DeSantis tells reporter he won’t ‘subscribe to your religion’ of climate change

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) promised reporters Thursday that he will not be engaging in climate change "virtue signaling" during Florida 's hurricane season.

More than 200 people are dead, and more than 2,000 are reported missing since Hurricane Helene touched ground in Florida two weeks ago and spread to Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Then Milton, a Category 4 storm, ravaged Florida a second time. DeSantis was giving Florida Disaster Fund awards in Sarasota when a reporter posed a question.

"When are we going to hear the words 'climate change' from you?" the reporter asked.

"The chance of me virtue signaling for people in the media is zero. So, do not count on that. I do not subscribe to your religion," DeSantis said to applause. "It's just a tired refrain and a song and dance. I get you have an agenda; I understand that. I think you should be more honest about what that would mean for people: taxing them to smithereens, stopping oil and gas , making people pay dramatically more for energy."

"We would collapse as a country," DeSantis went on. "So this whole idea of climate ideology driving policy, it just factually can't work. So in Florida, our energy is gonna be affordable and reliable."

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Florida's Disaster Relief Fund raised $12.2 million since Hurricane Helene made landfall. DeSantis awarded $400,000 to support Florida’s first responders, and another $500,000 to non-profit organizations dedicated to storm clean up.

Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is under fire for its lack of funding, which won't last through the end of the season that typically ends around Nov. 30, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. FEMA reported there were twice as many disasters in 2023 than in 2016.