Tomorrow, Sunday November 6th, President Trump will be holding a rally in Miami-Dade, Florida, for the slate of republican candidates.  All of the main republican candidates, including both Florida senators, who rely on the diverse America-First MAGA movement for election victories will be there…. Except Ron DeSantis.

Now, I get it. I mean, I understand why the people managing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis cannot have their principle appearing at a MAGA rally to receive the endorsement of President Trump, an almost certain 2024 candidate they are planning to challenge a few months later.  However, I get it because I see the roadmap they’ve laid in front of him; a roadmap he is following.

But again, it takes a level of intellectual honesty to accept the basic point that if Ron DeSantis was not planning to run for higher office, or at least leave that option available, there is nothing to lose for DeSantis to appear with Trump.  The only downside to attending the Miami MAGA rally is if DeSantis would want to challenge President Trump a few months later.  Honesty is the cornerstone of accepting things as they are, not as we would wish them to be.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will not be at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition Center, because the team managing Ron DeSantis national branding campaign don’t want him there.

Since July/Aug {Go Deep} the new management in charge of DeSantis have been positioning him as the Trump alternative, the more acceptable republican candidate, ie. the club candidate

Instead, the republican club and Wall Street financed “Friends of Ron DeSantis” superPAC ($150+ million) have organized another optical event in the much deeper red, Southwest Florida (advertisement left) [LINK HERE].

Notice who is paying for the DeSantis event.  Parker Yancey McCollum is an American Americana and country singer-songwriter based in Texas, and if you follow the granular details of the GOPe branding effort, you might notice the DeSantis management team have deployed the strategy of hitching the governor’s wagon to popular music stars [Luke Bryan example].

This specific branding approach is familiar to professional political consultants and those who follow the deep weeds around ‘imaging’ in political campaigns.  The objective is to use the popularity of the Hollywood or music star as a draw for the crowd.  The managed politician benefits from the optical illusion of a large crowd gathered to support the candidate.

The image and branding approach is useful in avoiding a campaign event at a venue where the crowd doesn’t show up, which looks horrible for the candidate.

While President Donald Trump rallies the MAGA movement in Miami-Dade, specifically going to the formerly deep blue region to drive the proverbial stake through the heart of the left-wing political machine in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis will hold court within deep red southwest Florida, using Parker McCollum to hopefully offset the optics of DeSantis absence at the MAGA rally.

Rising country music star Parker McCollum was not scheduled to perform in SWFL [Schedule Here] and the DeSantis event is advertised, promoted and financed by the GOPe SuperPac ‘Friends of Ron DeSantis’.   The motives and intents being the DeSantis branding and management team remain clear to those with eyes to see.

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I’ve been sharing some of the challenges with site admins; at their suggestion here’s the latest from the impact zone.

First things first.  To establish the context, what made Ian completely different from all other hurricane recovery responses I have been involved in comes down to two issues: strength of the storm (155+ mph winds), and more importantly the duration of the event (8+ hours of peak destruction).

In normal hurricane impacts the worst affected areas generally experience 3 to 4 hours of chaos.  Hurricane Ian was unique in that it was only moving 8 to 10 mph and that made the storm damage completely different.  Structures that survived the first half, completely failed during the second half of the storm.

Almost nothing survived unscathed after 8 to 9 hours of that strength of storm sitting, almost stationary, in one place; nor was anything ever designed to withstand that duration of storm with winds from the South, then East, then West as Ian meandered inland from the gulf toward the north northeast.

After this storm, and having been through four previous direct impacts, including Homestead AFB, I would say this….  If there is even a remote chance you would ever encounter this type of a hurricane event, EVACUATE.  Do not try and hunker down if there is a looming possibility of having to rely on a structure to withstand 150+ mph wind for a full day.  Just leave.  With all of my preparations in place, and all of the knowledge I possess in storm survival, I would never attempt that again.

That said, I will put a better word image together at a later date to share, along with specific recommendations learned as an outcome of this event.  In the interim, just accept my most strenuous advice. If this specific type of storm was ever predicted to come near you, GET OUT.

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A week ago, Colorado senate republican candidate Joe O’Dea said on CNN, “I don’t think Donald Trump should run again.” He quickly added, ” I’m going to actively campaign against Donald Trump and make sure that we have got four or five really great Republicans right now; Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.”

President Trump blasted O’Dea the following day {link}.

Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis picked Joe O’Dea as his only 2022 endorsed senate candidate {link}, recording a robocall for O’Dea that says, “Hello this is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. America needs strong leadership and desperately. That’s why I’m endorsing Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senate. Colorado, please vote for Joe O’Dea.”

Keep in mind, Ron DeSantis is a governor who campaigns on his success as a governor and has been rallying exclusively for governor candidates.  However, despite not endorsing the republican candidate in the Colorado state race (Heidi Ganahl), Governor DeSantis went out of his way to support the only explicitly anti-Trump Senate candidate in 2022, Joe O’Dea.

When Paul Ryan endorsed Ron DeSantis, you could argue that DeSantis never asked for it.  When Jeb Bush endorsed DeSantis, again you could argue that DeSantis never asked for it. However, the transparency of DeSantis endorsing O’Dea who has stated his intent to actively campaign against any MAGA candidate… well, you can’t say that had nothing to do with DeSantis.

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Sometimes the knights in shining armor appear as crews’ wearing jeans, overalls and steel toed boots.

It doesn’t take an emergency beacon to activate them, just a need… and they come.  Purposefully, without condition, ready to move, activate and respond.  They throw the gear bags, kiss the ladies & babies, and head out. The rest is figured out upon arrival.

Superior Construction, came from Jacksonville, Ajax Paving from Fort Myers, Honc from the Cape and trucks with subs from just about everywhere. There’s both a unity and similarity that flows when callouses are clasped and the melding of purpose comes together.  Few words are needed, because it’s a task centered outlook, let’s git r’ done – no quit.

I asked Richard to put this together. {Direct Ruble Link} The drone video is from FAI photography. The song is by Lucy Thomas.  The message, well, given all of the critics who say America’s best days are behind, perhaps they need to pause a little bit and remind themselves what we are capable of.  Enjoy:

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What has been accomplished in two weeks of 24/7 reconstruction is nothing short of remarkable.  Then again, this is the Christian America we know well.  The truckers, pullers, spreaders, drivers, welders, machinists, heavy equipment operators, tugboat operators, barge haulers, diggers, pumpers, tradesmen, all of them, just people.

Damn good people at that.

People who represent what makes our nation unique.  The invisible, salty, mostly scruffy and beautifully comfortable about it, yet critical network of blue-collar crews that keeps it all operating.  God, how I cherish them so.

At the core of our American purpose is a decency and unity.  Critics don’t like to talk about it, but American workers are fundamentally good. When something seems impossible, for blue-collar Americans ‘impossible‘ is just another starting point, if you get out of the way. Don’t lose sight of that.

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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell travelled to Fort Myers to join with Samaritans Purse in the Hurricane Ian recovery effort.   Mr. Lindell went door to door in various neighborhoods passing out pillows and blankets along with prayers and well wishes for the community. {Direct Rumble Link}

Mr. Lindell appeared with Steve Bannon to discuss the recovery effort.  WATCH:

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“The damage is incredible—these people need our prayers and our support,” said Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham. “We’re going to need an army of volunteers. Prayerfully consider joining us to help in Jesus’ Name.”  [ Website Here ] 

To give an idea of what happened to the coastal area, there is some pretty incredible drone footage of the damage done to Fort Myers beach and Sanibel/Captiva. Below:

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Tucker  had originally scheduled a 30 min. interviewed with Kanye West, however, it quickly morphed into a 2 hr. interview.  Here is the second hour of that interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egxmuqF1fTM&t=6s

Rapper Kanye West joins Tucker Carlson Tonight and discusses blowback over the controversial shirt, his father, and the history of racial discrimination in America.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGKrtPOX9zY

Fortunate is a word often accompanied with thankfulness; the complicated conversations always begin with both.  We are blessed, fortunate and thankful. Personally, I have tried to avoid the complicated conversations, choosing instead to throw the starfish back into the water one at a time.

According to most, hurricane recovery and restoration is complicated business. They are likely correct; however, I do not see a broom, mop, screw gun or sandwich delivered as complicated business, so y’all are not going to read analytics of the complex from me.   Instead, the focus is on seeing a person with a problem and tackling it in a way to make their situation just a little bit better.

I’ve watched ants move rocks because rocks needed to be moved.  The task did not seem complex, the only variable seemed to be the number of ants needed.  I doubt they used extras. The ants somehow knew exactly how many of them were needed for the task and modified their assembly based on the terrain.  If you watch closely, the ants keep arriving until exactly the rock moving number of ants are on task – and they move the rock.

Perhaps it is a complicated process for ants to move rocks.  Is there a boardroom of ants, with ant planning and zoning?  Or does one ant just start pushing on the obstacle and the other ants join in.  I think the latter is more likely.

Need gasoline, we can get it.  Need the road cleared, we got that too. We can make a sandwich, deliver fuel, saw, sweep, mop, scrub, clean and/or make just that little space closer to the normal of memory.  It is entirely possible to replace a missing downspout, and it is entirely possible to provide an uncomplicated ear to listen. Both tasks are equally important during recovery because both outcomes reduce burdens.

Day 5 finds more ants arriving in the western impact zone of Hurricane Ian.  Here’s the rock:

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Tucker Carlson used his opening monologue tonight to discuss the era of The Great Pretending, the disconnect between the ideology driven goals of the politicians and the people they are supposed to represent.

Using Giorgia Meloni as an example of a person who refused to play the pretending game, Carlson notes how Meloni won an easy victory by speaking plain truth to the Italian electorate.  WATCH:

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The DeSantis Crew, formerly the 2016 Cruz Crew, is up in arms over a selectively edited soundbite from Jared Kusher, President Trump’s son-in-law. {Direct Rumble Link}

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went shopping for South American aliens at an El Paso migrant processing facility in Texas.  The DeSantis people took the aliens to a hotel with plans to fly them to Delaware, Joe Biden’s home state.  However, facing backlash over the legality of spending Florida funds on a previous operation to move Texas migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, the DeSantis team abandoned the recruited Venezuelan aliens at the hotel, leaving them confused and stranded.

Jared Kushner noted in a Fox appearance that he did not like the approach of recruiting, manipulating and using arriving aliens as political pawns.  Immediately the DeSantis supporters pulled an 8-second soundbite from a one-hour Fox News appearance and proclaimed Kusher was criticizing Ron DeSantis, which in the world view of Team DeSantis makes Kushner an enemy.  However, the full statement with context is not controversial at all, and in my opinion Kusher is correct.  WATCH:

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The fact that Ron DeSantis sent people to Texas to recruit aliens from an El Paso processing facility with the promise of a flight to Delaware, then abandoned them when the political heat started, literally leaving them at the hotel confused and waiting for a bus that never arrived, shows the operation itself was using aliens as “political pawns,” and it is unseemly.

The DeSantis people can try to spin this against Kushner, but the outrage should really be toward the people working for DeSantis who pulled this stunt.

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