Rep. Byron Donalds explains his failure to vote on Fox News Sunday. (Image: Fox News Sunday)
Oct. 2, 2023 by David Silverberg
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), must now live with the consequences of his failure to cast a vote on one of the most momentous issues of the 118th Congress.
The failure to cast a vote implies an inability to make a decision, to take a stand, to hold and defend a political position. Doing those things are the marks of a leader and a skillful politician.
In this case, Donalds’ non-vote was an act of cowardice and dereliction of duty, a failure to serve his constituents and the partisans who supported and elected him.
Why is this? What were the circumstances of the vote and why was it so important? What are the likely consequences of this failure for Donalds, his ambitions and his political future?
The circumstances
On the afternoon of last Saturday, Sept. 30, it looked like the United States federal government would shut down at midnight.
House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-20-Calif.) had until that moment been unable to get the Republican caucus to vote in favor of a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded.
The chief opponent of that CR was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-1-Fla.), a member of the hard-right, Trumpist, 45-member, Make America Great Again (MAGA) Freedom Caucus.
Donalds had been a player in events leading to that impasse. He had negotiated with McCarthy on behalf of the Caucus and endorsed a compromise CR. That CR never advanced and Donalds was ferociously denounced by Gaetz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-14-Ga.), as well as his own constituents for his willingness to compromise.
McCarthy wanted to pass his CR with only Republican votes but it was clear that he couldn’t do that by the deadline so he turned to the House Democrats. The CR resulting from those negotiations had no money for Ukraine, which Democrats and many Republicans wanted. However, it would keep government functioning for 45 more days until a more complete solution could be found.
Very importantly for Southwest Florida, the CR contained $16 billion to replenish the National Disaster Relief Fund and keep the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) functioning. FEMA is playing an outsized role in the region given the ravages of Hurricane Ian last year. FEMA funding is also essential to all of Florida in the wake of this year’s Hurricane Idalia.
So this was not some abstract intellectual debate being played out in some remote ivory tower. While local media looked backward and celebrated individual tales of resilience and signs of recovery on the anniversary of the hurricane, all future progress was in jeopardy. The CR also included money to keep people clothed, housed and fed on the ground in Southwest Florida.
On Saturday afternoon the new CR went to the House floor. It needed a two-thirds vote of the members to suspend the rules and go straight to a vote of approval. The votes were there and it passed overwhelmingly, 335 to 91. All Democrats but one voted for it along with 126 Republicans. Only 90 Republicans voted against it.
In the final tally, 426 of 435 members of Congress—roughly 98 percent—voted on the CR one way or another. None abstained (an option if a member doesn’t want to vote for or against a measure). Seven members did not vote at all.
One of these was Byron Donalds. (The others were: Reps. Earl Carter (R-1-Ga.), John Carter (R-31-Texas), John Joyce (R-13-Pa.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-13-Fla.), Mary Petolta (D-At Large-Alaska), and Katie Porter (D-47-Calif.).
To date, Donalds has offered several explanations for his failure to vote.
Immediately after the vote he announced on X that he would have voted “no” but the time to vote closed before he could cast his ballot.
On Sunday, Donalds appeared on Fox News Sunday and was asked directly about his absence.
“First of all, why did you miss this vote and not vote?” asked host Shannon Bream. “Everyone knew it was coming, it was a big deal. You put something on X, formerly known as Twitter, but the replies are pretty brutal.”
“Listen, here’s what happened. I was coming up the elevator in the Capitol Building to go vote,” replied Donalds. “They closed the vote down because there were members on the House floor who were changing their votes from ‘yes’ to ‘no.’ I was told that there were senators on our floor begging our leadership to close the vote so the measure would pass because it needed two-thirds. The leadership knew I was a ‘no.’ If I was a ‘yes’ they would have held the vote open for me. It’s that simple.”
Analysis: The ‘whys’ have it
Donalds’ explanation simply does not hold water. Members have a specified time in which to vote. The period for changing votes comes after the formal voting has closed. Four hundred twenty six members of Congress were present and able to vote during that time. (Although one, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-16-NY) pulled a fire alarm in a House office building, supposedly to gain more time but he says accidentally. The incident is under investigation although Republicans are calling for his prosecution.)
But in the case of Donalds, one has to wonder why he was supposedly rushing to vote during the change period, after the vote had closed.
The obvious conclusion is that he was present in the Capitol for the vote; he knew the voting was taking place and he could have easily voted. But he didn’t want to vote, so he held back until the voting was fully closed and then blamed his absence on the Republican leadership, i.e., McCarthy.
The other alternatives are that he was so neglectful and indifferent to the vote that he simply ignored it until it was too late (perhaps having a Johnny Walker in his office?) or he is so spectacularly inept after nearly three years in Congress that he doesn’t know the Capitol, doesn’t know how to get to the House chamber and doesn’t know how to vote.
It’s hard not to draw a conclusion from this interpretation of events: that purely and simply, Byron Donalds is lying.
This raises the question: Why would Donalds deliberately not want to vote?
It puts the spotlight on the difficulty of making the kinds of hard choices that face leaders.
If Donalds had voted “no,” he would have been voting to significantly damage the United States by bringing its government to a shuddering halt. More parochially, he would have been voting against the $16 billion in disaster aid that his state and district so desperately need. He would have been directly harming the people of Southwest Florida who are looking for federal help at this time and who voted for him in the last election. He would have come in for outrage and criticism for enabling this suicidal course of action and not just from marginal liberal bloggers but from community leaders and elected local Republicans.
However, if he voted “yes,” he would have outraged his MAGA base and his idol Donald Trump, who had called for a shutdown to stop his own prosecution. Donalds was already being hammered by Gaetz for his willingness to compromise on the CR, now the voices calling him a Republican In Name Only and a turncoat to the extreme Trumpist faith he has embraced would have reached a screeching new volume.
Neither course was palatable. He could have abstained but that would have also been on the record and drawn criticism—and he would have stood out as the only abstention.
So the easiest—if most cowardly—course was to skip the vote altogether, if possible, and hope no one would notice. Then, when it was noticed, he tried to shift the blame to forces outside his control.
Even Fox News didn’t buy that.
Commentary: The consequences
It is premature to say that this action—or inaction—ends Donalds’ political career. People have come back from worse setbacks in the past.
But it certainly doesn’t help at all.
Donalds’ political career has been marked by his ambition. He embraced the Republican Party credo of “just win, baby,” which holds any falsehood, innuendo, hypocrisy or contradiction acceptable as long as there’s election victory at the end of the day. He built his brand as “everything the fake news media says doesn’t exist: a [Donald Trump]-supporting, liberty-loving, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment black man.” It enabled him to win election and represent a heavily MAGA, 85-percent white district. He fought masks and embraced vaccine skepticism during the worst pandemic of the century as it killed constituents. He is willing to front for the nuclear power industry and follow an ideological line that often contradicts the real interests of his coastal district.
Once in the House, his ambition glowed again when he ran for the third-place Republican position, only to lose. Then, as a sophomore representative-elect, he had the brazenness to put himself forward as a Speaker of the House, nominated by no less than his close friend Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-3-Colo.). It brought him international prominence, good committee assignments and raised his star in the Republican firmament.
Donalds’ unique position as a vocal black MAGA Republican provides all sorts of opportunities: there was always the Speakership, or else a slot as Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate, or a run at governor of Florida in 2026 when the current governor steps down. There was the chance for significant fundraising, attracting major donors and spreading his own largesse to build his following among other Republicans and the public at large. And there were the perks of national, mainstream media appearances, speaking slots at conservative conclaves and the chance to meet and greet famous politicians and celebrities.
However, by ducking this important vote and displaying abject cowardice in the face of both enemies and circumstances, he has confirmed what his critics have long alleged: that he lacks the character and capability to handle those higher offices and greater responsibilities.
Instead of a smooth potential path to the speakership or higher office in the Republican caucus, the failure to vote showed Donalds unable to lead or take a stand and face the consequences. He transgressed Trump’s sacred dictum that a shutdown was desirable. He enraged Gaetz and the Gaetzniks who are ready to burn the nation to the ground. He also provided Gaetz a weapon against himself should they both pursue the governorship. He violated the holy unity of the Freedom Caucus, whose whole purpose is to ensure lockstep loyalty to whatever positions 80 percent of them adopt. Constituents who tend to ignore congressional politics may forget this incident but his absence will be remembered by his Republican colleagues in the House. And he has invited a MAGA revolt in his own district that could take the form of an even more extreme primary challenge in the next election.
Donalds has responded to criticism of his non-vote with his usual barrage of accusations, imprecations and denunciations of President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Democrats, border crossers, and phantom far-left radicals.
That may fool some people who, as President Abraham Lincoln once said, can be fooled all of the time.
But as Lincoln also famously noted: “You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz denounces Rep. Byron Donalds on the floor of the US House of Representatives. (Image: C-SPAN)
Sept. 27, 2023 by David Silverberg
It is extraordinary that a congressional impasse that could bring the world’s richest and most powerful government to a halt has featured a personal fight between three Florida men—one of whom represents Southwest Florida.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-1-Fla.) has become the face of intransigent, anti-government, pro-Trump fanaticism in the US House of Representatives.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), ordinarily a vociferous Make America Great Again (MAGA) Trumper, was the face of willingness to compromise within the House Republican caucus and is now under attack for a supposed lack of extremist zeal.
And former President Donald Trump is playing the role of inciter and agitator, urging a government shutdown in the hopes it will defund federal prosecutors seeking to bring him to justice.
Like the three witches in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, these three Florida men have been fighting over the ingredients in their cauldron. Each has his reason for cooking the toxic brew, each has an idea of what should be in it, and none care that its contents just may poison the United States of America.
What has happened
Every federal fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1, Congress must approve and the President must sign 12 appropriations bills to fund the government for the next fiscal year.
Congress rarely makes its deadline. Instead, it often consolidates all the bills into a giant spending measure called a “continuing resolution” (CR) that funds the government at existing levels for a limited amount of time while all the details are worked out and the bills are actually passed.
Critics on both sides of the aisle have often complained that CRs are too complex, cumbersome and hasty for responsible budgeting. However, they do provide a mechanism to keep the government going, which is usually the main priority of all concerned. When neither bills nor CRs have been passed the government shuts down until a funding measure is approved.
This year most of the opposition to all government spending has come from the “Freedom” Caucus in the House of Representatives, an extreme, Trumpist, conservative group of roughly 45 invitation-only members who agree as a condition of membership to vote as a block. (Current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was one of nine founding members when he served in Congress in 2015 and Southwest Florida Reps. Greg Steube (R-17-Fla.) and Donalds are current members.)
In January, in order to be elected Speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-20-Calif.) made a number of concessions to the Caucus, some public, some still secret. Some of these were agreements to change the rules of the House to inhibit tax raises and benefits and make it easier to vote out the Speaker with a “motion to vacate;” a snap election.
Others concerned spending, like a promise to vote on a 10-year balanced budget plan and to balance a rise in the national debt ceiling with cuts to the budget, especially in social safety net programs.
When President Joe Biden and McCarthy reached a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling in May, Caucus members were furious, arguing that because the deal didn’t have the drastic spending cuts they wanted, McCarthy had violated the terms of their agreement.
Donalds emphatically rejected that deal. Before the vote he tweeted: “After I heard about the debt ceiling deal, I was a NO. After reading the debt ceiling deal, I am absolutely NO!!” At a Caucus press conference he elaborated: “Washington is doing it again. While you were celebrating Memorial Day, [The Swamp] was cutting another crap deal, more debt with no real changes whatsoever.”
Nonetheless, the deal passed the House by a resounding vote of 314 to 117, with 149 Republicans voting for it.
The experience of the debt deal and vote hardened Caucus opposition to a CR. In keeping with longstanding conservative priorities Caucus members sought “clean” appropriations bills that funded each individual federal department rather than what are known as “omnibus” bills that lump many measures together.
When Congress reconvened after Labor Day, and the countdown to a government shutdown began to get tighter, McCarthy called together Republicans of all ideological persuasions to formulate a common position.
Donalds was appointed a Caucus negotiator with McCarthy, a highly delicate and dangerous position.
Contentious compromise
On Sunday night, Sept. 17, McCarthy and the Republicans came up with a proposal among themselves for a 30-day CR to keep the government going. Donalds was a signatory.
“The 30 day CR does 2 things,” Donalds announced on X (formerly Twitter) the next day. “1. Secure the southern border. 2. Cut government spending by 8%. **There is NO Ukraine $$$** The truth is Congress needs more time to do the necessary spending cuts and reforms to stop the weaponization of our government and save our country.”
The response from fellow congressional extremists was immediate and ferocious.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-14-Ga.) argued that the CR funded Ukraine. (Caucus conservatives want to cut off Ukraine funding, which would aid Russia’s invasion.)
“Your CR funds Section C and Section K of Public Law 117-328,” Greene argued on X. “Here’s what the law says. It funds Ukraine in multiple sections, including 2 funds with no specified dollar amount that leaves the spending up to Biden. Billions more could end up being sent to Ukraine with your CR!”
“Actually, you are wrong,” Donalds replied. “The provision is to train our troops, so they can train our allies. It’s been in law since 2013. It was in the [National Defense Authorization Act], which you VOTED FOR this year.”
But Greene’s complaints were as nothing compared to the outrage and fury of Rep. Matt Gaetz, the primary leader of the shutdown movement.
First Gaetz reacted on X: “The problem with the Donalds CR is that it gets the job done for Jack Smith!” stated Gaetz, referring to Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump.
“Matt, tell the people the truth,” responded Donalds. “The [Department of Justice] will operate whether the government is shut down or not. Special Counsel’s [sic] have always exempted themselves from shutdowns. What’s your plan to get the votes to defund Jack Smith? You’ll need more than tweets and hot takes!!”
Gaetz was hardly deterred. He took to the floor of the House that day to give an impassioned one-minute speech (called a “special order”) to the empty chamber to denounce Donalds. For a full understanding of the situation, it merits quotation in full:
“Mr. Speaker,
“I’m not voting for a continuing resolution offered by my friend and colleague from Florida, I’m not voting to continue the failure and the waste and the corruption and the election interference and in some cases, the efforts that could lead this country into World War III.
“I oppose the CR offered by friend and colleague from Florida, Byron Donalds. The Donalds CR continues the Ukraine policy negotiated by Speaker Pelosi and Mitch McConnell in the omnibus that conservatives were against!
“The Donalds CR is a permission slip for Jack Smith to continue his election interference as they are trying to gag the President…the former President of the United States, the leading contender for the Republican nomination and the Donalds CR abandons the principle that it is only a review of a single subject spending bills that will save this country and allow us to tweeze through these programs and force these agencies to stand up and defend their budget.
“My friends, we are approaching the days when we are facing 2-trillion dollar annual deficits atop a 33-trillion dollar debt. This is unsustainable and just to continue things with some facial 8-percent cut over 30 days that will lead to no programmatic reform is an insult to the principles we fought for in January.
“I yield back.”
In the end, it was all moot. Speaker McCarthy could not get the House to agree on the procedures for a vote on the compromise CR (called a “rule”) and so the CR could not proceed. It was widely seen as a defeat for McCarthy and any compromise.
And then, in the midst of all this, Donald Trump threw in his eye of newt. On Wednesday, Sept. 20, he posted on his Truth Social media platform: “A very important deadline is approaching at the end of the month. Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Government that refuses to close the Border, and treats half the Country as Enemies of the State,” he wrote. “This is also the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots.”
This now set the doctrinal line for Trumpist loyalty both in Congress and in the heartland.
As this is written, there is no agreement and the country is barreling toward a government shutdown, starting at 12:01 am on Sunday, Oct. 1.
Analysis: Byron on the brink
The battle over funding the government is now largely in the hands of Biden, McCarthy and both the Democratic and Republican leadership in the Senate, with Gaetz playing the role of spoiler.
Like a boat tossed onshore following Hurricane Ian, Donalds is left in an awkward—if interesting—position, teetering on dry land.
He’s promoted himself as a staunch Trumper but by agreeing to a semi-reasonable compromise he violated the positions of both his idol and of what might best be described as the Crazy Caucus.
His stepping out of lockstep with the most extreme members of the Caucus has taken a toll. The early reactions could be seen in some of the anonymous comments on X after Gaetz gave his speech.
“I’m so disappointed in Byron Donalds. I had high hopes for him,” commented CTLakeside14.
“Very very disappointing, they got to him,” wrote MichelleRM68.
And those were some of the ones that can be repeated.
Donalds has tried to come back into MAGA grace with even more vehement denunciations of Biden, fulminations over the border situation and calls for the president’s impeachment.
On Sept. 19, as the reaction was mounting to his endorsement of the CR, Donalds announced in a fundraising email that he had launched something called The MAGA Victory Fund.
“With President Trump now the indisputable frontrunner to win back the White House, I figured this was the perfect time to launch a new fund dedicated to helping MAGA Republicans win big in 2024 – from the White House all the way to the bottom of the ticket,” the email stated. “By making a contribution to my MAGA Victory Fund today, you’ll support both President Trump and my campaign as we work together to Make America Great Again!”
The Fund seems designed to do two things: Get Donalds back into MAGA world’s good graces and, if it collects any money, buy favor with disgruntled incumbents and upcoming candidates—in addition to showing his loyalty to Trump and raising money for himself.
However, the danger of allying and identifying with an extreme movement is that there’s always someone more extreme at the fringe defining the orthodoxy and Donalds has veered from the true faith.
And Trump remains a wild card, having endorsed a shutdown but not having commented on Donalds. If Trump condemns him, Donalds’ career as a right-wing ideologue may be over.
There may be another factor in the Gaetz-Donalds conflict.
DeSantis is term-limited and if he doesn’t win the presidency he can’t run for another term in 2026. Both Gaetz and Donalds have been mentioned as possible Republican gubernatorial candidates. The current maneuvering may be the early skirmish in the battle for the Governor’s Mansion three years hence, with both politicians trying to win the favor of the MAGA base.
Interestingly, though, support for compromise came from an unexpected source.
“The Freedom Caucus has rules. Some are unwritten, but most exist in writing. I know because I wrote them,” stated Mick Mulvaney. He served as Trump’s acting chief of staff in 2019 and 2020. Before that he served as a representative from South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 during which he was a co-founder of the Freedom Caucus.
In an essay titled “The House Freedom Caucus has apparently changed its rules” in the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill, Mulvaney argued that Caucus principles never precluded compromise on CRs. In fact, Caucus founders always believed in working with moderates.
“The truth seems to be the never-CR-never-Kevin-burn-the-place-down effort isn’t really coming from an organized group at all,” he observed. “Someone this week called it a collection of ‘caucuses of one.’ Some seem to be using the effort to raise their public profiles on Fox News and social media; others are looking to leverage the newfound attention to run for higher office.”
Hmmm. Who could that be?
Whether it’s a matter of personal ego or ambition, or mere maneuvering for personal advantage, the country faces what could be a crippling government shutdown. What is more, it comes amidst a painful recovery from a summer of natural disasters, a proxy foreign war that must be won and the relentless prosecution of an increasingly obvious criminal former president.
It’s quite a witches’ brew. “Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble,” as the witches said in Shakespeare’s play.
Macbeth was a story of a fiercely ambitious nobleman who sought to be king—and whose crimes in pursuit of that ambition brought him to a bad end. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that now for those Florida Men who would destroy the country in their own pursuits of the crown, or the presidency, or the speakership, or the governorship—or just power for its own sake.
The US National Mall in Washington, DC is marked “closed” during a 2013 government shutdown. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Sept. 24, 2023 by David Silverberg
A federal government shutdown starting at the first minute of Sunday, Oct. 1 now seems highly likely.
As of this writing, the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives remains at odds over US appropriations. Those appropriations must be approved and signed into law before the start of the 2024 federal fiscal year.
That approval could still happen. Nonetheless, it makes sense to survey the likely effects of a government shutdown on Southwest Florida.
The 2018-19 shutdown was the result of a fight between then-President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for Trump’s proposed border wall. Ultimately, Trump relented but not before the shutdown, which was the longest in US history, reduced the US gross domestic product by $11 billion.
When the government shuts down, it stops spending money. Federal contractors are not paid and no new contracts are signed. Many government services are suspended or curtailed. In past shutdowns many federal employees were furloughed or made to work without pay but with the expectation they would receive back pay once the government was funded again.
Nonetheless, some essential services will continue. These differ from federal agency to agency.
Below are some of the federal agencies and activities directly related to Southwest Florida with a projection of the effect a shutdown is likely to have on Southwest Floridians. They are listed by order of their likely impact on people’s lives and the urgency of their needs.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
This year FEMA is a major player in Southwest Florida, which is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Ian almost exactly a year after it made landfall. Further north in Florida and in the states beyond, FEMA is active in supporting the people in counties directly hit by Hurricane Idalia.
FEMA is already struggling because of depletion of its Disaster Relief Fund. On Tuesday, Sept. 19, Deanne Criswell, FEMA’s administrator testified before Congress that a government shutdown would impose even more restrictions on its operations. In a shutdown FEMA would have to operate with whatever cash it had on hand at that moment and that “would be insufficient to cover all of our ongoing life-saving operations,” she said.
“We would have to continue to reduce the scope of what it is that we are supporting in our operations,” she testified.
The aftermath of Hurricane Idalia was just one disaster. As of Sept. 21, FEMA was handling 79 major disasters and 4 emergency declarations around the country.
During the Trump shutdown of 2019, FEMA was able to operate on money from the Disaster Relief Fund. That may not be available for long this time. The administration has requested $16 billion from Congress to replenish the Disaster Relief Fund, which is now hung up in the congressional impasse.
In the event of a shutdown, federal disaster money would suddenly stop flowing to Southwest Florida disaster victims, FEMA contractors and communities receiving FEMA funds. FEMA officials would suddenly stop providing services and processing existing requests and assistance. It is likely that only the most urgent, essential life-saving activities would be maintained by a small cadre of unpaid FEMA professionals.
In the Trump shutdown, FEMA stopped issuing flood insurance certificates to banks. The certificates allowed the banks to loan federally-backed money to homeowners wishing to build on FEMA-designated floodplains. With about 40,000 mortgage closings a month, banks and mortgage companies lobbied for an exception that allowed FEMA to continue to issue certificates despite the shutdown.
It’s not clear that the same exception would apply this time. At the very least, a government shutdown will likely hinder or completely halt the recovery activities in the town of Fort Myers Beach and impede the efforts of its homeowners.
Weather and forecasting
Hurricane season is usually considered to end on Nov. 30. The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. That means that government shutdowns tend to occur towards the end of hurricane season but still within its clutches. (For example, Hurricane Sandy formed late in October, 2012.)
All essential weather forecasting is done by federal agencies like the National Hurricane Center, the National Weather Service, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a variety of supporting institutions.
Weather forecasting and hurricane monitoring doesn’t stop with a shutdown; in the past, unpaid scientists continued at their posts. However, it can have increasingly deleterious effects depending on how long the shutdown lasts. Forecasting can slow or lose detail. A more subtle corrosive effect is the slowdown of research efforts and improvements for future forecasting. Preparations for upcoming storm seasons slow or stop.
Forecasting is absolutely essential for Southwest Florida given its vulnerability to hurricanes. All the forecasting on local television stations depend on federal data. While the stations’ advanced radars (which also provide data to federal forecasters) can provide pictures of local conditions, the federal government’s satellite network provides long-range forecasts of the entire Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
However, it’s not just hurricane forecasting that’s damaged. Federal forecasters watch for other threats that affect Southwest Florida like drought and dry conditions conducive to wildfires. Harmful algal blooms like red tide and blue-green algae are monitored by NOAA and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.
A government shutdown diminishes the ability to see climatic dangers of all kinds ahead—and that’s not a good place for Southwest Florida to be during hurricane season.
The US Coast Guard
The US Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and as such, unlike the Defense Department, is not exempt from government shutdowns.
The Coast Guard has many missions, of which lifesaving is a primary one. However, it is also responsible for coastal security, drug interdiction, maritime safety, environmental protection, law enforcement, waterway management, port safety, immigration control and many more.
Lee County has a Coast Guard station in Fort Myers. Lee and Collier counties also have Auxiliary stations and Charlotte County has an Auxiliary flotilla. The Auxiliary is a volunteer arm of the Coast Guard that assists its many missions. Typical Auxiliary activities include boating safety training, patrolling, and classroom instruction.
During the Trump shutdown the Coast Guard continued its lifesaving search and rescue functions uninterrupted, even though Coast Guard personnel were unpaid.
However, Auxiliary activities were curtailed. Normal operations like vessel examinations, partner visitations, safe boating classes and community relations appearances were put on hold. While Auxiliary volunteers were allowed in January to meet and do public outreach and education, they were prohibited from taking any actions that might have required spending Coast Guard funds.
National parks and reserves
During the Trump shutdown, Southwest Florida parks and reserves, like the Florida Panther and JN “Ding” Darling national wildlife refuges, Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve were open but unstaffed. Visitor centers closed and National Park Service (NPS) websites and social media postings were suspended.
“Park visitors are advised to use extreme caution if choosing to enter NPS property, as NPS personnel will not be available to provide guidance, assistance, maintenance, or emergency response,” announced an NPS press release. “Any entry onto NPS property during this period of federal government shutdown is at the visitor’s sole risk.”
After the Trump shutdown was over, NPS announced it would use visitors’ fees to fund cleanup of the trash and debris that had accumulated while NPS personnel were absent. Volunteers pitched in to clean up the mess.
The same problems are likely to occur if there’s a shutdown this year.
Aviation operations
Southwest Florida has three airports: the Southwest Florida International Airport in Lee County has regular, scheduled commercial flights as does Punta Gorda Airport in Charlotte County. Naples Airport in Collier County serves private and general aviation.
All air traffic controllers are federal employees of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In the past they have worked without pay during shutdowns. However, the Trump shutdown did cause delays and put strains on air travel at major airports and the same can be expected this time.
Because safety inspectors were unpaid, in 2018 and 2019 the FAA did curtail some administrative actions like issuing safety certifications, issuing new pilot safety ratings, and conducting and grading pilot examinations, among other activities.
Both the directorate of Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) are parts of DHS. During the Trump shutdown, administrative functions at these agencies were affected. TSA screeners were unpaid and some did not report for work, further delaying and disrupting travel and air-based commerce.
For everyday air travelers, the shutdown manifested itself in longer lines at screening checkpoints and the uncertainty of delayed or cancelled flights.
Social Security, Medicare and more
In the shadow of a shutdown, social programs offer one of the few bright spots.
During the Trump shutdown the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Social Security and Medicare, had been funded by an appropriations bill that had already passed Congress so there was never an interruption in payments.
That is not the case this year. However, these social programs are funded by a separate law that does not require annual appropriations. While many government employees administering the programs will likely work without pay for the duration of any shutdown, recipients should see no interruption in their benefits.
However, activities like issuing new Social Security cards, handling complaints and problems, and verifying applicant eligibility will likely be curtailed.
Other government services will likely slow down or stop. Passports are unlikely to be processed or issued by the State Department. The Small Business Administration is unlikely to handle small business loans. Law enforcement and prison personnel will be expected to work without pay. During the Trump shutdown federal law enforcement and corrections personnel slowed down their activities or took leave.
Mail delivery should not be affected since the US Postal Service operates from different funding sources.
Analysis: No small matter
There is a tendency by politicians justifying a shutdown to minimize or dismiss its impact both to avoid blame and not alarm constituents. They should be ignored—shutting down the government is a big deal. People will feel it on the ground in myriad ways. Additionally, it adds to the cost of everything, driving inflation and lowering the nation’s gross domestic product.
There is also a tendency to hope and expect that a shutdown will be brief. That, however, cannot be counted upon. As with wars, which people usually hope will be swift, decisive and victorious, shutdowns can drag on and have unexpected complications; a good recent example of this is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. He expected the war to be over in a matter of days or, at most, weeks—it is now in its nineteenth month.
In the past, shutdowns or “funding gaps” as they are more technically known, were addressed immediately by Congress and the executive branch. Everyone realized they were bad for the country, the economy and the American people. However, since then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (today a Naples resident) forced two politically motivated shutdowns in 1995 (the second of which went 21 days into 1996), they have become longer, more acrimonious and more dangerous.
Donald Trump’s 35-day shutdown in 2018 and 2019 was the most damaging to date. This year, on Wednesday, Sept. 20, on his Truth Social media platform he called for another shutdown “to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots.”
How the current impasse will play out remains to be seen (and will be covered and analyzed in a separate article). Suffice it to say that no matter how distant or untouched Southwest Floridians may feel from the federal government, they will feel the effects of a shutdown—in their wallets, their travel and their daily lives.
A sign announces that the JN “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge visitor center is closed during the 2018 government shutdown. Despite the shutdown, the center reopened d in January 2019. (Photo: Andrea Perdomo/WGCU News)
Gov. Ron DeSantis, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump. (Illustration: Neil Freese, UC Berkeley)
Sept. 9, 2023 by David Silverberg
Natural disasters create political winners and losers.
As a general rule, disasters favor incumbents—but only if they perform well.
Florida has just been through Hurricane Idalia. So how well did the three of America’s top politicians (two in Florida) perform in response? And what are the likely political consequences of their actions?
Joe on the spot
President Joe Biden, with a map of Florida, coordinates the federal response to Hurricane Idalia. (Photo: White House)
For a sitting president, disasters are dicey propositions. A responsible president wants to be alert and aware of all developments and take whatever actions are necessary to aid and support the victims and the response. He wants to do all this without seeming to exploit the situation for political or partisan benefit.
A good example of this occurred in 1969 when President Richard Nixon stayed in touch with affected governors in the run-up to Hurricane Camille. As the storm approached the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coasts, Nixon appointed Vice President Spiro Agnew to personally handle states’ needs. Mississippi Gov. John Bell Williams received a phone call from Agnew. “…The Vice President of the United States wanted us to know in advance that they stood ready and anxious to assist us in any way that they could,” Bell said afterwards.
Today the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) handles all the preparing, prepositioning, mobilizing and coordinating when a storm is about to strike. (Of course, sudden, unexpected disasters like the Maui wildfires pose different challenges.) There are well-established protocols before, during and after the event.
Once the disaster has occurred all officials face new choices. High-profile executives like presidents, governors and mayors want to get a sense of the scope of the disaster with a personal visit and provide comfort and show concern for the victims. Against this is the concern that a visit will interfere with operations and rescues. Moreover, failing to visit in person or waiting too long can seem to signal indifference or neglect.
Biden has seen many disasters and responses during his time as a US Senator, Vice President and President, so Hurricane Idalia was nothing new. Just ten days before Hurricane Idalia hit, he visited wildfire-stricken Maui.
Before the storm, Biden was in contact with all the governors of the likely affected states. After speaking to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) he prepared an emergency declaration so Floridians would get the federal support they needed once the hurricane struck.
With Biden’s approval, FEMA surged emergency personnel into the affected area and got endangered residents out.
“As a matter of fact, I have asked that [FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell] get on a plane and leave for Florida this afternoon,” he announced on Aug. 31. “She will meet with Governor DeSantis tomorrow and begin helping, conducting the federal assessment at my direction.”
He also told the press corps: “I let each governor I spoke with know that if there’s anything — anything the states need right now, I am ready to mobilize that support of what they need.”
He also convened a Cabinet meeting to make sure that all federal departments and agencies contributed to a “whole-of-government” response.
That may seem like an obvious action to take but that hasn’t always been the presidential response in past disasters.
Particularly dicey was Biden’s relationship with DeSantis, who as a Republican presidential candidate had been relentlessly criticizing and attacking him. However, the two had experience working together on other disaster responses: the Surfside building collapse in 2021 and Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Biden was asked directly about this by a reporter: “Mr. President, Governor DeSantis is also running for president. You are running for reelection. Do you sense any politics in your conversations with him about this issue?”
Biden answered: “No, believe it or not. I know that sounds strange, especially how — looking at the nature of politics today.
“But, you know, I was down there when…the last major storm. I spent a lot of time with him, walking from village to — from community to community, making sure he had what he needed to get it done. I think he trusts my judgment and my desire to help. And I trust him to be able to suggest that he’s… .This is not about politics. This is about taking care of the people of his state.”
Biden came to Live Oak, Fla., on Saturday, Sept. 2 to see Idalia’s damage for himself.
“I’m here today to deliver a clear message to the people of Florida and throughout the Southeast,” he said, standing in front of a home with a massive, downed tree in the background. “As I told your governor: If there is anything your state needs, I’m ready to mobilize that support — anything they need related to these storms. Your nation has your back, and we’ll be with you until the job is done.”
Of course, DeSantis wasn’t present to hear those words.
Ron returns
Gov. Ron DeSantis gives one of his press conferences regarding Hurricane Idalia. (Photo: NBC)
On Saturday, Aug. 26, while still campaigning in South Carolina, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 33 Florida counties. This allowed the Florida National Guard to mobilize 1,100 troops and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to assign officers and mobile command units to hurricane response. Throughout the state, government agencies prepared for the impact, including the Florida Highway Patrol and the departments of Commerce and Transportation.
On Sunday, Aug. 27, DeSantis suspended campaigning and returned to Florida to oversee the Idalia response.
“We’re locked down on this. We’re gonna get the job done. This is important, so people can rest assured,” DeSantis told reporters during a briefing at the state Emergency Management Center. Asked where he’d be for the next week, he replied: “I am here. I am here.”
DeSantis wasn’t just returning to a hurricane; on Aug. 26 a racist gunman in Jacksonville randomly killed three black shoppers at a Dollar General store before committing suicide. On Sunday DeSantis was booed when he attended a vigil honoring the dead.
But the hurricane was an ongoing and impending threat that demanded attention. In the days that followed, as Idalia strengthened, traveled up the coast and made landfall in the Big Bend region, DeSantis focused on his gubernatorial duties, regularly briefed the media, and warned Floridians of potential dangers and urged precautions. He seemed in command, both of the forces on the ground and of the facts.
DeSantis didn’t just suspend his in-person campaigning, he also suspended his hostility to Biden.
“When you have situations like this, you’ve got to put the interests of the people first,” DeSantis told reporters in Tallahassee the next day. “There’s time and a place to have [a] political season, but then there’s a time and a place to say that this is something that’s life-threatening. This is something that could potentially cost somebody their life, that could cost them their livelihood. And we have a responsibility as Americans to come together and do what we can to mitigate any damage and to protect people.”
He appeared authoritative and knowledgeable and when Idalia made landfall and moved on, the DeSantis campaign was ready to make the most of it.
Andrew Romeo, DeSantis campaign communications director, issued a campaign memo praising DeSantis in for “Strong Leadership” and a “Swift Response.”
In the memo, obtained by Florida Politics reporter Jacob Ogles, which provided talking points for DeSantis supporters, Romeo stated: “The DeSantis Administration helped guide the state through another historic storm.” He noted that, “As part of that effort, Ron DeSantis appropriately left the presidential campaign trail to focus on the needs of Floridians.”
Democrats were unimpressed. “It’s the bare minimum,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-42-Orlando). “In the context of responding to a hurricane, of course you’re supposed to be here and to help communicate what first responders are doing. In the context of innocent people being murdered for the color of their skin by a racist gunman, the bare minimum is to express condolences with loved ones.”
After Idalia passed, DeSantis faced a new choice: how to react to Biden’s visit? Now that the immediate emergency was over, it was time for politics.
On the one hand, DeSantis and Biden had seemed to reach a truce in order to serve Floridians.
Much depended on where and when the President would visit.
According to FEMA Administrator Criswell, the White House took operational issues into consideration when choosing the place and time and informed DeSantis in advance.
“When the president contacted the governor to let him know he was going to be visiting … the governor’s team and my team mutually agreed on a place that would have minimal impact into operations,” Criswell said on the program CNN This Morning. “Live Oak, you know, the power is being restored. The roads aren’t blocked, but there’s families that are hurting there.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Criswell’s account, saying: “The president spoke with the governor. It was an understanding. The president said to him he was coming to Florida. We never heard any disagreement with it.”
Biden said he expected to meet DeSantis when he arrived.
But the day before, DeSantis announced that he wouldn’t be present.
“We don’t have any plans for the Governor to meet with the President tomorrow,” Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ press secretary, announced in a press statement. “In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts.”
Once he was in Live Oak, Biden was asked if he was disappointed that DeSantis was absent.
“No, I’m not disappointed,” Biden responded. “He may have had other reasons because…but he did help us plan this. He sat with FEMA and decided where we should go, where it’d be the least disruption.”
In pointed contrast, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a bitter rival of DeSantis, was present and had fulsome praise for Biden.
“First off, the President did a great job with the early declaration before the storm hit the coast. That was a big deal. It helped all these first responders,” said Scott, who as governor had weathered Hurricane Irma. “And then with how fast you approved through FEMA the individual assistance, the public assistance and debris pickup is a big deal to everyone in these communities.”
Biden, for his part, said he was “very pleased” that Scott was present even though politically they do not agree on “very much at all.” That was especially gracious given that last year after Hurricane Ian and just before his visit to Southwest Florida, Scott called Biden “a raving lunatic.”
Another of DeSantis’ political rivals had sharp words for his absence from the president’s visit—and he spoke from hard experience.
Then-Gov. Chris Christie greets President Barack Obama in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey. (Photo: NJ Governor’s Office)
On Oct. 29, 2012, amidst a presidential campaign, Hurricane Sandy came ashore in Brigantine, NJ as a Category 3 storm and did tremendous damage to the Garden State and neighboring New York City. Republican Chris Christie was then the governor and was considered a leading vice presidential candidate for nominee Mitt Romney and a potential contender in 2016.
When Democratic President Barack Obama, running for re-election, offered help to the stricken state, Christie eagerly accepted it and praised the president, whose assistance he called “outstanding.”
“I want to thank the president personally for his personal attention to this,” said Christie at the time, adding later that Obama kept all his promises. When Obama arrived on the last day of October to see the damage for himself, Christie hugged him and faced scorn and vituperation from fellow Republicans ever afterwards.
So Christie, a presidential candidate this year, knew whereof he spoke when it came to disasters and presidential visits.
“Your job as Governor is to be the tour guide for the President. It’s to make sure the President sees your people, sees the damage, sees the suffering, what’s going on, and what’s going to need to be done to rebuild it. You’re doing your job. And unfortunately, he put politics ahead of his job. That was his choice,” Christie said of DeSantis in a television interview.
He continued: “I’m not the least bit surprised that that’s what he chose to do. You’re the governor of the state. The President of the United States comes and you’re asking the President of the United States or the Congress for significant aid, which Ron DeSantis is doing, and especially if you voted against it ten years ago for Sandy aid, you should have been there with the President to welcome it.” That last reference was a bit of payback for DeSantis’ vote when he was a congressman to deny an appropriations bill that helped New Jersey.
DeSantis maintained he spent the day touring other places. “I was in the communities that were the hardest hit by the storm. And Joe Biden didn’t go to those areas, I think correctly, because the whole security apparatus would have shut down the recovery. So I was exactly where I needed to be,” DeSantis said in a television interview at the end of the day.
Missing man
Former President Donald Trump.
Former President Donald Trump did not have any executive authority or operational responsibilities during Hurricane Idalia. However, he was a Florida resident and a presidential candidate, so his actions and pronouncements were in the public domain.
Like both Biden and DeSantis he had experience with disasters. On Sept. 14, 2017 he visited Fort Myers and Naples after Hurricane Irma, accompanied by his wife Melania and Vice President Mike Pence. He offered words of thanks and encouragement to first responders and in East Naples handed out sandwiches. This followed a visit to Texas and Louisiana to see the effects of Hurricane Harvey, which had struck 16 days earlier. Then, on Oct. 4, he visited Puerto Rico, which had been struck by Hurricane Maria. It was on that occasion that he infamously tossed paper towels to a church full of hurricane victims.
This year, Trump did not take any actions or make any statements related to the hurricane, which bypassed his Palm Beach home, Mar-a-Lago.
He did, however, maintain a drumbeat of criticism of DeSantis on his Truth Social media platform, ranging from floating a false statement that DeSantis had dropped out of the race to attacking him for Florida’s high insurance rates.
“Trump ignored the storm for days, instead posting a litany of insults aimed at his political adversaries while highlighting positive poll numbers for his campaign,” reported Max Greenwood in the Tampa Bay Times on Aug. 31.
“By the time Trump mentioned Hurricane Idalia in a Wednesday afternoon post, he had already posted more than 140 times on Truth Social since Monday on a multitude of subjects, even dredging up an old letter the late actor Kirk Douglas sent him in 1998. (The count of Trump’s posts includes times in which he reposted messages from other accounts.)
“Kirk was a real Movie ‘Star,’” Trump wrote Wednesday, before mentioning the hurricane. “Not many left today. They are mostly woke and weak!”
When asked about Trump’s hurricane-related silence at one of his press conferences, DeSantis shrugged it off. “Not my concern. My concern is protecting the people of Florida, being ready to go,” he said.
Analysis: Winners and losers
Of the three politicians, DeSantis faced the most difficult choices: one was to decide whether to suspend his campaign and return to Florida and the other was whether to meet Biden when he visited.
The decision to return to Florida was relatively easy: First, he belonged in Florida at that moment. Secondly, if he had not returned, he would have faced blistering criticism from all quarters and been hammered for not being presidential. It would have also damaged the state and its people. While the lieutenant governor could have handled the crisis, an absent governor would have seemed cowardly and hurt the response. His already declining poll numbers would have plummeted. It might have meant the end of his candidacy. Returning was the obvious and proper thing to do.
The Biden visit presented a very different challenge. With the storm passed, political considerations were paramount. DeSantis and his people had to worry that perhaps the governor’s relationship with the President had become too close and might alienate Republican primary voters. After all, they had the example of Christie’s 2012 embrace of Obama as an example of extreme Republican voter retaliation for a momentary human act of bipartisan cooperation (as well as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s 2014 Obama embrace).
Also, greeting the president might have made the defiant, anti-Biden DeSantis seem too subservient to a president he had repeatedly insulted and denigrated and might be running against. And Biden would have completely eclipsed the governor, who would have had to respectfully and silently stand behind him as he spoke.
So the choice was: greet the president for the sake of Florida and face Republican primary voter retaliation, or avoid the president and face media and opposition criticism.
Whatever the exact calculation, DeSantis chose to snub Biden—and snub it was, the DeSantis camp’s lame excuses notwithstanding. It made DeSantis seem petty, overly political and irresponsible, as Christie pointed out. It added to his image of meanness and arrogance.
The snub has already overshadowed an otherwise capable performance as governor in a crisis. People expect calm, command, and competence from their leaders during events like hurricanes and in this DeSantis delivered. His job was to make the emergency declarations, authorize the proper state agencies to take action and facilitate the response. From all evidence, he did this.
The question for DeSantis is not whether this will find favor with Floridians since they’ve already voted and he won’t be running again for governor. The real question is whether an effective performance as governor in Florida will have any resonance at all with Republican primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. South Carolinians know from hurricanes; Iowans and New Hampshirites, not so much. They’re more likely to remember a presidential hug than a hurricane response, so snubbing Biden came at less cost to DeSantis than the value of a meeting for the state of Florida.
Whether Idalia made DeSantis a winner or loser will be told in polls in the days to come and especially in the primaries and caucuses next year, which will determine his presidential fate.
For Biden, Idalia completely confirmed the truth that disasters, if competently handled, favor incumbents
From the outset, Idalia posed no political threat to Biden unless he utterly flubbed the response—which he certainly did not.
In natural disasters, presidents are expected to offer and authorize support for affected areas, coordinate among states and governors, ensure as smooth a federal response as possible and provide comfort and encouragement to victims. Biden did all these things.
While Biden is being criticized for his age, his long governmental experience, political savvy and past disaster management showed in his competence and responsiveness to the Idalia challenge. He knew to stay out of the way of the operators in FEMA and on the ground. He offered a non-partisan hand of cooperation to DeSantis despite the latter’s previous attacks on him. He was high-minded and gracious in the face of an obvious, though petty, snub. He showed care and concern for everyday Floridians hurt by the storm.
It’s not as though he couldn’t get his partisan digs in but they were subtle and dignified yet telling. For example, by making perfectly clear that his visit had been coordinated with DeSantis beforehand he reinforced the perception of DeSantis as petty and politically-obsessed. But Biden did it without anger or rancor.
Clearly, Biden emerged from the storm a winner.
As noted before, Donald Trump had no operational responsibilities or command authorities during the storm. Nonetheless, he is a presidential candidate, a public figure and a Floridian. Despite this, his response, as is so characteristic of him, was deranged, narcissistic and divorced from the reality of a crisis afflicting what is now his home state. Unless the storm had damaged Mar-a-Lago, it’s doubtful he would have noticed it at all.
What is more, at a time when all the other Republican candidates suspended their attacks on DeSantis while he faced the crisis, Trump barely skipped a beat. His attacks “underscore the degree to which Trump, in ways that often escape notice anymore, forgoes the traditional, sober-minded approach of nearly every other Republican and Democratic politician in times of crisis in favor of a style that keeps the focus on himself rather than imperiled communities,” Greenwood observed in the Tampa Bay Times.
“The former president overcame that unorthodox approach to win a presidential race in 2016. But it does still carry some political risk for the candidate, including from some conservatives who bristle at his decision to stay on the attack against DeSantis even amid Florida’s recovery efforts,” he wrote.
As though the indictments, impeachments, past incompetence and insults did not already make clear that Trump is unfit for any office, his response to Idalia should remove any doubts—if doubts anyone can still have.
This particularly applies to Floridians who should remember it when it comes to the presidential primary next March or if, as seems likely, Trump is the Republican nominee in the general election in November. Trump currently leads DeSantis in presidential polling in Florida. But when Florida specifically was threatened, Trump just did not care even though he lives on the same peninsula and shares its fate.
If Joe Biden had Floridians’ backs, Donald Trump turned his back on Floridians.
By any objective measure, Trump should be classified an Idalia loser—but there’s no telling if it will play out that way when the votes are counted in the early primary states and Florida.
Hurricane season is not over. Climate change is producing wild and unpredictable weather. There will be other storms, there will be wildfires, there will be roasting heat, there will be plagues.
Elected leaders will have to cope with all these challenges. A good leader in a crisis saves lives, manages well and provides comfort. The electorate should know what to look for in those who seek to lead them— and make their selections accordingly.
Hurricane Idalia as it approached Florida. (Photo: NOAA)
President Joe Biden surveys the damage from Hurricane Idalia during a visit to Live Oaks, Fla. (Image: CSPAN)
Sept. 4, 2023 by David Silverberg
On Saturday, Sept. 2, President Joe Biden came to Live Oak, Fla., to see the damage from Hurricane Idalia for himself.
During a press conference, Biden was asked: “Are you confident there will be enough money to deal with the disaster and other disasters that have happened and will continue to happen around the country?”
Biden answered: “The answer is I am confident because I cannot imagine Congress saying, ‘We are not going to help.’ There are going to be fights about things that do not relate to this. But I think we will get through it, I cannot imagine people saying ‘No,’ they are not going to help.”
And yet there is a very significant faction in Congress saying exactly that.
The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 and this year, as in past years, the far right Freedom Caucus in the US House of Representatives is threatening to shut down the government if its policy demands aren’t met.
In an Aug. 21 statement, the Caucus listed their demands before approving government appropriations for the next fiscal year. They demanded that the United States vastly restrict border access and end “woke” policies of inclusion and non-discrimination in the military. But their truly significant demand was that Congress “address the unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI to focus them on prosecuting real criminals instead of conducting political witch hunts and targeting law-abiding citizens;” i.e., stop investigating and prosecuting former President Donald Trump and other insurrectionists like fugitive Proud Boy Christopher Worrell of Naples.
If these demands are not met and the Freedom Caucus succeeds in stopping next year’s appropriations in any form, the government will stop functioning at midnight on Sept. 30. Critical services and functions will shut down. Most importantly, federal aid and assistance to people and communities suffering from natural disasters like Hurricane Idalia will suddenly stop at a time when need will still be extremely high.
Among the members of this extreme, Trumpist, invitation-only 45-member Caucus is Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), who is ready, willing and eager to bring government to a halt. (Another member is Rep. Greg Steube (R-17-Fla.))
“I’m not afraid of shutdowns,” Donalds told Punchbowl News, a website that focuses on Washington news. “American life doesn’t halt because government offices are closed … We have to be serious about spending.”
As early as July 25 he told reporters “If it’s [a government shutdown] a requirement to break bad habits, so be it. And this town [Washington, DC] has a bad habits problem.”
Of course the people who would suffer to break these bad habits would not be in Washington, DC; they would be in Florida and in the places where they’re still recovering from the effects of the storm.
In a more immediate impact for his constituents, Donalds’ support for shutting down the government sabotages his own legislation, introduced early in the session, to help protect Southwest Florida from the effects of harmful algal blooms (HABs) even if there’s a government shutdown.
In fact, this contradiction brings to light Donalds’ legislative record in the current Congress, which is, to put it mildly, abysmal. He’s introduced 46 bills and then ignored them all.
Background to the blooms
The HABs bill has its origins in 2018’s massive and persistent red tide and blue-green algal blooms. Then-Rep. Francis Rooney, the Republican congressman who represented the 19th Congressional District covering the coastal area from Cape Coral to Marco Island, introduced two pieces of legislation.
One was the Harmful Algal Bloom Essential Forecasting Act. This bill ensured that federal agencies would monitor HABs even if there was a government shutdown. The agencies included the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. Their monitoring enables local communities to prepare for bloom effects and warn residents of health and water hazards.
The other bill added HABs to the official roster of major disasters eligible for federal aid. The Protecting Local Communities from Harmful Algal Blooms Act consisted of a three-word amendment to The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Under this, Southwest Florida businesses and residents would be eligible for a variety of federal support if businesses or livelihoods were damaged by a bloom just the same as if they were hit by a hurricane.
Neither bill made any progress during Rooney’s two terms in office, which ended in 2021.
This year Donalds reintroduced Rooney’s two previous pieces of legislation.
(Also in February he introduced a new water-related piece of legislation, the Water Quality and Environmental Innovation Act (HR 873). This established and funded a Water Quality and Environmental Innovation Fund that for five years would provide money to the Environmental Protection Agency to use advanced technologies to protect water quality. This proposal would also be sabotaged by a government shutdown.)
These bills directly benefited Southwest Florida. But none of them have made any progress after being introduced. In fact, of 46 bills he has introduced, he has not worked to advance any of them. None have made any progress at all.
To understand why this constitutes such a legislative failure, it helps to understand the legislative process.
Protocols and procedures
When a member of the House of Representatives introduces a stand-alone bill (one not attached to any other piece of legislation), the Speaker of the House (actually, his office) refers it to a committee for consideration.
Especially when a bill is of a technical or scientific nature, the committee chair usually refers it to a subcommittee handling specialized topics.
The subcommittee holds hearings, gets input from the public and listens to experts before recommending that the bill be considered by the full committee. The committee considers it, often does a “mark-up,” in which it is edited and revised, then votes whether to send it for consideration by the full House of Representatives.
If the bill gets to the floor and passes, it’s then sent to the Senate for consideration. If it passes the Senate in the same form as received from the House it then goes to the president’s desk for signature and implementation.
Any member of Congress can introduce a bill on any topic. But the art and craft of legislating is in moving a piece of legislation from introduction, through committee, to full passage—to say nothing of getting Senate approval and presidential signature. It’s an arduous process full of compromise, contention and often controversy. It takes skill, perseverance and attention to get a piece of legislation all the way through the process.
In this session of Congress, Donalds has not advanced a single stand-alone bill he introduced.
He counts as successes three amendments to other people’s legislation, which passed. Two were related to the nuclear industry, one streamlining the permitting process (House Amendment (H.Amdt) 133) and the other (H.Amdt. 149) to require a report on the status of US uranium. A third, (H.Amdt. 265) established an aircraft pilot apprenticeship program.
None directly affected Southwest Florida.
Legislation introduced this year by Rep. Byron Donalds and its status
Below is a list of all the stand-alone bills introduced this year by Rep. Byron Donalds with their status and a brief description. They are in chronological order. Categories are assigned by the author. No bill has advanced further than its initial introduction. More details on each individual bill can be obtained by going to Congress.gov and entering the bill number in the search box or by accessing and downloading the Excel Workbook available at the end of this article. (Source: Congress.gov)
Analysis: Going nuclear
Instead of attending to the legislation he introduced that directly affected Southwest Floridians, Donalds chose to become a champion of the nuclear power industry and is putting all his effort into promoting and expanding it through legislation. No doubt most—if not all—of the legislation he has introduced on this topic, some of it very technical and specific, was drafted by nuclear industry lobbyists and simply introduced under Donalds’ name.
None of this is directly related to the 19th Congressional District, which is drenched in 266 days of sunshine a year and perfectly situated to take advantage of solar power. As of this writing, no known nuclear power plants are planned for the district.
Opponents of nuclear power will be comforted, however, by the fact that Donalds hasn’t advanced any of his nuclear bills, nor is there any prospect of him doing so. Like his every other piece of original stand-alone legislation, they sit at their committees’ doors, ignored by their sponsor. They are more likely to be promoted by far more active and attentive nuclear industry lobbyists than anyone working on behalf of Southwest Florida.
More than any legislative efforts, Donalds has put his real energy into ideological crusades, either promoting extreme Make America Great Again positions, defending former president Donald Trump, raising money, impeaching President Joe Biden, or trying to rise in the Republican Party. Political speculation is that he’s either angling for a slot as Trump’s vice president or positioning himself to run for Florida governor in 2026.
Whatever Donalds’ aims, protecting Southwest Florida from harmful algal blooms and helping hurricane-devastated Floridians are not among them.
Commentary: Moving the legislation
When it was introduced, HR 325, the bill keeping forecasting going in the event of a shutdown, was referred to the Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee. It was also referred to the Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
HR 1008, treating blooms as a natural disaster, went to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials. It was also referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
In normal times, it’s unlikely that either of these would be passed by the whole Congress this late in the legislative session. But with a government shutdown looming, it may make sense for Southwest Floridians to take matters into their own hands and try to lobby for the legislation that their congressman seems to have forgotten.
As a start, concerned, active Floridians can contact the subcommittee chairs and ranking members (the most senior member from the other party) and tell them that in light of their congressman’s inaction, they themselves are urging that these pieces of legislation be advanced as soon as possible to beat a possible shutdown.
It’s a Hail Mary play but when the quarterback is missing in action, there’s not much else anyone can do. (Contact information is at the end of this article.)
Commentary: No time to shut down
Donalds’ embrace of a government shutdown at this time is incredibly irresponsible. A government shutdown will be a new form of devastation for Floridians already suffering from the devastation of Hurricane Idalia. It would certainly hinder, if not bring to a screeching stop, operations by FEMA. Assistance to individuals, communities and the state could be cut off just when people need it the most.
Donalds’ willingness to shut down the government is especially illogical in light of the fact that legislation he introduced is intended to ensure that essential forecasting services helpful to his district continue despite a possible government shutdown—a shutdown which he himself is now accepting and promoting as a position of the Freedom Caucus—which might better be termed the Crazy Caucus.
Donalds’ action (or inaction) on these matters has brought to light his gaping failure to responsibly advance the legislation he has introduced during this session. Clearly, to Donalds, introducing bills is nothing more than throwing mud at a wall, hoping some of it sticks and not even waiting around to see if it does. He’s not serious about what he proposes; it’s merely an ancillary activity while he concentrates on ingratiating himself with the nuclear industry and Donald Trump.
And his efforts are in the service of the Crazy Caucus’ efforts to disrupt, derail and destroy the government. These people want to shut down the government chiefly to protect Donald Trump, who is finally facing justice in a court of law.
President Joe Biden has other priorities more critical to Florida: “As I told your governor, if there’s anything your state needs, I’m ready to mobilize that support,” Biden said at his news conference. “Your nation has your back, and we’ll be with you until the job is done.”
The Crazy Caucus threat to the nation’s appropriations comes as FEMA’s disaster fund is running low because of all the climate change-related natural disasters it’s had to handle. The administration is asking Congress for $16 billion to cover not just the Idalia cleanup but everything else as well and looming future challenges.
Providing that funding in the next fiscal year or sooner is really what Congress needs to be doing—not wrestling with a government shutdown caused by a handful of fanatics that will hurt all Americans and especially those suffering in Florida and its Southwestern region.
Donalds should be giving his loyalty to the people he represents, not an indicted former president and a suicidal cultic caucus.
At a May 30 press conference at the Capitol building Rep. Byron Donalds and other members of the Freedom Caucus listen to Rep. Lauren Boebert. (Photo: Washington Post)
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To contact members of Congress and urge them to advance legislation to full committee consideration, contact the following key chair people and ranking members. E-mail addresses are only for constituents so this requires a paper letter or phone call. In any messages, it should be made clear that you are contacting them in their capacity as leaders of their subcommittees. Be sure to mention the bill number and your concern for the 19th Congressional District of Florida.
Beginning this month, the nation baked in relentless, climate change-induced heat; wildfires and storms took lives and wreaked immense havoc; former President Donald Trump was charged with a total of 91 alleged crimes under four indictments; he and 18 of his associates were indicted in Georgia for trying to overthrow the 2020 election; all were arrested and processed in the Fulton County Jail; Trump’s mugshot was released; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) steadily dropped in the polls; Republican presidential candidates except Trump held a televised debate; in Naples convicted Proud Boy Chris Worrell and his girlfriend fled before his sentencing and disappeared; Collier County commissioners passed an ordinance asserting their right to ignore federal law and Hurricane Idalia formed in the Gulf of Mexico.
Other than that, it was a typical, sleepy August.
Looking ahead, of all these monumental events, the one that looms largest, with the greatest, longest and most far-reaching consequences for Southwest Florida in particular was…
Passage of the anti-federal ordinance.
Why is this? Let us count the ways.
The vote
On Aug. 22 the Collier County Board of Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to pass the “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” ordinance. Commissioners Rick LoCastro (R-1), Chris Hall (R-2), Dan Kowal (R-4) and William McDaniel (R-5) voted for it. Commissioner Burt Saunders (R-3) cast the only negative vote.
The decision came after weeks of intense debate and hours of testimony on the day of the vote that saw 52 speakers argue both sides.
Proponents, in particular Hall, the bill’s sponsor, maintained that the ordinance protects Collier County citizens from an overreaching federal government by giving them standing to sue officials whom they might allege violated their basic rights. They argued that it actually enhanced adherence to the United States Constitution.
“Collier County has the right to be free from the commanding hand of the federal government and has the right to refuse to cooperate with federal government officials in response to unconstitutional federal government measures and to proclaim a ‘Bill of Rights’ sanctuary,” the ordinance asserts.
Opponents argued that the law was unconstitutional, illegal, unnecessary, vague, unenforceable and would encourage lawlessness and confusion.
(The Paradise Progressive extensively covered this debate both in 2021 when it was first raised, and in 2023 and expressed strong opposition. Past articles can be seen here. The ordinance’s full final version can be downloaded at the conclusion of this article.)
Now that the ordinance is law in Collier County, what are some possible effects in both the immediate and long term?
Hurricane hell
Debris lines a street in Naples, Fla., following Hurricane Ian in 2022. (Photo: Author)
Ironically enough, the Collier County Board of Commissioners passed the anti-federal ordinance right in the depths of hurricane season, just when the “I” storms seem to come at Southwest Florida (Irma, Ian, Idalia).
Hurricanes are an annual fact of life in Southwest Florida and last year’s Hurricane Ian showed just how devastating they can be. Just north of Collier County the town of Fort Myers Beach was virtually wiped off the map. Collier County too suffered flooding and wind damage.
After Hurricane Ian, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stepped in to aid the affected area. Search and rescue crews from all over the United States were brought into Fort Myers. People were sheltered and fed. Housing was provided to those left homeless. FEMA worked hard to restore communications and infrastructure. When it came time to clean up, FEMA funding helped with debris removal and restoration.
But FEMA works according to an extensive and complex set of federal laws and regulations and those laws and regulations govern its relationships with the states and localities it helps.
There is a real question whether FEMA would be legally able to assist a county that proclaims itself outside federal law.
Hurricane season lasts until Nov. 30 and Collier County could be hit at any time. This year, if it’s struck, FEMA leadership will have to weigh whether it can assist a county that has proclaimed its right not to obey federal law and may not follow any of the rules and regulations that govern disaster assistance.
If that’s the case, Collier County alone would have to bear the costs of debris removal and clean up and would get no federal assistance with rescue and restoration. Those costs could run into the billions of dollars and the county could be crippled financially for decades. Physical damage that might otherwise be quickly repaired could linger just as long.
What is more, this could affect insurance and insurance rates in the county. Insurance companies are already fleeing the state and rates are skyrocketing, but with a county outside federal law and beyond the reach of FEMA, Collier County and everything and everyone in it will become uninsurable.
With its anti-federal ordinance, Collier County proclaimed its determination to go it alone. If it finds itself devastated by a hurricane, it may just get its wish.
Law enforcement
The FBI poster for Naples Proud Boy Christopher Worrell. (Image: FBI)
The anti-federal ordinance injects a degree of uncertainty in the federal search for Proud Boy Christopher “Chris” Worrell.
His flight made nationalnews and he is now on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) most wanted list.
In a regular, law-abiding jurisdiction, the local law enforcement agency would be expected to join with federal law enforcement in investigating and apprehending this criminal as a matter of course. However, in a jurisdiction that has carved an exception for itself that kind of cooperation cannot be assumed.
This is particularly true in Collier County where Sheriff Kevin Rambosk, the highest ranking local law enforcement official, endorsed the anti-federal ordinance, not once but twice. The first was in 2021 when it explicitly nullified federal law and the second was this year’s slightly less harshly worded statute.
Whether Rambosk would be able to execute federal warrants was the subject of considerable discussion during the Board’s debate and while Worrell’s name wasn’t explicitly mentioned, it certainly seemed he was on commissioners’ minds.
After one rambling introduction, Kowal asked Rambosk, who testified through Zoom: “If that came to you, for you, and the FBI walked down here with a warrant in hand that was signed by a judge and a law that was created in the federal statutes, that don’t mean you’re going to deny him the right to serve that warrant. Yes or no?”
Rambosk returned an equally meandering response. “No, that’s exactly correct. We would never operate outside the Constitution and particularly as we talked about the 4th Amendment [against unreasonable searches or seizures and requiring a warrant or probable cause], nor should any other law enforcement agency in this country, because if you enter someone’s…. If there’s an expectation of privacy and you enter into somebody’s residence without a court order to do so that was lawfully issued, we’ll arrest you for burglary.”
This seemed to indicate that the Collier County Sheriff’s Office would still assist federal law enforcement agencies.
But further questioning by Saunders revealed the dilemmas created by the ordinance. Saunders pressed Rambosk to explain how he would determine if an action was unconstitutional or not.
“If we believe and our legal staff told us that it is in their opinion that it is unconstitutional, and we had the right evidence, court cases, information to support that then we would take the appropriate action,” said Rambosk.
“Would that appropriate action be going to the judge to rule in whether that statute is constitutional?” Saunders continued. “I mean, I’m just trying to get at: can you make that determination? I think you’re saying no, you can’t but maybe you can.
Rambosk answered: “Yeah, well, pardon me, we do that each and every day. We look at a case, we determine whether we believe it fits within the criteria of the law and I think even with a constitutional complaint we would make that assessment and if we believe that it goes to that level we may have to take it to court. I’m not even sure if any of us know that at this point. We would take that act.”
The vagueness and illogic of the ordinance was clear in this dialogue. Rambosk said he wouldn’t impede a lawful federal investigation but he wasn’t sure how he’d determine whether it was lawful or not and he might go to a judge to get a ruling. But he wasn’t sure.
The confusion was the result of the confused thinking in the ordinance itself.
So at this point it’s not clear, at least in public, if the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is assisting the FBI in pursuing Worrell or if they would assist this or any other federal investigation in the future. According to Rambosk, they’ll make it up as they go along.
At the very least the ordinance creates a fog of uncertainty in policing, since it carves out an ill-defined exception to the clear and uniform application of law and its enforcement. This is particularly relevant in the Worrell case, since Worrell has claimed to be a political prisoner subject to “blatant civil rights violations,” in his own words. Indeed, it almost seems as though the ordinance was drafted with him in mind, to allow him to evade federal justice.
The ordinance is almost certain to be challenged in court at some point, although when and under what circumstances cannot be known in advance. However, the US Department of Justice would be a prime candidate as plaintiff given that the ordinance is not only unconstitutional, it has the potential to hinder and impede uniform law enforcement nationally, especially if it is taken up by other jurisdictions, as its advocates propose.
The sky could fall
The Naples Airport terminal. (Image: Naples Airport)
The Naples Airport is what is called a “general aviation” airport; it doesn’t serve regularly scheduled commercial flights but rather private aircraft, including charter flights, sightseeing tours, training flights and businesses. Private jets and aircraft are especially in evidence when the wealthy fly in on weekends and holidays in season and at the time of the Naples Wine Festival.
The airport handles over 100,000 takeoffs and landings a year and serves an estimated 200,000 passengers. It employs 85 people directly, according to its website. Economically, it affects an estimated 3,250 people in related businesses and services, making it a significant economic engine in Collier County.
It is also an official port of entry into the United States and governed by the federal rules governing customs, immigration and security.
Like every airport in the United States, the Naples Airport is subject to the federal laws, rules and regulations that govern aviation as administered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Federal rules also govern hiring, non-discrimination and working conditions. Port of entry regulations are overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.
These rules and regulations must be national. Rogue airports making their own rules would make safe and orderly travel and commerce impossible.
By legally asserting its right not to follow federal law, Collier County may have created an aviation hazard, a civil rights violation and a border vulnerability.
The FAA could conceivably order the airport closed as a result.
The funding conundrum
Everyone grumbles when paying taxes and headlines usually concentrate on instances of waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. But what often goes unnoticed is the vast majority of times when taxpayer money is put to work for good.
This includes federal support for infrastructure including roads, bridges, housing, education, Internet access and a wide variety of other goods and services that help people, towns and counties prosper, flourish and stay safe. For example, President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed in November 2021, invests $1 trillion in America’s foundations.
But all of that federal money comes with strings attached and those strings are intended to ensure that the money is used for the purpose intended and to prevent any misuse.
By declaring itself outside federal law, Collier County has also declared itself outside the rules and regulations governing federal funding. As a result, it may have cut itself off from that pipeline, which means it will get no help on any improvements, repairs or assistance.
Even worse, it is conceivable that by passing this unconstitutional measure, the federal government could try to claw back money currently in the pipeline or already distributed. On a personal level, the ordinance could create a loophole that encourages people to try to evade federal taxes, incurring the intervention of the Internal Revenue Service.
The curse of Cassandra
These are just some of the potential consequences of Collier County asserting that it has a right to ignore federal law.
When the Collier County Board of Commissioners voted for its anti-federal ordinance the skies did not darken and the earth did not open up. Lightning did not strike and whirlwinds did not blow. The sun still shines and the waves of the Gulf still lap the beaches. People go about their business.
The effects of this ordinance will not be felt all at once. However, over time they will have their impact. It will come in boardrooms and offices as officials or businesspeople try to conclude contracts or negotiate deals. It will come when people get their insurance bills or when the effort to clean up storm debris drags on interminably because there’s no federal money provided to speed it. It will come when lawyers review documents to reach some goal and hit the complicating roadblock of a county outside federal law.
This article doesn’t even go into the impact of giving citizens the standing to sue county officials for simply carrying out their mandated duties, as covered previously.
As for dismissing these concerns as overdrawn or extreme, perhaps that is best answered by the Greek myth of Cassandra.
Cassandra was a princess in the ancient city of Troy. The god Apollo blessed her with the gift of prophecy but when she refused his advances, he imposed a curse: she could see the future accurately but no one would believe her prophecies.
Cassandra warned the Trojans against keeping the Greek queen Helen in their city. They ignored her. She warned them not to go to war with the Greeks. They ignored her. She warned them that the Trojan horse left by the Greeks was a trap. They ignored her. She warned them that Troy would fall. They ignored her. And Troy fell.
Those warning of the consequences of Collier County’s anti-federal ordinance may be dismissed by its advocates as alarmist—but like Cassandra, the opponents may also be right.
The so-called “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” ordinance is a Trojan horse and Collier County commissioners have taken it inside the city walls. They and all residents will have to live with the consequences.
One can only hope that Collier County does not go the way of Troy. But as Cassandra might have said: “You have been warned.”
Trojans celebrate their acquisition of a monumental horse left by retreating Greeks in the 2004 movie “Troy”. (Image: Warner Bros.)
Editor’s Note: From 2004 to 2013 the author was editor of the magazine Homeland Security Today, whose coverage included the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and the Transportation Security Administration.
Click on the button to access the final, signed, engrossed version of the “Collier County Bill of Rights Sanctuary County ordinance.” (Contact TheParadiseProgressive@gmail.com regarding any difficulties accessing or downloading the document.)
Eyes wide shut: Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Pramila Jayapal appear simultaneously during a Donalds interview on The National Desk TV program. (Image: Office of Rep. Donalds)
July 25, 2023 by David Silverberg
Hypocrisy in politics is as old as human interaction itself.
People have become inured to blatant hypocrisy, which Webster’s Dictionary defines as “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel, especially the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion.”
As common as it is, especially since 2016, sometimes political hypocrisy is so pure, so unadulterated and so outrageous it stands out on its own.
But sometimes it also presents a challenge to do right.
So let us set the stage for this instance. It concerns anti-Semitism, which is emerging as a chronic problem in Southwest Florida.
The local context
For months Southwest Florida has been plagued by instances of anti-Semitism, whether in the form of vandalism in Cape Coral, or leafletting in Naples or in one of the most egregious cases, the posting of an overtly anti-Semitic video by Katie Paige Richards, the then-campaign manager for Collier County School Board candidate Tim Moshier.
But this is also a problem throughout Florida, which has seen anti-Semitic banners hung from overpasses, anti-Semitic light projections on stadiums and buildings in Jacksonville, and Nazi fanatics complete with swastika flags demonstrating outside Disneyworld in Orlando. Moreover, its two leading presidential nomination candidates, former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), have used anti-Semitic tropes and stereotypes in their election campaigns.
To its credit, law enforcement has fought back when crimes were committed. For his part, DeSantis signed state House Bill 269 prohibiting a variety of actions taken by anti-Semites, while also condemning anti-Semitism in a speech delivered in Jerusalem.
Throughout this, Southwest Florida’s Republican political establishment has remained notably silent. For example, the Collier County Republican Party never condemned anti-Semitism in general or repudiated Richards’ video. Neither have Southwest Florida’s congressional representatives spoken out.
But now one has. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), who represents the coastal area from Cape Coral to Marco Island, has condemned anti-Semitism—and he blames the Democratic Party for it.
The congressional context
What prompted Donalds to finally weigh in were remarks by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-7-Wash.), head of the House Progressive Caucus, on July 16 at a conference in Chicago by Netroots Nation, a progressive training and political activism organization.
When she was speaking she was confronted by angry, rowdy people who felt that progressives weren’t doing enough to condemn Israel for its actions.
“Hey guys, can I say something? Can I say something as somebody that’s been in the streets and has participated in a lot of demonstrations?” Jayapal told the group. “I want you to know that we have been fighting to make it clear that Israel is a racist state, that the Palestinian people deserve self-determination and autonomy, that the dream of a two-state solution is slipping away from us, that it does not even feel possible.
“While you may have arguments with whether or not some of us onstage are fighting hard enough, I do want you to know that there is an organized opposition on the other side, and it isn’t the people that are on this stage,” she added.
Jayapal’s characterization of Israel as racist brought an immediate wave of condemnation from Democrats and provided Republicans an opportunity to both condemn her statement and try to drive a wedge into Jewish support for Democrats.
Jayapal herself subsequently issued a lengthy statement saying “I attempted to defuse a tense situation” and “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist.” However, she also noted, “I do, however, believe that Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has engaged in discriminatory and outright racist policies and that there are extreme racists driving that policy within the leadership of the current government.”
She continued: “As an immigrant woman of color who has fought my whole life against racism, hate, and discrimination of all kinds and viscerally feels when anyone’s very existence is called into question, I am deeply aware of the many challenges we face in our own country to live up to the ideals of our nation here. The only way through these difficult moments is to have real conversations where we develop our own understanding of each other and the traumas we all hold. These are not easy conversations but they are important ones if we are ever to move forward. It is in that spirit that I offer my apologies to those who I have hurt with my words, and offer this clarification.”
Forty-one congressional Democrats, including six from Florida, issued a statement condemning Jayapal’s statement: “We will never allow anti-Zionist voices that embolden antisemitism to undermine and disrupt the strongly bipartisan consensus supporting the US-Israel relationship that has existed for decades,” it stated. The signers wrote they were “deeply concerned” with Jayapal’s comment and “we appreciate her retraction.” (The six Floridians were: Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-25-Fla.), Jared Moskowitz (D-23-Fla.), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-20-Fla.), Frederica Wilson (D-24-Fla.), Darren Soto (D-9-Fla.) and Kathy Castor (D-14-Fla.)).
On July 18, the House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 57 affirming that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state, rejecting all forms of anti-Semitism and xenophobia, and affirming that the United States will always be a staunch partner of Israel. It passed by an overwhelming vote of 412 to 9 with one member voting present.
The Donalds context
Donalds, like all his Republican colleagues condemned Jayapal and attempted to exploit the controversy.
But he also went further, painting all Democrats as anti-Semites. “There is a strain of anti-Semitism embedded deep within the Democratic party,” he tweeted on July 19. “Many Dems believe Israel should give up more territory & even question its existence.”
He elaborated in an interview on “The National Desk,” a news program produced by Sinclair Broadcasting, prior to the congressional vote.
“Let me be clear on this one,” he said. “They do believe that the state of Israel should give up much of its territory and that maybe they shouldn’t even be in that region. It’s really unfortunate that you have this strain of anti-Semitism that is embedded deep within the Democrat Party. This was not a mistake, this is actually a main line thought process amongst congressional Democrats, senatorial Democrats and it’s the Democrat Party. And so their Party’s got a lot to answer for and for Jewish voters in our country, please keep in mind that these aren’t just comments here or there that go away because the media chooses not to talk about them anymore and ignore these statements, these are a state of fact within the Democrat Party. So we’re going to vote today, that’s all well and good but that vote is not going to be indicative of the mindset of too many Democrats.”
In fact, the vote revealed the pro-Israel, anti-hate mindset of 195 Democrats who supported the resolution. A tiny minority of only 9 Democrats opposed it. (Reps. Jamal Bowman (D-16-NY), Cori Bush (D-1-Mo.), Andre Carson (D-7-Ind.), Summer Lee (D-12-Pa.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-14-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-5-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-7-Mass.), Delia Ramirez (D-3-Ill.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-12-Mich.))
Commentary: Hypocrisy and its cure
While Donalds may have suddenly discovered the menace of anti-Semitism, it did not prevent him from turning around and exploiting tired anti-Semitic tropes and scapegoating in his fundraising.
“Radical left-wing Democrats funded by George Soros are targeting me with a disgusting smear campaign,” he declared in a July 22 fundraising appeal. He didn’t identify either the smear campaign or these radical, left-wing Democrats. Using the specter of Jewish financier George Soros to make his appeal more urgent is a common conservative, anti-Semitic tactic used both by DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.
“Fighting back against their vicious attacks won’t be cheap…Which is why I was so concerned when my finance director flagged our fundraising numbers on our campaign’s weekly call yesterday.” Then, of course, he asked for money.
To condemn anti-Semitism in others and then exploit it to one’s benefit is the essence of hypocrisy. This instance was particularly glaring and, to use a Yiddish word, “chutzpadik.”
First, for the record, George Soros, 92, retired as head of his foundations and hedge fund on June 12.
Still, Soros will no doubt continue to be a scapegoat for far-right, conspiracy-minded conservatives for the foreseeable future.
But now that Donalds has established himself as a staunch defender of Israel and put himself on the record opposing anti-Semitism and xenophobia with his vote, can he bring himself to condemn and fight the ground-level, grassroots anti-Semitism infecting Southwest Florida, especially among Republican MAGA conservatives?
Congressional Democrats can take care of themselves. But it’s everyday Jewish citizens who need to hear him repudiate the extreme anti-Semitic conspiracy fantasies and baseless accusations infecting his district in Southwest Florida.
He should do it. Constituents will be watching closely.
What’s more, it’s in his personal interest. After all, the kinds of people who hate Jews don’t like him, either.
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Editor’s note: From 1981 to 1983 the author worked as Assistant Editor of The Near East Report, the newsletter of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the premier pro-Israel lobbying organization on Capitol Hill. He extensively covered Middle East policy and politics during his active career in Washington, DC.
Collier County Commissioner Chris Hall speaks during the July 11 Board meeting. (Image: CCBC)
July 16, 2023 by David Silverberg
At the Collier County Board of Commissioners meeting on July 11, Commissioner Chris Hall (R-District 2) gave a brief speech explaining his justification for planning to introduce a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County Ordinance” at the upcoming August 22 meeting.
The speech contained a number of points that merit further examination, analysis and comment.
These were different than the arguments for a nearly identical ordinance introduced almost precisely two years earlier in 2021. That ordinance was defeated by a 3 to 2 vote of the Board.
In the discussion prior to the 2021 vote, members of the public advocating passage insisted that commissioners pass the ordinance or resign. Their tone was bullying, dictatorial and autocratic. They demanded that the Board ignore all the potential consequences pointed out by opponents—illegality, unconstitutionality, litigation, disruption, loss of federal funding, and damage to the county, to name a few—and nullify federal law simply because they demanded it.
That approach didn’t succeed then.
So what arguments is Hall using to promote this ordinance now and how valid are they?
The speech
Hall stated in his speech: “And so, this whole thing is brought up, we heard comments today that we’re looking to cherry-pick federal law, that we’re looking to secede from the union, that we’re looking to nullify federal law that we don’t like and that’s so much baloney.”
In fact, those comments were valid arguments from opponents. The proposed ordinance does all those things. But Hall is confusing intentions and impacts.
Hall and his allies, most notably lawyer Kristina Heuser, who drafted the 2021 version, may not have intended to treat American laws as a buffet, selecting some and rejecting others, or effectively seceding from the United States, or nullifying federal law in Collier County, but that’s the ordinance’s impact.
When a jurisdiction rejects federal authority, it rejects everything that comes with it; all the laws, acts, orders, rules, and regulations as well as the federal government’s grants, funding, benefits, support and protection.
The law of the land must be adhered to in its totality. Rejecting it makes one an “outlaw”—literally, someone outside the law and subject to all the resulting penalties and punishments. Law is an all or nothing proposition. There’s no picking and choosing; the law is the law.
It has been well established that US federal law supersedes any city, state or county’s preferences. Remove it and there’s nothing but chaos. In this case, nullifying federal law leaves Collier County lawless.
It’s also worth noting that Collier County is already on the record accepting, adhering and faithfully supporting the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States, now and in perpetuity. It expressed this allegiance in a resolution that passed the Board of Commissioners on July 13, 2021, the same day it rejected the first nullification ordinance.
What’s deeply disturbing here is that Hall—and presumably his allies—seem unable to distinguish between the intentions in their heads and the impact they’re imposing on the ground. That’s not a good attribute for lawmakers or legislators.
And, as the old saying goes: “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
“I don’t know where all that started but it’s out there.”
It started with drafting an ordinance that nullifies federal law! There’s no mystery here. Any literate citizen can read the proposed ordinance and drawhis or her own conclusions—and they did. It’s “out there” because the ordinance is “out there.” Whatever anyone may believe to the contrary, people still read, they still think and they can draw their own conclusions—and they have done so about this ordinance.
“I just want to publicly put an end to all of that because this is an ordinance, a sanctuary for the Bill of Rights. A sanctuary is just a safe place.”
Essentially, the nullification ordinance is an attempt in Collier County to de-sanctify the sanctuary for inalienable human rights that is the United States of America.
“So I’m bringing this up because in case things ever twist off in Washington, DC, in case things ever twist off, God forbid, in Tallahassee, we’re going to have a sheriff that’s going to back and honor the Bill of Rights that were given to us in the Constitution of the United States of America.”
Concern that things might “twist off” is justified because things did indeed “twist off” in Washington, DC—on Jan. 6, 2021.
As Southwest Florida’s own Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), who was present that day, put it in a statement at the time: “We are a nation of laws that have governed this exceptional Constitutional Republic for more than two centuries, and no amount of anger should ever compromise that,” and “sadly today, a bunch of lunatics tried to destroy that truth”—that “the Rule of Law, and the institutions…make America the greatest country ever to exist.” He called the mob violence “thuggery” and “a tragedy.”
Fortunately, authorized forces of discipline and order, governed and guided by law, put an end to the insurrection and attempted coup. Those forces of law and order, like the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have investigated and punished the “lunatics” and thugs who attempted to overthrow the government. They continue to investigate and prosecute them to this day.
But it takes all law enforcement—federal, state and local—to protect and enforce the law. A local sheriff is not empowered to abrogate federal law or take its enforcement entirely into his or her own hands. An armed enforcement organization unmoored in law is no longer a law enforcement agency but a vigilante posse, a mob, a horde.
Southwest Florida has experienced this before. Almost exactly 100 years ago, on May 25, 1924 in Fort Myers, Fla., a white mob lynched two African American teenagers who were accused of raping white girls with whom they were seen swimming. The boys were hanged without trial. The local sheriff was unable or unwilling to stop the violence.
Take away the authority of federal law and a local sheriff, far from protecting the Bill of Rights, is more likely to be helpless, or complicit, in the face of its violation—with potentially lethal results.
“We’re going to have the right to bear arms, we’re going to have the right to due process of law, we’re not going to have to take soldiers and put them in our house, every one of those Bill of Rights.”
Those are exactly the rights that American citizens have now under the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. There’s no need to carve out a county exception to them. In fact, it’s more important to strengthen them, as Collier County’s existing Bill of Rights resolution does.
“The one gentleman said. ‘What about the 11 through the 27th?’ We’re not nullifying those.
Yes you are, if you nullify federal law in Collier County. And it’s worth remembering that those other amendments include things like birthright citizenship and prohibition of slavery, as the gentleman, Todd Truax, pointed out.
Those rights also include the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. Hall and his allies may not be consciously threatening women’s suffrage but they will put it in jeopardy if they nullify federal law. The Supreme Court has struck down a woman’s right to abortion. Will an outlaw Collier County now strike down a woman’s right to vote—however inadvertently?
“We just want to make it a safe place here. We’re not looking to do anything other than live life happily ever after. But in case anything ever happens, I would like to have an ordinance that the sheriff has the authority to enforce.”
Collier County, Florida, USA, is a safe place thanks to the supremacy of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Its residents can live life happily ever after under the protection of American law at the federal, state and local levels. If they deem a law unconstitutional they can challenge it in court. If they want to make their opinions known, they have a right to free speech and to petition government for redress of grievances. Standing behind those rights is the full force and faith of the United States as empowered by its Constitution.
Compared to that majesty, a rogue Collier County unmoored in federal law, as this ordinance proposes, would be a place of extreme unsafety, without any guarantee of protected rights or personal security.
Not only does the ordinance threaten individual citizens, it threatens the county in every way, from its smooth functioning and management to the personal security of its leaders and employees. Every Collier County official—especially its commissioners—would be at risk for personal bankruptcy for simply doing their duty since the ordinance will be enforced through civil lawsuits and officials will have to pay for their legal defense out of their own pockets.
As the county attorney pointed out in 2021, the ordinance invites frivolous litigation. Collier County would become a legal hellscape of greedy attorneys jostling like jackals to rip chunks of county money from its coffers and officials’ personal bank accounts—and those of their families.
It would also empower a single, wealthy, litigious individual alleging, however flimsily, that his rights had been violated, to beggar the county’s officials, impose a reign of legal terror and nullify not just federal laws but all county ordinances protecting its citizens. This single individual would be able to bring the county’s functioning to a halt and force it to bend to his whim just as surely as if he held a gun to every official’s head—and by passing this ordinance commissioners would in effect hand him that gun.
An issue that was not raised at the meeting is the fact that this ordinance would render Collier County and everyone and everything in it uninsurable. At a time when insurers are pulling out of Florida due to extreme risk, Collier County would add another incentive to avoid insuring the homes, businesses and persons in its jurisdiction.
The insurance industry is heavily regulated at the federal level. A county that declares itself unbound by federal law would be a market in which insurance companies would be unable to function without potentially violating their governing charters and regulations. They could lose their licenses and be prosecuted or sued for operating there.
So in addition to suffering the extreme risk of storms and natural disasters, this ordinance would not only be a disincentive to insure anything in Collier County, it would be a near-insurmountable barrier if a company actually wanted to do business.
“So with that, I want to bring that forward on July the 25th [later changed to Aug. 22] and I’m sure we’re going to hear a million comments about it.
It’s not sufficient to simply resign oneself to receiving “a million” comments in opposition, and just dismiss them as a reaction of liberals, or leftists or chronic malcontents. It’s more important to ask oneself why there are “a million” negative comments. Might there be some wisdom in this overwhelming perception? Could it be because “a million” people recognize this ordinance as A REALLY BAD IDEA?
Nor should a public servant simply scan the subject lines of “a million” e-mails and simply ignore them. Perhaps it’s important as a public servant to read what these constituents and citizens are actually saying and ponder the substance of their messages.
“You know, when I ran for this office, I ran to protect and secure the rights of the people and we’re not looking to do anything other than to do that. We want to enhance your rights and protect them even more than what you feel you already have protected. So I wanted to say that publicly because there’s going to be those out there…I’m sure I’m going to get e-mails. But flame-suit on.”
It’s a worthy aim to protect and secure people’s rights. But the way to do it is not to carve out exceptions from the laws and the Constitution. The best thing that can be done is to withdraw the threat of nullifying federal law in Collier County and drop this deeply flawed ordinance altogether.
Sometimes the noblest act of all is simply to do no harm.
The very best outcome would be to let August 22 pass as just another steamy summer day in Southwest Florida.
Going forward
During the meeting, Commissioner Burt Saunders (R- District 3), asked that the vote on the ordinance be held over until September, when many residents were back in the area—including him.
Hall rejected holding it that long, although he agreed to hold it until August 22 as a professional courtesy to Saunders.
But Hall made the point that anyone could participate remotely.
“People have every opportunity to send us e-mails, to call us, to write us, to Zoom in. I mean, just because they’re not here and there’s going to be other items that I’m going to be on the other side of, that my people are going to have the same opportunity.”
It’s interesting that Hall referred to ordinance supporters as “my people.” As a county commissioner, “his people” should be everyone in the 2nd District, which stretches from the county line in the north to Pine Ridge Road in the south and from the coast in the west to roughly Interstate 75 in the east. He should be serving all of them, even those with whom he disagrees. Instead, he sees himself serving only a small and ideologically-driven minority.
But in his larger point, Hall was right: people should take the opportunity to call, write and Zoom and express their opinions on this issue at any time before August 22.
This otherwise obscure and remote county is facing a choice. It can become a lawless, outlaw MAGAstan that rejects America’s laws, history, Constitution and, most importantly, its Bill of Rights. Or it can celebrate its past century and prepare itself for a happy and prosperous next century and remain Collier County, Florida, USA, with all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the dignity and protection bestowed by 247 years of history, struggle and democracy.
And yes, the choice is that stark.
________________
Commission Chair Commissioner Rick LoCastro (R-District 1) has complained in the past that too many e-mails sent to his office were repetitious and unoriginal, seemingly automatically generated by bots. Messages to commissioners should be original and individual and the more personal the better.
Collier County’s Commission districts.
Collier County commissioners can be reached by mail at the address:
Board of County Commissioners, Collier County Government Center, 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Naples, FL 34112.
William L. McDaniel, Jr. Commissioner, District 5 Bill.McDaniel@colliercountyfl.gov
239-252-8605
A full copy of the proposed ordinance can be read and downloaded by clicking on the button below. (Contact TheParadiseProgressive@gmail.com regarding any difficulties accessing or downloading the document.)
Like the ghosts in the movie Poltergeist, the idea of an ordinance nullifying federal law in Collier County threatens to return again. (Image: Poltergeist)
July 9, 2023 by David Silverberg
On this coming Tuesday, July 11, longtime county observers expect Collier County Commissioner Chris Hall (R-District 2) to introduce a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” ordinance that will attempt to take Collier County out of the authority of the US federal government.
If the Board of Commissioners approves putting the proposed ordinance on the agenda on Tuesday, it may be advertised as a county ordinance for a vote at the next regular meeting on Tuesday, July 25.
This will mark the second time that extreme conservative activists have attempted to nullify federal law in Collier County, Fla.
On July 13, 2021, the Board voted down an identical ordinance by a vote of 3 to 2.
Like its predecessor, the current proposed ordinance argues that the federal government is encroaching on citizens’ rights and privileges, particularly through executive orders. It attempts to nullify federal authority by allowing lawsuits against county officials.
“Collier County has the right to be free from the commanding hand of the federal government and has the right to refuse to cooperate with federal government officials in response to unconstitutional federal government measures, and to proclaim a Bill of Rights Sanctuary for law-abiding citizens in its County,” it proclaims.
The proposed ordinance has 13 establishing clauses (paragraphs beginning “whereas,” that state the facts as viewed by the drafters). (A link to download the full ordinance is at the end of this article.)
These paragraphs argue that the federal government is increasingly encroaching on citizens’ rights and privileges, particularly through executive orders that are not based on legislation. It then goes on to list a variety of laws and precedents that the drafters believe are being violated.
The second section lists the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.
It is in the third section that the draft gets to the substance of the proposal. It defines an “unlawful act” as any “federal act, law, order, rule, or regulation, which violates or unreasonably restricts, impedes, or impinges upon an individual’s Constitutional rights including, but not limited to, those enumerated in Amendments 1 through 10 to the United States Constitution.”
Such federal acts will be “invalid in Collier County and shall not be recognized by Collier County, and shall be considered null, void and of no effect in Collier County, Florida.”
The fourth section prohibits the county and its officials from enforcing “unlawful acts” as defined by the ordinance. Any official who violates the ordinance can be sued in court and punished under the county code.
The fifth and sixth sections hold that if the ordinance conflicts with any other law, the more restrictive rule will apply and that even if sections of it are invalidated in court, the rest of the ordinance will remain in force.
It was introduced by Commissioner William McDaniel Jr. (R-District 5) and supported by a group of allied individuals that included retired firefighter James Rosenberger, his wife Carol DiPaolo, anti-COVID vaccination activist Beth Sherman, and Keith Flaugh, head of the Florida Citizens Alliance, a conservative education advocacy organization.
It was also backed by a variety of officials and legislators, including Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.), state Rep. Bob Rommel (R-currently-81, then-106, Naples) and the county’s top law enforcement officer, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk.
The same coalition is likely to back the current proposed ordinance.
Some things have changed, however.
The composition of the County Commission changed with the 2022 election of commissioners Chris Hall (R-District 2) and Dan Kowal (R-District 4). Both were endorsed by conservative grocer and farmer Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes III and backed by the Citizens Awake Now political action committee he heads.
Another difference was passage on April 11, 2023 of a Collier County Health Freedom Ordinance, prohibiting mask and vaccination mandates in the county, duplicating state law. Passage of that and an accompanying resolution—although both were heavily revised and diluted—likely emboldened the effort to reintroduce the current ordinance.
At the time of its first introduction, the United States was still in the midst of the COVID pandemic, which fed advocates’ anti-vaccination passion, paranoia and conspiracy theories. It was also closer in time to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and attempted coup at the US Capitol. At the time of the 2021 debate, ordinance advocates feared federal law enforcement officers arriving in Florida to arrest Jan. 6 rioters and mentioned that in their arguments for passage. Since then, 91 arrests have indeed taken place in Florida, more than any other state.
Analysis: Ordinance consequences
What remain unchanged since its first introduction are the potential consequences of the proposed ordinance. These were enumerated and discussed by residents and County Attorney Jeffrey Klatzkow during the 2021 consideration and vote.
The ordinance would bring the orderly functioning of Collier County to a halt. Any resident could bring suit against virtually any action by any county official or law enforcement officer if the resident argued his or her constitutional rights were being violated. The officials would be personally liable for providing their own legal defense, potentially beggaring them for simply running the county.
“The big issue here is not going to be damages,” Klatzkow told commissioners at the time. “It’s going to be attorney’s fees. There is an incentive for attorneys to bring actions under this because every hour they put in is an hour they can bill.”
Exactly what would constitute a violation and how that violation would be determined remain unclear in the current draft as in the first version. Attorneys testifying during the 2021 debate pointed out the ordinance’s vagueness, unenforceability and unconstitutionality.
Since it would put Collier County outside federal law, the ordinance would jeopardize all of the county’s federal grants and benefits, which are so numerous that they ran to five single-spaced pages when presented to the Commission during the debate. It would also likely make the county ineligible for federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster.
Since it does not recognize federal authority—including federal courts—enforcing the ordinance would be a Catch-22. For enforcement, county authorities would have to refer cases to federal courts that they did not recognize and these courts would hand down verdicts that the county wouldn’t recognize because it won’t accept federal law.
A way around this was never satisfactorily explained during the 2021 debate.
The ordinance would interfere with federal law enforcement in the county, including immigration regulations and criminal investigations.
It would complicate commerce as businesses both inside and outside the county would have to deal with a jurisdiction that didn’t recognize any federal commercial rules including health and safety, labor, and taxation regulations.
The ordinance could interfere with the orderly administration of federal programs like Social Security, Medicare and food assistance on which county residents are dependent.
In addition to all these impacts within the county, passage of the ordinance would make Collier County a national laughingstock, if not an international pariah. Potential visitors and guests would hesitate—to put it mildly—traveling to a destination that didn’t recognize national law and was effectively lawless.
Given its obvious unconstitutionality, the ordinance would immediately be subject to court challenge and the county would have to pay the costs of defending it—likely in federal courts whose authority the county would be fighting not to recognize.
“It is so unconstitutional in so many ways I would say, ‘Let’s go out and have a beer and forget about this,’” said David Millstein, a retired civil rights attorney who also taught civil rights law and served as former head of the Collier County American Civil Liberties Union, at the time.
Commentary: Stopping stupidity at the source
On the day that the Board of Commissioners defeated the first ordinance, it also unanimously passed a resolution stating that: “…The County Commission of Collier County, Florida reaffirms its loyalty, its patriotism and its allegiance to the United States Constitution, its Bill of Rights, its Amendments and the duly constituted laws, acts, orders, rules, and regulations of the United States of America and that these have force in Collier County as they do in the rest of the United States, now and in perpetuity.”
That resolution should reassure all who are worried about the applicability of the Bill of Rights in Collier County, Fla.
There is no need for a “Bill of Rights Sanctuary County” because the United States itself is a sanctuary for the Bill of Rights in every jurisdiction and in all places where American law holds sway.
What is more, the Commission rejected it after fully debating it in 2021 and examining all its aspects and implications. The arguments then also apply now.
The clear and obvious fact is that this proposed ordinance is nothing more than a legalistic expression of rage and paranoia ungrounded in actual law or reality from people who simply don’t want to follow rules they don’t like. It is part of a wave of politically-driven sanctuary proposals that have cropped up around the country.
The ordinance is not formally on the published agenda of the next meeting of the Collier County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday morning.
However, as happened in 2021, it may be slipped onto the agenda without prior notice. If the Commission chooses to schedule formal debate, the ordinance will have to be advertised and is likely to formally appear for a vote on the agenda of the next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, July 25.
To register an opinion on this ordinance, whether it should be considered by the Commission at all and whether it is right for Collier County, residents can weigh in with commissioners or speak at the July 11 scheduled meeting.
That meeting will take place at 9 am in the Board of Commissioners chamber on the third floor of the Administration Building at 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Suite 303, Naples, Fla.
Public petition speakers are limited to 10 minutes and general address speakers to 3 minutes. Speakers must fill out request slips available outside the chamber prior to the meeting.
A full copy of the proposed ordinance can be downloaded here. (Contact TheParadiseProgressive@gmail.com regarding any difficulties accessing or downloading the document.)
Byron Donalds and Donald Trump in a 2020 Donalds campaign video. (Image: Campaign)
June 27, 2023 by David Silverberg
For the past month at least, there have been rumors that Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.) is seeking—or is being considered—as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
Vice presidential speculation is always a feature of presidential campaigns. It’s fun. Anyone can participate. But it usually occurs much later in a campaign, mostly around the time of a party’s national convention.
But just as hurricanes and tornadoes are occurring out of their usual seasons, so the vice presidential agitation is starting earlier this year too.
Donalds’ possibility as a candidate was heightened, if not confirmed, by a fundraising appeal he sent out on Saturday, June 24.
It was headlined: “Who should be our nominee for Vice President?”
“Friend,” it began, as do all his appeals. “There’s been a lot of talk about who should be the Republican nominee for President.”
It then proclaimed in red colors: “I’ve made my opinion clear: Donald J. Trump is the ONLY candidate who can save our country, which is why I’ve endorsed him for President of the United States.”
It continued: “However, I haven’t heard nearly as much discussion about who the Republican nominee for Vice President should be. It’s critical that the nominee is another America First warrior who will stand up to the radical Left no matter what kind of witch hunts the radical Left and the Deep State throw at the ticket.”
Who might that be?
It then invited the reader to nominate a vice presidential candidate with a link to another page. On that page the reader can participate in a vice presidential poll and write in his or her nominee—and fill out a form with one’s name and e-mail address. The poll is conducted by WinRed, a professional Republican fundraising company based in Arlington, Va.
No doubt respondents will be constantly dunned for donations until they’re in their graves and possibly beyond.
While the poll may provide some kind of rough measure of popularity and may have gone out under the names of other Republican candidates, it was especially interesting coming from Donalds.
Might Southwest Florida’s own Donalds be actively auditioning for Trump’s vice president?
And, for God’s sake, why would anyone want that job?
The 12th Amendment complication
A Donalds vice presidential candidacy could be rendered moot at the outset. There is a widespread perception that the 12th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the President and Vice President from being from the same state.
The opening lines of the Amendment are: “The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves…”
This has generally been interpreted to mean that when Electors take the separate votes for President and Vice President, the elector should not be from the same state as both of the candidates.
Put another way, a Floridian Elector could not vote for both a President and Vice President from Florida.
However, the consensus of opinion is that the Amendment does not prohibit a President and Vice President from the same state.
“This is one of those rules that many people get wrong,” wrote Kevin Wagner a constitutional scholar, and political science professor at Florida Atlantic University, in the Palm Beach Post in 2021. “There actually is nothing in the US Constitution that prevents candidates for President and Vice President who live in the same state from running together. As a practical matter, it might be a bad idea, since presidential tickets are often put together to create geographic diversity. But, having two from the same state is permissible.”
The 12th Amendment question has come up before. In 2000, both George W. Bush and his preferred vice presidential candidate, Dick Cheney, were residents of Texas. The constitutional problem was skirted when Cheney took out a Wyoming driver’s license and changed his residency to that state, which he had represented in Congress, four days before Bush named him.
In 2020 there was speculation that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg might pick former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate. However, this never materialized.
Most relevant to Florida was a 2015 fact-check of MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell by Snopes writer Jon Greenberg. At the time, there was speculation that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush might select Sen. Marco Rubio as his running mate. O’Donnell flatly stated that they could not be from the same state.
Greenberg delved into the question and rated the statement as false. But he raised other possibilities, including that state electors might cast one vote, just for the president or just for the vice president. That would make a difference only in an extremely tight race.
But then, John Harrison, a constitutional scholar at the University of Virginia School of Law, offered a hypothetical option directly relevant to Florida.
If both the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates were from Florida, “‘The Florida Republican Party might seek an amendment to Florida law so that non-Floridians could serve as electors, and nominate a slate of, say, Georgians, who could come down for the day in December when the electors give their vote,’ Harrison suggested.
“Harrison added that the Constitution is silent about whether electors must come from the state that appoints them. Harrison acknowledges that this question could be argued (in court) either way.”
Given Florida lawmakers’ propensity for constitutional work-arounds, like legislating a loophole for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to run for president despite the state’s resign-to-run law, this is a highly plausible solution for a Trump-Donalds ticket.
What is certain is that having two candidates from the same state introduces a complicating factor that would dog a campaign and bring the legitimacy of any victory into question. One can only imagine the uproar if Trump won a second term with Donalds as his vice president.
But the 12th Amendment has another impact relevant to Trump and Donalds.
The Electors, it states, “shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;–the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.”
It was this act, the opening, counting and certification of the electoral votes by the President of the Senate—i.e., the Vice President of the United States—before the assembled members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to violate and which Pence resolutely refused to do on Jan. 6, 2021. When that didn’t work, Trump incited insurrectionary mob violence to disrupt and stop the certification. It was also this constitutional certification that Donalds attempted to stop by voting against it at the direction of Trump.
So if Donald Trump were elected President and Byron Donalds was Vice President, two men who tried to violate the Constitution and overthrow the 2020 election would be the nation’s two highest officials counting and certifying an electoral vote.
This raises another question based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
There have already been arguments whether sitting members of Congress who supported the Jan. 6 insurrection or attempted to overthrow the 2020 election are eligible for office. The question is so troublesome it has been glossed over.
But a Trump-Donalds ticket would raise it anew and give it new prominence—and urgency.
Idol and idolator
Donalds has been a Trumper since 2015. When he addressed a crowd at Trump rally at the Collier County Fairgrounds on Oct. 23, 2016, he said: “The time has come to get away from the same politicians with the same old promises and the same phrases and the same suits and the same cool hair. The time has come to make Donald Trump the next president of the United States!”
Since then he has remained consistent in his support, praise and adulation of Donald Trump, no matter what the circumstances, the issues, the scandals, the insurrection, the indictments or the arraignment.
Indeed, following his unsuccessful bids for Republican House Conference chair and Speaker of the House, Donalds has become more active and insistent on Twitter and in media of all sorts. He has spewed forth a gusher of Trumpist propaganda and talking points so rabid that they practically foam off the page. He was the first local politician to endorse Trump over DeSantis before the latter officially declared his candidacy.
In addition to fundraising and currying support with the MAGA base in his district, Donalds’ loud protestations of Trumpist loyalty seem intended to cement his relationship with Trump and deflect any charges of RINOism (Republican in Name Only), which were swirling about him in some Republican circles.
For all this, Trump has never seemed to particularly acknowledge Donalds or make him a priority. He didn’t endorse Donalds when he really needed it in his 2020 primary run; despite a general endorsement after the primary, he didn’t mention Donalds at all when he campaigned in Fort Myers during the general election campaign in October 2020, when Donalds was diagnosed with COVID and couldn’t be on stage. In December 2021 he did endorse Donalds for re-election but he didn’t endorse Donalds during his conference leadership run or his speakership bid. Often it seems that Trump looks through Donalds rather than at him.
Given the cascade of indictments, lawsuits and accusations against Trump, at the moment there is not exactly a stampede of people seeking to be his vice presidential nominee, which makes Donalds’ focus on the position even more interesting.
Another factor probably dampening enthusiasm for the Trump vice presidential slot may simply be Trump’s proven practice of turning on everyone around him. First and foremost is his turning on DeSantis, who went from “a brilliant young leader” to “Ron DeSanctimonious” and “Meatball Ron.” He lambasted his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, as “mentally retarded,” Bill Barr became a “gutless pig,” his chief of staff, John Kelly had “a VERY small ‘brain,’” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was “overrated”—and so on and so on.
Most of all, there’s the example of Trump’s treatment of Vice President Mike Pence. After four years of faithful, loyal, totally subservient, self-effacing service, Trump turned on him when Pence refused Trump’s command to violate his oath and the Constitution. In an otherwise humiliating and degrading tenure, it was Pence’s only show of resolve and independence. His reward was to have his boss incite a howling mob to try to hang him.
Trump hasn’t changed. Indeed, if anything he’s gotten worse, as witness his ire on May 30 at Kayleigh McEnany, who went from his faithful mouthpiece to “Milktoast” [sic] and RINO.
So Donald Trump’s new vice presidential pick, whoever he or she may be, can only expect public abuse, insult and humiliation in exchange for his or her expected role of total abasement and unreflecting defense of all of Trump’s lies, delusions and insanities.
What is more, after his experience with Pence, when he selects his running mate, Trump will likely not just be looking for a political loyalist or someone from another geographic area to balance the ticket. He’ll be looking for a slave—and “slave” is the right word for it—someone unthinkingly obedient and utterly without independent will.
In Trump’s likely calculation, the major thing Donalds would bring to the ticket in addition to slavish loyalty would be his race. Because he is African American, Donalds would help deflect charges of racism, a role he has consciously been playing on behalf of Trump and the MAGA movement since 2015.
If Donalds is regarded by the world as a “prop” for the MAGA movement now, it is nothing compared to the tsunami of disgust and denunciation he would face as Trump’s running mate. It would also be supremely ironic in light of all Donalds’ efforts to date to get people to look past his race and focus on his policies and prescriptions.
This scrutiny would be especially acute in light of the fact that as Trump’s vice president Donalds would be a heartbeat away from an obese president who would be 78 years (and 7 months and 6 days) old on the day he takes the oath of office in January 2025. Nothing focuses global attention on every pore of an individual like the possibility of succeeding to the US presidency and commanding the nation’s nukes.
The prospect of Trump standing again on the inaugural stage and taking the oath should prompt every American to contemplate what a second Trump presidency would mean—as well as the vice president’s role in it.
Contemplating catastrophe
Right now, with his multiple criminal indictments, many more in the offing, and his sea of troubles of all sorts, Trump winning the presidency seems distant and unlikely. However, he’s leading in the Republican primary polls, he has an iron grip on the Party and he is likely to be the Republican nominee in 2024. Further, as commentators are pointing out, even if he’s convicted and in jail, he can still run for President.
So a second Trump presidency, if unlikely, is still a possibility.
Even in the calmest, most rational, most objective light, a second Trump presidency would be a catastrophe that the United States might not survive.
A second Trump presidency would represent the triumph of evil. It would mean the imposition of a Trump tyranny. It would undoubtedly be the end of American democracy. It would elevate the absolutely worst people to positions of power in feudalisic service to their overlord. It would likely lead to the abrogation and elimination of the Constitution. It would be the end of the United States as a leading power in the world. It would mean the end of personal freedom of thought, action and speech. It would inaugurate a lawless, amoral regime of vengeance and viciousness.
Listing the implications and consequences could go on and on.
And Trump’s second in command would be party to it all. The position of Vice President might best be renamed First Accomplice. The First Accomplice will share all the guilt, all the blame and all the criminality that Trump unleashes.
If indeed Donalds wants the dubious distinction of joining Trump on the presidential ticket, this is what he would be signing up for. He would get the position and prominence he craves—and right between the eyes. He already endorses Trump’s criminality, now he would embrace and become one with it. African American politicians and journalists already scorn him; as a vice presidential candidate he would earn their vituperative hatred. If he had any illusions that he could moderate or mitigate the worst of Trump and Trumpism he would join all the other would-be saviors who have been demoted, disgraced and discarded.
And if, somewhere, somehow, he summoned the moral strength to oppose a Trump outrage he could face the same kind of mob Mike Pence faced—a lynch mob.
Even without the vice presidency, Donalds has endorsed the full Trumpist MAGA program. He has embraced it, he is actively promoting it and he is attempting to implement it in Congress with all its implications and consequences.
Byron Donalds wants to rise. It is conceivable that Trump will tap him as vice president.
Vice President John Nance Garner, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president, once famously said that the vice presidency is “not worth a warm bucket of spit” (or a word to that effect).
That would go double under Donald Trump. But if that’s the bucket Donalds wants to dive into, that’s certainly his prerogative as an adult.
He just shouldn’t expect anyone to try to pull him out when he starts to drown.
The Paradise Progressive 