'Why not raise it for the Red Cross?': Former Bush strategist questions DeSantis' private hurricane relief fund

In the event of a disaster, a whole host of organizations swoop into the area to help. Everyone from the United Way to the Red Cross, World Central Kitchen and even the Humane Society joins with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deliver water, help people get to shelters, feed folks, help animals and ultimately begin to rebuild their lives.

The work that is done is part of an effort that has existed for decades and gets better and better with each disaster from trusted groups that fall under federal oversight. After an event, most leaders point to such groups to encourage folks to help, but as Hurricane Ian bared down on Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) started his own disaster relief fund, putting his wife in charge of it.

Speaking to MSNBC on Monday evening, former strategist to President George W. Bush, Matthew Dowd, questioned the fund, noting that he was concerned about oversight.

"First off, anytime that everybody raises a concern about leadership during a crisis, Republicans say don't politicize it," said Dowd. So, somebody is critical of Ron DeSantis in a hurricane; they say don't politicize. It the same thing they say after a mass shooting, when somebody brings out the fact that we ought to reduce access to guns, they say, 'don't politicize it.' Of course it is about politics, and of course the governor should be criticized, for any number of things, not the least of which he has spent no time on infrastructure in Florida, and all his time on critical race theory, on transgender issues, threats to businesses."

There's also a concern about someone like DeSantis after Americans watched former President Donald Trump use a charity to squirrel away more money for himself.

"He's used charitable organizations and raise money then no one knows, and no one can track where it ends up, but it's likely to end up in the pockets of the Trump family," said Dowd. "Of course, it raises issues. I don't understand why he's not raising the money for the Red Cross or for a number of established charities, why he has to set up his own charity in this. We ought to raise a whole number of questions, because we've seen evidence over the last five years of the leader of the Republican Party who is taken money that he said was gonna be raised for charities and diverted it to things that we have no idea about."

Watch the video below and see a list of verified charities after that:

Florida disaster reliefwww.youtube.com

The World Central Kitchen

United Way of Lee County, Florida

Florida Humane Society

Tampa Red Cross