DeSantis dilemma on Senate pick and the MAGA-Florida connection

by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
 

When Ron DeSantis sidles up next to Donald Trump Saturday in Landover, Maryland, to watch the Army-Navy football game, the topic of whom the Florida governor appoints to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio might be a topic of conversation.

Trump and parts of MAGA World — including Sen. Rick Scott — are lobbying intensely for the governor to select the president-elect’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, for the seat.

Ms. Trump’s resignation as co-chair of the Republican National Committee earlier this week has only fueled such speculation. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg says it gives 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,” said Aronberg, a Democrat who announced more than a year ago that he was stepping down after 12 years in office.

“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 around that time began working as a producer for the television program “Inside Edition”, according to TIME magazine. 

She married Eric in 2014 (they now live in Palm Beach County) and launched a “Women for Trump” bus tour for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 (which included a stop in Tampa). She moved up to become a fundraiser and senior adviser on Trump’s 2020 re-election bid. And she served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee from March of 2024 to this past week.

“Lara Trump would be a great choice for anything,” said Judith Zentmeyer, a member of the Pinellas County Republican Party who spoke to the Phoenix during the party’s monthly meeting 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 government at USF-St. Petersburg, is extremely skeptical that DeSantis would appoint her to replace Rubio in the Senate.

“Trump has ‘yanked the chain’ on DeSantis too many times,” he said. “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 said that he is likely to name his choice to replace Rubio by the beginning of January.

‘Pressure campaign’ for Hegseth

Trump has nominated Army National Guard veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to become his Secretary of Defense, but DeSantis’ name was floated last week as a possible alternative choice after it looked like Hegseth might have a problem being confirmed by the Senate due to allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking that have surfaced in recent weeks.

However, Politico reported this week that a “pressure campaign” on the part of allies of Trump has revived Hegseth’s chances of getting confirmed.

Polk County Republican Committeewoman Kat Gates-Skipper is a veterans advocate who says either would be a great choice for that community.

“I know the governor personally, and I know Pete Hegseth from Conservative Veterans for America,” she said, referring to the organization she served as a regional director, and Hegseth as executive 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 well aware of the heat surrounding Hegseth, however. “If you’re going to be in political office, be careful what you say and do,” she said, adding, “I’m just saying, if you’re going to be in the limelight, just be careful.”

Cavalcade of Floridians

The Rubio seat is open because Trump nominated the Miami Republican to serve as his secretary of state. The president-elect followed up by nominating or appointing at least a dozen more Floridians to join his administration, including U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz for national security adviser, Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general, and former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon to head the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. 

On Wednesday night Trump announced that he was nominating Orlando attorney Dan Newlin to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Colombia.

Gaetz withdrew for consideration for AG after it was apparent that he would have difficulty being confirmed following years of investigations into alleged drug use and payments for sex, including with an underage girl. Trump selected another Floridian, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, to serve in the role.

Shortly after that Trump named Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister to head the Drug Enforcement Agency, although Chronister ended up bowing out of consideration just 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,” said 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 Party Chair Nikki Fried said on Sirius/XM’s “The Briefing” last 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 joining Trump’s second administration has thrilled party members in the state.

“It’s always good to have people from Florida representing us in the government,” said 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.”

Score settling

Although several MAGA Republicans were undoubtedly disappointed about Gaetz’ inability to survive more than two weeks as a nominee for Justice, others the Phoenix spoke with this week were fired up about his selection of Bondi as AG. 

And they expressed excitement about how she could team up with Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, to go after elected officials who pursued criminal charges against Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

‘Tethered to the law’

Aronberg speaks positively about Bondi, who appointed him in 2010 after she was elected as attorney general to a newly created post focusing on prescription pill 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 said.

“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 Times reported that applicants for government posts in the Trump administration, including inside the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies, are being asked their opinions of Jan. 6 and who they believe won 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,” said 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 while Republican primary voters in the 2023-24 GOP presidential campaign heard about “the Florida way,” it’s now coming from a different source. “DeSantis ran on a platform to make America Florida and, ironically, it’s Donald Trump who seems to be doing that,” he said.                              

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