidding me?”
.@GovRonDeSantis in Iowa clowns President Trump and family over moving to Florida under his watch
— The Floridian (@Floridianpress) May 31, 2023
READ MORE: https://t.co/MbOelac2MI
"Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship, are you kidding me?”#DeSantis2024 #Flpol pic.twitter.com/TGuNbiNsGI
CUOMO: “WORST OF ALL TIME”
In her response to Trump’s comments, Fox News contributor Janice Dean proffered a scathing criticism of Cuomo’s handling of COVID.
“He is the worst of all time,” she wrote in a tweet. “Andrew Cuomo helped kill thousand of elderly, prohibited sick patients from being tested before setting their nursing homes on fire with covid, profited off their deaths and then hid the numbers for his 5.1 [million dollar] book.”
Dean also suggested that Trump’s strategy may be counterproductive to his 2024 campaign, writing in another tweet: “If your game is to pretend @andrewcuomo did a good job despite helping to kill thousands of elderly, profit of their deaths and cover up how many died, then there’s no way you will ever win my vote.”
