On the Friday following Veterans Day, our local paper published under my real name a version of “A Man, No Plan, Pandemonium,” the entry I posted here on November 11.  If you remember, I suggested if Donald Trump could not figure out how to get from Paris to Aisne-Marne Cemetery on a rainy day, should we worry he was equally unprepared for a major crisis.

We live in a very red county in Northeast Florida.  I anticipated, despite the fact this version focused on Trump’s actions and his own words, someone would find an excuse for his behavior.  I had no idea what was to come.  Yesterday the following appeared as a letter to the editor in the same publication.

Have a Nice Day

   With people like (my name) running around loose, who spilled his liberal thoughts in the Viewpoint of Friday, Nov. 16, it’s no wonder the country is in such political turmoil!  The Trump haters need to take a deep breath and smell the roses before the men in white coats come and take them away!  Enough of this ridiculous rhetoric that can only be attributed to poor losers the same as Bill Nelson and the not-so-great mayor of Tallahassee!
     Which political party to this day will not accept defeat?  That’s right, the Democratic Party!  Which political party will disparage a Supreme Court nominee with salacious lies and not blink an eye?  Again it’s Democrats!  Which political party attacks members of the government while eating at restaurants, walking through airports, leaving or entering a building?  You guessed it!  Which political party and its followers make sick threats against the children of the president and first lady of the United States?  You should get the picture by now.  So please, don’t spill your ugly thoughts by writing hateful messages that are old and tiring unless you wish to show just how ignorant you are!
     The last president who was obviously loved by the left and perhaps by the focus of this writing was a total loser to me and still is, but I didn’t go to the lengths that the crybabies on the left are today!  I knew that in time the voters would see him for what he is and that was proven in the outcome of the 2016 election.
     If we ever get a federal election without the fraud perpetrated by the left, yes the left, there would be no Democrat elected to any office which would be vindication for all the wrongs the “right” has had to face!  There are two systems of justice in this country, one against conservatives and the other for liberals!   Time for this to stop!
     To (my name), I hope you see the light, but whether or not that happens, have a nice day!

Rodger Woltjer
Fernandina Beach

I consider it a “badge of honor” when a Trump supporter chooses to “shoot the messenger” (in this case, me) than even try to counter the substance of the article.  For Mr. Woltjer to have spewed such vitriol, I must have really struck a nerve.  How dare a liberal, of all people,  be the one to point out Trump’s lack of respect for our troops.  There is a new  parlor game in Washington, D.C.  called, “What if Barack Obama had done that?”  During her current book tour, Michelle Obama admitted even she and her husband play it on occasion.  I can only imagine how high Mr. Woltjer’s blood pressure would have risen if President Obama had skipped a commemorative ceremony on Veterans Day.

I planned to take the response for what it was, the apparent rantings of an ill-informed resident of the area.  I did not for a minute consider wasting time addressing his hypocrisy.  I trust most people could figure that out for themselves.  However, last night, a loyal reader of this blog said he had done some research on Mr. Woltjer and found a similarly crazed letter to the editor in the Macon, Georgia newspaper during the 2014 mid-terms.  That reader turned my indifference into curiosity for which I thank him.

Are you sitting down?  Rodger Woltjer is a retired Air Force colonel who has been a college lecturer and written three books on the Civil War.  And yet, he was obviously more offended that someone would suggest the commander-in-chief should not have blown off a visit to a U.S. cemetery dedicated to American soldiers who had died in World War I than the fact the commander-in-chief actually blew off a visit to a U.S. cemetery dedicated to American soldiers in World War I.

Which brings me to the title of today’s entry.  Much has been said and written about what it would take for 2016 Trump voters to abandon their idol.  Well, it’s time for Democrats and progressive independents to stop beating that dead horse.  Did former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen really think he would pick up votes from Trump supporters when he endorsed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court?  Did soon to be former Senator Claire McCaskill pin her hopes on re-election to her tacit support for Trump’s immigration policies unlike “those crazy Democrats” (her words)?  How many times do we have to remind Democrats over 60 percent of Americans support a progressive agenda?  If they want to come along for the ride, great, but we do not need Trump supporters.  All we need to do is fight to make sure every American has the opportunity to vote and then make sure they go to the polls.

Which brings me to an inconvenient truth I avoided sharing during the mid-term election.  On September 6, when Andrew Gillum picked Chris King to be his running mate, I told my wife, “This will cost him the election.”  There were three reasons for my negative assessment.  #1: Chris King came in fifth among seven candidates in the Democratic primary with 2.5 percent of the vote, not exactly a ringing endorsement of his electoral acumen.  #2:  Three South Florida counties–Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach–are where Democrats win statewide election.  With Gillum being from Tallahassee, he needed to balance the ticket geographically.  King is from Orlando.  #3: King is an avowed evangelical.  And even though he campaigned as someone who professed true Christian values of compassion and charity, the likelihood of his flipping some if any of Trump’s evangelical support was dubious at best.  Gillum could have picked Jesus of Orlando as his running mate and the outcome would have been the same.

Whatever one thinks of Ron DeSantis, his selection of Jeanette Nuñez as his running mate sealed the deal. As the first Cuban-American woman* on a gubernatorial ballot, Nuñez’ presence on the GOP ticket made the difference in the only place that mattered.  Here are the numbers to prove it.  In 2016, Hillary Clinton garnered 63.7 percent of the vote in Miami-Dade County.  On November 6, Gillum polled only 59.9 percent.  A 3.8 percent difference of 790,000 total votes cast translates into a net loss of over 30,000 votes.  But that is just half the story.  The total vote for DeSantis in Miami-Dade county was 311,000 compared to 333,00 for Trump in 2016, a  decrease of only 22,000.  In contrast the Democratic deficit was 145,000 (623,000 for Clinton in 2016 versus 478,000 for Gillum in 2018).  Plain and simple, the Gillum/King ticket did not create the kind of excitement needed in Miami-Dade County to overcome the GOP margin in the state’s rural areas.

The lesson.  Take that dying horse off life-support.  The exit polls in Florida (YES, FLORIDA) demonstrate an overwhelming percentage of voters support progressive policies.  Consider the following.

Health care in the U.S. needs major changes/68%
Sexual harassment in this country is a serious problem/85%
Support for stricter gun control/56%
More protection of the FL environment/60%
Climate change is a serious problem/67%

These are policies on which the Democrats can campaign and win.  Stop chasing a unicorn.  Stop asking what it would take for voters like Mr. Woltjer and his ilk to finally abandon Trump.  The answer is NOTHING.   More importantly, you don’t need them.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

* Based on exit polling, Florida voters by a margin of 74 to 23 percent said it was important to elect more women to public office.