Governor Ron DeSantis began a national pro-police tour with a stop on Staten Island Monday, prompting a poke from New York City Mayor Eric Adams and then a spirited defense of the Florida Republican from supporters on  social media.

Adams, who took office on January 1, 2022 and reportedly harbors 2024 presidential aspirations, tweeted snidely at DeSantis, whose conservative policies and Sunshine State popularity have made him a potentially formidable White House candidate.

“Welcome to NYC,  @GovRonDeSantis , a place where we don’t ban books, discriminate against our LGBTQ+ neighbors, use asylum seekers as props, or let the government stand between a woman and health care,” Adams tweeted. “We’re happy to teach you something about values while you’re here.”

The sarcastic welcome from Adams, whose city saw major crimes increase by 22% in 2022 compared to 2021, prompted a blistering backlash on Twitter, where many commenters noted the exodus from the Big Apple often ends in Florida.

Welcome to NYC… where residents eventually flee to Florida

— Ryan James Girdusky (@RyanGirdusky) February 20, 2023

Nice rhetoric — but here’s reality: More Americans fled NYC than any other metro area last year.

More Americans moved to Florida than any other state.

You know this, Mayor Adams, and you’ve talked (accurately) about crime pushing people out of NYC. Florida’s crime rate… https://t.co/gHru8I12PS

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) February 20, 2023

https://t.co/yyOfQN8VZu pic.twitter.com/YB6UbVAaMw

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 20, 2023

Someone as embattled as Adams basically has nothing aside for appeals to populism like this. Fix your dumb city, dude. https://t.co/ruwGylhf7z

— Noam Blum (@neontaster) February 20, 2023

All those words to tell DeSantis what he doesn’t do because that’s all he does https://t.co/1eZY6F8Kj5

— Anang Mittal अनंग मित्तल (@anangbhai) February 20, 2023

Ratios and crime both up in NYC right now.

— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) February 20, 2023

You should probably be the one taking notes.

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) February 20, 2023

Just here for the ratio, you lying clown.

— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) February 20, 2023

Adams, a former NYPD captain, was ironically blasting a fellow politician even as he advocated for law enforcement. DeSantis’ “Framework for Freedom Budget” includes salary increases for a variety of law enforcement personnel, as it states:

$107.2 million to increase the Department of Corrections’ (FDC) base rate of pay to $23 per hour for specified Correctional Officer, Correctional Probation Officer, and Inspector positions; $1.8 million to provide a four percent increase to Special Agents and Law Enforcement positions within the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE); $6.8 million for special pay adjustments based on salary ranges for all sworn law enforcement officers within FDLE, Department of Legal Affairs (DLA), State Attorneys, and State Courts (SCS); and $8.5 million for an increase for years of service for sworn law enforcement officers within FDLE, DLA, State Attorneys, and SCS. $30 million for a second round of recruitment bonus payments for law enforcement officers who are new to the profession in the state, including those relocating from other states. This initiative will provide bonus payments of $5,000 to new eligible law enforcement officers.

Alec Baldwin scored a substantial legal victory Monday when the Santa Fe County, New Mexico, district attorney dropped the gun enhancement charge against the actor in the case over the shooting death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The dropped charge means Baldwin will not face any longer than 18 months in prison, even if he is convicted of involuntary manslaughter, TMZ reported. For Baldwin to be convicted of the gun enhancement charge, prosecutors would have to prove that he brandished the firearm with intent to harm or intimidate a person. 

“In order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys, the District Attorney and the special prosecutor have removed the firearm enhancement to the involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of Halyna Hutchins on the ‘Rust’ film set,” a spokesperson for First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies told Fox News Digital. “The prosecution’s priority is securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys.”

With the gun enhancement charge tacked on, Baldwin would have faced a mandatory five years behind bars if convicted, Fox News reported. Earlier this month, Baldwin’s lawyers challenged the charge, arguing it was unconstitutional. 

“The prosecutors committed a basic legal error by charging Mr. Baldwin under a version of the firearm-enhancement statute that did not exist on the date of the accident,” a legal filing stated.

Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter last month over the fatal shooting of Hutchins in October 2021. In a probable cause statement, prosecutors allege that Baldwin “drew the revolver from the holster, pointed it at Halyna Hutchins, and fired the weapon.”

The actor has maintained that he is not responsible for Hutchins’ death on the set. 

“I feel that someone is responsible for what happened and I can’t say who that is, but I know it’s not me,” Baldwin told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos in December 2021. “I might have killed myself if I thought I was responsible, and I don’t say that lightly.”

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the person allegedly responsible for handling guns on the movie set, also faces an involuntary manslaughter charge.