Florida Gov. DeSantis Calls San Francisco a ‘Dumpster Fire’ After Gov. Newsom’s Insult

Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “fired the latest volley this week in his feud with his California counterpart, Gov. Gavin Newsom, calling San Francisco a ‘dumpster fire’ and saying he doesn’t want Golden State businesses moving to Florida,” the SF Chronicle reported.

DeSantis warned that California businesses that have moved from San Francisco to Austin also brought liberal employees with them, “who would vote the exact same way they voted that turned San Francisco into the dumpster fire that it is.”

But his dig came after California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized DeSantis on Twitter for “punishing Disney over its opposition to Florida’s new law banning discussion of sexual orientation in early grades,” calling the action “authoritarian.”

Gov. Newsom claimed “We protect free speech in California. Punishing businesses for speaking out against hatred is the move of an authoritarian regime.”

The Globe contacted Gov. DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw for a comment noting Gov. Newsom’s claim of “free speech” comes ironically at a time while the Democrat-dominated Legislature is pushing legislation to strip physicians of their medical licenses if they don’t adhere to public health doctrines, and another to prevent the spread of dangerous “misinformation” under the guise of “protecting public health,” as the Globe has reported.

“Both these bills sound like disturbing examples of so-called progressives promoting authoritarianism,” Pushaw said. “Make no mistake – governments often use the epithet ‘disinformation’ to censor inconvenient facts, dissenting opinions, or evidence that challenges the dominant narrative.”

“It’s the latest example of Newsom picking a fight with a prominent GOP politician,” the SF Chronicle said.

Pushaw shared a recent press conference that Gov. DeSantis held on free speech for medical professionals last month, in which the governor discusses the chilling threats doctors experienced during the COVID outbreak:

“There are still more threats to freedom. Last year, for example, I had round tables probably about — probably like February of 2021. I had a round table with physicians, big time medical people, one from Harvard Law School, one from Stanford Medical School and one from Oxford in the United Kingdom, one of the best epidemiologists in the world. And they were discussing a whole host of things.

And their perspective was 180 degrees from Dr. Fauci.”

…On lockdowns, forced masking school closures and treatment protocols.

DeSantis said the doctors’ evidence-based scientific recommendations were censored by Google, Twitter and Facebook.

“So after our, a couple months after our round table with these practitioners and these researchers was censored, the Federation of State Medical Boards released the threatening statements, saying ‘physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license.’ And I think most of, you know — here, you tell, take away that medical license and you’ve neutered someone’s ability entirely to practice medicine. And so, we see this as something that is a big problem. Because a lot of what these physicians were doing was basically saying things that ended up being borne out to be true. You know, it’s interesting people that would go against the narrative like Florida, you go against the narrative, there’d be this like big spasm. And then six to 12 months later, everyone will then start doing that.”

California Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Granite Bay) caught the “dumpster fire” comment and had a slightly different take:

Ron DeSantis called San Francisco a “dumpster fire.” So out of touch. If he’d been recently he’d know that’s way too mild a description.

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) April 28, 2022

Someone replied to Kiley, “Yeah dumpster fire would be a step up.”