The Political Triad in Florida (Part 1 of 2)

Before you solve the problem, you have to know the players.

There is a war going on between the Republican Establishment and the newly named “America First” (formerly MAGA) Republicans. We’ve all seen the lengths the Florida Republican Establishment will go to keep the county RECs under their complete control. 

Since the 2020 Presidential Election, these newly activated America First Republicans have been joining their local county GOP, because they wanted to unite with other Republicans against our common enemy: the Democrats! But instead of finding a Welcome Committee, this wave of engaged Conservatives almost universally received the same message: “None of you crazy Trump-supporting MAGA people are welcome to join!”  We’ve been told the county REC isn’t the place for us; we’ve been encouraged to join a local TEA Party; we’ve been dismissed, marginalized, and labeled as extremists and insurrectionists. We’ve been told to put Trump and his ideology back in the box and lock it. 

What the hell happened to the Republican Party in Florida? To answer that, you need to understand the players. We propose a Triad of Power coalesced to create our current situation. In this article, Part One, we’ll uncover two of the three players: RINOs and their close cousins, the Republican Establishment. 

The Swamp

Prior to 2016, conservatives like us were well aware that our elected Republicans in D.C. were disappointing. They were weak and spineless and appeared frustratingly inept. They increasingly voted against our own interests and against the stated principles of the Republican Party Platform. 

We couldn’t understand why Republicans were so feckless. They had said all the right things on the campaign trail. They promised to uphold the Party Platform. But once they were in office, they seemed to forget about all of that. Sure, there were a handful of congressmen who were real Republicans like us, but there weren’t enough of them–and their voices were often drowned out by the key people in Party Leadership.

Florida conservatives were frustrated by the Republicans in DC, but we still trusted Republican lawmakers within our state. Our Republican Representatives weren’t like those guys in Washington, we thought. Our legislators lived in our precincts, attended their kids’ ball games, and shopped at the same Publix we did. They were accessible. They were one of us. And since we believed they wanted what we wanted, we assumed their votes would reflect (and protect) our interests.  

We had a Republican majority in the Florida House. We had a majority in the Florida Senate. AND we had a Republican Governor. We were good! 

Most Florida Republican voters didn’t equate our own legislature with the “swamp” of DC, because we weren’t paying close attention. We didn’t notice they had started becoming their own swamp. But just as he had done in DC, Trump would end up exposing the swamp here in our own state, however inadvertently.

The Trump Effect

In 2015, Donald J. Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency. He had every intention of winning and Making America Great Again. As a Republican outsider, Trump appealed to millions of conservatives across the nation–even conservatives who at first didn’t believe he was a Republican at all.

As Trump campaigned, it became clear his message was to us. Trump loved our Country and he could see, as we did, that we were in trouble. It was easy to tell Trump was not part of the Republican Establishment. All you had to do was watch their reaction as Trump’s popularity grew. 

The GOP leadership should have loved Trump, because Trump actually campaigned on the Republican Party Platform. He addressed issues directly affecting middle class families: the open border, drug addiction and manufacturing overseas instead of here in the U.S. But the Establishment didn’t like Trump. And as Trump’s appeal grew, members of the Republican Establishment began to “out” themselves. 

• Charles Koch, of Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity, said he would rather vote for Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump.

• Former president, George W. Bush called Trump a blowhard and admitted he voted for Ms. Clinton.

It makes one wonder if Trump Derangement Syndrome may have germinated in the Republican Establishment and THEN spread to the Left. 

Like Ross Perot before him, Trump presented a cogent assessment that America was being run into the ground and that he could right the ship. He also made it clear who he thought was responsible, and he was going to take on the “swamp” in Washington D.C. 

And we believed him. 

We hoped he also included those Establishment Republicans who were part of the problem. We had seen the horrified reactions of the Republican Establishment: they were mad that Trump was so popular - and uncontrollable.  We were delighted at their discomfort and by Trump’s popularity. Trump personified our struggle. We were tired of compromised bureaucrats abandoning our principles, and we cheered Trump as he fearlessly exposed them. As one GOP member said, “Trump’s flushing the Republican Establishment out like quail on hunting day.”

How Deep Was the Swamp? 

The number one responsibility of the Republican Party is to get Republicans elected. So, it was critical that the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) support the GOP Presidential Primary winner. 

However, it wouldn’t take long for Trump’s Florida campaign to confront some interesting challenges, challenges that other Republican presidential candidates never faced–like establishing a campaign office in some key counties. 

In an NBC article dated 5/21/2016, titled, “Behind Donald Trump's Nonexistent Florida Strategy in the General Election” we learn:

“The Trump campaign and the Republican Party are currently “in discussions” over what kind of presence Trump will have in the state, according to Wadi Gaitan, director of communications for the Republican Party of Florida.”

Really? The had run multiple campaigns before, but this time the RPOF had no solid plan for the Party’s Nominee in the State of Florida for the November Presidential Election? 

Trump certainly hadn’t ever run a Presidential General Election Campaign before. Naturally, he would trust the political machine behind him. It would seem the nominee should have been in a good position, because earlier in the year, the RPOF Chairman, Blaise Ingoglia, had made changes that were “designed to focus the party more on paying for field staffers and get-out-the-vote efforts to make sure the Republican presidential nominee wins Florida for the first time since 2004.” 

But by May that still wasn’t happening. Why was that?

With only months left before the Presidential election, Trump had had enough with the promises of the RPOF.  In September, with only weeks before absentee ballots would be sent out on October 4th, Trump replaced strategist Karen Giorno with Susie Wiles. Giorno had failed to open Trump Campaign offices in Florida while Hillary Clinton had 51. 

By mid-October, with only three weeks remaining until Election Day, Stampede Consulting was brought in to do the job of the RPOF. Stampede hired and mobilized a massive canvassing campaign for Trump and hit the doors of Florida voters’ all across the state. 

At one point, a Trump campaign manager shared there had been over 80,000 volunteer sign ups on the Trump Florida Campaign website. He said those names were provided by the campaign to the RPOF for distribution to their field staff to activate those volunteers. What the RPOF did with those names, we don’t know. What we did know was that their plan to activate those volunteers wasn’t working. So Trump brought Stampede in to get the job done. 

Over the next four years we would learn more. And it would become clear the Republican Establishment had a chokehold on the Florida Legislature, the RPOF, and on the majority of county RECs.  

2018 - The Game Changer in the Florida GOP

By 2018, Republican voters were starting to notice the trend in the Florida legislature. Some Republican lawmakers started supporting bills that went against the GOP Platform, including an LGBTQ bill written by Joe Gruters, RPOF Chairman and Florida State Senator. Gruters made history as the first GOP Chairman in the nation to write LGBTQ legislation. 

We began to hear a new term for the feckless legislators who violated our principles and the party platform: “RINOs.” They were Republicans in Name Only. 

That’s the same year Republican Florida Senate President, Bill Galvano, (Bradenton) took $500,000 from liberal gun control radical, Mike Bloomberg. That’s some pretty big money coming into the Republican coffers. Let’s just say this–you don’t give a guy $500K without sitting down and meeting with him first. 

According to Florida Politics: “Galvano’s decision to accept those contributions became fresh fodder after a Florida Senate panel Monday unanimously signed off on a far-reaching measure that would close the gun-show “loophole,” create a record-keeping system for private gun sales.” 

Even Matt Gaetz, busy in D.C., could see the problem.

How would a billionaire democrat know he could successfully court a Republican Senate President? 

Please meet Nancy Texeira. During the 2018 election cycle, Nancy oversaw fundraising for the FL Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, which directs all Republican state senate campaigns in FL. 

“She and her team raised over 48 million dollars, breaking the US record for the most money ever collectively raised by a state legislative caucus. She has also been a fundraiser and senior political advisor for FL’s current Senate President for over six years.

As a bi-partisan consultant, Nancy got her start at the NJ Democratic Party, focused on races in Bergen and Hudson Counties before being named Regional Political Director for Joe Lieberman’s presidential race in NH. She then moved to Florida and was quickly promoted to Caucus Director for the Senate Democrats, where she oversaw a record-breaking fundraising operation for the group.”

The Democrats’ plan of using Florida Republicans to methodically disarm us - their own Party members — is as brilliant as it is sinister.

The Difference Between the Two

 We told you we would talk about two of three entities that we believe have created our current situation. Two of them are Florida RINOs and the Republican Establishment. 

A politician can be both a RINO and an Establishment politician–and often they are. But it’s critical to recognize there’s difference between the two. In fact, until you do, you won’t understand why “our guys” continue to betray us. “But he’s a conservative like us,” you’ll say. Not realizing he or she may espouse Party principles, but only up until a principled vote empowers individuals rather than protects the status quo–the Establishment.

RINOs are easy for us to identify. The Republican Establishment is not. Many of the Republican Establishment espouse the same ideology as us–Conservatives who believe in the Party Platform–but they only support that ideology until the Republican Establishment is threatened. Then they will protect the entity instead of the ideology. It’s easier to get rid of the “Liz Cheneys” in the GOP, right? She let the mask drop and showed her true allegiance and it wasn’t with us or the Party.  

But then you have a Republican like Paul Ryan who could quote historical conservative documents. He appeared to be a true believer, and he was until he buckled to pressure and become part of the Republican Establishment. Ryan eventually would go so far to protect the Establishment that he blocked Trump’s request to fund the southern border wall. 

RINOs and the Florida Republican Establishment

In Florida, it wasn’t RINOs who killed a pro-life, “Pain-Capable” bill that would have rolled back Florida’s radical 24-week abortion law. 24 weeks. Republicans protecting the Establishment killed the bill.  

And it wasn’t just the RINOs who passed the “Red Flag Law,” which targeted law-abiding, Constitutionally protected gun owners. It was the votes from Republicans protecting the Establishment who brought that bill over the line.

Governor Ron DeSantis has had plenty of run-ins this year with the RINOs and Republicans protecting the Establishment. DeSantis had publicly announced he would sign Constitutional Carry if it landed on his desk. But RINOs and Establishment Republicans had no intention of expanding Florida gun rights. 

Leading the legislative skirmish against Constitutional Carry were Wilton Simpson, President of the FL. Senate and Chris Sprowls, Speaker of the Florida House. Simpson and Sprowls dug in, refused to move Constitutional Carry forward, and killed the bill.

Many of Simpson's supporters are Democrats, so it’s not surprising Simpson supports liberal policies. He has tried hard to hide that he is a RINO with no foundational conservative ideology, but his votes show him for what he is. Simpson, who is now the Republican Candidate for Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, has a voting record that seems to indicate politics are just another business to him. 

Simpson and Sprowls aren’t the only RINO Republicans who support the Establishment. Despite conservative rhetoric, RPOF Chairman, Joe Gruters also pushes for liberal legislation that violates the Republican Party Platform. This trio has created what appears to be a firewall that prohibits the Republican Party Platform from guiding our legislation and state policy. 

The Florida Antidote

We saw some bad antics from RINOs and Establishment Republicans in  2018, but that year also brought us an antidote to the ever growing swamp in Tallahassee. After taking office in 2019, House Representatives Mike Hill and Anthony Sabatini were outsiders and wanted to remain outsiders, much like Trump. Hill became a champion of the unborn by filing “Heartbeat” legislation, infuriating the RPOF leadership. It’s baffling why this would infuriate any Republican, since the Party Platform takes a clear stand for Life. Why would Republican Establishment object to a Heartbeat Bill? It just didn’t make sense. 

During his second year in office, Representative Sabatini was forced to use methods similar to Trump: he relied on Twitter to get his message across; he exposed the Republican Establishment; his popularity grew throughout the state, particularly within the MAGA crowd. 

Since taking office, Sabatini had filed multiple bills supporting the Republican Party Platform only to have them killed by the Republican Establishment. His list of bills reads like an America First Republican Christmas wishlist: Campus Carry to allow students to protect themselves, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act to ban gender reassignment for kids, a bill for School Board term limits, the e-Verify bill, and a bill to have Election Audits after every election and most importantly. He also filed the Constitutional Carry bill multiple times. 

The most important bill he introduced was a ban on the Washington D.C. Capitol Police who were sent to Florida to set up an office. It was clear the Biden Administration was going to use the Capitol Police to target Trump supporters. They had already started harassing staunch conservatives around the state in response to the January 6th event. Sabatini saw the writing on the wall and took action, filing the bill to protect the Florida MAGA crowd.  The Republican Establishment not only killed the bill, the RPOF leadership, Gruters and Ziegler, were both silent, refusing even to issue a statement condemning the Biden administration even though it was their Party members being targeted. 

Every single one of these bills supported the Republican Party Platform, but the Florida Republican Establishment did not want them to pass. 

The Florida Republican Establishment is very committed to the Status Quo  

The Florida Republican Establishment is far more of a threat to our Party than RINOs, because it’s the Florida Republican Establishment that protects RINOs. You saw it at the primary when the Establishment refused to endorse America First candidates over RINO incumbents.

So, how do you differentiate between RINOs and their close cousin, Establishment Republicans? The same way you differentiate any counterfeit: compare it against the real thing. 

The Republican Party Platform reads like a conservative piece of art. If you haven’t already done so, you should click here to read it.  As you do, you will see we have a serious problem in our Florida Party--too many elected Republicans don’t reflect the Platform tenets.

The Republican Establishment will not use the Party’s strength to correct elected officials - it’s too busy retaining control to protect its own interests --- which aren’t yours.

Applying the Party Platform to every single legislator, every single vote, every single decision by the RPOF Leadership is a no-fail way to judge whether or not Florida has the same swamp issues as D.C.

And when we do, we take run RINOs and the bought-and-paid for political Establishment hacks out the Party.

There’s Only One Way This Will End

What the Republican Establishment has failed to realize is that they will never be able to win over and control America First Republicans. Unlike them, politics is not a business to us. We believe the Party Platform and demand our representatives adhere to it. 

We know, with a Republican Governor, plus a Republican Majority in the Florida House and Senate, every single piece of legislation and policy should advance the small-government, America First principles within the Republican Party Platform–which is what we voted for. 

To us, no Florida Republican in office should ever be taking a dime from a democrat donor or casting votes that support their liberal policies. But they do. From the top to the bottom, you can find Establishment Republicans taking money that keeps them indebted to special interests that violate our platform. The Republican Establishment will always protect itself and its first love: money and control. 

Until we stop them.

But something is preventing us from stopping them–the third player in the triad. We will cover that in part two.