Florida’s Governor DeSantis is openly rebelling against Trump.

It had to happen. More will also as time marches on towards 2024.

I wrote early last year that people were beginning to use Trump. Making him think they were supporting him. When in fact they were using him to expand their own political desires.

Trump has been grumbling for months that DeSantis could not be trusted. Trump has been upset because DeSantis had not said the “maga words.” Words to the effect he would stand aside if Trump ran for the Republican nomination in 2024.

The wall Humpty Dumpty sits on is beginning to crack. Trump will take a big fall in another year or so as more abandon him.

DeSantis has shown he fears no one. Not even the Supreme Court. He announced over the weekend that he opposed the Court’s recent decision that allowed medical facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid payments to mandate vaccinations.

DeSantis is off and away! He fears neither person nor entity. Republicans now have two nuts striving to be head of their Party. They forget even the mighty shall fall.

Only in Florida. A losing candidate who subscribes to Trump’s way of doing things. Lose an election and claim you won. Refuse to concede.

The Congressman representing Florida’s 20th District died. A special election was held last tuesday.

The District heavily Democratic. The Democrat Sheila-Cherfilus McCormick beat Republican Jason Mariner decisively. By 50 points. McCormick received 46,663 votes, Mariner 10,883. Stated another way, McCormick received 79 percent of the vote, Mariner 20 percent.

Mariner refuses to concede. Claims Miami “stuff” was discovered. Intimating election fraud.

The guy is Trump crazy. With the difference in who received how much there is no way there could have been fraud of the magnitude complained.

I mentioned the Trump rally saturday night in Arizona in yesterday’s blog. I want to add to my thoughts.

One of the most unflinching Republican Congressman is Paul Gosar. Not just a far right hard ass Republican, the man is also pure unadulterated crazy.

Gosar spoke prior to Trump. He repeated a version of the “false assertion” that the Arizona vote in 2020 was fraudulent. He did so in the “darkest language,” invoking the image of a “building storm,” a metaphor commonly used by followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

He also called for the people involved in counting the ballots for Arizona in 2020 to be “imprisoned.”

Gosar is an example of the type of person who will be leading the U.S. government in 2024 should Trump win.

I watched a movie yesterday afternoon that I had never seen. All Fall Down. Based on James Leo Herlihy’s novel published in 1960. The book was so popular it was made into a movie two years later.

The movie starred Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Brandon de Wilde and Angela Lansbury. A big time cast!

The acting was spectacular, except for Warren Beatty. It was his first movie. His shortcomings were obvious.

I am a Beatty fan. His later films reflected his stature as a star.

Why do I talk about the movie? The author of the book James Leo Herlihy was a frequent visitor to Key West. Spent long periods here with his friend Tennessee Williams. Herlihy’s residence was the Silver Lake District of Los Angeles.

The movie contained scenes of the lower Keys and Key West.

There was a bridge scene.. The bridge was a long one. Beatty and de Wilde were walking it. My sense was the makers of the film were trying to depict Key West. The bridge was nowhere near Key West nor was it the Seven Mile Bridge. The bridge’s foundations were not similar to Seven Mie.

The movie also contained a shot of Duval. The building in the film is not the same today. I suspect the building in the movie was the Cuban Club. However years after the film was made it was destroyed by fire. The reconstructed version is close to the original, but not that close. I could not identify it as the Cuban Club with certainty.

I envy Herlihy. The years he spent in Key West were different. A time and life style long gone never to return.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He died April 8, 1968.

January 17 is celebrated this year as his holiday. Note the use of the words “this year.” January 17 is not always the day. The law establishing the Day decried it was to be the third monday each year. Ergo, the exact day changes every year only to return to the same date several years later.

Many a phrase King uttered had special meaning and are recalled often today by public speakers. One quote I share with you this day: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

Very few persons meet the “measure of a man” in today’s society.

Enjoy your day!