MAGA took no responsibility for the mega size of Hurricane Milton and the damage it threatens to inflict on Florida—but maybe it should have.
The historical storm was supercharged by record water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, a phenomenon worsened by the climate change that Donald Trump and his acolytes are determined to do nothing about.
In fact, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis went so far as to sign legislation in May that excises any reference to climate change from state law.
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That did nothing to change the laws of nature, which sent two massive hurricanes, Helene and then Milton, barreling toward Florida. The first of these monster storms hit just a day after 100 Republican senators and representatives voted against increased disaster relief funding.
Ohio Senator JD Vance—who has scoffed at climate change as “weird science”—skipped the vote altogether. He was instead at the Northwestern Michigan Fair in Traverse County, campaigning as the Republican for vice president. He alleged that by boosting electric vehicles, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, was supporting China at America’s expense.
“The most destructive thing that this administration has done—the Kamala Harris administration—is that she wants to force Americans to buy electric vehicles made in China, and she, by the way, wants to subsidize doing it with your money,” he said, as ready as ever top distort the truth in service of his ambition.
A car drives past waves just ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall Wednesday.
YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty ImagesVance also repeated Trump’s mantra when confronted with the fact that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary driver of climate change.
“Drill baby, dill!”
Among the Republicans who voted against disaster relief were 10 Floridians, including Trump booster Rep. Anna Paulina Luna from Pinellas County, which was hit hard by Helene on Sept. 26 and then found itself in the projected path of Milton on Wednesday. Luna nonetheless went on social media to demand more of the aid she had voted against.
"Cut the c***. We need FEMA DOLLARS FREE'D UP. ALL ASSETS,” she tweeted on Monday night.
On Tuesday, Luna denounced as a “LIE” a completely accurate report in Newsweek that she had voted against FEMA relief funds.
“Democrats and the DC Swamp did not pass an appropriations bill to properly fund FEMA as they’re supposed to,” she posted on social media..
She added an actual lie, stating that the relief bill passed without her and 99 other Republicans had “MORE wasteful spending that put ILLEGALS OVER AMERICANS.” Any FEMA money for migrants is completely separate from allocations to help communities recover from disasters.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, right, joins former President Donald Trump at a town hall event. On Wednesday, Luna demanded more FEMA money despite the fact that she recently voted against a recent bill to supplement the agency’s funding.
Win McNameeThen, Luna suddenly changed her tune on Wednesday afternoon. It was becoming clear that her district was hours away from suffering a second, potentially devastating hit that might leave her constituents wondering how she would have possibly voted against relief aid.
“I just spoke with @WhiteHouse officials, and they are taking all necessary actions to ensure that @GovRonDeSantis and the State of Florida have the resources required to assist Floridians with hurricane preparation and recovery as Hurricane Milton approaches Pinellas County,” she tweeted, “I will continue to be in close contact with the White House to ensure that we meet all of Florida’s needs.”
DeSantis, meanwhile, did not change his tune, but his tone became less dismissive.
Dan Jones points toward a destroyed roof in his backyard after a tornado hit in Fort Myers, Florida, ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty ImagesBack in June, as he was touring flood damage from 20 inches of rain in Hollywood, Florida, DeSantis defended the bill he signed that stripped any mention of climate from state law.
“We need to get the lights back on,” he told the press then. “We don’t want our policy driven by climate ideology.”
At the approach of Milton, DeSantis was confronted with the likelihood of irreparable loss.
“There will be fatalities,” DeSantis told the press. “I don’t see a way around it when the storm surge is 10 feet. You can’t just hunker down with that.”
As a congressman, DeSantis had voted against federal aid after Hurricane Sandy generated a 12-foot storm surge that killed 48 in New York in 2016. He contended that such spending without cuts elsewhere constituted a “put it on the credit card mentality.”
As Milton threatened his state with a deadly storm surge, DeSantis voiced what also happens to be the essential concern of those who clamor for the U.S. to address climate change as MAGA leads to ever more mega storms.
“Mother Nature is going to win that fight,” he said.
