As Florida governor Ron DeSantis has made abundantly clear over the last year and a half, he’d rather score political points with the “personal freedoms” crowd than actually protect the lives of his constituents and end the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the coronavirus first touched down in the United States, DeSantis has forced cruise lines to take unvaccinated passengers; banned schools from instituting mask mandates; withheld pay from school board members requiring face coverings; told parents they can send their kids to school after exposure to COVID-19; fined a county for requiring employees to get vaccinated; held a press conference with a guy who claimed COVID vaccines change your RNA (which is obviously ridiculously false); threatened to sue the Biden administration over its vaccine mandates; and appointed a state surgeon general who has been hard at work spreading dangerous vaccine misinformation. Now, for his next trick, he’s offering unvaccinated cops $5,000 to relocate to Florida, where they can help spread the disease to anyone they come in contact with. No, really.
During a Sunday interview with Fox Business, DeSantis urged police offers bristling at vaccine mandates in other states to come join the force in Florida, where they are free to refuse the jab and go about their merry way. Speaking to the the once–respectable Maria Bartiromo, DeSantis said, “We’re actually actively working to recruit out-of-state law enforcement, because we do have needs in our police and our sheriff’s departments,” adding, “If you’re not being treated well, we’ll treat you better here. You can fill important needs for us, and we’ll compensate you as a result.”
Of course, what DeSantis describes as “not being treated well” are simply policies ensuring the safety of both the people police come in contact with on a daily basis, and the officers themselves. While it’s true that some officers in various states are refusing to get inoculated—and DeSantis, eyeing an opportunity to score political points, is taking advantage of that—let’s not pretend the Florida governor actually gives a s–t about them. ’Cause if he did, he’d be pleading with them to get their shots. According to The Washington Post, COVID “was the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths last year, killing at least 182 officers.” That figure is nearly double the number of officers killed by gun violence and car crashes combined.
So far this year, at least 133 officers have died from COVID, according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund; the national Fraternal Order of Police has also urged officers to “seriously consider receiving the vaccine to protect themselves and others from becoming seriously ill.” And yet, here DeSantis is, telling unvaccinated cops that if they come on down to Florida, there’ll be five large for them when they arrive. Makes you wonder!
Meanwhile, for those of you at home who are keeping score on financial incentives:
— Mike Pence Is Already Cashing In on His Potential 2024 Run
— Katie Porter and Her Whiteboard Are Just Getting Started
— Trump’s New Social Media Company Is His Biggest Scam Yet
— Former Bush Guy Matthew Dowd Is Trying to Turn Texas Blue
— Joe Manchin Is About to Make Life Worse for His Own Constituents
— David Zaslav Is Angling to Become America’s King of Content
— Colin Powell’s Death Has Officially Been Hijacked by Anti-vaxxers
— Rigged State Governments Are Steadily Undermining Democracy
— From the Archive: Rupert Murdoch’s Tumultuous Third Marriage
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.