OPINION:
A Washington Post reporter over the weekend posted a factually wrong, egregious tweet against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on social media, indicating he delayed activating the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the Surfside condominium collapse.
“There’s a saying in emergency management: The first 24 hours are the only 24 hours,” Post reporter Hannah Dreier wrote on Twitter. “FEMA was ready to deploy to the condo collapse almost immediately, and included the crisis in its daily briefing, but didn’t get permission from Gov. DeSantis to get on the ground for a full day.”
Almost immediately after Ms. Dreier posted the false report, Florida Democrats and FEMA’s director, sided with Mr. DeSantis, saying all the agencies, both local and federal were doing everything they could – and working collectively – in the search and rescue mission.
The mayor of Miami-Dade County, a Democrat, was asked about Mr. DeSantis’ perceived delayed reaction on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday and said it wasn’t true.
“Not only the state of Florida has been here in force … we’ve not lacked for any support,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told NBC.
Florida Democrat, Biden voter and former state FEMA Director Jared Moskowitz also took to Twitter to debunk Ms. Dreier’s claim.
“FEMA’s mantra is ‘locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. As the former director in FL who voted for Biden this tweet below is 100% malarkey,” Mr. Moskowitz tweeted referring to Ms. Dreier’s tweet. “FEMA would have deployed the federally funded USAR teams, which are located in Miami-Dade County. They were already there.”
FEMA Director Deanne Criswell also weighed in on Twitter: “After witnessing the heroic rescue efforts and meeting with partners today, I’m confident we are doing everything we can to help the Surfside community. FEMA will continue providing resources and technical support while also helping people apply for disaster assistance.”
In order for FEMA assistance, an emergency declaration needs to be signed by the local government, then at the state government, then the federal government can act. Mrs. Levine Cava signed an emergency order at 4:33 p.m. the day of the collapse. Mr. DeSantis then signed his less than an hour later at 5:32 p.m., and FEMA assistance was immediate and on-the-scene.
Yet, Ms. Dreier’s tweet remains live on Twitter. Neither she nor The Post has taken any action to correct it – it’s seemingly more important for them to politicize the tragedy and try to spread misinformation aimed at smearing Mr. DeSantis than reporting the truth.
This is just one example – among many – that explains why the U.S. ranks last among 46 counties in trust in media, according to a new report. Just 29% of people surveyed in the U.S. said they trust the news, compared to 45% in Canada and 54% in Brazil, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford found, in a study released June 28th.
It’s not the first time the fake-media has taken aim at Mr. DeSantis – and has been proven wrong, with local Democrats having to defend him. A CBS “60 Minutes” story claimed Mr. DeSantis gave preferential treatment to distribute COVID-19 vaccinations to the grocery store chain Publix because it donated $100,000 to his reelection campaign. Yet, it failed to deliver any evidence that Mr. DeSantis ever engaged in this pay-to-play scheme, nor did anything illegal or unusual transpire. Even Democratic Mayor of Palm Beach County Dave Kerner said the “60 Minutes” piece was “intentionally false.”
Then there was the entire mainstream media’s elevation of Rebekah Jones, the former dashboard manager at the Florida Department of Health, who alleged Mr. DeSantis was cooking the books on the number of COVID-19 patients in the state. It was all a massive conspiracy theory – Ms. Jones wasn’t fired for her failure to go-in on the scheme, she was fired for misconduct, stealing government data, including personnel, and publishing it without the state’s permission on social media. Moreover, Ms. Jones never had the ability to edit the raw COVID-19 data, thereby making her claims of having been directed to reduce the number of COVID-19 patients in the state, a lie.
Yet, the media happily ran with the story, because it made Mr. DeSantis look bad, all the while ignoring New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo – who was actually fudging his state’s COVID-19 data. It’s no mystery as to why: Mr. DeSantis is an up-and-coming GOP star, while Mr. Cuomo is Democratic royalty.
So why is American trust in media at an all-time low? It’s because our mainstream media has exposed themselves over and over again, as Democratic propagandists, with absolutely no desire to tell the truth and an unflinching desire to smear Republicans, no matter what the cost to their own reputations.
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