DeSantis cites Trump’s changed ‘demeanor’ in issuing stay-at-home order in Florida
CNNCNN — Florida Gov. “When you see the President up there and his demeanor the last couple of days, that’s not necessarily how he always is.” Resistance to a statewide order DeSantis had consistently rejected calls to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, leaving it to counties and cities to decide on their own whether to bar residents from leaving their homes for anything other than essential needs. DeSantis often used Trump and the federal government to defend his lack of statewide action “I’m in contact with and I’ve said, ‘Are you recommending this?’ ” DeSantis recalled during a news conference on Tuesday. DeSantis, at that time, defended his stance to stop well short of issuing a statewide stay-at-home order, arguing that his more “tailored” approach will “ultimately … lead us to have better outcomes and I think it allows us to avoid some potentially unintended consequences in other parts of the state.” Those tactics, however, led to confusion across the governor’s 21 million-person state, with rules and regulations varying by county lines. “In the absence of a statewide order, a regional safer-at-home order is welcome to bring much-needed uniformity,” Democratic state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez said in response to the governor’s order about South Florida.