Selfish people have a way of projecting their own selfishness onto others.
When faced with an imminent crisis, of course, one cannot help but feel a righteous indignation that gives no quarter to that kind of projection.
Monday on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida called Vice President Kamala Harris “delusional” after she accused the governor of selfishness and “political gamesmanship” ahead of Hurricane Milton’s potentially catastrophic expected landfall in western Florida.
Near the beginning of the segment, host Sean Hannity played a clip of Harris speaking to reporters.
When asked about an NBC report that DeSantis had ignored her phone calls in advance of the hurricane, the vice president responded with her usual blend of rhetorical drivel and self-serving nonsense.
“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 — is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first,” Harris said.
As one might expect, DeSantis had no tolerance for the vice president’s obvious gaslighting.
“For Kamala Harris to try to say that my sole focus on the people of Florida is somehow selfish is delusional,” the governor replied.
“She has no role in this. In fact, she’s been vice president for three-and-a-half years. I’ve dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts. And so what I think is selfish is her trying to blunder into this,” he added.
Would Ron DeSantis make a good president one day?
Meanwhile, Hannity recognized the significance of the governor’s statement that Harris had “never contributed anything” to earlier hurricane relief efforts. Thus, the host twice interrupted to ask if the vice president had ever called DeSantis in the past.
“No,” the governor responded. “She has no role in this process.”
DeSantis then explained that, when it came to storm relief, he had no trouble dealing with former President Donald Trump, and he has none now dealing with President Joe Biden. Only Harris has politicized a storm for the sake of her campaign.
“I don’t have time for political games,” the governor said.
“She is being selfish by trying to blunder into this when we’re working just fine,” he later added.
Readers may view the entire interview in the YouTube video below. DeSantis’s relevant comments began around the 3:30 mark.
The important question here has nothing to do with who cares — or cares more — about hurricane victims. We may speculate, of course, based on behavior, but we cannot read others’ hearts.
What matters is the question of selfishness, and on that point there should be no doubt.
First, consider DeSantis’s behavior during the interview. He derived no obvious political advantage from acknowledging Biden’s helpfulness. Thus, the governor had no reason to make the acknowledgment unless it was true.
Then, ask how Harris has behaved in the past under similar circumstances. If DeSantis told the truth about the vice president never before calling him prior to a hurricane — and he told the truth about Biden even though it painted a political opponent in a favorable light, which means that we have reason to suspect the governor of honesty — then one can reach no conclusion besides the most obvious and damning one.
In short, Harris only called DeSantis this time because she hoped it would look good for her presidential campaign.
Thus, everything she said about the governor’s selfishness amounted to pure projection.
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