Florida newspaper scalds GOP governor for being Trump's 'Mini-Me' instead of leading on pandemic

The editorial board of the Orlando Sentinel has published a scathing editorial that takes Trump-loving Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to task for being slow to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The editors begin by documenting in painstaking detail how DeSantis lagged behind Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in shutting down key parts of his state's economy, even as the number of infections grew at an exponential pace.

They then accuse him of seeming more interested in buttering up President Donald Trump than in protecting vulnerable Florida residents.

"DeSantis last week played the role of Mini-Me to President Trump, making a pitch for the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19," the editors write. "DeSantis also gave Florida a meme-worthy moment by wearing a blue glove on one hand while touching his face with other, ungloved hand."

The editors also nail DeSantis for pushing disinformation about the disease that could put people's lives in jeopardy.

"Continuing his dismal week, Florida’s governor also declared that no one in the nation under 25 years old had died from COVID-19," they write. "Fact check: Wrong. His error was in the context of musing about whether to reopen public schools in May given the resistance young people seem to have to coronavirus. News flash for the governor: Many of our public school teachers are not in their 20s and would be at much higher risk for falling ill."

Read the whole editorial here.