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Nathan Cobb
| Sarasota Herald-Tribune
PANAMA CITY BEACH — A Holiday Inn in Panama City Beach served as the launching pad for a frantic bid to keep President Donald Trump’s campaign viable in a must-win state while he recovers from COVID-19.
A parade of Trump surrogates began descending on Florida Thursday, starting with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., who rallied a crowd of more than 100 people with claims that Joe Biden is “camouflage for the radical left.”
“They’re going to tell you it’s moderate Joe, it’s blue-collar Joe from Scranton,” Trump Jr. said. “Give me a break. I’m a son of a billionaire from Manhattan and I’ve had more blue-collar jobs than Joe Biden. You’re not blue-collar if you get elected into the Senate in your 20s and you stay there for 50 years.”
Despite Trump’s recent bout with COVID-19, the vast majority of supporters at Thursday’s rally were unmasked. They also were crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in a small meeting room at the hotel that overlooked the Gulf of Mexico.
Vice President Mike Pence is holding two events in Florida on Saturday, and Trump’s other top-level campaign surrogates are expected in the state soon. But Trump Jr. might be the biggest draw in the MAGA universe other than his father, and is the president’s best hope to keep his campaign flame burning in his absence.
Trump Jr. also is holding four events across Florida on Sunday during a “Fighters Against Socialism” bus tour.
A conservative star with 5.7 million followers on Twitter, Trump Jr. is viewed by some as the heir to the president’s political movement, maybe even a presidential candidate himself someday. He channels the same type of grievance-driven enthusiasm that his father engenders, whipping up the Panama City Beach crowd Thursday with mentions that Chinese officials ran an unchecked disinformation campaign about the pandemic on Twitter.
“They said it was not a violation of their terms,” Trump Jr. said of Twitter. “When I spread truth about coronavirus, I get thrown off the platform.
“… Only one side gets picked on, only one side gets fact checked, (and) only one side gets called out, even if it’s nonsense,” he added.
Trump Jr. also said some of the left’s “nonsense” was on display during the Wednesday night debate when Sen. Kamala Harris talked about the jobs former Vice President Joe Biden has created.
“Joe Biden got the economy when it was like at the beginning of an upswing after the worst recession in recent time,” Trump Jr. said. “A monkey sitting in the Oval Office doing nothing… could just sit there and it would grow on its own.”
The average of Florida polls shows Democrat Biden widening his lead on Trump in Florida during the past week since the president was hospitalized with COVID-19 and then confined to the White House.
Without Florida’s 29 Electoral College votes, there likely is not a path for Trump to win the 270 he needs for re-election. He narrowly won the state by 1.2 percentage points in 2016.
Florida GOP Chairman Joe Gruters said the campaign is working furiously to stay on track during the president’s absence.
“We are literally cranking it out there on a daily basis,” Gruters said.
With “four more years” chants bellowing from the Holiday Inn on Thursday, Trump Jr. also discussed how Hunter Biden, the Democratic nominee’s son, allegedly “took $1.5 billion from the Chinese.”
He added that if the roles were reversed, it could be “the biggest story in the world,” one that might make U.S. intelligence agencies question whether or not the involved candidate was “compromised.”
“You think the media would have a problem if I was receiving that from the Chinese government?” Trump Jr. said. “Well, why don’t they for ‘bought-and-paid-for Joe?'”
Trump Jr. was joined at the event by his girlfriend, former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, Gov. Ron DeSantis and state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.
“One thing is clear: We’re ready to Keep Florida RED and re-elect @realDonaldTrump to continue the #GreatAmericanComeback,” Patronis said in a Twitter post the included pictures of DeSantis and others speaking to the crowd.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, shared a video of the event on Twitter with the message: “just wear a damn mask!”
“As a leader in this state, I don’t care about what party you’re in or what candidate you vote for, just wear a damn mask!” Fried wrote. “You’re putting everyone in that room and their families in danger.”
