California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lockdown-heavy approach to the COVID-19 pandemic is facing new scrutiny as he finds an unlikely ally in former President Donald Trump in attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Trump recently dubbed DeSantis the “lockdown governor,” even though the Florida governor’s restrictions were among the least heavy-handed – and short-lived – in the country. During the pandemic, DeSantis faced heavy criticism, including from Trump’s own administration, for not imposing the kind of restrictions that California and other states did.
Newsom, whose name has been floated as a possible Democrat alternative to President Biden, and who has joined in on Trump’s attacks on DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic, was the first governor to lock down his state and the last to reopen schools.
Newsom recently mocked DeSantis’ “freedom”-based approach to the pandemic as “BS,” pointing to Florida’s death rate.
Florida “had fifty-eight percent higher per capita death rates under COVID. That’s freedom? Fifty-eight percent higher per capita death rates?” Newsom said in an April 12 interview.
TRUMP, NEWSOM ECHO EACH OTHER’S ATTACKS IN EFFORT TO TAKE DOWN DESANTIS
While Florida’s COVID-19 death rate is indeed higher than California’s, its rate is still on par with the lockdown-heaviest states like New Jersey, Michigan and New York. Additionally, Florida’s elderly population, the heaviest hit population from the pandemic, makes up 21% of the Sunshine State, making it the oldest state in the nation second only to Maine, compared to young California with only 15% of its population being 65 and older.
In fact, a newly released study revealed that California and Florida have had roughly equal health outcomes, despite their wildly different approaches, but California suffered far worse economic and education outcomes than Florida due to its prolonged lockdowns.
But Trump clearly sees a…
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