DeSantis Sides With Anti-Mask Surgeon General in Office Debacle Because of Course

In a move surprising to no one, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has sided with the state’s vax-skeptic, mask-skeptic Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo for refusing to wear a mask while meeting with cancer-suffering state Sen. Tina Polsky. Polsky asked Ladapo to put a mask on in her office because she’s in the middle of treatment for breast cancer. When Ladapo refused, she asked him to leave. Since then, Polsky said she had received a litany of death threats and antisemitic messages, mostly from out-of-state numbers.

On Thursday, DeSantis said Ladapo offered “numerous accommodations” because he felt he wouldn’t be able to communicate properly with a mask on. In a classic case of whataboutism, DeSantis then added: “There’s pictures [of Polsky and others] very close with no masks in other instances. I don’t see people talking about that... So I think this was more, they’re trying to politicize this.”