Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, even as DeSantis has taken time off the campaign trail to help coordinate the response to Category 3 Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall Wednesday.
Trump hit DeSantis for working on a deal to increase Florida's electricity rates, while allegedly taking campaign contributions tied to the industry.
"So now it is learned that Governor Ron DeSanctimonious unnecessarily approved a 20% hike in Florida Electricity Rates, the largest in history (by far!), after taking a 9.5 Million Dollar Campaign Contribution from 'money machine' Florida Power and Light, and subsidiaries," Trump alleged Thursday on Truth Social.
Jeremy Redfern, press secretary in the Governor's office, responded, "The Public Service Commission, an arm of the state legislative branch, is responsible for setting rates for the states Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs). The Governor does not have a role in setting rates for utilities in the state, Additionally, energy costs have been rising since Biden took office and killed domestic energy production."
The attack comes months after Trump has been hitting DeSantis for the "worst insurance scam" after last September's Hurricane Ian.
"Next up to check out is the Insurance Industry, where DeSanctus gave up the store," Trump continued in his most recent post Thursday.
Trump's remarks come after some had noted the former president was silent on DeSantis' Hurricane Idalia preparations and response this week.
"Not my concern: My concern is protecting the people of Florida, being ready to go and we have done that," DeSantis said Wednesday, according to Florida Politics.
But Trump has continued what has been relentless criticism of his chief 2024 GOP presidential primary challenger.
"His campaign and poll numbers have 'CRASHED' to a point where it doesn't much matter anymore, but what a shame for Florida!" Trump's Truth Social post Thursday concluded.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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