Politics ain’t beanbag. But hurricanes ain’t politics. So allow me, on behalf of every Floridian I know, to issue a brief warning to the national media, to the national Democratic Party, and to the Trump-obsessed wing of the GOP: Keep your stupid games away from your reporting on Hurricane Idalia. Stop it. Cut it out. Adjust your thinking, and do it now. This is a natural disaster, not a gameshow.
Already, Governor DeSantis is being asked questions about Donald Trump while he’s trying to deliver updates. Stop that. The hurricane is a part of the primary in the sense that Ron DeSantis is an active governor who is being tested before voters’ eyes. The hurricane is not the primary in the sense that it’s a WWE ring or an opportunity to drive clicks from people who are obsessed with cable news. The role of the press here should be to relate facts accurately; it should not be to turn this into a cage fight. The local media here in Florida understand that this isn’t a partisan matter. So do most of the state’s Democrats. There is no reason that the national press, the national Democrats, and the Trump industrial complex cannot be expected to follow suit.