Trump assembling a 'Florida Man' cabinet of loyal followers

TALLAHASSEE– President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t wasted any time remaking Washington D.C. in his own image – and it is looking a lot like Florida Man.

Trump, the first full-time Florida resident to win the presidency, is assembling a cabinet of MAGA loyalists and Mar-a-Lago regulars, which should come as no surprise since Florida has become the epicenter of Trump’s world in recent years.

“This is his home state, and we’ve had the most access to him in the last couple of years,” said State Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota, former chair of the Republican Party of Florida and a stalwart Trump supporter. “It’s all about proximity. These people are able to step up immediately and are committed to his agenda and moving his priorities forward.”

Several of Trump’s picks are veteran Florida politicians and campaign strategists, but the nomination of former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for U.S. Attorney General shocked even some Trump allies.

Trump is a quintessential Florida Man and his appointments reflect that, said Craig Pittman, a journalist and book author. “He’s a convicted felon who’s not a bit repentant.”

Pittman’s latest book, “Oh, Florida!” is subtitled “How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country,” but he added, “I had no idea it would end up like this.”

Other Florida residents Trump wants to join him in D.C. include: Jacksonville resident Susie Wiles, who has been Trump’s longtime Florida campaign strategist, as White House Chief of Staff; U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, a former Green Beret combat veteran raised in Jacksonville, as National Security Adviser; and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Miami as Secretary of State. Also mentioned as a contender for Secretary of Education is Tiffany Justice, a former Indian River County School Board member and co-founder of Moms for Liberty.

“This is part of his reward system,” said Daniel Uhlfelder, a Trump critic and Panhandle attorney who ran unsuccessfully for Florida attorney general in 2020 as a Democrat. “He’s the godfather of Florida, giving out favors to his cronies, amplifying and rewarding his lieutenants.”

Like many Florida Men, Trump is a transplant, not a native.

After losing his reelection bid in 2020, Trump moved from New York to Florida and made the Mar-a-Lago country club he’s owned since 1985 his permanent home. Since then, it has become the nerve center of Trump’s political operations.

“Trump took the Make America Florida campaign slogan that DeSantis came up with for his failed presidential campaign and ran with it,” said Ron Filipkowski, a former Republican prosecutor and appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis who runs a liberal news website called MeidasTouch, which monitors Trump, MAGA World, and the goings on at Mar-A-Lago.

Most of Trump’s appointments didn’t cause much of a stir in D.C., not even South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for Homeland Security Director or former Hawaiian congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for National Security, he said.

But when Trump nominated Gaetz, the conservative Florida Panhandle firebrand as attorney general, “all hell broke loose,” Filipkowski said.

“This is what it looks like to Make America Florida — and it’s a living nightmare,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said in an emailed statement. “Donald Trump is raiding our state for any Florida Man loyal to him, no matter how incompetent, unqualified, or extreme they may be.”

Fried called Gaetz a “chaos agent who cares about nothing but his own personal power.”

Some members of the GOP establishment also seemed stunned by Gaetz’s appointment, especially given his lack of legal experience.

“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who has voted with Democrats on key issues. “We need to have a serious attorney general. And I’m looking forward to the opportunity to consider somebody that is serious. This one was not on my bingo card.”

But Gruters said Trump tapped Gaetz for a clear reason: “The president has a mandate to shake D.C. up, and Gaetz is the tip of the spear, the sledgehammer.”

Several other members of Florida’s congressional delegation are likely to be named to top positions in the Trump White House as well, he added.

Trump “surrounds himself with people that believe what he’s trying to do,” Gruters said. “Everyone he’s picked here has proven themselves to be loyal, competent and capable to move those priorities forward.”

Filipkowski, who has followed the comings and goings at Mar-a-Lago for years, said it’s more likely that “Trump just chooses whoever had his ear last” at the Palm Beach club.

Gaetz was with Trump when he flew back from D.C. to Florida, and Trump made the decision to tap him for Attorney General on the plane, The New York Times reported.

But, Filipowski said, there’s another factor at work: It’s hard to “find an attorney general crazy enough to burn the place down,” which Trump and Gaetz clearly want to do. Gaetz has talked about dismantling the FBI and prosecuting Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was President Biden’s chief COVID-19 advisor. “Those guys are hard to find.”

Most attorney generals have come from high-end law firms and tend to follow the law and not challenge the institutions of government, he said. Gaetz, who graduated from law school in 2007, has more limited legal experience and is mostly known as a politician, elected to the Florida House first in 2010 and then to Congress in 2016.

But Gaetz has been loyal to Trump and by his side through many battles, especially his relentless attempt to overturn the 2020 election. He’s also been critical of the DOJ investigation into Trump’s Russian ties.

Both Gaetz and Trump have faced charges of sexual misconduct.

In May, Trump was convicted in federal court in New York on 34 counts of falsifying records in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. He was scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 26. More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual assault, and last year a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million after agreeing that Trump “sexually abused” her.

Gaetz resigned from Congress Wednesday after Trump nominated him for attorney general, effectively ending a House ethics probe into allegations of sexual misconduct of drug use.

For two years, the U.S. Department of Justice — which Gaetz would oversee if appointed as Attorney General — investigated allegations that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl but ended its investigation without bringing charges. Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Uhlfelder said Trump is using these appointments to “amplify Florida’s importance, to go past California,” as a national political powerhouse.

But Pittman fears the Florida connection will only throw shade on the Sunshine State.

“People will think of Florida as being even more of a clown car,” he said. “These are the people he’s picking and people are saying ‘Who? Him?’”

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