Subscribe now

By William March

Florida Trident

Byron Donalds, who cruised to an easy victory in the Republican primary for governor with the endorsement of Donald Trump, has maintained two separate campaigns – one for the governorship and one for re-election to his U.S. House seat – during almost his entire campaign for governor.

Despite a warning from federal election authorities that he was skirting campaign finance laws, Donalds continued to raise and spend money for more than 18 months in a campaign for re-election to his U.S. House seat.

Since the start of 2025, Donalds’ campaign for his House seat has taken in $738,092, and spent more than $2.1 million – most of it since he declared on Feb. 26, 2025 that he was running for governor and not running for House re-election.

The biggest chunk of that spending was taking $1.2 million he had raised to run for re-election to Congress and passing it to a political action committee, Friends of Byron Donalds, backing his run for governor.

But his campaign for re-election to the House has also taken in $30,000 from PACs, spent $136,561.47 for “security services” and paid $36,000 to a polling and research firm, all since he announced he was not actually running for the House.

Donalds is the U.S. House representative from Florida’s District 19 in southwest Florida, encompassing coastal areas from Fort Myers to Naples.

Six months after he initially announced in February 2025 that he was running for governor and not for re-election to Congress, the Federal Elections Commission warned Donalds that he should stop accepting contributions to his House campaign and refund those donations he had accepted since his announcement.

In response, the Donalds campaign told the FEC that he was still in fact “an active candidate” for House re-election.

It wasn’t until earlier this month, on Aug. 5, that Donalds’ House re-election campaign told the FEC it would stop raising and spending money and declared – for the second time – that he was not a House candidate.

The timeline:

• Feb. 25, 2025 – Donalds notifies the FEC that he is not running for re-election to the House, saying he “is not seeking re-election and will not be conducting any further activities with respect to the 2026 primary election.”

• Feb. 26, 2025 – Donalds files as a candidate for governor of Florida and immediately transfers $1.2 million from his House campaign to Friends of Byron Donalds.

• July 15, 2025 – Despite having declared he was no longer a House candidate, Donalds files a campaign finance report with the FEC showing his House campaign raised $74,693.49 and spent $146,084 in the previous three months.

• Aug. 5, 2025 – An FEC official tells the Donalds campaign that because he is no longer a House candidate, its contributions received since his February announcement “must be refunded” except the amount used to pay off debts.

• Aug. 6, 2025 – Donalds campaign treasurer Bradley Crate responds to the FEC with a letter saying Donalds “has not officially ended his Congressional re-election campaign and he has made no announcement to that effect,” and “is still an active candidate for the 2025-2026 Election Cycle.”

• June 6, 2026 – Donalds files qualifying papers for governor of Florida.

• Aug. 8 – Crate sends a letter to the FEC saying Donalds is not running for re-election to the House after all.

The Donalds campaign didn’t respond to an inquiry from the Florida Trident with questions about his contradictory statements on whether he was running for re-election to Congress and why his House campaign continued spending on items such as polling and security services.

FEC reports show Donalds has refunded some donations to his House campaign, but far from all that he raised since initially declaring he was no longer a House candidate.

The Trident initially reported in September 2025 about Donalds’ dual campaigns.

At that time, Ian Vandewalker, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, told the Trident that any enforcement action by the FEC was unlikely, regardless of whether the campaign violated campaign finance regulations.

Only two of the six seats on the commission that governs the FEC are filled, and the six-member commission hasn’t had a quorum since May 2025. That means the commission cannot “resolve enforcement and audit matters, implement rules, issue advisory opinions, and litigate most cases,” according to a statement in May by Commission Chair Shana Broussard.

The bipartisan FEC members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Jeff Swartz, professor emeritus at Cooley Law School in Tampa, speculated that Donalds may have kept his House campaign open as a way of “keeping his powder dry” – preserving the option to run for House re-election in case another strong candidate emerged for governor.

Leave a comment

William March has written about politics in the Tampa Bay area for the past 40 years. He has worked for newspapers in his native North Carolina and for the Tampa Tribune, the Tampa Bay Times and the Associated Press in Florida. Trident Staff Writer Melanie Payne contributed to this report.

The Florida Trident is an investigative news outlet focusing on government accountability and transparency across Florida. The Trident was created and first published in 2022 by the Florida Center for Government Accountability in the wake of shrinking newsroom budgets and staff across the country. This article is published with the Trident’s permission. To support the Trident’s work, click here:

Donate

Thanks for your support

Since this newsletter was launched a year ago, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have joined the Tropic Press community, making this one of the fastest-growing publications of its kind.

Our goal here is to reach as many voters — especially Democrats and independents — as possible, so that we can increase engagement in the political process and, hopefully, raise interest in voting this coming November.

We do that with original reporting and commentary and by sharing worthwhile articles from other publications, such as today’s story from Florida Trident.

If you are encountering this newsletter for the first time, please consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, consider upgrading your subscription to help this work continue.

Regardless, every person you share this with is one more potential vote for change.

Please share and help us make Florida — and America — better for all of us.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Florida voters have spoken.

This November, the headline election matchups will be:

FOR GOVERNOR

Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds of Naples won the Republican nomination for governor with just under 50 percent of the primary vote on Tuesday. He vastly out-fundraised and outpolled his other Republican opponents, and had Donald Trump’s endorsement.

He will face David Jolly, a former Republican congressman turned Democrat, who had no serious opposition in the primary as his main opponent, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, dropped out for health reasons.

Donalds is an ardent Trump acolyte; Jolly is positioning himself as a moderate Democrat.

Donalds won 48% of the vote in a crowded primary field of 10 Republicans, and while Jolly faced five opponents, it wasn’t close, as he easily beat back his challengers, winning 61% of the vote.

Among the defeated Republicans were former House Speaker Paul Renner, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, and investor James Fishback.

As Christine Sexton of Florida Phoenix reports:

None of them could get enough traction to mount a serious challenge to Donalds, who won the president’s endorsement, but never Gov. Ron DeSantis’.

DeSantis, who for a while touted First Lady Casey DeSantis as a potential gubernatorial nominee before the Hope Florida Foundation scandal, never endorsed any of the Republicans in the primary.

Collins finished in second place with more than 25% of the vote. DeSantis named him lieutenant governor in August 2025 but he did not become a Republican gubernatorial hopeful until earlier this year. Collins sold himself as someone who would continue DeSantis’ legacy but the governor never endorsed his second-in-command.

DeSantis also had a close working relationship with Renner during his two years as House speaker, but DeSantis initially called Renner’s run for governor “ill-advised.” DeSantis acknowledged earlier this month that Renner would make a “good” governor, but still there was no endorsement. Renner finished with 8.5% of the vote.

Fishback, who won slightly more than 10% of the vote, repeatedly insulted Donalds and called him a “slave” to donors.

The Democratic gubernatorial primary was far less dramatic once Demings withdrew from the race.

As noted, Jolly is positioning himself as a moderate to Donalds’ far-right, pro-MAGA positions. Jolly had served as a member of Congress as a Republican, but he abandoned the G.O.P. after Trump was elected.

U.S. SENATE

This will be a special election in November to fill out the remainder of Marco Rubio’s term, which he abandoned when he became Secretary of State. DeSantis appointed Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to fill the spot, and now she will have to defend it as the temporary incumbent.

Democrats overwhelmingly chose State Rep. Angie Nixon to take on that task in Tuesday’s primary.

This was the most interesting race on the ballot Tuesday, the question being whether Nixon had the support to overcome the name recognition and fundraising muscle of her opponent, former Army officer and Trump whistleblower Alex Vindman.

Nixon approached the race from the more progressive wing of the party; Vindman positioned himself as a moderate.

As Florida Phoenix’s Jay Waagmeester reports:

Nixon’s victory concluded a primary that had some wondering whether progressive Democrats’ wins around the nation would carry into Florida.

Nixon, carrying endorsements of several of Florida’s progressive Democratic legislators, enjoyed a significantly smaller campaign account compared to challenger Alex Vindman.

With 88% of votes in, the Associated Press reported Nixon had captured 55.7% of votes to Vindman’s 44.3%. Nixon’s share of the votes equates to more than 660,000 while Vindman’s is about 530,000.

According to FEC reports through July 29, Nixon had spent nearly $710,000 and received nearly $975,000, with ending cash on hand of $264,978.

Vindman received $16.27 million and spent $9 million, leaving him with $7.26 million cash on hand as of July 29.

In her victory speech, Nixon called for unity but also took aim at her new opponent.

“We are strongest when we are united, and it’s going to take all of us to win in November,” Nixon said.

She turned her attention to Moody.

“Ashley Moody can call me whatever she wants, she can call us whatever she wants, but in November she will call me senator,” Nixon said to applause.

In a text message this morning that I received, Nixon had this to say:

“Winning the primary was only the beginning. We have 77 days to flip Florida blue, win this Senate seat, and help take back the U.S. Senate.”

For a complete look at other statewide race results and the outcomes of Florida’s congressional races, check out this election tracking page from WUSF:

Election Results

Leave a comment

Thanks for your support

Since this newsletter was launched a year ago, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have joined the Tropic Press community, making this one of the fastest-growing publications of its kind.

Our goal here is to reach as many voters — especially Democrats and independents — as possible, so that we can increase engagement in the political process and, hopefully, raise interest in voting this coming November.

If you are encountering this newsletter for the first time, please consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, consider upgrading your subscription to help this work continue.

Regardless, every person you share this with is one more potential vote for change.

Please share and help us make Florida — and America — better for all of us.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Today’s the day that the two major political parties in Florida will ask voters to decide which of their candidates should appear on the November general election ballot.

Well, most voters. Not all.

As I’ve harped on this before, if you are among the more than 3 million registered voters who have chosen not to join the Democratic or Republican parties, you’ll have no say. But you will get to pay for it, so you’ve got that going for you.

But let’s shelve the Open Primary versus Closed Primary debate for now and look at the highlights of what’s at stake at the polls today.

DEMOCRATS

For Governor, the clear frontrunner and doubtless victor in this primary race is David Jolly, a former Republican congressman turned Democrat whose major opponent for the nomination, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, dropped out for health reasons.

Others on the ballot include Dayna Foster, Dotie Joseph, Evelyn Castillo-Bach, Stephann Norman and Thomas Fernandez. There are also numerous NPA and write-in candidates.

For U.S. Senator, the Democrats vying to take on appointed incumbent U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody are Alex Vindman and Angie Nixon. Vindman is a former Army officer who became famous for blowing the whistle on Donald Trump during his first term, leading to Trump’s first impeachment. Nixon is a state representative from Jacksonville.

Other state-level races of note include:

Chief Financial Officer: Annette Taddeo versus Earle Ford.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Donald Prichard versus Joey Atkins.

A helpful website with more information on candidates and organizations that are supporting them can be found at:

Blue Voter Guide

For a complete list of candidates for non-statewide races, such as for the Florida Legislature and Congress, check out this listing from the Florida Secretary of State’s office:

Candidate List

REPUBLICANS

For Governor: With Gov. Ron DeSantis term limited, there’s a mob competing for the job, but the clear frontrunner is U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds of Naples, who holds a commanding lead in the polls and in fundraising.

Other Republicans include Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, investor James Fishback, Jim Holcomb, Arthur Joseph McCaffrey, Daniel Nokovich, former House Speaker Paul Renner, Rachael Rodriguez, James W. Shaw, Caneste Cucce, and Bobby Williams.

For U.S. Senate, appointed incumbent Ashley Moody is considered a shoo-in, but she does have opposition from Chris Gleason, Neelam Taneja Perry and Ernie Rivera.

In other races:

Incumbent Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia faces Frank William Collige; and incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is opposed by Matt Taylor.

For a complete list of candidates, check this out:

Candidate List

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

To vote in person on Election Day, you must go to your designated polling location. To find your precinct polling place, the Florida Division of Elections has a county-by-county website, here:

Where to Vote

You can also contact your local Supervisor of Elections Office for help. Here’s a website to find yours:

Supervisor of Elections

Do you still have your mail-in ballot? If so, you need to deliver it (or have it delivered) to your local Supervisor of Elections Office before 7 p.m. Or you can go to your local polling place and exchange it for a ballot and vote in person there.

When to Vote: The polls are open on Election Day, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. (local time). Any voters waiting in line at 7:00 p.m. will have the opportunity to cast a ballot.

Identification: You must bring a current and valid photo ID with signature. Any one of the following photo IDs will be accepted:

• Florida driver’s license

• Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

• United States passport

• Debit or credit card

• Military identification

• Student identification

• Retirement center identification

• Neighborhood association identification

• Public assistance identification

• Veteran health identification card issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs

• License to carry a concealed weapon or firearm issued pursuant to s. 790.06

• Employee identification card issued by any branch, department, agency, or entity of the Federal Government, the state, a county, or a municipality.

If your photo ID does not include your signature, you will be asked to provide another ID that has your signature.

If you do not bring proper ID, you can still vote a provisional ballot. As long as you are eligible and voted in the proper precinct, your provisional ballot will count provided the signature on your provisional ballot matches the signature in your registration record.

For more information, check out the Florida Division of Elections website here:

Florida Elections Info

Thanks for your support

Since this newsletter was launched a year ago, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have joined the Tropic Press community, making this one of the fastest-growing publications of its kind.

Our goal here is to reach as many voters — especially in the Sunshine State — as possible, so that we can increase engagement in the political process and, hopefully, raise interest in voting today and this coming November.

Currently, Republicans have a huge advantage in voter registration in Florida, but when you combine Democrats and voters unaffiliated with the two major parties, the numbers are there to change the way our state is governed.

Here are the stats from the Florida Secretary of State’s office:

The key is voter turnout. We need to get people involved. That’s the goal here. And you can help.

If you are encountering this newsletter for the first time, please consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, consider upgrading your subscription to help this work continue.

Regardless, every person you share this with is one more potential vote for change.

Please share and help us make Florida — and America — better for all of us.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Trump won’t rule out election takeover

President Donald Trump signaled that he’s willing to declare a national security emergency to take over American elections.

“Let me just say stranger things have happened,” Trump said, after a far-right media host implored him to exert sweeping control over the upcoming midterms during a post-midnight interview.

“I’ll leave it at that,” the president added.

As Democracy Docket reports:

The comments are just the latest in a string of alarming remarks Trump has made about U.S. elections. He previously said he wanted to “nationalize” voting and regretted not ordering the military to seize ballots and election machines after his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

The president has no power to control elections. Instead, the U.S. Constitution exclusively grants states and Congress the authority over election administration.

But despite those constitutional limitations, Wayne Allyn Root, a host on the Real America’s Voice TV network and one of Trump’s favorite right-wing media figures, urged the president to subvert democratic elections through executive fiat.

No president has ever declared a national emergency or used wartime powers to run, alter, or cancel elections.

However, Trump has tried to unilaterally change elections twice, first through an executive order last year and second through a separate order earlier this year. Courts have blocked both orders.

Source: Democracy Docket

Trump delayed rule that could have tracked Cyclospora outbreak quicker

Last month, when an outbreak of explosive diarrhea began spreading around the country, health officials started searching for the source of the disease. The sooner they figured out where the parasitic Cyclospora infection was coming from, the quicker its spread could be limited.

It took much longer to figure that out than it should have.

Why?

Because the Trump Administration delayed the implementation of a food safety rule that should have gone into effect at the first of the year requiring food suppliers to respond within 24 hours to demands from health officials looking to trace food contamination.

Why did Trump stall the start of this rule?

To give food suppliers more time to figure out their internal procedures.

Said another way, the federal government, whose No. 1 job is to protect Americans from harm, put the interests of corporations over its own citizens.

Sources: The New York Times and Bloomberg Law

Florida official’s real estate holdings undisclosed

Blaise Ingoglia has been touring the state and preaching the importance of government fiscal transparency and accountability.

He’s the state’s chief financial officer, appointed to the job by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Now he’s running to keep his job, facing an opponent in the Republican primary on Tuesday and eventually the winner of the Democratic primary, in which either Earle Ford or Annette Taddeo will be the candidate.

But Florida Bulldog reports that state and local records show Ingoglia has omitted from his public financial disclosure more than a hundred properties tied to him through his companies.

That could be a violation of Florida’s ethics laws with civil penalties up to $20,000, and sanctions ranging from a public reprimand to removal from office, the Bulldog reports.

Besides being the state’s CFO, Ingoglia is a homebuilder with a reported net worth of more than $30 million.

Source: Florida Bulldog

Misleading ballot initiative rewritten

Earlier this month, a Tallahassee judge ruled that the wording that the Legislature concocted in writing its so-called property-tax “relief” ballot initiative was, to be kind, just a little biased.

The ballot measure’s original title was:

“Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes.”

Nothing prejudicial about that, right? Well, Judge David Frank didn’t like it and ordered it rewritten. It now reads:

“Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homesteaded Property Assessments.”

Not nearly as provocative—in fact, it’s downright dull—but it at least is closer to what the bill is about.

It will appear on the ballot in November, and if 60% of voters approve it, homestead property tax exemptions will increase, but no provisions have been made for how to supplement the tax dollars cities and counties will have taken away for essential services—which is why it is widely opposed.

(Nothing prejudicial about that comment either, right?)

Leave a comment

Thanks for your support

Since this newsletter was launched a year ago, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have joined the Tropic Press community, making this one of the fastest-growing publications of its kind.

Our goal here is to reach as many voters — especially in the Sunshine State — as possible, so that we can increase engagement in the political process and, hopefully, raise interest in voting this coming November.

Currently, Republicans have a huge advantage in voter registration in Florida, but when you combine Democrats and voters unaffiliated with the two major parties, the numbers are there to change the way our state is governed.

Here are the stats from the Florida Secretary of State’s office:

The key is voter turnout. We need to get people involved. That’s the goal here. And you can help.

If you are encountering this newsletter for the first time, please consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, consider upgrading your subscription to help this work continue.

Regardless, every person you share this with is one more potential vote for change.

Please share and help us make Florida — and America — better for all of us.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Thanks to today’s sponsor:

Check out YouTube’s newest and newsiest current events podcast, based right here in the Sunshine State. Get your day started every Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Check it out here:

The Dave Elliott Show

P.S. I’ll be on the show today starting at 8 a.m. Hope to see you there.

Subscribe now

This week

Florida will hold its midterm primary election Tuesday (August 18), and by the time you read this, early voting will be over in most counties. The state only requires early voting through Saturday, August 15, but some counties may extend that date.

You still have time to vote by mail if you have already received your ballot, but it’s really too late to mail if you want to ensure it arrives at your local Supervisor of Elections office on time. You can hand-deliver it, ask a friend to deliver it, or on Election Day take it to your polling place and exchange it for a regular ballot.

Despite his never-ending jabber about how mail-in ballots are not secure, Donald Trump, a Palm Beach County resident, has frequently voted by mail (see the definition for the word hypocrisy). It is unknown if he will do so again or show up at the polling location nearest to Mar-a-Lago, perhaps sneaking in on a catering truck as he did during his daring escape from Iranian terrorists in Turkey that his own CIA told him was not really a credible threat.

Because Florida is a closed-primary state, only actual party members get to vote in Democratic or Republican races. More than 3 million citizens are registered to vote who have “no party affiliation.” They pay for the election with their tax dollars, but they are not allowed a say in who is nominated. Other, more progressive, states (including Texas, for heaven’s sake) allow everyone to vote.

The headline race in the Republican primary is the nomination for governor, although most prognosticators say Naples U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds has that sewn up. He’s got Trump’s endorsement and tons of cash from the AI datacenter crowd.

Former U.S. Rep. David Jolly is a shoo-in for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but all eyes will be on the U.S. senatorial race between retired Army officer and Trump whistleblower Alex Vindman and State Rep. Angie Nixon.

For information on where to vote, check out this link:

Where to Vote

That Was The Week That Was

Lawsuit: Florida hid records to keep Alligator Alcatraz open

Conservation groups have filed an updated lawsuit as part of the ongoing legal challenge over Alligator Alcatraz, claiming state and federal officials withheld crucial information from a federal appeals court proving that Florida applied for federal funding for the detention center and that the project should have undergone federal environmental reviews.

“Our government failed the Everglades, failed taxpayers and failed to comply with environmental laws when they built this ICE detention center in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve. They left a mess behind when they hurried out of Alligator Alcatraz in June, and we’re advancing our lawsuit to hold them accountable for fixing the damage and owning up to the truth,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades.

Trump orders vaccinations spaced out

Trump issued an executive order—which has no real authority other than to sow confusion—that childhood vaccinations should be administered individually rather than in combination.

There is no science behind this. It’s a sop to the so-called “parental choice” crowd of vaccine deniers, chief among them the brain-worm-addled Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“The only thing that I can see is going to happen as a result of the announcement … is an injection of greater amounts of uncertainty and fear and confusion, where there doesn’t need to be any of that,” Dr. Andrew Racine, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said.

No means no except when it doesn’t

Trump doesn’t like it that a court told him to stop building his ballroom where the East Wing of the White House used to stand. He’s not happy, either, that despite promising no public funds would be spent, Democrats in Congress now say it will cost taxpayers nearly a billion dollars.

So, Trump sent the nation’s solicitor general over to the Supreme Court to ask the justices to suspend a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that ballroom construction must be halted. It’s needed for national security, the court was told.

Rumors that the ballroom’s kitchen will have a fortified entrance for armored catering trucks with secret presidential compartments could not be confirmed.

Consumer spending dips

Retail sales fell last month, creating worries about the economy during a time of nagging inflation and rising gasoline prices driven by Trump’s illegal war in Iran. Job figures were also sluggish.

Speaking of sluggish, here are the latest poll numbers

The latest Economist/YouGov poll shows that 62% of Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance. When asked if Trump was “honest and trustworthy,” 60% said no. And 65% of respondents said the country is headed in the wrong direction.

That 33% of Americans still find Trump credible is puzzling to pollsters and social scientists, although, studies show that approximately 16 percent of the population is considered to have an IQ “needing improvement,” to be charitable, so that explains about half of it.

Leave a comment

Memes of the Week

Hide in a food truck? Expect memes. Here are a few of my faves.

Quote of the Week

"If you're hiding in a catering truck when you control the most powerful military in the world, you aren't winning."

— Ron Filipkowski

Letters of the Week

In this Trump era, I'm worried that elections will be canceled permanently, as well as being personally confronted. Lots to worry about, but what I mostly don't understand is why someone, especially those elected to represent US, aren't doing something to stop this crazed madness we seeing coming out of the WH.

— Robert Ivey

Sexual assault, adultery, tax fraud, theft, corruption, and now money laundering, is there any form of crime Mr. Trump isn’t involved in? The scary part is he truly believes he could get away with murder just like he claimed he could.

— Jim Hunter

Looking Ahead

When I’m not writing this newsletter, I also scribble a current events column for Florida Weekly. You should check it out. Here are some snippets, from there and elsewhere, to help guide your week ahead. (Paid subscribers to this newsletter have full access to the complete Onward Thru the Fog archive.)

August 16 is National Tell a Joke Day. Here’s one: Which days are the strongest? Saturday and Sunday. The rest are weekdays.

August 17 is Baby Boomer Recognition Day. You can recognize us by our gray hair or lack thereof. Also, our propensity to tell corny Dad Jokes

August 18 isn’t just Primary Election Day, it’s also Bad Poetry Day. It is widely agreed that the worst poem ever written in the English language was “The Tay Bridge Disaster” by William McGonagall. Off planet Earth, the worst poet in the universe, according to the late Douglas Adams, was Grunthos the Flatulent of the planet Kria and his infamous “Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning.”

August 19. National Aviation Day celebrates the birthday of Orville Wright, the first person to successfully fly an airplane and not lose anyone’s luggage.

August 20. On this day in 1866, U.S. President Andrew Johnson formally declared the American Civil War over, more than a year after major fighting ceased. Then came the Tea Party and MAGA.

August 21. Senior Citizens Day. In Florida, 20% of the population – about 4.2 million people—are over the age of 60. Interestingly, despite its reputation as a retirement destination, Florida only ranks fourth in terms of the percentage of seniors. The top three are Maine, Vermont and West Virginia.

Last Week’s Tropic Press headlines

In case you missed it, here are some of the stories that headlined Tropic Press this past week. Click on the headlines to read the stories.

Profile in cowardice: Trump was happy to put everyone else at risk so long as he was safe

Instead of installing more EV chargers, Florida DOT dreams of flying cars

More than a million Floridians have voted early in advance of next week’s primary election

How big tech is trying to influence Florida’s elections

Good news on the storm front as fewer hurricanes are expected this season

ASK THE BIRD: Did RFK really suggest using rubbing alcohol as a deodorant?

Thanks for your support

Subscribe now

Since this newsletter was launched a year ago, hundreds of thousands of subscribers have joined the Tropic Press community, making this one of the fastest-growing publications of its kind.

Our goal here is to reach as many voters — especially in the Sunshine State — as possible, so that we can increase engagement in the political process and, hopefully, raise interest in voting this coming November.

Currently, Republicans have a huge advantage in voter registration in Florida, but when you combine Democrats and voters unaffiliated with the two major parties, the numbers are there to change the way our state is governed.

Here are the stats from the Florida Secretary of State’s office:

The key is voter turnout. We need to get people involved. That’s the goal here. And you can help.

If you are encountering this newsletter for the first time, please consider subscribing. If you are already a subscriber, consider upgrading your subscription to help this work continue.

Regardless, every person you share this with is one more potential vote for change.

Please share and help us make Florida — and America — better for all of us.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Editor’s Note: We take a break from hard news every Saturday morning to let Hermina Hermelinda Obregon, a.k.a. Miss Mingo, share her insights with readers. She’s a recovering newspaper reporter living in a bungalow off Duval Street in Key West. At least that’s what her official biography says, if you can believe that. She answers the pressing questions of the day about life, the news, and the best happy hour prices.

Subscribe now

DEAR MISS MINGO:

A friend of mine says she viewed a social media “influencer” claim that (Health and Human Services Secretary) Robert F. Kennedy uses rubbing alcohol to deodorize his foul smelling body parts. Is this true?

Amused in Alachua County

Dear Amused:

Is it true that some clickbait nitwit on social media might have said this? I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me. The garbage floating around online is appalling.

As to the underlying question, did RFK make any such statement? Best I can tell, no.

It is true that he confessed to being a heroin addict for 14 years. He has also said he’s not afraid of germs after snorting cocaine off toilet seats. It’s also factual that he drove around with a dead bear in his trunk and that he collects beached whale heads. Yes, he suffers from cognitive issues because of a worm in his brain, and he’s a famous anti-science vaccine skeptic. But there is no evidence that he rubs alcohol under his arms or in his nether regions to deodorize.

It is possible that with all the cutting and pasting and AI-generated graphics swirling around on the internet that this has become conflated with another frequent Do-It-Yourself hack suggesting rubbing alcohol is a great way to kill odor-causing bacteria. And it is.

But then you walk around smelling like an infirmary, so I guess it’s a choice.

DEAR MISS MINGO:

Thank you for printing the letter below. Your gentle approach is much appreciated.

Regarding the often unsung women in government I can think of two words that accurately describe what has made improvements in government and of which we need more: Black Women. They seem to be consistently honest and fierce while maintaining control and good manners.

It’s time that the geldings in government are put out to pasture. They’re too lazy for racing and have nothing worthwhile to pass on by stud.

Hope you caught your boat and the vacay is a goodie. And don’t write any number combinations in the sand with shells!! ;-)

Bruce Cornely, G’ville Fl

Dear Bruce:

You are referring, of course, to a previous column in which the Ball Seed Co. was referenced and in which I noted that:

“…there are plenty of women out there with guts enough to stand up to Trump, including the last Democratic presidential nominee.” The full column can be found here.

I would certainly agree with the overarching notion that we need more people in government—women or men, Black or white, whomever—who are willing to speak out against injustice and corruption. And I agree that too many career politicians—of both parties—are hanging on long past their expiration dates.

Women hold 28 percent of the seats in Congress, obviously far less than their proportion of the population. Since you mention Black women specifically, there are only 29, or 5.4 percent of all congressional members.

I did a little research, and I feel compelled to note that while we might agree those numbers need improvement, they have, in fact, grown over time.

For instance, in the 106th Congress—the last of the 20th century—there were 65 women who were voting members in the House and Senate. Today there are 151—110 are Democrats, 41 are Republicans.

As for my vacay, I honestly didn’t even think to arrange on the beach:

What a lost opportunity! Then again, we have plenty of sand and seashells here in Key West, so it’s never too late for a little shoreline freedom of expression.

Thanks for writing. It’s good to be back.

Got a question for Miss Mingo? About life, the news, or multi-dimensional realities? Write to her at MissMingo@Tropic.Press.

ASK MISS MINGO

Want to know more about Miss Mingo? How she got her start? And whether she really lives with two cats—Deadline and Dateline—and a pet iguana named Skippy? You can find her official biography, such as it is, here. If you’re bar hopping on Duval Street in Key West and spot an intriguing woman in a pink hat that you suspect might be Miss Mingo, you can always offer to buy her a Cuba Libre. Will it actually be her? Is there an actual her? Life’s a mystery.

Meet Miss Mingo

Subscribe now

By Jay Waagmeester

Florida Phoenix

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, 1.33 million voters had returned vote-by-mail ballots or voted early in Florida’s primary elections. Just over 1 million vote-by-mail ballots were yet to be returned.

Among the votes cast, 555,056 were from Democrats and 593,800 from Republicans. About 160,000 ballots cast were by No Party Affiliation voters.

Of the 1 million vote-by-mail ballots outstanding, about 325,000 were for Republicans and 429,000 for Democrats. Another 228,000 belonged to NPA voters.

Republicans enjoy a lead of nearly 1.6 million registered voters. As of Thursday, about 55,000 more Democrats than Republicans had returned ballots by mail. Nearly 100,000 more Republicans have voted early than Democrats.

Early voting ends Saturday, and vote-by-mail ballots must be returned to county election supervisors by 7 p.m. election day Tuesday, Aug. 18 — no matter the postmark. For more information on voting deadlines for the primary and general elections, check out the Phoenix Election 2026 landing page.

Historical

According to the archived 2020 primary vote-by-mail and early voting statistics, 2.9 million ballots were cast early or by mail that year, and 1.9 million mail ballots were not returned.

In 2022, 2.3 million mail ballots were not returned, while 2.36 million ballots were cast early or by mail.

In 2024, there were half as many ballots not returned, 1.02 million, compared to the 2.07 million cast early or by mail.

Outstanding vote-by-mail ballots in large counties | Ballots cast

Broward: 61,416 | 80,192

Collier: 18,464 | 32,227

Duval: 18,400 | 39,844

Hernando: 9,666 | 14,724

Hillsborough: 78,368 | 91,299

Lee: 49,928 | 74,118

Manatee: 21,202 | 28,332

Miami-Dade: 113,505 | 116,851

Orange: 53,277 | 73,984

Pinellas: 114,432 | 83,226

Volusia: 31,541 | 45,764

During a campaign rally Thursday in Wakulla County, gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds asked who there had already voted. Almost everyone raised hands.

Donalds commented on the overall shift in the share of voters who are Republican. He recalled a conversation he had with Florida GOP chair Evan Power in 2024. “I said, Evan, if you don’t get over 1.4 million by the time we hit election day, you’re in trouble.”

“But he accomplished it, and by the time we got to the November elections in 2024, the voter advantage in Florida, Republicans over Democrats, was more than 1.4 million voters. And, since then, he hasn’t stopped; it’s now gone to 1.5 million and counting.”

In 2018, the Florida Democratic Party had about 260,000 more registered voters than the Republican Party.

Leave a comment

Jay Waagmeester covers education for the Florida Phoenix. He previously worked for the Iowa Capital Dispatch and the Iowa State Daily. He grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

EDITOR’S NOTE:

While, as this article from Florida Phoenix points out, Republicans do outnumber Democrats in Florida—by quite a lot—if you look at the broader picture of Democrats, minor party members, and voters with no party affiliation (NPAs), combined they vastly outnumber the number of Floridians registered to the G.O.P. as you can see in this chart from the Florida Secretary of State’s office:

I would also note that voter registration does not determine election results. Turnout does.

So, while Floridians registered as NPAs, for example, cannot vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary elections, they can vote in November. It’s reasonable to expect that voter turnout among NPAs will be smaller in the primary election next week than in the general election.

Polls indicate a high degree of dissatisfaction with Donald Trump among unaffiliated voters, and it is also reasonable to expect that at least some percentage of Republicans may sit this election out in disgust.

While the raw voter registration numbers may be against those opposed to the fascist impulses of the MAGA movement, there is every reason to believe that the general election in November is a realistic opportunity to change the political complexion of our state.

It will take a lot of work. But it is work worth doing.

Which is why I am so thankful for those of you who are subscribers to this newsletter. Please share this with your friends. It’s vital that we engage every possible voter.

Thank you.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Florida wants to use federal funds designated for electric car chargers for something else entirely— flying cars. No joke. Well, certainly not funny. Craig Pittman has the story, reprinted here with permission of Florida Phoenix, the Tallahassee-based news service.

Subscribe now

By Craig Pittman

Florida Phoenix

I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid. None was more visually stunning than “The Jetsons.” It focused on a family coping with life in a streamlined future filled with snazzy gadgets.

George Jetson, for instance, commutes to work in a flying car that’s quieter than your average vacuum cleaner. When he lands, George folds his vehicle up into a briefcase he then carries into his office. No need for roads OR parking!

Apparently, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his Department of Transportation secretary, Jared Perdue, fell under the spell of this cartoon, too. Now they want to make it real using millions in federal funding intended for a different purpose.

The Miami Herald broke the story over the weekend. The headline said, “Florida wants to use cash meant for electric car chargers on flying cars instead.”

There’s just one problem with this plan: Flying cars do not exist.

For years the Florida DOT has been sitting on $197 million in federal grant money that it was supposed to spend on new chargers for electric cars and trucks. Now, the Herald says, the DOT has plans to steer (sorry!) that money to something bizarre. It wants to “build what it calls an ‘Aerial Highway Network’ that includes places the futuristic aircraft can charge, take off, and land.”

In the secret nine-page plan that the Herald got hold of, the DOT says the state is taking “a bold step in building an entirely new mode of transportation.” My hard-headed Cracker forebears would call this “buying a pig in a poke” — throwing money at something that’s not real.

“The Florida Department of Transportation will not waste taxpayer dollars and spend it on everyday passenger vehicles,” the DOT wrote in its flying-cars-are-cool report.

Of course, that’s exactly what the DOT promised the federal government the agency WOULD do with that money. It promised to spend it on chargers needed for the growing number of everyday electric vehicles.

The agency never mentioned that it would instead blow that cash on some cockamamie contraption conjured up by a 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon. They never brought up their plans to build 32 landing pads across the state and use state funds to supplement the federal grant.

I suspect DeSantis and Perdue know this looks bad. They’ve been trying for months to hide the DOT document from the public.

As the Herald explained, “The state’s flying-car pivot only came to light after the Miami Herald filed a records request in January, which went unfulfilled until the newspaper’s lawyer got involved.”

“It’s a complete misappropriation of these funds,” said Stephen A. Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “This just shows how of touch their decision-making is.”

Smith suspects he knows who the beneficiaries will be. It’s not the average Florida driver. Instead, he said, “This is a giveaway to the people who need it the least.”

Roads vs. politics

The millions of taxpayer dollars at stake here came from one of the worst-named bills ever considered by Congress.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which passed in 2021, included language to expand the nation’s fast-charging network for electric cars and trucks. The provision called for adding more chargers within a mile of all interstate highways. That would help EV drivers travel greater distances without getting stranded.

It wasn’t intended as a total government giveaway. Businesses that received the funding, such as Buc-ees and Wawa, would get enough to cover about 80% of the costs. They would be required to put up the other 20%.

Florida’s DOT submitted a plan for spending the money properly, and the federal government approved it. After all, drivers in Florida have really fallen in love with EVs.

A report last year noted that Florida leads all other Southeastern states in the number of EVs sold — roughly half a million in 2024. This is a good thing.

It’s not just that EVs are cleaner for the air and offer a way to combat that thing about the climate that DeSantis doesn’t want us to mention. Given the soaring cost of gas since the start of the Iran War, you can understand why drivers might prefer vehicles that don’t require a second mortgage to fill the tank.

“Every time the gas prices go up, I say thank you that my price is always the same,” said Leighanne Boone of the Sustainable Tallahassee Ride Electric Club. “I plug in every night.”

What Florida lacks is sufficient public places for rapid charging on the road. As the Herald pointed out, “Florida boasts the second-highest number of EVs in the country but still falls behind the national average on chargers per vehicle.”

“We definitely need more charging infrastructure,” Boone told me. Range anxiety is a deterrent for potential buyers, she explained. Greater availability “will encourage the average driver to go electric.”

Instead of spending the money for more chargers the way it promised, the DOT put it aside. Meanwhile, the agency set up a website called “Roads Are Not For Politics.” Contrary to its name, the site features a list of culture-war complaints, such as “COVID tyranny.” It also offers off-base criticism of EVs.

In the DOT press release about this (which has since been removed), DeSantis said, “We listen to Floridians and meet their needs. Roads are not for politics.”

Except they weren’t listening to Floridians OR meeting their needs. They were playing politics. And now they want to go back on their word to the feds and spend the money on something that hasn’t been built yet.

And I mean spending a LOT. The DOT’s secret plan estimates that each of the 32 landing pads would cost about $5.6 million to build. That’s after going through testing at the DOT’s 775-acre Auburndale test track, the Suntrax Center.

The plan calls for building these landing pads near airports, luxury apartment buildings, and golf courses. All that’s missing is a listing of such hoity-toity locations as Miami’s Indian Creek Island, aka the “Billionaires’ Bunker,” and the Ocean Reef Club in North Key Largo.

Meanwhile, the growing number of EV drivers have to keep scanning the exit ramps and hope they spot a place to pull over and charge.

“It’s disappointing,” Boone said.

Former trailblazer

I watched a Florida DOT video touting this flying car foofaraw, complete with AI mockups of what they might look like. The video didn’t mention where the money would come from, just how groovy it would be.

“It’s an opportunity to introduce a new mode of transportation to the world,” Perdue said, as giddy as Olivia Newton-John soaring into the clouds in John Travolta’s flying car at the end of “Grease.”

Florida once fancied itself as a trailblazer in aviation.

In 1914, Tony Jannus flew a local politician from St. Petersburg to Tampa via seaplane, inaugurating the first regular commercial airline service in the nation. The ticket cost $400 and the ride lasted 22 minutes. No word on whether the airline lost the passenger’s luggage.

That same year, the Navy established its first flight training base in Pensacola. It’s still there. The Blue Angels stunt flying team is based at NAS Pensacola and recently sent hats, tents, and chairs flying during a too-low practice run over the beach.

So perhaps it makes sense that the DOT’s looking to the skies, now that our roads are so consistently clogged. It’s as if the agency is giving up on ever freeing our asphalt from those frustrating traffic jams.

“As Florida’s surface transportation networks reach capacity, and right of way is constrained,” it says, “additional modes of transportation are required to maintain economic development goals as well as quality of life for residents and visitors.”

People — especially people stuck in traffic — have been dreaming of taking off in flying cars for years. But we’re still waiting for the Jetsons’ car-briefcase combo.

“NASA had an air taxi program they were working on back in the 1980s,” recalled David King of Arizona State University, a transportation planning expert. So far, the only place you can see any “air taxis” is in the Bruce Willis science-fiction movie “The Fifth Element.”

Glorified helicopters

I had a lengthy conversation with King, who displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of the “flying car” phenomenon. It’s been a hot topic in Arizona in recent years, he said, and now has begun showing up in other states.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm about this,” he told me. “Strangely, it’s become a partisan Issue. It’s been seized on by people who think government shouldn’t be involved in mass transit, but it’s all about an unproven technology that, as of August 2026, is not currently available.”

While flying cars sound good on paper, King said, there are lots of details still to be worked out. For one thing, he said, forget about them relieving highway congestion.

The perpetually-under-construction Interstate 4, for instance, draws 180,000 to 200,000 vehicles a day. If and when the flying taxis DO appear, they can’t carry much, he said. Because of the weight of the battery, they can carry no more than three passengers and one pilot.

All the trucks have to keep their tires on the ground. These flying cars can’t carry freight the way 18-wheelers do.

You won’t travel far in your glorified helicopter, King said. Because the batteries are depleted after 40 minutes, “they just won’t stay in the air too long.”

Traveling to and from the 32 launch pads will still require use of land vehicles, he pointed out. And you may have to travel quite a ways because of the Federal Aviation Administration.

“As of now, the FAA will not approve any operations over populated areas,” King told me. “You can’t just put one of these things in the air and start flying.”

King used a transportation-related metaphor to describe the Florida DOT’s secretly swiping EV money to use for flying cars: “They’re putting the cart before the horse.”

Try a trebuchet

This kind of creative accounting has been a hallmark of the DeSantis administration.

I’m not just talking about the Hope Florida scandal. You remember that one — $10 million from a Medicaid settlement wound up in the hands of political consultants hired to counter the drive to legalize weed.

Remember, too, how DeSantis took $20 million from a disaster relief fund designed to cope with hurricane damage and instead used it to build a destructive immigrant detention camp in the Everglades. A lot of the no-bid contracts went to his donors, too.

Speaking of donors, don’t forget how he cajoled the Cabinet into spending $83 million from the Florida Wildlife Corridor fund on four acres of land in Destin that was nowhere near the wildlife corridor. The seller just happened to be one of his campaign contributors, making this transaction look more like a payback than a payment.

Usually when I call the governor’s office seeking a comment on one of these scandals, his spokespeople don’t even acknowledge receiving the inquiry. But this time, to my surprise, I got an immediate reply.

One of the governor’s spokespeople said he would refer my question to Perdue of DOT. And he did, too. I never got a response from Perdue’s people. Maybe they’re standing on a launch pad in Auburndale, waiting for George Jetson to pick them up for work.

Because I am at heart a problem-solver, I have a proposal for DeSantis and Perdue. It’s based on something that happened when my kids were in Boy Scouts.

A couple of teenage Scouts built a medieval siege engine called a “trebuchet.” It’s basically a fancy catapult. The boys would roll it out at various events and use it to hurl things like a Barney the Dinosaur toy a long distance.

I think the DOT should spend $1 million of its EV funds to build at Skytrax the most impressive trebuchet ever constructed. DeSantis and Perdue can put a Hot Wheels toy in the pouch. DOT employees can hurl the payload as far as possible and claim they finally created a flying car.

Then they can spend the remaining $196 million on what they SHOULD have spent it on in the first place.

Leave a comment

Craig Pittman is a native Floridian. In 30 years at the Tampa Bay Times, he won numerous state and national awards for his environmental reporting. He is the author of six books. In 2020 the Florida Heritage Book Festival named him a Florida Literary Legend. Craig is co-host of the “Welcome to Florida” podcast. He lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and children.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog, both original reporting and contributions such as today’s article from the Florida Phoenix.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

National Relaxation Day is coming up on August 15, and I’ll be avoiding it like a Cyclospora infection.

Relaxing requires too much work.

I cannot recall the last time I went on a vacation, for instance, in which the plan was to do absolutely nothing, just goof off.

No, vacations have to be scheduled to the last detail; no free time or we might miss out on …

Read more

Subscribe now

By J.C. Bruce

Tropic Press

To be fair, long before Donald Trump played hide-the-president, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton, and others did it as well.

They didn’t lie about it like Trump. And they didn’t put others at risk like Trump. But Trump isn’t the first commander-in-chief to be sneaky about his travel.

Take Lincoln.

In advance of his inauguration, Lincoln had been warned by detective Allan Pinkerton that Southern sympathizers planned to attack his train en route to Washington. So Honest Abe switched locomotives and snuck through Baltimore unannounced to arrive at the White House safely.

Lincoln, unlike Trump, didn’t lie about it. He just didn’t advertise his change in travel arrangements.

More recently, other presidents have also slipped out of town unannounced. Among them:

Barack Obama made an unannounced nighttime flight to Afghanistan in 2010 while publicly scheduled to spend the weekend at Camp David.

Joe Biden took a covert, multi-hour train ride into Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2023 while his public schedule maintained he was still in Washington.

Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon both made confidential, high-risk visits to troops and leaders in Vietnam during the war.

Bill Clinton, in a move more closely resembling Trump’s recent ruse, switched aircraft in 2000 using a lookalike Secret Service agent as a sort of stunt double while traversing the dangerous airspace between India and his destination in Pakistan.

So, Donald Trump wasn’t the first prez to use the Air Force One switcharoo as a security ruse.

But there are important differences.

In Clinton’s case, he didn’t lie to the press or the American people about it. The game was up when he stepped off a corporate jet in Pakistan six hours after taking off. He also had alerted the chief of the White House Press Correspondents Association—off the record, of course—about what was going on.

He might have lied about Monica Lewinsky, but not about this.

Alerting the press pool covering the president has been a standard practice for decades, and while they might not like it, it is a practice that most presidents have followed—if not in advance of secret travel, certainly shortly thereafter. They may not have posted their destinations on social media in advance, but they didn’t lie about it.

Trump, in contrast, concocted this elaborate fantasy about flying his Qatari-donated Air Force One without him so American troops stationed abroad could see it. Like every grunt in Europe was dying to get a gander at this costly piece of bribery from a foreign country.

Then he pretended to board an older Air Force One, then snuck out the back door, and was whisked away to yet a third Air Force jet. Images of Trump hiding in a laundry basket to avoid detection are laughably unavoidable if hyperbolic.

When Clinton pulled his little trick, it was out of a general abundance of caution regarding security. There was not, as far as any reporting thus far has revealed, a specific threat.

Trump, however, was warned that Iran had plans to shoot down his plane.

So, sure, it only made sense to take precautions.

But did it even occur to him to warn the people he left on the plane that they might be flying with a bullseye on the fuselage?

Trump was all too happy to cover his own derriere and leave everyone else in the fire zone—including his own staff members, journalists, and military personnel.

Then he lied to everyone about it, even asserting that his newly refurbished gift from Qatar was perfectly safe—even though he rushed it into service without all the necessary protective gear, as we’ve since learned.

And when his trip was over, he continued to hide the truth.

Including from the very people he involuntarily placed in harm’s way.

Again, to be fair, protecting the president is important. But a person of even average moral character could have figured out a better way than this.

Fine. Fly out on your secret plane. But why allow innocents to board an aircraft targeted by an enemy? Just keep them on the ground waiting until you’re clear. Then, let them decide for themselves if they want to risk boarding an aircraft Iranians wanted to use for target practice.

But he did none of these things. He put their lives at risk cavalierly. Why?

I think by now we all know the answer: He just doesn’t care about anyone but himself.

Leave a comment

See you soon

I’m on a two-week sabbatical, but will be back before the Florida primary election. In the meantime, I’m mostly using this space to share articles of interest from guest contributors. Although when I read the Washington Post report on Trump’s Air Force One chicanery, I had to stop what I was doing and write about it.

I hope you found it thought-provoking. If so, please feel free to share it with friends.

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary as well as shared stories such as today’s.

Currently, Tropic Press reaches more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

Share

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Subscribe now

Enormous data centers that suck up the water supply and cause electric rates to skyrocket are wildly unpopular.

But that isn’t stopping tech giants from using their money and influence to get their way— especially here in Florida.

While I am on the road this week, I’m still keeping up with news worth sharing, and I commend independent journalist Jason Garcia’s report on how Facebook is meddling in Florida elections.

Here’s a sample:

Meta Platforms — the Big Tech giant behind Facebook and Instagram and a leading developer of hyperscale data centers — just launched a campaign to fill the Florida Legislature with politicians friendly to the artificial intelligence industry.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led corporation is already funding advertisements on behalf of one key lawmaker: Rep. Mike Redondo, a Republican from Miami who is in line to become speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in a few years.

Redondo is part of a House GOP leadership team that killed a proposed “AI bill of rights” earlier this year that would have, among other things, exposed AI companies to heavy financial penalties if they permitted children to use chatbots without oversight from parents.

House leaders also weakened a law regulating large data centers just before passing it in March — via a last-minute amendment removing a provision from the bill that would have forbid local governments from signing non-disclosure agreements that hide the identities of data center operators like Meta.

You can read the full report and subscribe to Jason Garcia’s Substack newsletter here:

Jason Garcia

See you soon

I’m on a two-week sabbatical, but will be back before the Florida primary election. In the meantime, I hope to use this space to share articles of interest from guest contributors from time to time, such as today’s article.

I hope you found it thought-provoking. If so, please feel free to share it with friends.

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary as well as shared stories such as today’s.

Currently, Tropic Press reaches more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

Share

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

The Week Ahead and More

There is an increasing chance that we may not have to put up our hurricane shutters this year.

Knock on wood and fingers crossed.

Hurricane experts at Colorado State University have updated their estimates and are confirming that this year’s hurricane season will be “well below normal.”

Why?

Because of a strong El Niño system in the Pacific that is expected to continue to strengthen over the next few months, leading to wind shear over the Atlantic that dampens storm activity.

Updated predictions are for nine named storms, including Tropical Storms Arthur and Bertha, which we’ve already experienced, leaving seven more for the rest of hurricane season, which ends in November.

Four of those storms are predicted to become hurricanes, with one becoming Category 3 or higher, with the likelihood of landfall on the U.S. coast below average.

Speaking of outdoor events…

This week will see a pair of exciting astronomical events, some of which can be experienced here in Florida.

On Aug. 12, the Moon will blot out the Sun, creating a total eclipse. However, the path of totality will be far north of us, crossing Greenland, Iceland and parts of northern Spain, Portugal and Russia.

Still, a partial eclipse will be visible across the northern tier of states where it will appear that the Moon is taking a small bite out of the Sun.

If you happen to be anywhere near this, do remember that you should not mimic Donald Trump, who in 2017 famously stared at a total eclipse without protective eyewear.

Aug. 12 will also be a New Moon, which means the nighttime skies will be dark, making it easier to see the year’s most amazing meteorite shower—the Perseids. Best times to view the shooting stars will be after midnight.

That Was The Week That Was

Americans worried about election integrity

Ahead of the 2026 midterms, Americans are concerned about election integrity and democratic processes, according to a new Gallup Poll.

Their top concerns include political leaders pressuring election officials to change election outcomes (67% are concerned “a great deal” or “a fair amount”), ballots not being properly handled, counted or secured (57%), and voter intimidation near polling places (52%).

Even issues that rank lower on the list remain concerns for substantial shares of Americans, including 40% saying they are concerned about being personally confronted, followed or recorded while voting.

Python Roundup results in

There are now 280 fewer invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades thanks to the annual Florida Python Challenge, the results of which were released last week.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said 907 snake hunters from 30 states, Canada, and Vietnam participated in the annual snake roundup.

The results:

• Grand Prize Winner ($10,000): Tom Rahill captured an incredible 96 pythons from Everglades National Park, setting a new milestone for the event.

• Longest Python: A massive 16-foot, 5-inch python was removed by Rahm Levinson, also found in Everglades National Park.

• Event Scope: Total removals were slightly under the 294 snakes caught in 2025.

• Keep in mind: Estimates are that there may be up to 300,000 pythons in Florida, so, really, this is a drop in the bucket.

Will DeSantis’ dummymander backfire?

Gov. Ron DeSantis newly gerrymandered congressional districts had the inevitable consequence of weakening Republican strongholds in some parts of the state.

National Democrats are now targeting three of Tampa Bay’s four Republican-held congressional seats, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced that it’s adding the seat held by longtime GOP Rep. Gus Bilirakis, Congressional District 12, to its list of “districts in play,” which can attract more dollars to those races.

Bilirakis’ seat is considered likely to remain Republican by ratings services like Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia and Cook Political Report. That’s also true of the two other Republican-held seats Democrats are eyeing: District 13, represented by GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, and an open seat in the new District 16.

But would a surge of Democratic voters be enough to turn these around? That’s the hope.

Trump lawsuit backfires

Donald Trump sued Capital One for “debanking” him. But the bank revealed something truly alarming in court—one of the largest American banks closed his accounts because its anti-money laundering team flagged them.

The bank closed more than 300 Trump Organization accounts in 2021 after a monthslong review by its anti-money laundering team, triggered by transaction patterns that federal banking guidance flags. At least a portion of the suspicious transactions likely occurred during his first term as president, according to Defend Our Courts.

Leave a comment

Meme of the Week

Quotable

“Trump’s Reflecting Pool debacle is so unbelievably stupid it would be funny—except American taxpayers are paying for it.”

—Chuck Schumer

Letter of the Week

The law only exists when Trump wants it to. I am exhausted with this administration. They lie, cheat, steal and break the law on a daily basis. We have to hear and read about it on a daily basis. Will there ever be any accountability?

—Anniekid

Onward

When I’m not writing this newsletter, I also scribble a current events column for Florida Weekly. You should check it out. Here are some snippets, from there and elsewhere, to help guide your week ahead.

August 9. Book Lover’s Day. Need a good book to read? I have a suggestion for you below.

August 10. Lazy Day. A good time to read, of course.

August 11. Today is officially the last day of the Dog Days of Summer. Have you noticed yet how much it’s cooled off? No? Me, neither.

August 12. IBM PC Day marks the 1981 launch of the original IBM personal computer. Some of us are actually old enough to remember a time before computers. It was a dark and primitive era in which our over-protective parents insisted on limiting our slide-rule time.

August 13 is International Left-Handers Day. About 10 to 12 percent of people are southpaws. The Netherlands has the highest percentage of left-handers at 13.2 percent. Nobody knows why.

August 14 is World Lizard Day. Texas has the highest overall reptile and native lizard diversity in the United States, hosting around 45 to 56 native lizard species. However, if including non-native and invasive species introduced through the pet trade (like pythons), Florida ranks first with nearly 60 established lizard species.

Last Week’s Tropic Press headlines

In case you missed it, here are some of the stories that headlined Tropic Press this past week. Click on the headlines to read the stories.

How progressive are Florida Democrats? Alex Vindman, Angie Nixon Senate race offers a test

Democratic state officials urge Supreme Court to affirm pause on Trump’s vote-by-mail order

The Florida property tax blast radius nobody is talking about--but we should

Corruption by Any Other Name (Part I)

Corruption by Any Other Name (Part II)

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Today’s sponsor: The Strange Files

Alexander Strange wants to get to Florida in the worst way. So, he arrives in a coffin. Chilling in its own right but made more so by the prediction of a New Orleans soothsayer that he soon will face death. Little does he know how true that will be. But he’ll find out soon enough at the Devil’s Millhopper.

Book Two of the Strange Files series takes our favorite weird news reporter on a bizarre scavenger hunt all over the Gunshine State. Join him in his journey here:

Tropic Press Books

By Mitch Perry

Florida Phoenix

As progressives rack up victories in other parts of the country against moderate Democrats, Florida’s Aug. 18 primary could prove a big test for that movement.

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col Alex Vindman has tried to reserve his rhetorical fire for Sen. Ashley Moody, the Republican incumbent, instead of his Democratic primary opponent, the fiery Jacksonville state Rep. Angie Nixon, reprimanded by the House of Representatives earlier this year for her megaphone-fuelled protest on the House floor that disrupted a vote on new congressional district maps.

Nixon has plenty to criticize about Moody, as well. But she’s concentrated on contrasting her progressive stances against the more centrist Vindman, who is running for political office for the first time after moving to Broward County in 2023.

As the primary inches closer, tensions between the two continue to grow, from initial acrimony over Vindman’s refusal to debate Nixon before the primary, to outrage over a recent social media remark attacking Nixon as a “shitty human” who should “buy some professional clothes for the love of everything (including shoes).”

For his part, Vindman says he doesn’t believe hype about the growing clout of progressives — at least not in Florida.

“I think actually I’m not sure if I see those trend lines in Florida. I see them in urban cores in different parts of the country, New York. But what’s applicable in New York doesn’t necessarily resonate and carry over to the ‘Free State of Florida,’ Vindman told the Florida Phoenix last week.

Moody

As for Moody, on the campaign trail and social media she has denounced left-leaning Democrats — an argument that might lose its resonance if she faces Vindman rather than Nixon in the fall.

“They are anarchist psychos who want to destroy this country,” Moody said while speaking at the Republican Party of Florida’s Sunshine State Showdown in Hollywood last month. She cited a public opinion survey that she said showed how few Democrats say they love America.

“What’s on the ballot in November is more than just Republican vs. Democrat,” she declared. “It is: Are you a patriot or are you not?”

Moody is being challenged for the Republican nomination by three opponents — election integrity advocate Chris Gleason, physician and author Neelam Taneja Perry, and Presbyterian minister Ernie Rivera.

Polling

There’s been little public polling between the two Democrats as the primary nears. That dearth of information was in part a major reason why several news organizations (including the Phoenix) seized on a poll released last month that showed Nixon doing slightly better than Vindman against Moody in a presumptive one-on-one matchup in November.

There are clear distinctions between the two on domestic and foreign policy.

Both support a raise in the federal minimum wage. But while Vindman wants a boost to $17 per hour, Nixon says it should be much higher.

“I was one of the statewide organizers helping to lead that minimum wage campaign back in 2020, and so I want to be perfectly clear about that. So, raising it to $15 an hour, I believe at a minimum we need a $25-$26-dollar minimum wage, and we can get there by taking incremental steps as it relates to small businesses if they are worried about taking on that cost,” she said.

“We haven’t had a minimum wage increase in a generation,” Vindman said, noting the federal government last raised it to $7.25 in 2009. “It should be indexed to make sure people aren’t falling further and further behind.”

Israel

A key point of difference is support for Israel.

As the Phoenix has previously reported, Nixon has been outspoken in her support for Palestinian rights. When she sponsored a resolution calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas a month after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, members of both political parties shunned her and said anyone who supported her proposal was antisemitic.

“Palestinians were losing their lives at record high rates,” Nixon said recently when asked about that moment. “And to have people turn their back on me. To be called a terrorist on the House floor. Ignorant. Antisemitic. That was very hurtful. But I will always fight to stand on the right side of history, and I believe that I was on the right side of history then just like I’m on the right side of history now.”

Vindman is a stalwart supporter of Israel, but critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supportive of a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.

Debate?

A big point of contention is that Vindman has avoided a debate with Nixon, much to her disappointment. His “audacity” to refuse a debate, she said, is “wild to me.”

“It just shows you that he does not know Florida,” she said. “He has no clue in regard to the issues that we face here in this state. He’s a millionaire. He doesn’t understand working class issues.” (A review of Vindman’s Senate financial disclosure form shows that he has made more than $1.4 million from the Here Right Matters Foundation, which he founded).

Vindman has aimed most of his criticism towards Moody, not Nixon.

“Angie has been a terrific fighter in the state House, there’s no question,” he told reporters last month. “She’s been a champion. … She should be celebrated for her contributions.”

Trash talk

That point illustrates how, in a divisive political environment, the Democratic candidates initially tried to remain civil to one another. But as Aug. 18 neared, that changed.

Rachel Vindman, who is married to Alex Vindman, wrote an aggressive social media post on @threads late last week that she removed within hours and by day’s end had her issuing a public apology to Nixon.

Ms. Vindman never mentioned Nixon by name in her original post, something she made a point of. “I know you’re checking my page and yes I am talking about you, but I won’t say your name because you’re not worth it,” she wrote.

Rachel Vindman said a “s— human ” was making personal attacks against their opponent at campaign events “attended by less than 20 people.”

As an aside, she added, “Also, buy some professional clothes for the love of everything (that includes shoes.)”

Nixon supporters quickly responded.

“This is disgusting, tone deaf and beyond out of touch,” Central Florida Democratic state Sen. Lavon Bracy Davis wrote on Facebook.

During her six years in Tallahassee, Nixon hasn’t been able to get much passed in the GOP-controlled House — and she’s not the only one, given the GOP’s supermajorities in both legislative chambers.

She’s become better known for her activism, sometimes on the House floor, including protests against the Legislature’s approvals of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ congressional redistricting maps in 2022 and earlier this year.

Money, money, money

One of Vindman’s most remarkable feats as a candidate to date has been his ability to raise money — more than $19 million since getting into the race in January, more than anyone else in the contest (Moody had raised more than $14 million by the end of June). Many of those donations have come from across the country, demonstrating his appeal to liberals who remember his involvement in the 2019 impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump.

It’s a skill he shares with his identical twin brother — Eugene Vindman raised $14 million in his successful run for Congress in Virginia in 2024 and he’s already raised $12 million in his bid for re-election this year.

Vindman’s fundraising prowess may not mean that much in a one-on-one matchup with Moody. Democrat Val Demings crushed Marco Rubio in fundraising in the 2022 Senate race, yet Rubio won by 16 points that year.

“These previous races that you talked about were with true incumbents that had been tested, that had been proven in the field,” Vindman responds.

Moody has won two statewide elections, both by comfortable margins. She won her first race for attorney general by six points in 2018 and by 22 points in 2022. Vindman, however, has never run a statewide campaign before now.

All together now

While the candidates aren’t in lockstep on all issues, they hope to parlay Moody’s role in the Hope Florida Foundation controversy and the siphoning of $10 million in Medicaid funds to political committees. A Leon County grand jury investigated the transaction but its report, officially called a presentment, has not been released.

Vindman has launched a website with a petition calling on Moody to push for the release of the presentment.

A spokesperson for the Moody campaign said the senator doesn’t oppose public release of the report, but did not comment about whether the senator would advocate for its release.

“This was an Agency for Health Care Administration agreement that AHCA chose to negotiate and settle through AHCA-lawyers and outside counsel almost two years ago. This information is publicly available in previously released documents,” said Cameron Gambini, communications director for the Moody campaign. ‘The Senator has had no role in any grand jury proceedings and would certainly have no issue with the public release of any report.”

Nixon, meanwhile, has said Moody should resign from office.

Leave a comment

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in 2018. Florida Phoenix reporter Christine Sexton also contributed to this story.

Leave a comment

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

See you soon

I’m on a two-week sabbatical, but will be back before the Florida primary election. In the meantime, I hope to use this space to share articles of interest from guest contributors from time to time, such as today’s article.

I hope you found it thought provoking. If so, please feel free to share it with friends.

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary as well as shared stories such as today’s.

Currently, Tropic Press reaches more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

Share

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Reminder:

Miss Mingo is also on vacation. Her Saturday column will return soon.

Subscribe now

By Jacob Fischler

States Newsroom

States do not have time before November’s midterm elections to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating overhauls of their mail-in-voting systems, two dozen Democratic state officials told the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

Justices should keep a stay pausing the order in place through Election Day, the Democrats, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, wrote. The court is compelled to keep voting rules in place this close to an election, but the executive order would force massive changes on state administrators, they wrote.

Neither the president nor the U.S. Postal Service has authority to administer elections under the U.S. Constitution, which assigns that responsibility to state governments, the Democrats wrote.

Trump’s March 31 order directs USPS to collect lists of registered voters from each state and only mail ballots to registered voters, and the Department of Homeland Security to compile lists of voting-age citizens in each state.

That would insert the executive branch directly into elections administration and the administration has not defended the legality of that move, the Democrats wrote.

Worse, the officials said, the order would create mass confusion at this point in the election cycle, meaning that the court should delay considering whether it is legal until after the midterms.

“Because of the high risk of errors and the limited window for correcting mistakes, many of the millions of voters who rely on mail voting—especially voters with disabilities and those in rural areas—would likely be denied mail ballots and, as a result, disenfranchised,” the state officials said. “Many more voters would be confused—either because they wouldn’t receive their mail ballots or would fear that USPS would fail to deliver their voted ballots to state officials for tabulation.”

Bonta signed the brief along with the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also signed on.

Their filing was the Democrats’ response to the Justice Department request that the Supreme Court overturn an appeals court decision against lifting a district court stay of the executive order. The court is considering the issue on its emergency docket that allows for speedy decisions.

Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not return a message seeking comment.

No final rule

The administration argued that the states’ challenge was premature because the Postal Service and DHS had not yet written the rules the executive order directed.

While a three-judge panel of the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Democratic states, a separate case at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the administration that the states could not yet challenge the policy because there was no final rule. The case under consideration at the Supreme Court is from the 1st Circuit.

In an amicus brief supporting the federal government, a coalition of conservative groups led by attorney William Olson said Monday that the district court stay was possibly the first time a judge has blocked a notice of proposed rulemaking, which “is the very definition of an agency action which is not a final agency action.”

Sowing voter confusion

The states said the order itself, even without final rules from the affected agencies, would impose significant burdens on their election administrators. And the administration has detailed in court the steps the agencies must take to finalize the order’s mandates.

Forcing the states to wait until there is an actual rule in place, especially when the steps agencies have taken “do not materially differ” from the order, would mean state election officials could face an untenable situation of needing to prepare for the new requirements.

“If litigation challenging final implementation of the EO does not even begin for several more weeks, it would be extremely difficult—if not impossible—to obtain a definitive judicial resolution with enough time remaining for States to redesign and reorder their ballot mail, train elections officials, and adequately educate the public before the November midterms,” the state officials wrote.

That would drain significant resources from overworked election offices at a busy campaign time, and leave voters “confused about which rules govern,” they added.

Support for states

Several friend-of-the-court briefs weighed in on the states’ side.

Scores of state and local election officials and the nonprofit voting rights group Center for Election Innovation wrote in one amicus brief that if the executive order is allowed to proceed, it would put them in the “untenable position” of updating their mail-voting procedures in the midst of primaries and just weeks before a general election.

And Democratic campaign groups said the order was plainly unconstitutional and rejected the administration’s argument, saying it “makes little sense.”

In part, the administration argued the district court injunction caused irreparable harm because the administration was running out of time to implement the policy before the midterms, attorney Marc Elias wrote for the Democratic National Committee, three campaign groups and the Democratic leaders of each chamber of Congress.

“When the President launches an unconstitutional seizure of sensitive election powers during an election year, he may not avoid an injunction by insisting he is in a rush,” Elias wrote.

Leave a comment

Jacob Fischler covers federal policy and helps direct national coverage as deputy Washington bureau chief for States Newsroom. Based in Oregon, he focuses on Western issues. His coverage areas include climate, energy development, public lands and infrastructure.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

See you soon

I’m on a two-week sabbatical, but will be back before the Florida primary election. In the meantime, I hope to use this space to share articles of interest from guest contributors from time to time, such as today’s article.

I hope you found it thought provoking. If so, please feel free to share it with friends.

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary as well as shared stories such as today’s.

Currently, Tropic Press reaches more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

One of our favorite holidays is coming up this week: Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day on August 8.

I realize it is entirely possible that some of you may be reading about this exciting tradition for the first time, so here’s a primer.

The holiday has actually been around for a while. It was first celebrated in 1944, and it was the brainc…

Read more

Subscribe now

By Barrington Salmon

Florida Phoenix

In announcing the closure of the Everglades immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said the notorious facility — denounced as inhumane by civil rights groups — was always meant to be only temporary until more permanent detention centers could be secured, and federal officials now have that capacity.

“Alligator Alcatraz fulfilled the role that it was designed to serve,” DeSantis said. “Today it now has zero detainees. It has helped remove many, many dangerous people from the street and get them out of not only the state of Florida, but the United States of America.”

DeSantis said he was proud of what his administration had accomplished.

“We stood this up,” he said. “We surged critical resources. We built critical infrastructure. We were able to manage very complex operations, and we were able to execute the mission when called upon efficiently.”

These comments are vintage DeSantis, a staged response to his deliberately inhumane decisions as he tries to save face. He may tout efficiency, but despite being open for less than a year, Alligator Alcatraz will likely turn out to be the single most expensive immigration detention center in the history of the United States, critics assert.

CBS News Miami reports that financial analyses by its journalists indicate that operating the detention camp in the Everglades and Baker County cost as much as $3,571 per detainee each day, more than 20 times the national average. Critics have decried these massive, no-bid contracts, which drew more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars away from essential state health, food security, and housing programs.

A recent Miami Herald investigation estimates that while misusing more than $1 billion on the detention camps, he guided taxpayers’ dollars to between 55 and 83 companies owned or operated by political allies, friends, and donors.

Over a year, DeSantis repeatedly dipped into Florida’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund — described by Democratic and other critics as a slush fund — to finance his anti-immigrant operation, circumventing regular channels and ignoring checks and balances.

Since 2023, DeSantis manipulated the process by waiving more than 24 state laws and regulations and extending the 60-day emergency more than 20 times. All to pave the way to erect “Alligator Alcatraz,” the detention camp on land sacred to the Miccosukee Tribe. Critics are deeply concerned that there has been no accountability to the legislature or the public and everything was conducted in secret.

Human cost

DeSantis’ vanity project came at a tremendous human cost. He boasts that his agents have seized almost 22,000 undocumented immigrants. Hundreds disappeared into the detention network, all dehumanized and mistreated.

Amnesty International paints pictures of cruelty and despair. Human beings forced to endure calamitous living conditions: trapped in cages; no AC in sweltering heat; overflowing toilets; and routine flooding during severe weather.

When it comes to the public’s money, DeSantis and most of those in the political class act as if the supply is infinite and that he has the right to use it for projects that harm the very people they purport to serve.

Sea change

Also of widespread concern is DeSantis’s use of taxpayers’ money to subvert higher education while enriching his MAGA buddies, as well as the manner in which he has hijacked higher education.

“This is a conservative capture of Florida’s public higher education,” said Robert Cassanello, a University of Central Florida history professor who is president of the United Faculty of Florida union. “It’s all ideological, and politically driven.”

As the Florida Tributary’s Michael Vasquez reports, DeSantis has used an army of loyalists to build a conservative higher-ed empire.

“With only a year left in office, Gov. Ron DeSantis has a limited window of time to wield power in Tallahassee. But on college campuses across Florida, DeSantis continues to expand his army of political loyalists — both college presidents and university trustees, who are poised to dominate for many years to come, no matter who is elected governor in 2026,” Vasquez wrote.

“As a result, higher education could become DeSantis’ enduring political legacy. And the governor’s final year in office will provide still more opportunities to push academia in a conservative direction.

Vasquez reports that DeSantis’ hijack is “intertwined with the conservative Heritage Foundation … which authored the controversial Project 2025 blueprint to guide the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape Washington.”

“With President Donald Trump term limited as well, aligning with Heritage could benefit DeSantis politically in the future,” Vasquez explained. “This Heritage-inspired sea change has outraged alumni and the communities surrounding Florida’s college campuses, some of whom view DeSantis’ allies as interlopers — many of the leaders DeSantis has installed have no previous connections to the schools they now run, limited experience in higher education, or live out of state. Those limitations have not stopped these new leaders from burrowing deep into the universities’ affairs, according to public records obtained by The Tributary, from micro-managing the materials presented in individual classrooms to replacing signs on bathrooms.”

Well-placed allies

Guided by the Heritage Foundation, DeSantis, Christopher Rufo, and a coterie of far-right allies on the boards of trustees and elsewhere in the higher education firmament have engineered the changes.

DeSantis has forced out progressive and forward-thinking university presidents and replaced them with men and women carrying the anti-Black, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ+ banner. They willingly manipulate curricula, erase Black history, dismantle DEI and affirmative action programs, and impose a cold, sterile, far-right conservative syllabus across campuses.

Meanwhile, allies on trustee boards engineered exorbitant paydays for each president installed at public state universities.

The takeover began when DeSantis and his allies dismantled New College of Florida. Since 2023, former House Speaker and close DeSantis ally Richard Corcoran has run the Sarasota university. His base salary is $699,000, while his total annual compensation frequently exceeds $1.2 million, including perks like an $84,000 housing stipend, a $12,000 car allowance, and lucrative performance/retention bonuses.

In February, he received a $200,000 bonus performance award for the third year in a row, and that was followed by another $600,000 bonus days later for an “accrued retention payment” for continuing “uninterrupted service” for the past three years.

He is feasting at the public trough despite New College having a student population of fewer than 700.

Former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez was named sole finalist during the search for president of Florida International University. She’d served as interim and was voted in as permanent last summer. Nuñez has an annual base salary of $925,000 as part of her five-year contract and she is eligible to receive annual performance bonuses of up to $400,000.

Former Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. was ensconced as president of the University of West Florida with a lavish total annual compensation package of $946,040. This includes a $674,000 base salary, up to $107,840 in annual performance-based incentives, a $60,000 housing allowance, a $14,000 car allowance, and an $89,000 retirement supplement.

As has become commonplace in this process, Diaz was approved in a single-candidate competition — despite clear rules intended to require “more than two” finalists for trustees to consider.

Diaz has been a chief architect of the state’s retooling of public higher education with support from both DeSantis and members of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Phoenix columnist Diane Roberts captures the greed with which these people operate.

UF trustees chair Mori Hosseini, a real estate magnate, rules the University of Florida the way DeSantis has operated in the Sunshine State, she writes: “No part of the university is free from his influence. He pushed UF’s distinguished College of Medicine to hire the state’s science-challenged surgeon general. Now UF pays Dr. Joseph Ladapo more than $300,000 per year — not that he does anything so pedestrian as actually teach classes.”

Few of those in DeSantis’ orbit aren’t enjoying exorbitant paychecks at the public’s expense, Roberts added.

“A trustee who hasn’t been identified had a hand in arranging an adjunct gig at UF’s law school for Florida’s attorney general [James Uthmeier]. The average pay for an adjunct professor is between $3,000-$7,000 per course. Uthmeier’s getting $100,000 for two hours of instruction per week.

“The AG doesn’t see the problem.”

Uthmeier recently staged an event to announce a statewide audit: He wants to “combat public corruption” and root out “bribes, kickbacks, conflicts of interest, evidence of money being spent on special interests, personal interests, personal gain,” Roberts wrote.

Critics have not taken all this lying down. Students, faculty and labor unions have fought back against the corruption of the process, several have filed lawsuits, but DeSantis and crew have sidelined or ignored detractors and continued on their merry way.

The profound hostility that Florida’s politicians have towards universities and their insistence on using ideological purity tests to choose their leaders not only “makes Florida look stupid,” as Roberts points out, but it is also jeopardizing the futures of the next generation.

More Articles by Barrington Salmon

Barrington Salmon lived and wrote in Florida (Miami and Tallahassee) for 20 years. He is a 2017 Annenberg National Fellow (University of Southern California) who freelances for publications including Trice Edney Newswire, and his stories appear in Yahoo, Raw Story, The Miami Times, and the Phoenix. He formerly wrote for The Final Call, NNPA/BlackPressUSA, Al Jazeera, The Washington Informer, and Sputnik News. Salmon was educated in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and the United States. He lives in the nation's capital and can be heard on his Livestream video blog, “Speak Freely with Barrington Salmon.” Connect with Barrington on Speak Freely and follow him on Instagram and on his Facebook pages, Barrington M. Salmon & BarringtonSalmonWrites.

Leave a comment

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

See you soon

I’m on a two-week sabbatical, but will be back before the Florida primary election. In the meantime, I hope to use this space to share articles of interest from guest contributors from time to time, such as today’s piece by Barrington Salmon.

I hope you found it thought provoking. If so, please feel free to share it with friends.

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary as well as shared stories such as today’s.

Currently, Tropic Press reaches more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

Share

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Today’s sponsor: The Strange Files

Alexander Strange wants to get to Florida in the worst way. So, he arrives in a coffin. Chilling in its own right but made more so by the prediction of a New Orleans soothsayer that he soon will face death. Little does he know how true that will be. But he’ll find out soon enough at the Devil’s Millhopper.

Book Two of the Strange Files series takes our favorite weird news reporter on a bizarre scavenger hunt all over the Gunshine State. Join him in his journey here:

Tropic Press Books

By Barrington Salmon

Florida Phoenix

“Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” – Margaret Atwood

Republicans have long held a stranglehold on the political levers of power in Florida. Yet, in one of the surest signs of hubris, the longer they’ve controlled the direction of state politics, the more they’ve demonstrated the belief that only they have the prudence, political instincts, or sagacity to properly run the state.

In almost three decades of one-party rule, Florida has become a swamp where haughty men and women strut in costumes of arrogance and condescension, foisting partisan political beliefs on the majority; stuffing their pockets and those of their wealthy, connected friends; and protecting the well-heeled while disregarding the will of the people.

“The effects of decades of Republican rule in Florida — accelerated by a legislative supermajority under Gov. Ron DeSantis — have transformed the state into a national laboratory for conservative governance, the Hill reports. “This approach has led to starkly polarized outcomes, marked by significant economic and population growth on one side, and intense legal, cultural, and educational battles on the other.”

And Florida is the worse for it.

DeSantis is the tip of the spear. He has run roughshod over anyone standing in his way — using political muscle to force unpopular conservative policies into law while trying to intimidate those who oppose or criticize him. He has targeted educators, activists, labor unions, political and corporate leaders, young people, Democrats, civil and human rights advocates, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. DeSantis has not been above using cops, the courts, and compliant state employees to achieve his ends.

The governor — now at the tail end of his second term — has glorified culture wars, injecting a toxic stew of anger, resentment, and anti-immigrant bias into the political discourse. He has tried to upend as much of the state’s political infrastructure as possible and reshape it into what he hopes becomes a permanent far-right footprint.

At a time when Floridians are being hammered by inflation — driven in large part by the unprovoked U.S. attack on Iran — runaway rents, and crushing insurance costs, if you can get any, DeSantis and his administration have been on a taxpayer-supported spending spree. They have been appallingly cavalier with taxpayers’ money.

While trying to project himself as the nation’s immigrant crusader, DeSantis has squandered more than $1 billion on immigration detention camps he set up in Florida.

A recent Miami Herald investigation estimates that he misused more than $990 million on these facilities, guiding taxpayers’ dollars to between 55 and 83 companies owned or operated by his political allies, friends, and donors.

Checks and balances

Over the course of a year, DeSantis used the state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund — intended to support natural disaster relief — to pay for his anti-immigrant operation. He circumvented regular channels, ignored or removed checks and balances, and awarded contracts in a no-bid process. Since 2023, DeSantis waived more than 24 state laws and regulations and extended a 60-day emergency to justify access to the emergency fund more than 20 times.

All to pave the way to erect “Alligator Alcatraz,” the detention camp in the Everglades on land sacred to the Miccosukee Tribe. Critics are deeply concerned that there has been no accountability to the Legislature or the public.

Following a tour of the Everglades facility, Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost called it a project to “funnel our taxpayer money to corporations,” labelling the over-the-top immigration expenses as an “almost criminal use” of tax dollars while Floridians “struggle to afford housing, healthcare, and insurance.”

Jeff Brandes agreed. “State leaders are going to spin it as a success, of course, but it’s all spin. Nobody can say that taxpayer money was well spent,” said Brandes, a former Republican state lawmaker who now leads the nonpartisan Florida Policy Project.

The Miami Herald found that the state signed off on $210 million to three companies affiliated with the Miami-based CDR Cos., whose executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, are DeSantis allies and donors to his failed presidential bid. Duart is a DeSantis appointee to Florida International University’s Board of Trustees and Vidal-Duart is a former board member of the Hope Florida Foundation, the embattled charity created in support of Casey DeSantis’ anti-welfare initiative.

Most of the money directed to CDR was for medical facilities and “site prep” at Alligator Alcatraz, according to contracts. Another $100 million was to a new joint venture CDR formed with the private prison company GEO Group late last year to provide staffing for “Deportation Depot,” in Baker County. Other contracts for the sites include $112 million to IRG Global Management, $83 million to Garner Environmental Services, and $79 million to GardaWorld, a company that donated $5,000 to a political committee backing DeSantis’ presidential run.

None of these dozens of contracts were negotiated through a competitive bidding process to ensure the state was getting the best deal.

‘Necessity’

DeSantis has argued that the state-run detention centers were crucial to carrying out Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.

“I’m doing it out of necessity. I’m not doing it because I just think we should just do it for a press release. We had nowhere else to put these folks. [The Department of Homeland Security] did not have any place to put them. Now they’ve had [a] place to put them and that’s been very, very positive.”

But some experts say the cost of DeSantis’ detention project is much higher than the federally operated immigration detention facilities, and largely on Florida taxpayers’ dime.

Emergency managers told FEMA that it would take $1.7 billion — enough to give every teacher in Florida a $6,000 bonus — to operate both facilities. Since 2022, the Legislature has injected $4.8 billion into the emergency fund. Now the fund’s coffers have dwindled to $6.9 million. During the last legislative session, Republicans allowed the Legislature to add an extra $250 million into the account this fiscal year.

The Phoenix reports that, in total, about $405 million was spent on immigration through the first half of the year alone — considerably more than in previous years, when the total was $49 million. Most of the money went to private contractors through 83 contracts, including multimillion-dollar deals with companies providing toilets, emergency management, and environmental services.

Records show that emergency staff working around the clock spent at least $166,000 on food at more than 50 restaurants and nearly $717,000 on travel, including private jets and hotel stays. Officials say the food was for emergency staff and one expensive jet flight was described as rescuing Floridians in Israel. In addition, DeSantis and the state used the emergency fund to shell out more than $1.7 million to outside law firms fighting lawsuits over environmental rules and detainees’ rights at immigration facilities. If the feds opt not to reimburse Florida, taxpayers will likely be stuck with the bill.

Democratic Senate Leader Lori Berman of Boca Raton offered a proposal to restrict how much the governor’s agencies could pull from the trust but it failed along party lines, the Phoenix’s Liv Caputo reports. “The amendment said that if the governor wants to repeatedly call for the use of emergency funds for anything other than a natural disaster, the Legislature’s joint budget commission would have to approve it. That’s a House-Senate panel that reviews interim spending requests,” Caputo wrote.

“I support the right of the governor to use emergency trust fund dollars to protect our state from hurricanes, natural disasters, and real emergencies,” Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith of Orlando said. “But that’s not what we have seen. We don’t have the appropriate guardrails on the emergency trust fund. And as a result, the spending has been off the rails.”

As long as Republicans control supermajorities in both legislative chambers, they can ignore calls for accountability and moderation. DeSantis and allied lawmakers and have swatted away every attempt by Democrats to erect guardrails.

Power has gone to the heads of MAGA Republicans in Florida, who have completely embraced Florida’s flirtation with tyranny. DeSantis’ behavior signals America’s descent into a hellish existence. There is no fig leaf, no pretense of civil liberties or due process. Alligator Alcatraz is closing, but detention camps aren’t going away. They are a national multi-billion-dollar enterprise targeting Black and brown people.

For now.

Human costs

DeSantis has never cared about the human cost as detailed by detainees and immigration advocates: the chain link cages, lack of air conditioning, abysmal physical conditions, worms in the food, toilets that didn’t flush, floors flooded with fecal waste, mosquitoes and other insects everywhere.

What is even more infuriating is that after the devastating harm inflicted on largely innocent immigrants, DeSantis announced on June 25 that the administration was closing down the facility because it “had served its purpose.” He claims that the detention center, opened in July 2025, was always only meant to be temporary.

Now, undocumented immigrants and the occasional citizen will be kidnapped by the state and deposited in one of the vast network of detention centers that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE are setting up.

God help us all.

Tomorrow: Corruption by Another Name (Part II)

More Articles by Barrington Salmon

Barrington Salmon lived and wrote in Florida (Miami and Tallahassee) for 20 years. He is a 2017 Annenberg National Fellow (University of Southern California) who freelances for publications including Trice Edney Newswire, and his stories appear in Yahoo, Raw Story, The Miami Times, and the Phoenix. He formerly wrote for The Final Call, NNPA/BlackPressUSA, Al Jazeera, The Washington Informer, and Sputnik News. Salmon was educated in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and the United States. He lives in the nation’s capital and can be heard on his Livestream video blog, “Speak Freely with Barrington Salmon.” Connect with Barrington on Speak Freely and follow him on Instagram and on his Facebook pages, Barrington M. Salmon & BarringtonSalmonWrites.

Leave a comment

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. This story is republished with their permission. To support Florida Phoenix, click here:

DONATE

See you soon

I’m on a two-week sabbatical but will be back before the Florida primary election. In the meantime, I hope to use this space to share articles of interest from guest contributors from time to time, such as today’s piece by Barrington Salmon.

I hope you found it thought-provoking. If so, please feel free to share it with friends.

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary as well as shared stories such as today’s.

Currently, Tropic Press reaches more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

Share

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Today’s sponsor: The Strange Files

Alexander Strange wants to get to Florida in the worst way. So, he arrives in a coffin. Chilling in its own right but made more so by the prediction of a New Orleans soothsayer that he soon will face death. Little does he know how true that will be. But he’ll find out soon enough at the Devil’s Millhopper.

Book Two of the Strange Files series takes our favorite weird news reporter on a bizarre scavenger hunt all over the Gunshine State. Join him in his journey here:

Tropic Press Books

Subscribe now

By Jeff Brandes

Everyone is talking about property taxes. Almost nobody is talking about power.

That’s strange because power, not taxes, is what this debate is really about. The sales pitch is simple: property taxes are unpopular, homeowners are angry, government has grown, and cutting tax bills will provide relief. Who doesn’t like that? But there is a difference between cutting taxes and changing who controls government. Florida is not debating a tax cut. Florida is debating a fundamental redesign of how local government is financed.

For more than half a century, Florida has embraced home rule. The idea was simple: Local communities should make local decisions. If a city council spends too much, voters can replace it. If a county commission raises taxes, voters can replace it. The people making spending decisions are accountable to the people paying the bills. That system is imperfect, but it is transparent. If your local government fails, you know exactly where to direct your frustration and exactly who to vote against.

Now imagine a different system. Imagine counties and cities that can no longer fund themselves. Imagine local officials traveling to Tallahassee not to seek a grant for a new project, but to keep deputies on patrol, firefighters in stations, and ambulances on the road. At that point, who is really running local government? The answer is not the county commission. The answer is not the city council.

The answer is whoever controls the money.

We use your personal data for interest-based advertising, as outlined in our Privacy Notice.

That is the part nobody wants to discuss. Property taxes are not simply a revenue source. They are the mechanism that allows local governments to govern themselves. Remove enough of that revenue and local governments do not disappear. They become dependent. And dependency changes behavior. A business dependent on one customer changes its behavior. A nonprofit dependent on one donor changes its behavior. A county dependent on Tallahassee changes its behavior. The money moves. The incentives move. The accountability moves. And eventually, the power moves.

There is an irony here that should give conservatives pause. A proposal intended to shrink government could ultimately centralize it. When counties and cities become financially dependent on Tallahassee, the governor effectively becomes the mayor of communities he was never elected to run. Imagine a future governor deciding which counties receive funding for deputies, which cities receive support for fire services, and which communities must wait. Local government becomes less local. Home rule becomes a slogan instead of a governing principle.

Supporters frame this debate as a battle between taxpayers and government. That is the wrong framework. The real question is whether Florida wants independent local governments or dependent local governments. Because independent local government means paying your own bills.

The numbers involved are staggering. Property taxes generate tens of billions of dollars each year for local governments. State economists have modeled scenarios creating roughly an $18.3 billion hole. Municipal governments receive approximately 43 percent of their general fund revenue from property taxes. Property taxes account for roughly 79 percent of municipal tax revenue. Those are not trimming-around-the-edges numbers. Those are rebuild-the-engine-while-the-plane-is-flying numbers. Yet much of the public discussion proceeds as though this is simply a tax cut. It isn’t. It is one of the largest transfers of financial responsibility in modern Florida history.

Maybe it works. Maybe local governments become dramatically more efficient. Maybe new revenue sources emerge. Maybe the state permanently assumes a larger role. But if that’s the plan, let’s be honest enough to say so. What we should not do is pretend the consequences stop at the property tax bill.

State economists are already projecting structural deficits beginning in fiscal year 2027-28 and growing in the years that follow. If Florida itself is heading toward tighter budgets, is this really the moment to shift even greater responsibility for local government onto the state? Florida may be creating a future where local governments are increasingly dependent on a state government that is itself under growing fiscal pressure.

Then there are the people largely missing from this conversation. Nearly one-third of Floridians rent their homes. If local governments replace property taxes with higher fees, assessments, utility taxes, sales taxes, or state transfers, renters will still pay. Businesses will still pay. Consumers will still pay. The bill does not disappear. It changes addresses.

Milton Friedman often reminded people that government has no money of its own. Every dollar government spends comes from somebody else. That remains true today. The question is not whether Floridians will pay for local government. The question is how. And more importantly, who will decide.

That is the blast radius nobody is talking about.

Because once the dust settles, Floridians may discover they did not merely change a tax system. They changed the balance of power between local communities and the state itself. And unlike a tax bill, that is a change that will be far harder to reverse.

Leave a comment

Jeff Brandes is President of the Florida Policy Project, a nonpartisan public policy research organization focused on Florida’s biggest challenges, including affordability, housing, transportation, and insurance. He served for 12 years in the Florida Legislature, including service in both the Florida House and Senate.

This article originally appeared in Florida Trident and is republished here with their permission. The Trident is an investigative news outlet focusing on government accountability and transparency across Florida. It is a publication of the Florida Center for Government Accountability. You can support this work by donating here:

DONATE

Please share this post

Our democracy as we’ve known it for 250 years is at risk. To save it, we will need a groundswell of support from voters in the coming midterm election.

The purpose of this newsletter—and the accompanying Tropic Press website—is to encourage that engagement through original reporting and commentary and shared stories such as today’s article first published in Florida Trident.

Currently, Tropic Press is reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere, which is great, but there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

You can help spread the word.

Please like this post. Comment if you are so inclined. But, please, also take a moment to share it with people you know.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort.

Thanks.

J.C. Bruce

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Today’s sponsor: The Strange Files

Alexander Strange wants to get to Florida in the worst way. So, he arrives in a coffin. Chilling in its own right but made more so by the prediction of a New Orleans soothsayer that he soon will face death. Little does he know how true that will be. But he’ll find out soon enough at the Devil’s Millhopper.

Book Two of the Strange Files series takes our favorite weird news reporter on a bizarre scavenger hunt all over the Gunshine State. Join him in his journey here:

Tropic Press Books

The Week Ahead

In Florida, early voting is easy—and safe

The ability to vote before Election Day increases ballot access and encourages voter turnout by making it easier for registered voters to find time to make their way to the polls.

Even easier is mail-in-voting, and in Florida you can do either, as well as show up on primary Election Day, August 18. If you’ve not already requested a mail-in ballot, it may be too late for the primary election, but there is still time to get one for the general election in November.

Early voting for the Florida primary election begins this week. The state mandates that every county open its polling places starting on Saturday, August 8. However, individual counties may decide to extend voting dates and begin earlier in the week. Poll locations vary from county to county.

You’ll want to check your local Supervisor of Elections Office for up-to-date information on early voting days, hours, and poll locations. It’s also where you can request a general election mail-in ballot. Here’s where you can find yours:

Where to Vote

When you land on the website, go to the County List, find where you live, then click on the link to your county. That will take you to your local Supervisor of Elections website. I tested several, and they worked, but be aware that every county has its own format, so you may have to poke around a little bit to find a link to information for your local Early Voting info.

Things to know:

• You can only vote early at locations in the county in which you are registered to vote.

• Voters with a Vote-By-Mail ballot can drop off their Vote-By-Mail ballot at any early voting location during voting hours.

• To vote early, you must provide a valid photo ID including one with a signature. Valid IDs include a Florida driver’s license or ID card, U.S. passport, student, military, public assistance ID, and other IDs. You don’t need an ID to drop off a Vote-By-Mail ballot.

  ---

  

Coming Next Week

Political commentator Barrington Salmon takes an in-depth look at the impact of decades of Republican rule in Florida in a two-part series. We all have a sense of how corrupt things are in the Sunshine State. Salmon puts it all together. It’s not a pretty picture.

That Was The Week That Was

Trump in the dumps

As public criticism of President Trump’s job performance persists amid the months-long Iran war and resulting strains on the U.S. economy, the president is losing support from some voters in his party, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll found that only 32 percent of all registered voters support how the president has handled his second term in office. Fifty-eight percent of respondents disapproved, and 10 percent did not offer an opinion on his job performance.

Read More

Trump doesn’t want to pay E. Jean Carroll

Trump’s personal lawyers are appealing to the Supreme Court to reject an $83.3 million defamation penalty a jury awarded to writer E Jean Carroll. And Department of Justice attorneys have filed a similar petition.

Both argue that Trump’s statements against Carroll — who claims the Republican leader sexually assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store — fall within the bounds of his office’s immunity.

“Absent this Court’s intervention, the sitting President is facing nearly a hundred million dollars of personal liability for conduct that was well within the scope of his federal office,” federal lawyers wrote in their filings.

Previous court rulings supporting the idea of presidential immunity, however, only applied to criminal prosecutions. They did not include civil cases like Carroll’s.

Read More

Blanche in limbo

Trump said last week that he wouldn’t object to temporarily withdrawing Todd Blanche as his nominee for attorney general amid resistance from two Republican senators, another major blow to Blanche’s confirmation battle.

Trump said he could renominate Blanche after Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the primary voices of opposition, have left the Senate in the new year. But that itself is a gamble, as the makeup of the Senate could shift in ways that would make Blanche’s confirmation even more difficult.

Read More

Leave a comment

Meme of the Week

Quote of the Week

“I simply subscribe to the old-school Republican position that government should stay out of your life, out of your doctor’s office, and out of your bedroom. The last person you need sitting on the foot of your bed during hard family conversations is Byron Donalds.”

— David Jolly

Letter of the Week

We need a more representative democracy with proportional representation (if a party gets 30% of the vote, it gets 30% of the seats). It would end gerrymandering and elect more diverse representatives!

— Nick

Looking Ahead

When I’m not writing this newsletter, I also scribble a current events column for Florida Weekly. You should check it out. Here are some snippets, from there and elsewhere, to help guide your week ahead.

Arrghust is International Pirate Month. Did you know that during the Revolutionary War, our fledgling country worked with privateers to raid the British supply routes, and that during the War of 1812, a pirate saved the day during the Battle of New Orleans? You can read more about that in my Florida Weekly column here:

Avast ye swabs...

August 2. On this night in 1943, a Japanese destroyer rammed an American torpedo boat – PT 109—in the Solomon Islands. The boat’s commander, Lt. John F. Kennedy, saved the life of a fellow crew member by swimming with him in tow for 3.5 miles to a nearby island. His heroism launched his post-war political career, and he became the 35^th president of the United States. He spent the rest of his shortened life suffering from a severe spinal injury as a result of that crash. Fortunately, he was spared the agony of bone spurs.

August 3. Grab Some Nuts Day. This is a holiday designed to encourage nuts in our diets for all their health benefits. What else did you think it was?

August 4. National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Just to state the obvious, the chocolate chip cookie is the very best cookie. In fact, there’s really no point in baking any other kind.

August 5. The first electric traffic light was installed on this day in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1914. The historical record does not reveal the identity of the first unlucky driver to get a ticket for running a red light.

August 6. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law on this day in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It banned racial discrimination in voting, and abolished literacy tests as a barrier to vote. The law was significantly weakened earlier this year, however, when a divided Supreme Court ruled that states could ignore racial demographics when drawing congressional districts, the upshot being fewer minorities in Congress.

August 7 is International Beer Day, which isn’t meant to imply that there aren’t also some fine beers brewed domestically. Florida is home to nearly 400 small and independent breweries. Nationwide, more than 13% of beer sales are now from craft brewers. Bottoms up!

August 8. International Hangover Day. Well, it’s the day after International Beer Day, so what do you expect?

August 9. Book Lover’s Day. Need a good book to read? Check out today’s sponsor below.

Last Week’s Tropic Press headlines

In case you missed it, here are some of the stories that headlined Tropic Press this past week. Click on the headlines to read the stories.

Democrats urge Trump administration to rethink Endangered Species Act rollback

We have discovered what Trump and Gollum have in common

This year’s midterms may lean Democrats’ way despite all the Republican gerrymandering

Trump, thwarted by lower courts, appeals to the Supremes to allow him to block mail ballots

Florida’s surgeon general links measles outbreak to abortion opposition

Thanks for your support

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you are a rational person living in the Free State of Florida, but there are plenty of smart, reasonable people just like you here. The purpose of this newsletter and the Tropic Press website is to provide a source of news and commentary that shines a light through this irrational fog.

Thank you for your support as a subscriber. It is invaluable. This is especially so for those of you who have chosen to upgrade to paid subscriptions. Your contributions are making this possible.

J.C. Bruce

Subscribe now

Share Tropic Press!

As this newsletter was written, Tropic Press was reaching more than 700,000 subscribers in Florida and elsewhere. But there are literally millions of Florida Democrats and independents we are not reaching yet.

That’s a problem you can help solve.

With mid-term elections on the horizon, the more people we reach, the more effective we can be in helping turn our state and this country around. You can play a vital role in that effort by sharing this newsletter with friends.

If you are reading this as an email, simply forward it. Or you can use the link below. Thanks.

Share Tropic Press: J.C. Bruce

Today’s sponsor: The Strange Files

Alexander Strange wants to get to Florida in the worst way. So, he arrives in a coffin. Chilling in its own right but made more so by the prediction of a New Orleans soothsayer that he soon will face death. Little does he know how true that will be. But he’ll find out soon enough at the Devil’s Millhopper.

Book Two of the Strange Files series takes our favorite weird news reporter on a bizarre scavenger hunt all over the Gunshine State. Join him in his journey here:

Tropic Press Books

Subscribe now

Editor’s Note: We take a break from hard news every Saturday morning to let Hermina Hermelinda Obregon, a.k.a. Miss Mingo, share her insights with readers. She’s a recovering newspaper reporter living in a bungalow off Duval Street in Key West. At least that’s what her official biography says, if you can believe that. She answers the pressing questions of the day about life, the news, and the best happy hour prices.

NOTE TO READERS:

I was on my way out the door to catch a boat—off on vacay—when these last-minute questions hit my inbox. I just couldn’t let them sit unanswered while I was off playing. See you in a couple of weeks.

M.M.

DEAR MISS MINGO:

Being an older broad who just loved James Bond Films, I can’t believe no one else has written about the INCREDIBLE similarities between President Donald Trump and the famous villain GOLDFINGER. It’s worth watching the movie again! The HAIR, the FAT BODY, the SLOPPY ILL-FITTING SUITS, the MEANNESS and CRUELTY.

Google GOLDFINGER and read that he was obsessed with all things GOLD…even covering women in gold paint! He amassed all the gold bars that he could and hoarded them in many countries (never paying taxes on them). He was entirely self-centered and also obsessed with…wait for it…..GOLF!! And we can all remember his infamous henchman OddJob.

Oh, I just noticed something. OddJob contains the letters DOJ, another personal henchman!

Regards,
Older broad in Tampa

Dear Older:

While I enjoyed the flicks, I’m actually more of a fan of the original Ian Fleming novels. I would note that while moviegoers may remember that a recurring Bond villain—Ernst Stavro Blofeld—had a white cat that he was constantly petting, the actual cat Fleming wrote about was, in fact, in Goldfinger.

It was not a pure white feline like in the movies, but ginger colored (goldish), and Goldfinger hated it.

Hated it so much that he gave the cat to OddJob for dinner.

So, to continue your brilliant parallels between Trump and Goldfinger, that is also a purrfect fit.

DEAR MISS MINGO:

Ya know all those seeds that are available to make us healthy, like Apple seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Chia, Flaxseed and on and on. Do you think if the Republicans in the House and Senate dined on Ball Seeds, they might possibly grow a set? Perhaps we could check on availability at the Ball Seed Company.

Best Regards,
Rick Stead

Dear Rick:

I wasn’t sure about printing this letter as I’m always a little squeamish about references to genitalia (yes, I realize this makes me a little old-fashioned). But I do get that this is less literally anatomical than a metaphorical allusion to courage. That said, I would quickly note that while a reference to males, there are plenty of women out there with guts enough to stand up to Trump, including the last Democratic presidential nominee. So, there is a part of me that wishes we could move past this manocentric reference.

That said, I was curious. And I discovered that there is, in fact, a Ball Seed Company, something I did not know. But then, I’m not much of a gardener. So, thanks for the enlightenment.

Okay, I’m out the door.

Got a question for Miss Mingo? About life, the news, or multi-dimensional realities? Write to her at MissMingo@Tropic.Press. She’ll be back from vacation in a couple of weeks.

ASK MISS MINGO

Want to know more about Miss Mingo? How she got her start? And whether she really lives with two cats—Deadline and Dateline—and a pet iguana named Skippy? You can find her official biography, such as it is, here. If you’re bar hopping on Duval Street in Key West and spot an intriguing woman in a pink hat that you suspect might be Miss Mingo, you can always offer to buy her a Cuba Libre. Will it actually be her? Is there an actual her? Life’s a mystery.

Meet Miss Mingo

Leave a comment

And now, some shameless advertising…

The official Tropic Press Store is now open and ready for business. You can order your very own Miss Mingo merch online. All sales are final. Check out the store here:

Tropic Press Merch

And when your shirt arrives, take a selfie and email it to Miss Mingo to be included in her column.

Subscribe now