With President Joe Biden's (D) State of the Union Address coming up, the White House has requested the assistance of state National Guards in Washington D.C., Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has rejected Biden's request for Florida National Guard deployments to DC.
A budding rivalry has become apparent between the president and Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis. But any doubt in this has been sealed after DeSantis offered a firm rejection of deploying the National Guard in DC in preparation for the State of the Union Address.
DeSantis proudly fired off a Tweet, almost boasting this move, and reaffirming, "there will be no [Florida National Guard sent to D.C. for Biden's State of the Union."
Last week, the Biden Administration requested the assistance of State National Guards to deploy to Washington D.C. I have rejected this request — there will be no @FLGuard sent to D.C. for Biden’s State of the Union.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 28, 2022
While this is probably meant to be largely symbolic, as many in DeSantis' base reject the legitimacy of the 2020 election, many Twitter users grew worried about potential retaliation from the federal government. Especially the next time Florida is hit by a hurricane and needs federal aid.
Although recently, the state of Florida has seemed to operate with its own autonomy. Last Summer in the wake of the Surf Side building collapse, the Israeli government contacted Governor DeSantis before reaching out to Biden. The tragic incident brought the two together in Miami, but greatly highlighted their emerging rivalry.
