“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin said Thursday that she “admired” one aspect of how Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis behaved during President Joe Biden’s visit to Florida.
Hostin complimented the Florida governor for addressing climate change in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on his state in late September and has killed more than 100 people. Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with DeSantis and his wife, Casey, to express support following the destruction. During the trip, Biden praised DeSantis’ handling of the storm and for his work in recovering the state.
“Joe Biden pinpointed the problem. It was the electrical grid, it was the infrastructure and I really admired that,” Hostin said. “What I did admire about DeSantis is that he finally talked about climate change. He started finally saying, ‘Wow, this is a climate change issue,’ and I think what’s always disappointed me about DeSantis is, he’s a very different political candidate than let’s say [former] President [Donald] Trump.”
“I firmly believe that President Trump is just not the smartest guy. I really don’t,” she added. “I think he’s educated, but I don’t think he’s that smart and I think he’s a racist and I think he’s a homophobe.”
“When I look at DeSantis, he graduated from university, he went to Harvard Law School, he earned a commission in the U.S. Navy as a JAG officer. He was a federal prosecutor who did what I did, which is targeting child predators,” Hostin continued. “He still serves in the United States [Navy] Reserve. What that tells me is he’s brilliant and the cruelty is the point when he sent immigrants all over the place and not taking care of them. And that kind of scares me.”
The hosts previously criticized DeSantis when he sent two planeloads of illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in September, with co-host Whoopi Goldberg calling the move “nasty” and accusing DeSantis of “playing” with human beings. Documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation later revealed that all the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard were informed of their destination and had boarded the planes voluntarily.
During Thursday’s show, co-host Sara Haines praised Biden and DeSantis for meeting up and said it is ineffective for politicians to focus on scoring political points during a time of crisis. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin called DeSantis “incredibly smart” and praised his handling of the hurricane response, including the construction of a temporary bridge to Pine Island and his efforts to help small businesses. (RELATED: DeSantis Responds To CNN Reporter Trying To Turn Evacuation Decisions Into Scandal)
Co-host Ana Navarro then argued that DeSantis should set aside culture war issues and focus on helping the people of Florida.
“I hope he leaves the drag queens alone, I hope he leaves Disney alone, I hope he leaves Mickey Mouse alone, I hope he leaves the immigrants alone and I hope he focuses on helping the people of Florida,” Navarro said.