Florida

“First and foremost, I think Zohran and I are two good-looking guys in our thirties.” James Fishback, the controversial Republican running for governor of Florida, tells me that it is “not politically wise” to acknowledge his similarities with New York’s new mayor – but he can’t help himself. Both he and Zohran Mamdani are from privileged families, have taken on their own parties, have harnessed youth activism, are big on social media and have courted the same voters on the same issue: the rising cost of living. And, like 34-year-old Mamdani, at this stage of his campaign, Fishback, 31, needs a boost in the polls. Currently he is polling between 5 and 23 percent, while congressman Byron Donalds leads the Republican primary pack at 37 to 47 percent.

During the pandemic, Florida became a haven for those looking to escape lockdowns. Miami was a “Zoom town,” a place where rich mobile professionals moved to enjoy the beaches and freedom, while continuing their remote jobs. Some $36 billion in extra income tax registered with the IRS in 2022. That great influx of people has now come to an abrupt end.  ‘Florida is paradise, but you live in paradise to enjoy it, not to bust your ass’ New US Census Bureau figures show that net migration to the Sunshine State has fallen 92 percent since 2022, its lowest level for more than 15 years. The number of people moving to Florida has collapsed, while existing Floridians are picking up stakes and going elsewhere.

It required an incredible amount of sophistication to achieve the desired result in Caracas: a dictator detained and transported alive. The mission had been planned and mapped out for months, worked and reworked at the behest of the Commander-in-Chief. No American casualties would be tolerated. Special Forces had been circling and at the ready for weeks. The helicopters were easy targets, so a vital part of the mission was to eliminate Nicolás Maduro’s ground- to-air response beforehand and claim total air superiority.

“I get death threats every day,” Laura Loomer says matter-of-factly, as if discussing her junk mail. “I get death threats from Muslims, radical leftists, trannies, you name it.” ‘After what happened to Charlie Kirk, you have to wonder if people are hiding on a roof planning to kill you’ An alligator skull, a bullhorn, a red MAGA hat and a grinning pumpkin sit on a shelf behind Loomer in her pink-lit Florida studio – otherwise known as the spare bedroom of her Gulf Coast rental. This is the headquarters of Loomer Unleashed, the notorious podcast from which she has single-handedly ended the careers of dozens of members of the Trump administration by revealing their alleged treachery. Yet it is very much her future under discussion right now.

There are precious few people who should watch the video released yesterday of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska slowly dying as she cowered in bewilderment and abject fear on a train carriage in Charlotte, NC, after being slashed three times in the neck by a violent repeat offender. Certainly not rubberneckers on the internet whose depraved interest will only intrude on her family’s private grief. And absolutely not her family, for them it is the worst nightmare they could imagine come alive. A jury will have to. Two other groups who should: Democrats and the media.  They created this nightmare so they should be forced to see the uncomfortable truth and direct result of what they have done.

President Trump remains baffled over the endlessly churning Epstein List controversy. “We're on one Team, MAGA, and I don't like what's happening,” he Truth Socialed Saturday. “We have a PERFECT Administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and 'selfish people' are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein.” Calling Epstein “a guy who never dies” raised some eyebrows with the Alex Jones wing of the party. But for the non-conspiracy minded, the MAGA infighting over the Epstein List, whose release was a major Trump campaign promise, has us reaching for another bowl of popcorn. Trump’s exasperation began to show at last week’s cabinet meeting, when a reporter asked him a question about the Epstein List. “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?

What’s changed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania? The Republican-leaning district in a purple state has been turned on its head by a surprise win for the Democratic party: for the first time since the late 1970s, a local Democratic mayor, James Malone, will take up a place in the State Senate, after a special election was held on Wednesday this week.  This is not just an overturn of decades’ worth of party consensus. It seems to be a monumental shift away from the consensus in Lancaster just four months ago, when Donald Trump won the district by 15 points. It was only a one-point drop from his 16-point margin in 2020, when he won the county and lost the state.