by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
When Ron DeSantis sidles up subsequent to Donald Trump Saturday in Landover, Maryland, to observe the Military-Navy soccer recreation, the subject of whom the Florida governor appoints to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio could be a subject of dialog.
Trump and elements of MAGA World — together with Sen. Rick Scott — are lobbying intensely for the governor to pick out the president-elect’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for the seat.
Ms. Trump’s resignation as co-chair of the Republican Nationwide Committee earlier this week has solely fueled such hypothesis. Palm Seaside County State Legal professional Dave Aronberg says it offers the Florida governor leverage in negotiating with the president-elect.
“There has to be something in it for DeSantis because this is a piece of gold that DeSantis has that he’s not going to give up without something in return,” mentioned Aronberg, a Democrat who introduced greater than a 12 months in the past that he was stepping down after 12 years in workplace.
“And DeSantis wants to run for president again, so this is very valuable to him. He could name himself. He could name his wife. He could name an ally. To give it up to someone outside of his circle, especially Lara Trump, who actively worked against him in his own presidential race would be foolish unless he got something significant in return, and that something significant could be the position of Defense Secretary.”
Born and raised in North Carolina, Lara Trump, 42, met Eric Trump in 2008 and round that point started working as a producer for the tv program “Inside Edition”, in keeping with TIME journal.
She married Eric in 2014 (they now reside in Palm Seaside County) and launched a “Women for Trump” bus tour for Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign in 2016 (which included a cease in Tampa). She moved as much as turn out to be a fundraiser and senior adviser on Trump’s 2020 re-election bid. And she or he served as co-chair of the Republican Nationwide Committee from March of 2024 to this previous week.
“Lara Trump would be a great choice for anything,” mentioned Judith Zentmeyer, a member of the Pinellas County Republican Social gathering who spoke to the Phoenix through the occasion’s month-to-month assembly in Clearwater this week. “A Senate seat would be wonderful because obviously she’s very smart. She’s well spoken. She’s totally loyal, and she’s really strong.”
Darryl Paulson, emeritus professor of presidency at USF-St. Petersburg, is extraordinarily skeptical that DeSantis would appoint her to exchange Rubio within the Senate.
“Trump has ‘yanked the chain’ on DeSantis too many times,” he mentioned. “The last thing DeSantis wants is to nominate Lara Trump to Rubio’s Senate seat, only to see that Trump’s current nominee for Secretary of Defense is confirmed and DeSantis is left with nothing.”
DeSantis has mentioned that he’s more likely to title his alternative to exchange Rubio by the start of January.
‘Pressure campaign’ for Hegseth
Trump has nominated Military Nationwide Guard veteran and Fox Information host Pete Hegseth to turn out to be his Secretary of Protection, however DeSantis’ title was floated final week as a potential various alternative after it seemed like Hegseth may need an issue being confirmed by the Senate resulting from allegations of sexual misconduct and extreme consuming which have surfaced in latest weeks.
Nevertheless, Politico reported this week {that a} “pressure campaign” on the a part of allies of Trump has revived Hegseth’s possibilities of getting confirmed.
Polk County Republican Committeewoman Kat Gates-Skipper is a veterans advocate who says both could be an excellent alternative for that neighborhood.
“I know the governor personally, and I know Pete Hegseth from Conservative Veterans for America,” she mentioned, referring to the group she served as a regional director, and Hegseth as government director from 2013 to 2016. “We helped pass the first VA accountability act in 2014. We did that, so Pete is very much about veterans.”
Gates-Skipper is properly conscious of the warmth surrounding Hegseth, nevertheless. “If you’re going to be in political office, be careful what you say and do,” she mentioned, including, “I’m just saying, if you’re going to be in the limelight, just be careful.”
Cavalcade of Floridians
The Rubio seat is open as a result of Trump nominated the Miami Republican to function his secretary of state. The president-elect adopted up by nominating or appointing a minimum of a dozen extra Floridians to hitch his administration, together with U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz for nationwide safety adviser, Matt Gaetz for lawyer basic, Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon basic, and former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon to go the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management.
On Wednesday evening Trump introduced that he was nominating Orlando lawyer Dan Newlin to function U.S. Ambassador to Colombia.
Gaetz withdrew for consideration for AG after it was obvious that he would have problem being confirmed following years of investigations into alleged drug use and funds for intercourse, together with with an underage lady. Trump chosen one other Floridian, former Florida Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi, to serve within the function.
Shortly after that Trump named Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to go the Drug Enforcement Company, though Chronister ended up bowing out of consideration simply days later.
“The nominees seem to have one or more of the following traits in common: Several have been TV personalities, usually on FOX News, which may indicate a preference for great communicators,” mentioned Paulson.
“Second, many have been defense attorneys, and several were involved in defending President Trump. Third, several have been family members, such as Lara Trump. Finally, and most importantly, all have been intensely loyal to Trump. Loyalty, more than any other trait, is a key factor in getting Trump to appoint you to a government position. No loyalty, no job.”
“I have been saying for the last couple of years that Florida has become the lab rat of Project 2025, so it’s not surprising that a lot of Floridians are heading up to Washington, D.C.,” Florida Democratic Social gathering Chair Nikki Fried mentioned on Sirius/XM’s “The Briefing” final month.
“I feel like Florida has conquered Washington, and you’re going to be having more meetings at Mar-a-Lago than we’re going to have at the White House,” Fried added.
The spate of high-profile Florida Republicans becoming a member of Trump’s second administration has thrilled occasion members within the state.
“It’s always good to have people from Florida representing us in the government,” mentioned St. Petersburg Republican Angelo Cappelli. “We have all kinds of problems here, like in most of the country, and we tend to be a microcosm for the rest of the country, so it’s exciting.”
Rating settling
Though a number of MAGA Republicans had been undoubtedly disillusioned about Gaetz’ incapability to outlive greater than two weeks as a nominee for Justice, others the Phoenix spoke with this week had been fired up about his number of Bondi as AG.
They usually expressed pleasure about how she may staff up with Kash Patel, Trump’s choose to guide the FBI, to go after elected officers who pursued legal costs in opposition to Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his involvement within the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Bondi predicted greater than a 12 months in the past on Fox Information what would occur if Trump retook the White Home in 2024.
“The Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted, the bad ones,” she mentioned. “The investigators will be investigated, because the Deep State last term for President Trump, they were hiding in the shadows, but now they have a spotlight on them, and they can all be investigated.”
That’s music to the ears of Pinellas County conservative activist Cathi Chamberlain.
“Pam Bondi is very loyal to Trump,” she mentioned this week, earlier than the Pinellas County Republican Govt Committee December assembly started. “I just hope that she has the cojones to push this stuff through.”
Camberlain added, “I do think that with Kash Patel at the FBI and Bondi at DOJ — as long as [Patel] brings her hardcore evidence, I think she has a really sweet way of making sure that gets through.”
‘Tethered to the law’
Aronberg speaks positively about Bondi, who appointed him in 2010 after she was elected as lawyer basic to a newly created put up specializing in prescription capsule abuse.
“I know Pam and I ran in the same race for attorney general back in 2010 and, after the race, even though I was on the opposite side of the aisle and had supported her Democratic opponent [Dan Gelber], she had appointed me her drug czar, so it shows that she has cared more about policy than politics,” he mentioned.
“But she is loyal to Donald Trump, and when he asks her to investigate the investigators, I believe she will. The difference, though, is that, unlike Matt Gaetz, I do not believe that she will knowingly violate the law to walk Trump’s enemies out in handcuffs. She has always been tethered to the law, and I think that although there will be investigations, I anticipate they will end up similar to the John Durham investigations, which is a whole lot of nothing.”
On Saturday, The New York Instances reported that candidates for presidency posts within the Trump administration, together with contained in the Pentagon and the intelligence businesses, are being requested their opinions of Jan. 6 and who they consider received the 2020 election.
“We’re going to hear all the truth about the J6 committee, you bet, every single one of them should go to jail for destroying evidence,” mentioned Chamberlain. “Trump can’t say that right now. Nobody’s going to be saying that, not Pam Bondi, not anyone, for fear of recusing themselves.”
Aronberg notes that whereas Republican main voters within the 2023-24 GOP presidential marketing campaign heard about “the Florida way,” it’s now coming from a unique supply. “DeSantis ran on a platform to make America Florida and, ironically, it’s Donald Trump who seems to be doing that,” he mentioned.
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