Former Democratic Party leader Howard Dean slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the Sunshine State — which is now the epicenter of the highly transmissible delta variant of the disease ― and predicted which GOP senator could signal his downfall.
During an interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Wednesday, Dean said DeSantis “doesn’t even believe what he’s talking about,” is “totally unfit to govern in any way” and was “an embarrassment for every governor … both Republicans and Democrats.”
“A guy like this should never be in public authority,” he added.
DeSantis, a noted Donald Trump apologist, was with his executive order banning schools from mandating the use of masks and his failed attempt to ban cruise ships from requiring proof of vaccination from passengers, was positioning himself “to run for president with the MAGA people,” said Dean.
“But what he doesn’t realize is that COVID sank Donald Trump’s presidency and it’s going to sink DeSantis because … I don’t think DeSantis could carry Florida if he ran for president right now,” the former governor of Vermont predicted.
Dean suggested Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) could end up being a bellwether of DeSantis’ political future.
“The canary in the coal mine here is Marco Rubio, when Rubio starts objecting to DeSantis, you know he and his pollsters will have decided that DeSantis has become a liability,” said Dean. “You would never have said that four weeks ago but it’s really clear from a political point of view this is a disaster. It’s not just bad medically, not just bad ethically, it’s dumb politically.”
Watch the interview above.
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