Casey DeSantis jokingly wonders whose idea it was to bring her 3 kids to the GOP presidential debate

Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis was out of state while Gov. Ron DeSantis deals with Hurricane Idalia preparations.

In Anderson, South Carolina, for a “Faith and Freedom BBQ” event, Casey DeSantis questioned the wisdom of bringing the children to the first GOP presidential debate last week.

“We just got back from a five-day swing with (the children) because somebody thought it would be a really good idea to bring small children to the first Republican debate for President of the United States,” the First Lady said.

She didn’t specify whose idea that was, but did say it interfered with her husband’s debate prep.

“Everybody was asking me, they were like, ‘What was the Governor’s pre-debate routine?’ You know, thinking, what was he going in and thinking about moments before he went out on the debate stage?” she said.

“Honestly, he was negotiating with the 5-year-old as to why you cannot lock the 3-year-old in the bathroom, why you can’t jump on the bed and color on the walls in the hotel. Like, that was honestly what was going through all of our minds before we went out there.”

As the Governor has done in recent speeches, the First Lady couldn’t resist a jab at cocaine found in a public area of the White House this summer, suggesting without evidence that it belonged to one of Joe Biden’s children. It was her best-received line.

“So how about electing a President of the United States who has children, who comes home to the White House with homework instead of cocaine? How about that?”

She also joked about the Governor watching the kids while she traveled on behalf of the campaign.

“I was kind of thinking to myself, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, I have to remind him to make sure that the kids brush their teeth before he puts them to bed tonight,'” she said. “Which is exciting. This is the first time that I’ve been out on the town without the better half and a 6-, a 5- and a 3-year-old.”

Less exciting for the DeSantis campaign are opinion polls from the Palmetto State that show him in second place.

The Race to the White House polling average shows DeSantis with just 14% support in South Carolina, putting him 32 points behind Donald Trump, 3 points ahead of U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, and 4 points ahead of Nikki Haley.