DeSantis knows how to handle a hurricane. The racist shooting poses a bigger dilemma.
MIAMI — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handling of back-to-back crises — a racist mass shooting and a potentially catastrophic hurricane — could help burnish his image as a can-do, effective governor or further damage his standing with Black Americans who have grown livid over his policies.
Already, DeSantis’ attempts to show leadership in the immediate aftermath of the Saturday shooting were poorly received by some Black lawmakers, Democrats and residents in Florida. In the hours after a 21-year-old white man killed three Black Floridians near a historically Black college in Jacksonville, several state Democrats blamed DeSantis, who is running for president, for creating an environment, through...
