Ron DeSantis is the latest state governor to come under fire and see constituents demand his resignation after his latest pair of scandals, including his decisions on how to distribute the COVID-19 Vaccine, plans to restrict mail-in voting and a call to fly flags at half-staff to mourn the death of Conservative radio icon Rush Limbaugh.
Many Floridians and others took to social media in droves to denounce all the actions, especially the Florida Governor’s decision to have flags lowered to honor Limbaugh, who he said was a friend, local NBC affiliate station WPTV reported. Not only was he called out by State Senate Democratic Leader Gary Farmer for the decision, but those who lived in the state and found the move insulting.
Others also criticized the move as illegal, citing that flags were only allowed to be lowered to honor former and present state government officials, or first responders and armed forces members killed in the line of duty.
The criticism is the latest to plague Florida’s governor, who is also facing backlash for his handling of the distribution of COVID vaccines. Not only did he give the Publix supermarket chain permission to be the sole retail distributor for the vaccine in Florida (after the company donated money to him), but he also came under fire for setting up a pop-up vaccination clinic in Manatee County which restricted access to people from only the two most affluent neighborhoods in the county. When criticized for the move, he then threatened to remove the site completely.
DeSantis is also under fire for announcing plans to enact new voting laws which are more restrictive on methods of voting like mail-in ballots—which were heavily favored by Democratic voters in the Presidential election and helped hand President Joe Biden his win over former President Donald Trump.
NBC News reports that among the measures DeSantis proposed were a limit in the use of ballot drop boxes, requiring voters to request mail ballots more often and prohibiting ballot collection.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has come under fire for his handling of the public health response to COVID-19 Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / JOE RAEDLE
