For many years, Florida was considered a volatile swing state that, depending on the candidate, could go either Democrat or Republican in statewide races. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama both carried Florida twice, and in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial race, Democratic former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum just barely lost to Republican now-Gov. Ron DeSantis.
But since then, Florida has taken a deep-red turn. DeSantis ran as a far-right culture warrior in 2022 and was reelected by 19 percent; Donald Trump carried Florida by roughly 14 percent in 2024. And Florida has become a bastion of MAGA politics, from DeSantis to conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer to Sen. Rick Scott to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi (Florida’s former state attorney general) to Trump himself.
In an article published by The Guardian on August 6, journalist Oliver Laughland describes a 400-mile journey across Florida —where he took a close look at the state’s MAGA machine.
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Laughland describes a Turning Point USA event at the Tampa Convention Center, where, in July, a who’s-who of MAGA — including British comedian Russell Brand — could be found and “conspiracy theories, grievance politics and Christian nationalism” were on full display.
“Ahead of me, Russell Brand sits on a white sofa, broadcasting live on the conservative video-streaming service Rumble,” Laughland explains. “His guest is the ‘alt-right’ influencer Jack Posobiec. To the left, along an alleyway lined with small broadcast booths, is the longtime Donald Trump adviser and self-proclaimed ‘dirty trickster’ Roger Stone, who is holding court on a podcast. To the rear, on a large metal scaffold, is Steve Bannon’s ‘War Room’ channel, busy cutting between live footage of a small protest outside the event and adverts for various Trump-aligned products….. In the arena next to the mezzanine, a conveyor belt of MAGA superstars walk out to deliver keynote speeches, accompanied by spitting-flame cannon, pounding dubstep, spinning lasers and strobe lights.”
Laughland continues, “Brand delivers a bizarre diatribe — part standup comedy, part evangelical sermon — about his newfound conversion to Christianity in a word salad of alliteration and non sequiturs…. He is immediately followed by Tom Homan, Trump’s loudmouth border czar.”
But that Turning Point USA event in Tampa was only one of the MAGA-related things Laughland observed in Florida. Four hours south of Tampa, he notes, is the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center. And Palm Beach is home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, home to countless MAGA events.
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“My colleague Tom Silverstone and I came here as the first stop on a journey across…. Florida,” Laughland notes. “Once the quintessential swing state, it is now solidly Republican — and home to some of the president’s vast sources of personal wealth, including his beach club, Mar-a-Lago. It is also one of the hubs of his mass‑deportation program.”
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Read Oliver Laughland’s full article for The Guardian at this link.