I can’t think of another time when one person has so
dominated everything.
Everything is about, or somehow related to, Trump.
At least that’s how it feels.
What’s he said, what’s he done, what’s he thinking, what
might he do … it never ends.
Turn on the TV and there’s always somebody opining on Trump,
someone once on his staff or campaign, someone on his current staff, someone he
likes, someone he despises, someone in his family, some place he is, someplace
he’s going to be, something he’s tweeted, something he should have said, or
whatever. If there’s a way to bring
Trump into a discussion, it will happen.
We’re entering primary season here in Florida and once again
Trump seems to be the most important thing. Republicans fight over who is
really a Trump supporter and who isn’t, regardless of which office they’re
running for. They accuse each other of falsely claiming support for Trump
because their opponent voted against things Trump wants, or once was a
“card-carrying” Democrat. They all promise to support Trump’s agenda should
they be elected.
For the Republican gubernatorial nomination
Ron
DeSantis has been endorsed by Trump. Many of DeSantis’ early ads focused on
that exclusively, including one that closed by saying he was “endorsed by the
big man himself.” But DeSantis’ opponent – Adam Putnam, current Commissioner of
Agriculture – has been endorsed by Pam Bondi, current Florida Attorney General, who did an ad saying she worked
hard to get Trump elected and supports Adam Putnam for governor.
Putnam and DeSantis both claim fealty to Trump. Both claim
they will work hard to support his policies on immigration, deporting illegal
alien criminals, and opposing sanctuary cities. I’m not sure what that actually means to most
of my fellow Floridians, since state governors don’t have much authority over
any of these. But it sounds tough; I
guess that’s what they’re going for.
Democrats running in our primaries blame Trump for
everything and invoke Schindler’s List-style images, and even references to the
Holocaust, to portray him as the personification of evil. They all promise to stop Trump, or at least
stand up to him.
Again, I’m not sure how that would work, since Florida’s
governor won’t have any authority to do that – the Supremacy Clause in the
Constitution means Federal law always trumps state law.
But that’s not stopped the Democrat gubernatorial candidates
from telling everyone how much tougher they’d be than their opponents in
supporting abortion rights, Planned Parenthood, amnesty for DACA recipients,
and of course, gun control. The usual talking points.
One male candidate has even brought back the war-on-women
theme saying he needs to be elected “for the women.” He’s also said he will
stop the state from paying millions (for additional security?) every time Trump
comes to his Florida resort. Pretty much
every one of his own campaign ads talks about how he will stand up to
Trump. It’s Trump this, Trump that, to the point even
the left-leaning Palm Beach Post mocked him for it.
Unfortunately for him, his opponents have old video of him
talking about Trump as a “great guy” and how much he likes Trump. And that’s
running.
Again, it’s Trump, Trump, Trump.
The real action is yet to come. That’s the battle for the next Senator from
Florida between Republican Rick Scott, current governor of
Florida, and Democrat Bill Nelson, current U.S. Senator from Florida. Both will win their primaries hands-down so
they’ll face off in the general.
Scott’s done a pretty good job as governor by all
accounts. But there’s more. He’s said he will support legislation to set term
limits in Congress – something I haven’t heard from any politician in ages. That’s
a breathtaking move in my book. He’s also in favor of making Congress work
year-round, five days a week, 12 months a year; another bold move. And if
Congress allows the government to shut down, they shouldn’t get paid, according
to Scott. His campaign theme is: “Let’s
get to work.”
Bill Nelson has been in office since the 70s. Before then he
was an astronaut. As far as anyone can
tell, including leading newspapers in the state, he’s not really accomplished
much of anything since then. The best that could be said about him is that he’s
voted reliably with the Democrats for decades and never rocked the boat. Nor introduced anything of note,
apparently.
He looks old, he sounds old, and is the epitome of a career
politician. To say he’s fighting for his
political life is an understatement, given the public mood about career
politicians.
Scott’s campaign theme, "let's get to work," is a direct attack on career politicians in general, and a less-than-subtle dig at Nelson.
To counter Scott, Nelson’s campaign has focused on Scott’s
refusal to accept Federal funding to expand Medicaid and CHIP under the
Affordable Care Act. Nelson knows full well why Scott did that, as did many
other Republican governors.
The Federal money came with big strings: after a few years Federal
subsidies would stop and the state would have to pick up the full cost of
expanding coverage to millions. However, the way Nelson’s supporters are portraying
it, Scott decided to refuse the money which would have helped millions of
low-income families and instead passed tax cuts in Florida to reward corporations and his rich
friends, "just like him" one ad states.
Scott has a bunch of pretty radical ideas to shake up the
status quo in DC, as I’ve said. Nelson claims he’s helped Floridians by
protecting Social Security, without a lot of details how he did that.
To me, Scott has ideas; Nelson doesn’t. And I like Scott’s ideas.
Right now Scott is leading Nelson in the most recent polls. He’s
doing that without playing the Trump card too much, which is smart in a state
like this. Scott’s got Florida’s booming
economy to run on, and he deserves some credit for that.
It’s Scott’s to lose if things hold up.
However, if this continues I expect Nelson to make a desperate
move to jump the shark tank. And how
will he do that?
Just a guess, but I suspect it will involve something to do
with Trump.
It’s always all about Trump.
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