“The View” co-host Joy Behar claimed Wednesday it is “socialism” for President Joe Biden’s administration to assist Florida as Hurricane Ian barrels in.
The panel responded to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis showing appreciation to the Biden administration for approving his state of emergency declaration and providing assistance on Tuesday’s “Hannity.” The Florida governor said politics must be put aside and the two administrations must work together to handle the potential disasters caused by the hurricane.
“Isn’t it socialism when the government helps you?” Behar said during “The View” panel Wednesday morning. “The fire department’s gotta come and the police. I mean, socialism.”
Hostin contemplated what kind of leadership DeSantis will display in response to the hurricane.
“I hope he [DeSantis] can organize in the way the Puerto Rican governor, he took a lot of flack for it, but he really organized Puerto Rico and organized those mayors and the mayor of San Juan especially, where when you think about DeSantis, in my view, he likes to have a little fiefdom. He likes to be in charge,” Hostin said.
Socialism is defined as “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods,” according to Merriam-Webster. Some of the main characteristics of socialism include public ownership, a planned economy, classes of society, state responsibility for the quality of life, equal opportunity, non-existence of competition, and a pricing mechanism. (RELATED: Sen. Klobuchar Suggests The Only Way To Stop Hurricane Disasters Is To Vote Democrat)
The federal government has agencies in place that provide assistance to state and local governments in a time of crisis, unrelated to governmental ownership of means of production or a planned economy. Biden approved Florida’s emergency declaration Saturday, which authorizes Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide federal resources and assistance to the state as the Category 4 hurricane barrels in.
Hillsborough County Florida issued an evacuation order for residents in Zone A and have provided temporary evacuation centers for those without anywhere else to relocate during landfall.