Posted on 04/21/2023 8:40:19 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Throughout the pandemic conservatives (and even disaffected Democrats and independents) vacationed in and moved to the “Free State of Florida” in record numbers, attracted to relatively affordable housing and, well, freedom. Donald Trump spends the vast majority of his time there, escaping the New York winters, over-taxation, and politically-motivated, unscrupulous prosecutors. But according to an email he sent out Friday, the state is a hellhole.
Atop the email was this statement from Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman.
“The real DeSantis record is one of misery and despair. He has left a wake of destruction all across Florida and people are hurting because he has spent more time playing public relations games instead of actually doing the hard-work needed to improve the lives of the people he represents.”
Then the main portion of the email begins:
While Ron DeSantis engages in a weeks-long shadow campaign for president boasting his playbook, Florida continues to tumble into complete and total delinquency and destruction.
Thousands of people from places like New York, Michigan, Illinois, and California moved to Florida during the pandemic, many of them Republicans. Though the Miami area was hit with an unprecedented rain event last week and has been suffering from gas shortages as a result, it isn’t likely that those new Floridians will see that as a signal that the state is tumbling into “complete and total delinquency and destruction.” And, that characterization could lead to eyerolls from conservatives still stuck in places like San Francisco or Philadelphia or St. Louis that truly have tumbled into total delinquency and destruction.
Before listing numerous categories in which Florida resident Trump contends his state is the worst, he states:
On DeSantis’ watch, Florida has become one of the least affordable states to live in the country.
In his first term as Florida governor, Ron DeSantis raised taxes on Floridians by more than $1.5 billion.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that a Floridian making $10 an hour must work 86 hours per week just to afford rent on a modest single bedroom home in Florida.
The cost of living in south Florida shot up 10% in just the last year alone, the highest increase by far in years, while the national average was only 6.5%.
Home prices skyrocketed in Miami by 32% last year, and by 34% in Tampa.
According to a 2023 SmartAsset study, the Orlando metropolitan area was the 10th most expensive to live comfortably in the nation. Miami closely followed, as the 12th most expensive metropolitan area and Tampa also made the list, as the 16th most expensive.
Then, he hits DeSantis on high gas prices and recent shortages in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
While nearly half of the gas stations in Miami and Fort Lauderdale are without fuel, those Floridians lucky enough to find a gas station with fuel will be paying a stiff premium.
Florida ranks in the 10 most expensive states in the continental United States for fuel prices, and in 2023, Florida imposed a new hike on fuel purchases.
I haven’t clicked every link and read every piece of data the email links to as backup (and at least one Substack linked to is down, probably because of the amount of traffic directed to it), so I make no assessment of the claims. The link to the justification for the claim of a massive tax hike doesn’t work, but I am especially interested in reading more about that because it’s at odds with things DeSantis says in his speeches.
Undoubtedly, Ron DeSantis’ spokespeople will have rebuttals of the email’s contents. I’ll preview what I think they might be.
First, Trump has praised DeSantis over the years, and since leaving office has talked about about how great it was to live in Florida and specifically praised DeSantis.
Second, given the number of people who moved to Florida in the past three years – some of them sent there by their employers who left California – it’s reasonable to see home prices increase rapidly and not anything any government official has much control over. And DeSantis supporters will likely point to the fact that Trump didn’t stand up to Fauci and Birx and blue state governors who kept millions of Americans under unjustified and ineffective “state of emergency” orders, which arguably contributed a great deal to the exodus to Florida and the resulting price increases.
Third, the fuel shortages in the Miami area are due to severe flooding at terminals at Port Everglades and, according to officials, panic buying is exacerbating the problem. Still, State of Florida emergency officials on Tuesday announced that they’re sending 500,000 gallons of gasoline to ease the pain, and said that delivery delays continue to decrease.
The point of me listing these anticipated defenses isn’t to prop up DeSantis or to slam Trump. Especially with this week’s revelations regarding whistleblowers and election interference and Alvin Bragg, Trump has solid arguments to make to Republican primary voters about why he should be the 2024 nominee. Choosing to send a melodramatic email telling Floridians and all of the people who moved there during the pandemic how terrible their home state is, using some fairly easily disputed points, doesn’t seem like the best tactic.
Trump is an embarrassment. It should be Biden all day.
“What Trump is angry at Florida about is the successfully stopped the steal there.”
FL didn’t “stop the steal” there. There WAS no steal there. Trust me; if “they” had needed FL to be stolen it would’ve happened.
“Trump ... sees himself as the smartest person in the room,”
I figured that 100% of serious candidates for president have the exact same mindset. It they didn’t, they wouldn’t be running. They just don’t talk about it.
MD has sucked for decades.
Hopefully
His fundraising has been pretty anemic as it is---even with his indictment.
“You’d think a little gratitude might be in order.”
Yes. You’d think, right?
Apparently someone needs to conduct an intervention with Trump. Educate him on the deadly sins. Pride and wrath kill you and he keeps killing himself. He’s on track to take the country down with him.
Dumb-O-Crats will do that to ya.
Trump deployed the FBI? Hilarious assertion. Do you write comedy for living?
While I’d prefer Trump focus on attacking the left I don’t feel sorry for DeSantis. He’s getting what he deserves for prematurely running for president. His political career outside of Florida will be over because of it. That’s what he gets for signing on with his deep state puppet masters.
However, Trump is best when he's speaking on the issues, and going after Democrats. Biden and his administration is a target-rich environment.
Gee, no income tax, sun 350 days of the tear, constitutional carry, no abortion after 6 weeks, crackdown on social media censorship - yeah Florida sucks.
Seeing as he hasn't even declared yet, your statement is what is premature. You really need to find some balance, my good fellow.
I don't know who's giving Mr. Trump the bad advice to attack DeSantis on a daily basis, but it's counterproductive at best.
Meanwhile, the real enemy is out there, watching, gloating, loving every minute of it.
That said, yes, Florida is a horrible place. If you don't live here already, you should stay far, far away. $;-)
The only reason he hasn’t announced is because current Florida law would force him to resign as governor first. It’s a bit disingenuous at this point to keep pretending that he isn’t running.
Yes, Florida is a terrible place; bugs, heat, and humidity! Stay far, far away! I’ll be going to a beach community in the Forgotten Coast to experience the terrible conditions with the pain and suffering of the heat, humidity, and bugs while attending a fair only rednecks could love. Yes, Florida has rednecks, people who have bare feet while drinking alcohol in public! What a terrible, terrible place, Florida has become! The only respite I will have is to escape to the surf to cool off, but the hot sand and sun might destroy such an experience. I’ll need to have another drink to survive!
Perhaps. It's at least just as disingenuous to keep pretending that he has when he has not. Meanwhile, there is plenty actually going on at present that could use the attention.
I'd love to see Trump get the nod in the 2024 primaries. I voted for him in 2016, 2020 and would pull the lever for him again in a second for POTUS in 2024.
By the same token, I'll do the same for DeSantis if he ends up in the driver's seat. I do not understand why people find it so hard to comprehend that they are both good men, albeit very different in both temperament and approach. Hard to say who would get more done. God knows there is plenty of work to go around, if we are to keep America from sinking into the Marxist abyss.
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