Miami Herald columnist apologizes for hoping packed beaches ‘thin the ranks’ of Trump, DeSantis supporters

In a pair of sneering, disgusting tweets, Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago wrote on Sunday that Floridians returning to pack the beaches “should work nicely to thin the ranks” of supporters of President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis, and Miami Mayor Carlos Giménez–all of whom are Republicans.

Following a firestorm of reactions blasting her “grotesque” sentiments, Santiago deleted the tweets, but not before they were captured by at least one prescient twitter user, @BZep …

https://twitter.com/BZep/status/1252053080931135491
As captured by @BZep

The leftist writer claimed those who returned to Florida beaches were “The red-hatted listening to their masters.” On Friday, Gov. DeSantis gave his approval for local municipalities to reopen their beaches if done safely, under rigid social distancing guidelines.

“Packed beaches should work nicely to thin the ranks of Trump/DeSantis/Gimenez supporters in #Florida who value money over health,” she tweeted.

Donald Trump Jr. was among the conservatives to call out Santiago and her employer for their “flagrant” and “disgusting” political bias …

Conservative radio host Dan Bongino didn’t pull his punches when he tweeted to Santiago, “You’re grotesque. A genuine embarrassment.”

It really doesn’t matter what decisions are made by conservative leaders–whatever the position, the media aims to undermine and ridicule it. For instance, Saturday evening, the Washington Post promoted a Twitter hashtag, #FloridaMorons, connecting it to the DeSantis decision to give beach communities authority to appropriately manage their shores during the coronavirus crisis. The article picked up on CNN’s report indicating that Jacksonville’s new guidelines for beach goers were not being followed.

The Post reported …

The droves that showed up at Jacksonville’s beach largely ignored [Mayor] Curry’s restrictions. “People were seen swimming, biking, surfing, running and fishing,” CNN reported. Saturday evening, people were still flocking to multiple Florida beaches, but officials said it wasn’t a problem.

Yet the leftist media’s blinders have prevented similar attention being given to Saturday’s joint announcement by Democrat Governors Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Andrew Cuomo of New York, and Phil Murphy of New Jersey marinas, boatyards, and marine manufacturers in their region will be allowed to open for personal use.

Similarly, Dem Mayor Bill de Blasio has kept Manhattan’s Central Park open to the public, while many New Yorkers are clearly ignoring social distancing guidelines.

Late Sunday evening, Santiago succumbed to the heat and deleted her tweets, adding an apology. She wrote: “I deleted the tweet commenting on people at the beach because it didn’t accurately convey my sentiment and I want to apologize for the phrase I used that offended many people. Regardless of political differences, I would never wish any harm on anyone. In fact, my intent was to sound an alarm about prematurely opening up the country and the state. I was trying to open eyes, minds and save lives, not create a controversy about me instead of the issue, which merits discussion.”

That retreat on the columnist’s part did little to quell the outrage.


 

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