Ana Navarro to 'Shameful' Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: Stop 'Profiting Off the Pandemic'

Fill-in host Ana Navarro made the most of her time on The View this morning when she delivered a passionate screed against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is selling T-shirts and koozies emblazoned with the message, "Don't Fauci My Florida." Navarro accused DeSantis of "exploiting and profiting off the pandemic," and she blasted him for willfully ignoring the thousands of Floridians who have died of COVID-19 over the past year and a half. "That's just irresponsible and shameful, and I'm very, very disappointed in him," said the Republican (turned moderate) political analyst.

Navarro's anti-DeSantis monologue came during a Hot Topic about Olivia Rodrigo helping President Biden with vaccine outreach, which the panel agreed is a smart decision, particularly as a large proportion of teens remain unvaccinated. "This is just one that they're doing. They're doing all sorts of outreach at the White House," said Navarro. "They're for people in the communities, they're going for preachers, they're going for local doctors, they're going for celebrities."

"This all-out approach is what we need right now when we see that so many states — over 40 states are trending in the wrong direction when it comes to Covid," she continued. "It's such a stark contrast with what's happening in my state, for example, where I am so disappointed to see Ron DeSantis — Gov. Ron DeSantis, who worked in cooperation with Biden and was bipartisan or nonpartisan in the Surfside collapse reaction — he is selling political swag. He is merchandising with the suffering of the people who died with the pandemic!"

As images of T-shirts and beer koozies featuring anti-Fauci messaging appeared on-screen, Navarro accused her governor of "buying into the science-denying" as the pandemic continues to ravage Florida. "Your state has increased exponentially, in one week, its Covid cases," she said.

.@ananavarro criticizes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for ‘Don’t Fauci My Florida’ merchandise, calling it “exploiting and profiting off the pandemic” and “irresponsible and shameful.”

“Don’t be cute!” https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik pic.twitter.com/aJAmPv7u96

— The View (@TheView) July 14, 2021

Whoopi Goldberg threw the Olivia Rodrigo discussion to Sunny Hostin, but the co-host said that she was "still so floored at 'Don't Fauci My Florida'" that she wasn't able to return back to the original topic. "Covid, as everyone knows, hit our family particularly hard, with the death of both of my husbands' parents," said Hostin. "I cannot believe that you would have the governor of Florida encouraging people not to get vaccinated. That is despicable. It's disgusting."

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Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.