PALM BEACH, Florida.- When the governor Ron DeSantis He launched his campaign as a Republican presidential candidate last year, his slogan was quite a premonition: “Make America Florida” (“Make Florida America”). His dream of national projection lasted a few months, but another person was in charge of taking the baton and Donald Trump has already begun to turn the Sunshine State into the “Washington of the South.”
The president-elect not only has Mar-a-Lago, his mansion in exclusive Palm Beach, as a political headquarters, but also appointed four Florida Republicans for high-profile positions in the next government, in what is considered here as a recognition of the consolidation of the state as bastion of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, “the greatest in history,” according to Trump himself.
FILE – Aerial view of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate taken on August 10, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)Steve Helber – AP
The most controversial appointment was that of the Florida congressman Matt Gaetzan iron ally of the tycoon, as fiscal generala key piece of the judicial structure and in the assembly of the cabinet. “Few issues in the United States are more important than ending the partisan militarization of our Justice system,” Trump said when explaining his appointment.
Staunch defender of the president-elect, Gaetz is investigated by the House of Representatives Ethics Commission for sexual misconduct, which could act as a barrier to his confirmation in the Senate. The investigation was put on hold because he left his bench after Trump’s announcement. For Trump’s inner circle, Its ratification would leave him as one of the most powerful men in the future administration.
Although many Republicans are inclined to follow Trump’s every wish, Gaetz’s election generated a notable amount of doubts in the match. The lawyer is unpopular among many fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives for his pressure to expel the previous president of the body, Kevin McCarthy, and for a long controversial history in his personal conduct, including a federal investigation into allegations regarding alleged sexual relations with a minor. The investigation was closed without charges and Gaetz denied having acted outside the law.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (R) speaks with former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and his wife Ginger Luckey Gaetz at the America First Policy Institute Gala at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 14 JOE RAEDLE – GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
Although Trump was born and raised in New York, during his first term he declared his residence in Florida in 2019 (he voted in Palm Beach in the last two elections). His home is his lavish private club Mar-a-Lago, converted during his presidency into something more than a “winter White House.” From what we see every day since he won the last elections, Everything indicates that the resort will reinforce its role as a center of power starting next January 20, when Joe Biden gives the keys to the White House to the Republican leader.
The other key appointments of officials with Florida roots included veteran campaign strategist Susie Wiles, future chief of staff; the senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, and Congressman Mike Waltz, considered a hawk, as national security advisor to the White House. All high profile positions.
With Wiles, Trump turned to an advisor he knows well and who worked closely with him, understands his way of acting, is close to his family and to whom most of his current team is loyal. She will be the first woman to hold that position. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, will be the first Hispanic to handle North American diplomacy, and is expected to give an unprecedented place to Latin America on the international agenda of the White House, with his usual criticism of the regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, is considered a Republican hawk who will be in charge of strategy against the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and Chinese expansion.
“With these appointments we are seeing a floridization of North American politics, and there may be even more in other areas of the government,” he told THE NATION political scientist Daniel Pedreira, from Florida International University (FIU).
FILE – Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., during a campaign rally at the JS Dorton Arena, Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File )Evan Vucci – AP
“Florida is a stronghold for Trump, the ‘Washington of the South’, and we will see the state figure more in national politics. Mar-a-Lago will be an even more important encore White House than in the first administration. The place where the president can host world leaders, but on more informal levels, without Washington protocol. And show them like this a different vision of America“Pedreira added.
At the time, Richard Nixon used an oceanfront property in Key Biscayne as a “Florida White House,” but it does not resemble the level of influence that Mar-a-Lago – the most visited property by Trump in his first presidency – already had between 2017 and 2021. and that he gained even more in this transition of power. The president-elect has daily events, where he receives Republican politicians, strategists, campaign donors and the conservative establishment. Even there he found himself at a gala with a foreign president for the first time since his electoral victory: Javier Milei.
Much of the action in recent days took place under the chandelier of a Mar-a-Lago tea room, where Trump examines his potential cabinet candidates on giant screens, revealed The New York Times. There he looks at lists that his transition team, led by billionaire Howard Lutnick, prepared in recent months. If the president-elect shows interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately see videos of his television appearances, something essential for any aspiring official in the next cabinet, the newspaper added.
Trump with Milei at a gala dinner at Mar-a-Lago, on November 14JOE RAEDLE – GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
“In the last two years, Florida truly became the conservative beacon of freedom for the rest of the country.”said Evan Power, chairman of the Florida Republican Party. “And now that Trump won in a landslide, and he’s a Florida man, this time he’s bringing the state’s talent to make a leadership difference in Washington and fix America”, he evaluated.
Florida, once considered a swing state, became a Republican stronghold. In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton here by 1.2 points; in 2020 to Biden by 3.3; and this year to Kamala Harris by 13.1. A remarkable growth. According to analysts, the brutal change of the state, now red without arguments, captured national attention and propelled some of its politicians to the center of the scene.
Supporters of former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cheer near his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Election Day, November 5, 2024GIORGIO VIERA – AFP
“That’s what attracts everyone’s attention. Florida’s rapid turnaround turns it into a natural reserve from which to draw leaders to accompany Trump in Washington”said political scientist Susan MacManus, professor emeritus at the University of South Florida (USF). “Receiving an invitation to Mar-a-Lago is like someone in the United Kingdom receiving one to see the king. Florida politicians are asked to speak in other states about their success, and politicians from all over the country come here to ask how they are doing it,” he explained.
Another high-profile Florida politician is DeSantis himself, consolidated as the state’s governor with his conservative management. But it is unlikely that he will now enter Trump’s orbit, despite having supported him after the failure of his campaign. However, His “Make America Florida” will begin to consolidate on January 20.
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