A Republican congressman said the Miami Herald “should be embarrassed” weeks after one of its columnists tweeted that reopening Florida beaches would “thin the ranks” of Republican voters.
On Monday, Rep. Matt Gaetz posted a text exchange he had with a Miami Herald reporter who asked if Gaetz had a comment on Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis’s move to reopen beaches in his state during the coronavirus pandemic. Gaetz reminded the reporter about Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago’s now-deleted tweet and declined the interview.
“@miamiherald lies about @GovRonDeSantis, allows columnist Fabiola Santiago to wish DeSantis-supporting readers *dead* w/o repudiation, and now wants to talk ‘politics’ with me as their smears have been proven false by the data,” Gaetz tweeted. “Not today, Herald. Not today.”
.@miamiherald lies about @GovRonDeSantis, allows columnist Fabiola Santiago to wish DeSantis-supporting readers *dead* w/o repudiation, and now wants to talk “politics” with me as their smears have been proven false by the data.
Not today, Herald. Not today.#EnemyOfThePeople pic.twitter.com/OeCIUlJXAR
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) May 4, 2020
DeSantis allowed localities to reopen beaches in April, which prompted critics to argue it ran counter to White House guidelines on social distancing. In now-deleted tweets posted by Santiago, the Miami Herald columnist said the virus “should work nicely to thin the ranks of Trump/DeSantis/Gimenez supporters in #Florida who value money over health.”
Santiago deleted the tweet and offered an apology, saying it “didn’t accurately convey my sentiment and I want to apologize for the phrase I used that offended many people.”
“It’s hard to take your request seriously,” Gaetz texted the unnamed reporter. “Your publication should be embarrassed by its coverage of Gov Desantis & what your content creators have said about wanting his supporters to die w no repudiation by the Herald.”
In Florida, close to half a million people have been tested for the virus, and more than 13,000 people in Miami alone have tested positive for the disease.
