Are you MAGA or are you Establishment?
An FNR Editorial
The August 23rd Florida Republican Primary is starting now with vote-by-mail ballots and soon for Early Voting. If you consider yourself a Trump and DeSantis supporter, you likely oppose the Republican Establishment which has overtly and covertly undermined them both. DeSantis may have endorsed former Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson for Commissioner of Agriculture, but the beef between them started the minute DeSantis was sworn in and lasted until Simpson finally bent the knee to the Governor. Simpson opposed DeSantis on the 15 week abortion ban in that Simpson tried to slip some taxpayer money in for his good friends over at Planned Parenthood, which DeSantis answered with a firm no. DeSantis wanted to give Floridians a break on the soaring gas prices - Simpson opposed giving the break. Things got so tense this year, DeSantis deployed a national organization, Club for Growth, to hammer Simpson in his own district for opposing the Governor and spending $75,000 in ads targeting the Pasco County lawmaker: Read article here
What defines an Establishment Republican?
Establishment Republicans are are the Mitt Romneys, the Mitch McConnells, the Lindsay Grahams of the Party. Make no mistake, there are lots of Establishment Republicans on the state and county level in Florida. They sit on boards of county commissioners owned by the developers, they fill the halls in Tallahassee taking money from Democrat billionaires to oppose gun rights and limit pro-life legislation, and are influenced by Disney, which donates thousands and thousands of dollars to the Establishment Republicans to do their bidding. It seems it’s much easier for us to clearly see what donors like FP & L and Duke Energy’s goals are in donating to RINOs than it is for us to see why Leftist-run Disney or Democrat donor-to-Wilton-Simpson, Robert Rubenstein, get out of making friends with him.
I don’t know about you, but I would prefer hell to freeze over before any members of our Party took one dime from Democrats. Infuriatingly in Florida politics, it’s a pattern that after Republican lawmakers take that Democrat donor money, they flip on their campaign promises and their sworn oath of loyalty to the Republican Party. Suddenly they no longer tout their support for the constitutionally conservative Republican Party Platform.
The Establishment has long controlled Tallahassee. That is why no meaningful gun rights bills have been passed even though 25 other states have Constitutional Carry. Florida, formerly known as The Gunshine State, because Florida was the first state to pass a 'shall issue' concealed carry permit law, ain’t one of them. Not only does Florida not have Constitutional Carry, Florida passed Wilton Simpson’s gun control legislation, the “Red Flag” law, denying due process to lawful gun owners, and making it unlawful for young adults to buy a gun. Does your 20-year-old daughter want to buy a shotgun for home defense? Wilton Simpson said 'no.' Anyone who has experienced a contentious divorce can attest that being reported to authorities by a vindictive spouse and losing their guns while authorities “sort it all out” is one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in our state. To deny someone the ability to protect themselves is beyond government overreach - it’s tyranny.
Some claim, bad history seems to bear out, that the Florida Establishment Republicans have committed to only passing one pro-life bill per legislative session. Their weak attempt at rolling back abortion limits came this year as a ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Two years ago, the Republican Party [seems more likely it was the Florida House Republican Campaign Committee - different from the Party itself] actively funded a Primary candidate against former Florida House Representative Mike Hill after Hill repeatedly filed “heartbeat legislation” like 13 other conservative states have passed.
The day the Dobbs opinion was released affecting the Roe v. Wade opinion, those 13 states effectively outlawed abortion after a heartbeat is detected.
And where were Florida State Republicans?
Congratulating themselves for no longer allowing abortions up to 24 weeks (which has been legal in Florida for decades) down to 15 weeks, still by dismemberment, still barbaric, still not part of the Republican Party Platform. Talk about tone deaf.
Who’s who and who’s what?
We know that it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between an Establishment Republican candidate and a MAGA candidate because the Establishment candidates use the MAGA talking points - they know how popular they are with the voters.
But only a little digging will help separate the fake from the real and it’s usually done by looking at their campaign donors and the amount of money received by their campaign. You can look on your County Supervisor of Elections website for local county candidates’ campaign financial information.
For state candidates, the Florida Division of Elections Political Action Committee website is useful: FL Division of Elections PAC
We also use American Conservative Union website which includes the Florida Legislators here: ACU Ratings
The future of Florida politics - what’s it gonna be?
We are seeing just how desperate the Establishment Republicans are to hold onto control in Florida - just take a look at county Republican Executive Committee meetings which have almost broken into brawls, had guest speakers verbally accosted, resulted in police reports filed, restraining orders and arrests. From Collier to Sarasota (restraining orders) to St. Johns, Manatee and Pinellas (police reports of assault filed) and a Chairman and Board member arrested (Seminole) we see the vitriol spewed by the Establishment Party members toward MAGA Republicans.
In an email forwarded to FNR, sent by Manatee County Republican Executive Committee Hospitality Chair, Ted McCormac, he refers to self-described MAGA REC members and guests as “insurgents,” not unlike what both the Chairmen in St. John’s County and Flagler County have described Trump supporters.
People, when we MAGA conservatives are being called “insurgents,” equating us with terrorists, there is absolutely a war against us within the Republican Party Establishment.
It’s happening on the national level - the RNC wants to fundraise on Trump’s name, but what do they support in the clinch? Constitutional conservative, patriot, MAGA candidates and values (a.k.a. the Republican Party Platform)? Or UniParty Swamp RINOs and their values? And while it’s taken the conservative Republican Party members a little while to catch onto the game the neocons play with politics, we ARE waking up and will not back down. The Establishment Republicans want to get back to the “good ‘ol days” when they pretended to support the Party Platform and we accepted it at face value. Trump’s campaign and presidency helped reveal the Establishment Republicans for what they are - fat cats who view politics as their own personal business, not America’s or Americans’ interests.
AND WE HAVE A NEWS FLASH TO ESTABLISHMENT PARTY MEMBERS: We MAGA Republicans - the Republicans who really believe in conservative values and the Party Platform - ARE NOT GOING AWAY.
Thank you Manatee County patriots. And thank you Florida News Report for bringing out evidence of what is happening. We have to ditch the election machines for starters, have truly fair and transparent elections. Then we have to get the right people in office and in the courts. We have to disestablish our government and GOP. As Gregg Phillips says--it is a thousand front war. From your perspective what are the most important thing that concerned citizens should be doing.? And what do we do about Shaw? Met a man while door knocking for Jordan Karr up here in Pensacola--he is as mad as I am about the endorsements by people who we thought had integrity...
Thank you Florida News for great reporting. As much as I respect our Governor, he seems to approve bills that Establishment senator Travis Hutson proposes that are not good for the people at large. I fear that the deep pockets of Hutson have an influence on our Gov. Lets hope we can vote Hutson out of office in this Primary. Vote Gerry James instead.