Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) dinged President Joe Biden for laughing as he discussed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) and the mother of two fentanyl overdose victims.

"Mothers that I have to console in Florida that lose a child because of what's going on at the border is a disgrace that this is happening," DeSantis said in Iowa Friday. "Biden doesn't care. He laughed at that mother. Did you see that? He laughed at that mother who lost two, who lost a child because of fentanyl."

BIG SPENDER OR DEFICIT CUTTER? BIDEN'S MIXED MESSAGE ON THE BUDGET

DeSantis criticized Biden and Democrats more broadly over their "woke-ocracy," but he repeatedly referred to the president by name regarding the border. At one point during the address and interview with Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), DeSantis quipped that he could help Biden build a southern border wall, citing the state's recovery from last year's Hurricane Ian.

"Just put me in, coach," he said. "Come on, Joe. Let us get it done. We'll do it."

DeSantis also mentioned his letter to Biden, in which he offered to ferry Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic from the Bahamas so he can play in the Miami Open. Djokovic will likely miss the tournament because he cannot fly into the country as an unvaccinated foreign national.

"It's COVID theater," DeSantis said. "It is not based on science. It's not conducive to freedom."

DeSantis is in Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state for the 2024 Republican presidential primary, to promote his latest memoir, which he described as "the No. 1 bestselling nonfiction book in the country."

DeSantis is not expected to announce a presidential campaign until May, when the Florida statehouse's 2023 legislative session concludes. But he used his appearance in Iowa to explain his governing principles, underscoring how "there's no drama in our administration — no palace intrigue."

"Because, as Alexander Hamilton said, energy in the executive is the leading characteristic of good government, so we were mindful of that, I also made a decision: I am not doing polls to tell me what to do," he said. "I've not looked at a single poll since I've been governor."

"The static analysis of opinion is not what a leader should care about," he added. "What a leader will do is not be captive to polls but to set a vision and shift public opinion and get people to support what you're doing."

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has defended Biden from criticism concerning Rebecca Kiessling, whose sons Caleb, 20, and Kyler, 18, died in 2020 after taking fentanyl-laced Percocet pills. Biden had contended the fentanyl that killed the Kiesslings "came during the last administration."

"His words are being mischaracterized by someone who is regularly discredited for things that she says that are really conspiracy theories," Jean-Pierre said last week of Greene.