Nazi Florida is "DeSantis Country": Ross Douthat Goes DEATH SENTENCE at Just the Right Time!
David Shasha
Why Trump Is Weakening
By: Ross Douthat
In Donald Trump’s quest to sustain his dominance over the Republican Party, his claim to have been robbed of victory in 2020 has been a crucial talisman, lending him powers denied to previous defeated presidential candidates. By insisting that he was cheated out of victory, Trump fashioned himself into a king-in-exile rather than a loser — an Arthur betrayed by the Mordreds of his own party, waiting in the Avalon of Mar-a-Lago to make his prophesied return.
As with many forms of dark Trumpian brilliance, though, the former president is not exactly in conscious control of this strategy. He intuited rather than calculated his way to its effectiveness, and he seems too invested in its central conceit — the absolute righteousness of his “Stop the Steal” campaign — to modulate when it begins to reap diminishing returns.
That’s a big part of why 2022 hasn’t been a particularly good year for Trump’s 2024 ambitions. Across 2021, he bent important parts of the G.O.P. back to his will, but in recent months his powers have been ebbing — and for the same reason, his narrative of dispossession, that they were initially so strong.
While Ron DeSantis, his strongest potential rival, has been throwing himself in front of almost every issue that Republican primary voters care about, Trump has marinated in grievance, narrowed his inner circle, and continued to badger Republican officials about undoing the last election. While DeSantis has been selling himself as the scourge of liberalism, the former president has been selling himself mostly as the scourge of Brian Kemp, Liz Cheney and Mike Pence.
Judging by early primary polling, the DeSantis strategy is working at the Trump strategy’s expense. The governor is effectively tied with the former president in recent polls of New Hampshire and Michigan, and leading him easily in Florida — which is DeSantis’s home state, yes, but now Trump’s as well.
These early numbers don’t prove that Trump can be beaten. But they strongly suggest that if his case for 2024 is only that he was robbed in 2020, it won’t be enough to achieve a restoration.
This is not because the majority of Republicans have had their minds changed by the Jan. 6 committee, or suddenly decided that actually Joe Biden won fair and square. But the committee has probably played some role in bleeding Trump’s strength, by keeping him pinned to the 2020 election and its aftermath, giving him an extra reason to obsess about enemies and traitors and giving his more lukewarm Republican supporters a constant reminder of where the Trump experience ended up.
By lukewarm supporters, I mean those Republicans who would be inclined to answer no if a pollster asked them if the 2020 election was fairly won, but who would also reject the conceit — as a majority of Republicans did in a Quinnipiac poll earlier this year — that Mike Pence could have legitimately done as Trump wished on Jan. 6.
That’s a crucial distinction, because in my experience as well as in public polling, there are lots of conservatives who retain a general sense that Biden’s victory wasn’t fair without being committed to John Eastman’s cockamamie plans to force a constitutional crisis. In the same way, there are lots of conservatives who sympathize in a general way with the Jan. 6 protests while believing that they were essentially peaceful and that any rioting was the work of F.B.I. plants or outside agitators — which is deluded, but still quite different from actively wishing for a mob-led coup d’état.
So to the extent that Trump is stuck litigating his own disgraceful conduct before and during the riot, a rival like DeSantis doesn’t need the lukewarm Trump supporter to believe everything the Jan. 6 committee reports. He just needs that supporter to regard Jan. 6 as an embarrassment and Trump’s behavior as feckless — while presenting himself as the candidate who can own the libs but also turn the page.
A counterargument, raised on Friday by New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait, is that so long as those lukewarm supporters still believe the 2020 election was unfair, Trump will have a trump card over any rival — because if you believe a steal happened, “you are perfectly rational to select a candidate who will acknowledge the crime and do everything to prevent it from reoccurring.”
But it seems just as possible for the lukewarm supporter to decide that if Trump’s response to being robbed was to first just let it happen and then ask his vice president to wave a magic wand on his behalf, then maybe he’s not the right guy to take on the Democratic machine next time.
There is more than one way, in other words, for Republican voters to decide that the former president is a loser. The stolen-election narrative has protected him from the simplest consequence of his defeat. But it doesn’t prevent the stench of failure from rising from his well-worn grievances, his whine of disappointment and complaint.
From The New York Times, July 23, 2022
Neo-Nazis rally with swastikas outside Florida conservative youth conference
By: Times of Israel staff
A group of neo-Nazi demonstrators rallied outside a conservative conference in Florida on Saturday, where they displayed swastikas and handed out antisemitic material.
Dozens of demonstrators reportedly waved Nazi flags and swastikas, displayed antisemitic caricatures and distributed antisemitic leaflets outside the building where the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit was taking place in Tampa.
Among those who attended the summit were former US president Donald Trump, who headlined the event, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Turning Point USA told Business Insider that it had no connection to the Nazi group, which carried banners declaring the state “DeSantis Country,” a reference to Florida governor Ron DeSantis who is seen as a potential future presidential candidate.
The organization said it was unable to have the activists moved away because they were standing in a public area.
Local media outlet Creative Loafing Tampa Bay reported that some of the group handed out flyers declaring “every single aspect of abortion is Jewish.”
The leaflets were distributed by activists from the Goyim Defense League, the report said, an organization the Anti-Defamation League has identified as being behind dozens of antisemitic propaganda incidents in 2021.
Florida Holocaust Museum director Mike Igel said in a statement Sunday that “openly and proudly displaying genocidal symbols is a direct threat to the Jewish community.”
“Carrying the Nazi flag, or that of the SS, the organization responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Holocaust, is an indefensible act of pure hatred,” he said.
“This should matter to everyone,” he said, and called for widespread condemnation of the activists.
Former Florida governor US Rep. Charlie Crist, whose district includes the Florida Holocaust Museum, said “the reprehensible anti-Semitic hate and neo-Nazi demonstrations on display this weekend have no place anywhere in our state.”
He accused DeSantis of “coddling antisemitism” for not immediately condemning the incident.
From The Times of Israel, July 25, 2022
Lawmakers, Jewish Groups Call on Florida Gov. to Denounce Neo-Nazis Waving 'DeSantis Country' Flags
By: People Staff
Lawmakers and candidates in Florida are calling on the state's governor to denounce a group of Nazi demonstrators who marched outside a conservative event over the weekend displaying both swastikas and signs expressing support for Gov. Ron DeSantis.
On Saturday, the group gathered outside the Tampa Convention Center, which was playing host to the conservative Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. Photos taken of the group show them waving posters with anti-Semitic imagery, such as swastikas and Nazi flags, along with the Florida state flag and a poster showing DeSantis' face.
One day after the photos were taken, Florida Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried held a press conference in the same place, urging DeSantis to denounce the group.
"I am asking you, Ron DeSantis, to denounce the Nazis that were here, here to celebrate you speech inside this convention Center," Fried, who is Jewish, said. "They were holding your pictures yesterday."
The Florida Governor's office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
I'm Nikki Fried, the first Jewish woman elected statewide in Florida. Yesterday, Nazis were standing here. Today, I was — to reject, condemn, and call for a united Florida against antisemitism.
Stand united with me. pic.twitter.com/YMRSCYobWz
— Nikki Fried (@NikkiFried) July 25, 2022
Fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist — who served as Florida's Republican governor from 2007 to 2011 but later switched political parties — also criticized DeSantis for not yet condemning the display.
"The reprehensible anti-Semitic hate and neo-Nazi demonstrations from this weekend have no place in FL," Crist, who will face Fried in Florida's gubernatorial primary election on Aug. 23, wrote on Twitter, adding: "DeSantis is coddling anti-Semitism because he views them as part of his base."
The Florida Holocaust Museum also issued a statement, with Chairman Mike Igel calling on "everyone, Jew and non-Jew, regardless of political affiliation, to condemn this blatant antisemitism in the strongest possible terms. This should matter to everyone."
"This isn't about politics or religion. It's about humanity," Igel said in the statement.
Turning Point USA, the conservative group that held the Saturday event, has denounced the group, saying in a statement: "We have no idea who they are or why they're here. They have nothing to do with TPUSA, our event, or our students."
Turning Point USA added that the group left after some students confronted them: "After some students initially confronted these individuals, they made a mature decision and vacated the space. Once that happened, they left."
DeSantis, who has long been rumored to be preparing a 2024 presidential run, has shot down such speculation, despite making a name for himself on the national stage in recent years — often with culture-war conflicts similar to former President Donald Trump.
The Republican governor, who narrowly won his 2018 election, has courted controversy (or support, depending on his audience) for attempting to block local leaders' authority to issue mask mandates in municipalities throughout Florida, and for fighting cruise ship companies that sought to require their passengers be vaccinated against the virus.
As a pro-business conservative, he's attracted a lot of attention among Republican voters — and, according to sources, from Trump himself, who views DeSantis as something of a competitor in the lead-up to 2024.
From People magazine, July 25, 2022
Photos: Neo-Nazis gather outside Turning Point USA summit at Tampa Convention Center
By: Justin Garcia
The second day of Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit brought neo-Nazis to downtown's Tampa Convention Center.
The extremist groups arrived after more than 100 protesters marched from Lykes Gaslight Square Park to the convention center to speak out against recent actions by the Supreme Court, especially the overturning of Roe V. Wade.
Creative Loafing Tampa Bay photographer Dave Decker caught photos of the neo-Nazis waving swastika flags, along with flags that read "DeSantis Country."
The group distributed flyers, one of which said "every single aspect of abortion is Jewish."
The flyers say they were distributed by the Goyim Defense League, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as an extremist terrorist organization that was responsible for at least 74 anti-semitic propaganda incidents in 2021. Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told CL that TPUSA had no idea who the Nazi groups were or why they turned up outside the convention.
"They have nothing to do with TPUSA, our event, or our students. Our students took the mature route and vacated the space the Nazi flag holders were in. Once that happened, they left," Kolvet said, adding that TPUSA students also argued with the Nazis before disengaging.
Florida has seen a rise in fascist activity in recent months. In Orlando, the Nazi group Atomwaffen assaulted civilians during a demonstration, and a neo-Nazi group made a bomb threat in Daytona Beach.
Today's summit counter protestors, which included members of Women's Voices for Southwest Florida and Tampa Bay Community Action Committee, among others, called TPUSA fascist in its rhetoric, and urged the need to confront fascism anywhere it exists.
The two groups clashed over the Roe V. Wade issue and more when the protestors marched to the Tampa Convention Center, where the TPUSA summit is being held.
As the protest crowd approached, right wingers holding signs that read "Free the J6 Political Prisoners" shouted "keep moving commies!" as the protestors shouted "racist, sexist, anti-gay, Ron DeSantis go away!"
When the protest crowd arrived in front of the convention center, the right wingers entered the crowd and began antagonizing protesters.
One man dressed as Uncle Sam entered the crowd and attempted to put his hat over a woman's face and megaphone, thus striking her with his hat. Uncle Sam popped up again later when he pushed his way into the crowd, leading to a clash.
Near the very end of a video from Women's Voices of SW Florida, Uncle Sam can be seen standing above a member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee who had been pushed to the ground. Tampa Police let the Uncle Sam impersonator go and did not comment on why they released him.
A right wing self-described "comedian" named Alex Stein also entered the crowd and called all of the protesters "baby killers" as he ripped signs out of women's hands and pushed his way into the crowd. He even posted video of him doing this on Twitter. TPD removed Stein from the crowd and one officer told him, "You can't be physically fighting people," but still refused to take action against him.
When asked why TPD just let him go with little incident—even with several witnesses, victims, and video of him instigating—officer D.J. Rhodes noted that protestors were on the walkway.
"Is it a crime for [him] to kinda walk down and kind of scoot by?" Rhodes asked before saying that the protesters were blocking the sidewalk.
After demonstrating for about a half hour, the protesters marched back to Gaslight Park, and were trolled on the way back by white men with cameras. The trolls trailed off, and at the park, the protestors were able to give each other words of encouragement and support before the event ended.
In a text message to CL, City of Tampa Spokesperson Adam Smith said, "The First Amendment applies to everyone. It's a sad time for our country when people from the darkest fringes of society feel comfortable openly expressing their vile hate, but it's understandable why many media outlets refuse to do their bidding by publicizing this garbage."
But Sen. Janet Cruz—whose daughter is partner to Smith's boss, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor—struck a different tone and wrote that Tampa was founded on diversity and inclusion. "I’ll be dammed if Nazis and Proud Boys waltz through our City and spew such repulsive speech. Words have power and we will NOT accept this in our backyard. All of us must stand up and make clear that we reject this bigoted display," she wrote on Twitter.
Actually addressing hate groups in some of Tampa's busiest entertainment districts is a change from recent inaction by the city. In May 2021, when Trump floatilla organizers flashed "white power" signs in an Ybor City Bar, Mayor Castor's office twice ignored requests for a comment beyond a generic "hate has no home here." Two months later, Smith similarly declined comment after Proud Boys marched through downtown Tampa flashing "white power" symbols.
Turning Point USA's downtown Tampa summit continues this evening with Trump Jr. and his dad, Congressman Matt Gaetz, Rep. Anthony "Blackface" Sabatini and others.
Mike Igel, Chairman of the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, called the display of the Nazi and SS flags an "indefensible act of pure hatred." He called on everyone, regardless of political affiliation, to condemn the blatant anti semitism in the strongest possible terms.
The convention wraps tomorrow with an agenda that includes a panel called "Queer Theory and the Post Truth Progressives," an appearance from Academy of the Holy Names alum and former Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, plus others.
This is a developing post, with more photos of the protests and TPUSA summit added as the weekend comes to a close.
From Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, July 23, 2022