Naples— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took a shot at Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during his “The Courage to be Free” book tour, questioning how the Secretary could take 3 months of paid leave just because he and his husband welcomed adopted twins.
“Having a baby in the height of COVID hysteria was interesting,” said Gov. DeSantis as he got ready to swipe at Secretary Buttigieg.
“You look at these guys like the Secretary of Transportation. He doesn’t work! He goes on leave when we have supply change crisis and all these things,” said an animated DeSantis as the crowd of at least 600 cheered him on.
DeSantis compared Buttigieg’s paid paternal leave with how he welcomed his now-2-year-old daughter Mamie.
“COVID was at peak hysteria. I was there with Casey, she has the baby. I’m hanging out for a few hours, and I had to go back to work for the rest of the day. I was the governor, could I have taken 3 months of leave and not shown up? Of course not,” stated DeSantis.
During the height of the pandemic, as DeSantis describes, the Governor was attending daily COVID relief briefings and events around the state and managed to make it home every night to take care of his two other children.
He did not take paternity leave as Buttigieg did.
