Saturday, October 19, 2024

D.L. Gardner: Gravitas of the Commander-in-Chief

You know those “man vs. nature” movies that just go on and on, getting worse and worse as new crises arise? Hurricanes Helene and Milton provided a classic backdrop for a man vs. nature movie along with a lot of political intrigue on the verge of a presidential election.

Helene began forming on September 22 in the western Caribbean Sea and traveled from the Yucatan Peninsula across the Gulf of Mexico to the Big Bend of Florida becoming a Category 4 hurricane before landing late on September 26. Governors of Florida and Georgia had declared states of emergency well before landfall anticipating very high storm surges along the coast and hurricane-force gusts as far inland as Atlanta.

Helene began to intensify quickly approaching land and became the strongest hurricane to ever strike the Big Bend. Helene hit Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky as its eastern wall clobbered western North Carolina with heavy rain and wind that devastated the Appalachian region with unprecedented floods and mudslides.

Then, along came Milton, the second-most intensive hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico. Milton made landfall on the west coast of Florida as the strongest hurricane worldwide in 2024. Fortunately for other southeastern states, Florida suffered the brunt of the hurricane, meaning Governor DeSantis was tapped for a second time in three weeks to lead a coordinated response to another powerful Hurricane.

As expected, Governor DeSantis gave key press conferences each day with updates of what had happened and how the response team was preparing for what they anticipated was coming in the next few days. DeSantis and President Joe Biden maintained continuing updates coordinating state and local resources with federal responses. At a White House briefing, President Biden praised Governor DeSantis for being ”gracious” when they spoke about dealing with multiple hurricanes.

While the hurricanes were unleashing furious wind, rain and flooding particularly across Florida, news reports began coming out of VP Harris’ campaign about DeSantis’ refusing to answer Harris’ phone call.

During a regular press briefing, Governor DeSantis answered a question about the issue of a telephone call from VP Harris. Tuesday, Fox News reported DeSantis saying, “We’ve been on emergency footing around the clock, two weeks straight…. That’s been my sole focus. My focus has not been on dealing with Kamala Harris. I saw the news report. I didn’t know she tried to contact me. It’s not about you, Kamala. It’s about the people of Florida.”

What had VP Harris asked or said? Monday Harris had told reporters, "People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games with this moment, in these crisis situations, these are the height of emergency situations, it's just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish.”

She continued, “Moments of crisis, if nothing else, should really be the moment that anyone who calls themselves a leader says, I’m going to put politics aside and put the people first.” She added, “It’s utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do.”

Maybe the stress of campaigning for real votes triggered VP Harris’ outbursts to reporters. Nevertheless, voters want assurance the Commander-in-Chief will have experience handling domestic and international crises without losing the gravitas of the highest office in the land.

Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harris personifies this quote: “It’s utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do.”

Anonymous said...

Harris has had four years to do something. All I can see that she has done is cover up for Joe and hide the shape he was in. I think it is funny she is now complaining about Trump and how old he is when she spent four years hiding and making excuses for Joe.

Anonymous said...

Vice Presidents certify POTUS elections. Remember Mike Pence? This is going to get interesting.

Anonymous said...

@3:13 PM The law was changed and the role of the VP in certifying the elction is now purely ceremonial. Trump and his cult of idiots won't be able to do anything this time.

Anonymous said...

DL, is it true that "news reports began coming out of VP Harris’ campaign" first. What reporting supports this?

Krusatyr said...

"It is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish" for DeSantis not to take Harris' phone call? She thought it was "selfish" that DeSantis, an established successful leader, wouldn't take a call from an imbecile to share the glory of the "moment" with the airhead Czarina? How else to categorize her stupid "it is selfish" remark? She simply wanted the ability to say: "I spoke with the governor to coordinate the hurricane response" only to steal some of his honor. She knows she's trying to ride DeSantis' triumph, and he did also.

Anonymous said...

Uh, she was calling as Vice President and she and Biden visited Florida and N.C. DeSantis will take their federal help and unlike Trump , DeSantis should be glad they didn't see a GOP voters or a territory with no voters after a hurricane but rather Americans who needed help.
It never ceases to amaze me that Trump can say he will use the military on "the enemies within" and includes Pelosi and Shumer and anyone who doesn't bow down to him as an "enemy".
You don't want to read the evidence in either the documents case where he put our national security top secret document in easy grasp of the Chinese and Russian at a resort or how he tried to steal the 2020 election when no court supported his claims. You won't read the court filings. You dismiss the fact that neither his hometown nor his home state has ever supported him . You refuse to imagine it's because they actually KNOW him. And, I'm more stunned that his supporters tolerate his lies that are SO bald faced , you have to know he's lying.

Anonymous said...

So, Trump who uses profanity , puts his name on everything including our flag and the Holy Bible, takes a film crew into Arlington National Cemetery, is a serial adulterer, a convicted felon, convicted of running a scam ( Trump University), is the first ever to lose money building a casino, dyes his hair and wears so much orange face pancake makeup that his eyes and round his mouth look white, has eaten so many McDonald burgers that he has to have custom ties to cover his belly, and who lies constantly about anything and everything has gravitas??? Worse, he has concepts but no plans and no clue about foreign policy or how governments function or fail or even remember the actual names of leaders in other countries has gravitas ?ROFL! Worse holier than thou DL thinks a guy who has never been a church member and enters churches only to give political speeches has gravitas? Lord help us all!

Anonymous said...

Honor and Desantis in the same sentence?

Hah.

The Douchebro runs his mouth too much, and wears elevator heels in his white clown boots in an attempt to fix his small man syndrome!

Anonymous said...

Dude, or dudett, you're the one sounding like a sanctimonious, self-righteous, hypocrite. You should remove the beam from your own eye before pointing out the splinter in your fellow man's eye.

Anonymous said...

I don't believe Trump said any of those things, prove it.

Anonymous said...

4:06 pm You obviously have a computer. You can search it yourself and see/hear the videos. He said these things in speeches and interviews. Do your damn homework instead of sticking your head the FOX sand pit

Anonymous said...

4:06 pm just google " Trump talking about Arnold Palmer" and "Trump" talking a use of the military and "evil people including Pelosi and Shumer" and " illegals killing cats and dogs in Springfield". Who knows what far fetched tales he has today. And, do remember Trumpster often bring their children to his events. And they are seen on tv.

Anonymous said...

You're the one that made the claim, Homer. It falls on you to prove your accusation. So, do your damn homework, Homer. I don't watch Fox news.

Anonymous said...

For many hardcore trumpsters Fox News is considered to be lamestream and left wing.

The hardcore prefer to mainline their disinfo from palces like OANN, The Epoch Times and various Telegram and Tik Tok experts.

Kingfish said...

Don't forget MSNBC.

Anonymous said...

Some of you guys on her will be crying about Democracy when Trump wins. If you go ahead and accept it now, you will feel better when it happens.

Anonymous said...

First things first - it is unfortunate that our choice is Trump or Harris. Neither is truly fit to be POTUS, but one of them will be. That said, Jim Gaffigan pretty much nailed the absurdity of this choice at the Al Smith Dinner: “The Democrats have been telling us Trump’s reelection is a threat to democracy. In fact, they were so concerned of this threat, they staged a coup, ousted their democratically elected incumbent and installed Kamala Harris.”

I would add that it certainly does not appear that the majority of those who consider themselves Dems (the rank and file, not the leaders) wanted Biden to remain the candidate, and she became the candidate according to the rules, but she is not the candidate selected via the primary process (which is not democratic, but it is arguably more so than the general election). Trump is the candidate selected by the primary process, and from a contested field. Moreover, the winner will not be the candidate who gets the most popular votes, the winner will be the candidate who gets the electoral votes. The US is not and has never been a "democracy," so of all the valid arguments against both of these candidates, and there are a shitload of them against both, neither can be a threat to something that does not and never has existed.


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