This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis clapped back at a reporter who asked him a question about the role of climate change as it pertains to Hurricane Helene.
"The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is zero. So, do not count on that. I do not subscribe to your religion,” DeSantis told the reporter.
“It’s just the tired refrain and song and dance. I get you have an agenda, I understand that. I think you should be more honest about what that would mean for people: taxing them to smithereens, stopping oil and gas, making people pay dramatically more... we would collapse as a country. So, this whole idea of climate ideology driving policy, it just factually can’t work. So in Florida, our energy is always going to be affordable and reliable," DeSantis added.
#BREAKING: DeSantis scorches reporter for having an "agenda" after asking about climate change in regard to hurricane damage
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) October 17, 2024
"The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is zero. So, do not count on that. I do not subscribe to your religion."
"I get you have an… pic.twitter.com/eQOgiocWAQ
Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc across the southeast this month. According to USA Today, the 2024 hurricane season has killed nearly 300 lives.
Earlier this year, DeSantis shocked the nation when he signed a bill into law that eliminated most references to climate change from state law (via NPR):
It takes effect July 1 and would also boost expansion of natural gas, reduce regulation on gas pipelines in the state and increase protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor's office.
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"We're restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots," DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform.
“The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state,” the governor also stated at the time. “We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.”