Symone Sanders, a former spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris, is admitting that Florida “came out all right” amid criticism of how its governor responded to COVID-19.
During a segment of MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” Wednesday, host Chuck Todd argued that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is “unafraid to put his hand on the hot stove” on hot button issues.
“Unafraid, and one could argue that much has been — I was critical of Gov. DeSantis, still am, during the height of Covid, but if you really look at the numbers, Florida actually came out all right,” Sanders chimed in.
Todd said, “He’s got a story to tell.”
“He has a story to tell,” Sanders agreed.
Another panelist interjected, “And the economy is strong.”
Sanders also agreed that Florida’s economy is strong.
Watch the video below:
MSNBC's panel grudgingly admits that "if you really look at the numbers" from Covid, "Florida actually came out all right…And the economy is strong."
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 20, 2022
Less than 30 seconds later, they say it's "not all rosy" and "caution us from heaping a little too much praise" on DeSantis. pic.twitter.com/EJuZ7ppC3H
Still, Sanders cautioned, “I think the facts, though, are you got to look under, I mean, what he’s doing with the math books makes no sense. Even Fox News analysts were like, ‘He has to come up with an explanation for this.’”
“And so it’s not all rosy. And so I think I would just caution us from heaping a little too much praise on Ron DeSantis,” she added.
Todd responded, “And I don’t know if it’s praise ‘cause I think he’s taking on risk.”
Sanders’ comments appear to refer to Florida’s decision to reject over 50 math textbooks from the 2023 curriculum.
In a statement, DeSantis said, “It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students.”
Early in the pandemic, critics labeled DeSantis “DeathSantis” as they argued he was letting the coronavirus “flourish” by not taking stricter measures to stop the spread of the virus.
According to Statista, Florida has the 17th most deaths per 100,000 people from Covid.
New York, Michigan, and New Jersey rank higher on the list.