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.
Florida sucks and Trump knows it better than anyone.
Unimpressive hit piece. All the links except the 1st work (substack down). It took less than 5 minutes to review them all so the author of the posted article is blowing smoke.
Whether or not the email is wise it is based on published articles with facts & statistics a wide range of sites comparing states on economic facts.
“How many of you believe that Florida is a place of misery and despair?”
Florida is just sorta miserable. Most if my dislikes are directed towards the humidity, fauna, weeds, sprawl, undercurrents of felony, sand, panhandlers, traffic, sinus headaches from going in and out of air conditioned buildings, blazing hot car interiors... gaters, snakes, house tenting to kill off insect infestations... the usual stuff that makes life miserable.
I have alot of family that moved there, stayed a while, and moved back into the mid and southern atlantic hurricane zones. So the “need” to go back down doesn’t exist any longer.
A clever graphic artist could make a gif of Desantis morphing into Cruz.
You’re first person I’ve heard (read) say that.
hahahaha...might as well be...yes.
Bizarre to say the least. Floridians think otherwise.
Trump can’t get out of his own way.
They will love him when he gets to jail.
“I’m sure we will find out if what Trump says about DeSantis is true...”
We don’t need to wait. Trump insulted Florida as well as DeSantis, and as a Floridian I’m calling him out for lying. Trump is also insulting our intelligence—yes, Florida is expensive, BECAUSE IT’S POPULAR! Anybody with a brain can figure that out. And Florida is popular because it’s a great place to live, partly because it’s well run by DeSantis and trending deep red.
Then why did Degenerate Donnie move there after he fled the White House?
Trump is reducing himself to just another politician trying to regain power. Unbecoming IMO.
Roger Stone is all over Telegram saying how Herr Donald threatened them all with primary challenges if they did not endorse him now......then Trump basically calls Florida a sh___hole.
RE: Florida sucks and Trump knows it better than anyone.
So, when is he planning to move out?
Read the links. They are like US News College ratings. They are based on statistics, but statistics do not represent the reality on the ground. Picking a college based on those rankings would be stupid. There is information there but the summing up is ludicrous.
No insults in the email just reporting from ratings articles. I think it’s clear DeSantis has been working for national recognition and international cred lately. That is not in the best interests of Florida. The article seems to be aimed at countering the fallacy the Florida is the BEST state in the Union & crediting DeSantis with a transformation.
DeSantis backers & influencers are trying to create a false reality and Trump’s team appears to be countering that false reality with a more balanced view of Florida and making a point about DeSantis neglect of Florida concerns in recent months.
Florida is a great state, a very important state with some issues based on the number of people who are moving there. The issue caused by increasing population pressures need to be addressed. DeSantis has made some good decisions, some good policies and some bad ones. The good ones have served Floridians well and they would be well served by DeSantis finishing his term & putting Florida above his presidential ambitions. He needs to put his responsibilities & his duty above his ambitions.
Agreed. I hope he makes out on the political persecution, but I really don’t see why I should cast my primary vote for him or DeSantis at this time.
Florida looks to be doing just fine Donald. I would quit attacking Desantis and partner up with him, DeSantis isn’t going to run and if he does you will need him in your corner.
I’d rather put up with that than with the rampant communism in my old state of Maryland.
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