Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) is trying a novel way to appeal to Republican voters in her Miami-area district, breaking from President Donald Trump’s immigration policies for going “too far.”
In a new campaign advertisement released on Thursday, Salazar, whose re-election bid was endorsed by Trump, calls out the president and argues that the administration’s immigration enforcement is alienating Hispanic voters who helped return him to the White House in 2024. 
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar says in the ad. “Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy. The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
She then delivers a bizarre historical comparison. “You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism,” Salazar says. “I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.”
The new advertisement centers on the number of people arrested by ICE who had no criminal record. “In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record,” Salazar says in the ad. Government data showed that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/border-immigration-customs-enforcement-data-statistics-f07f56a34bda225e5afa356781ac1740">49,571 people were arrested by ICE in July</a>, with more than half having no prior criminal convictions or charges. The term “no criminal record” in the government data does not include immigration violations.
Salazar has previously advocated for immigration legislation that would create a pathway to legal status for certain immigrants who have lived in the United States for years and passed criminal background checks. Her campaign&#8217;s latest message comes as immigration remains a defining issue for both Republicans and Hispanic voters. 
The campaign ad is running in the Miami market and was also released in Spanish. Salazar is seeking a fourth term representing Florida’s 27th Congressional District, where she faces Democratic nominee Eliott Rodriguez.
Salazar’s appeal to Trump is particularly notable because she has otherwise been a prominent Republican ally of the president. Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116049024324119533">endorsed</a> her re-election bid in February, and Salazar endorsed Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. Her constituents don’t seem to share her critique of Trump, who won the district by more than 14 percentage points in 2024, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/09/17/congress/maria-elvira-salazar-trump-immigration-01081970">Politico</a>. Despite this, in prior congressional races the district has been quite competitive.
A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/polls/florida-us-house-27-polls-2026.html">Bendixen &amp; Amandi International poll</a> conducted for Rodriguez&#8217;s campaign in late August found Salazar and Rodriguez tied at 45% among voters after undecided respondents were asked which candidate they leaned toward. The survey was commissioned by Rodriguez&#8217;s campaign. Perhaps due to the recent tightening of the race, Salazar&#8217;s campaign has increasingly emphasized her independence on issues involving the Trump administration.
In August, she <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/08/29/us-news/maria-elvira-salazar-backtracks-on-trumps-venezuela-oil-deal-after-blasting-pact-on-x/">briefly deleted posts</a> criticizing a major <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-announces-biggest-oil-deal-in-world-history">U.S.-Venezuela oil agreement</a> before reposting a revised statement supporting the deal while continuing to criticize Venezuela&#8217;s interim leadership.

COLOMBIA-ELECTION-RUNOFF-VOTE

Trump-Backed Republican Takes Aim At President In Bizarre Campaign Ad

2026 midterm election

donald trump

florida

immigration enforcement

maria elvira salazar

politics

A traditionally tropical disease is quickly gaining a larger foothold in the United States, as an alarming number of locally acquired cases of dengue fever have cropped up in recent weeks.
Centered primarily in <a href="https://theconversation.com/dengue-carrying-mosquitoes-expand-their-reach-into-new-territories-including-florida-291837">Florida</a>, where the mosquitoes that carry the virus are common, the mosquito-borne virus has been detected in at least 95 cases since July — in Hillsborough County, Florida, alone. In at least one recent case, the virus proved deadly for an elderly woman, according to her doctors. The Florida Department of Health has not yet confirmed that her death was dengue-related.
Officials in Florida have warned the public to take steps to avoid mosquito bites whenever possible — and to take extra steps to avoid being bitten if they know they have been infected, since a mosquito that bites an infected person could then carry dengue to the next person it bites.
Paolo Pecora, a senior environmental scientist with <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/tampa-hillsborough-put-boots-on-the-ground-fighting-dengue-fever/">Hillsborough County</a>, warned local residents to check their homes and properties regularly for standing water, which is where mosquitoes breed.
&#8220;It takes everyone to help this problem,&#8221; Pecora said. &#8220;It’s right there behind your backdoor. It’s right there at the corner of your house; it’s behind your shed; it’s behind the brush in the shade after you washed the dog, or it’s an old dog bowl or cat bowl.&#8221;
He also warned those who have been infected against going out whenever possible: &#8220;Don’t be a host reservoir for the virus. Stay at home, get medical professionals, and contact us. We can do a domestic investigation and treat your yard for free.&#8221;
Dengue fever, more commonly known as &#8220;breakbone fever&#8221; for the extreme deep-bone pain often felt by those infected, is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes — mainly <a href="https://theconversation.com/mosquitoes-are-picky-eaters-we-studied-3-common-south-florida-species-to-learn-why-they-like-some-people-more-than-others-289647">Aedes aegypti,</a> a species that is fairly common in Florida and bites during the day, unlike most other species. Aedes mosquitoes can also carry a number of other viruses such as Zika and Yellow Fever. Dengue cannot be transmitted from person-to-person contact.
Patients who contract dengue often experience the rapid onset of symptoms, beginning with a high fever and severe headache, often including pain behind the eyes. There is no specific treatment for dengue other than management of symptoms — for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend rest, fluids, and acetaminophen (Tylenol) to control the fever. Patients should avoid Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) because they present a risk of bleeding — which can also be a complication of dengue.
If the case is determined to be severe — with additional symptoms including belly pain, vomiting, bleeding from the nose or gums, or extreme restlessness, drowsiness, and irritability — patients are instructed to proceed immediately to an emergency room for care. Severe dengue can develop in just a few hours, so patients are cautioned to track symptoms carefully and seek medical intervention when necessary.
There are no vaccines for dengue in the United States, although some are in development in other countries. There was a vaccine approved in 2019, but it was only given to patients between the ages of nine and 16 in areas where the disease is endemic — and only to patients who had previously had a documented case of dengue. Giving the vaccine to patients who had not previously had dengue increased the likelihood that they would develop severe disease if infected later.
In addition to its rapid spread in the United States, dengue has been surging around the world over the last several years. According to data compiled by the World Health Organization, there were 505,000 cases of dengue reported in 2000. That number ballooned to more than 14 million in 2024, which was the worst year on record.

Aedes aegypti (dengue, zika, yellow fever mosquito) biting human skin, frontal view

Exotic Mosquito Virus Is Rapidly Expanding In The United States

dengue fever

health

infectious disease outbreak

mosquito borne illness

public health

The Florida State Board of Education approved new artificial intelligence (AI) rules on Wednesday for K-12 public schools, charter schools, and the 28 institutions in the Florida College System.
School districts must alert parents when they approve an AI tool and explain how students will interact with it. If a student will use the tool directly, parents must opt their child in. Families that decline will be offered comparable alternatives that do not use AI.
&#8220;Florida will not outsource childhood to a chatbot,&#8221; Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href="https://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/florida-sets-national-standard-for-responsible-ai-in-classroomsfrom-vpk-through-college.stml">said</a>. &#8220;We welcome tools that help teachers teach and students learn. We will not accept tools that hide from parents, harvest student data, grade kids in secret, or pretend to be a friend.&#8221;
&#8220;In this state, a teacher stands in front of the class, a parent has the last word, and a student still has to think,&#8221; he added.
According to the Florida Department of Education, &#8220;The rules treat AI as a workforce reality, not a classroom fad.&#8221;
AI tools used in voluntary prekindergarten through fifth grade are subject to an additional review for age and developmental appropriateness before they can be approved.
The K-12 rule prohibits schools from using AI products designed to meet students&#8217; social or emotional needs, simulate friendship, or use humanlike features to encourage children to continue interacting with them.
AI tools are prohibited from secretly tracking students&#8217; behavior, assigning social scores, or developing psychological profiles. Providers are also barred from selling student data or exploiting it to train commercial AI models. Teachers and administrators must receive training on AI risks, limitations, and compliance.
<a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/09/16/florida-board-approves-ai-guidelines-for-k-12-schools-colleges/?lctg=fd884aa95b2af9a457bc96c449a53e39&amp;active=no&amp;utm_campaign=trib-sun_sentinel-breaking_news-nl&amp;utm_content=alert&amp;utm_source=sailthru&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_cluster=TRIB&amp;utm_profileID=6a7c212a97f7c87f4b5fb8ba">According</a> to the Sun Sentinel, unsupervised AI use will not be permitted.
At Florida College System institutions, students may not use AI on graded assignments unless an instructor permits it. Colleges must also establish policies addressing academic integrity, grading, student privacy, and faculty use of AI.
DeSantis appointed all seven current members of the state Board of Education.
State Board of Education Chair Ryan Petty, a Republican, said, &#8220;Innovation without those conditions is not leadership. It is abdication.&#8221;
Education Commissioner Henry Mack, a DeSantis <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article316612989.html">ally</a>, said Florida was rejecting both a ban and unfettered access.
&#8220;An educated person can use a powerful tool without becoming dependent on it. That is the line Florida is drawing,&#8221; Mack said. &#8220;AI belongs in a classroom when it sharpens instruction, elevates or enhances the learning experience, protects privacy, and leaves the student&#8217;s own mind stronger than it found it.&#8221;
He continued: &#8220;It does not belong in a classroom when it writes the essay, scores the child in secret, offers itself as a companion, or coopts the intellectual virtue of critical thinking.&#8221;
Districts must finalize their updated policies by July 1, 2027, ahead of the 2027-2028 school year.

Robot in classroom

The Classroom AI Shift Every Parent Should Know About

artificial intelligence in education

florida department of education

ron desantis

student privacy

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Cabinet approved a rule Friday establishing the process for designating domestic and foreign terrorist organizations, clearing the way for the state to formally designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa.
The vote took less than two minutes and came about two months after DeSantis <a href="https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2026/governor-ron-desantis-announces-implementation-florida-law-combat-terrorist">announced</a> that Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass had recommended designating the three groups. 
The new rule implements a Florida law that took effect earlier this year that gives Glass, the state’s chief of domestic security, authority to recommend terrorist designations. The governor and Cabinet must then approve the designation.
Under the process approved Friday, a designation would take effect 30 days after being published in the Florida Administrative Register. An organization would have seven days after receiving notice to object in writing and submit documentation.
“As Florida chief of domestic security, I know there are imminent dangers to public health, safety, and welfare due to increasing risks from foreign and domestic terrorist groups,” Glass <a href="https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/11/florida-cabinet-approves-process-to-designate-cair-and-others-as-domestic-terrorist-groups/">told local media</a> Friday.
“This provides an appropriate framework where they can take action appropriately so that they can defend the people of Florida against possible actors and terrorist groups,” DeSantis said before moving to approve the rule. 
The underlying <a href="https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=84224&amp;SessionId=113">law</a> bars state agencies, local governments, and public schools from using state funds to support designated organizations. It also creates criminal penalties for knowingly providing material support or resources to a designated domestic terrorist organization.
Public schools and universities are prohibited from using state or federal funds for programs that promote designated terrorist organizations. The law also contains restrictions affecting students who promote such groups, including the possible loss of financial assistance and reporting requirements for students attending on visas.
The measure passed the Florida Senate 25-11 and received final approval from the state House in an 80-25 vote before DeSantis signed it in April. The law took effect July 1.
The designation effort is already facing two federal lawsuits. CAIR and CAIR Florida sued after DeSantis issued a December 2025 <a href="https://www.flgov.com/eog/sites/default/files/executive-orders/2025/EO%2025-244.pdf">executive order</a> labeling CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist organizations for purposes of state action.
In March, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flndce/4:2025cv00516/536745/43/">issued</a> a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of that order against CAIR, finding that it likely violated the First Amendment. The DeSantis administration <a href="https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca11/26-10735">appealed</a> the ruling two days later.
CAIR, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other attorneys, filed a separate lawsuit in July challenging the new state law. The organization argues that the designation system is unconstitutional and that Florida has no legitimate basis for labeling it a terrorist organization.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott <a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-designates-muslim-brotherhood-cair-as-foreign-terrorist-organizations">designated</a> the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations in November 2025. The Texas designations subjected the organizations and their affiliates to heightened penalties under state law and prohibited them from acquiring real property in the state. Abbott subsequently directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to investigate the two organizations for potential violations of state and federal law.
The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/treasury-department-busts-global-muslim-brotherhood-hamas-terror-financing-network">also taken action</a> against individual Muslim Brotherhood branches. The Treasury Department and State Department designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, citing their alleged material support for Hamas. The State Department separately designated the <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/01/terrorist-designations-of-muslim-brotherhood-chapters">Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood in January</a>, while the <a href="https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/03/terrorist-designation-of-the-sudanese-muslim-brotherhood">Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood was designated in March</a>. 
Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood as a whole has received a federal terrorist designation.

Governor DeSantis Hold News Conference On Border Security

Florida Approves Process To Designate CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood, Antifa As Terror Groups

antifa

council on american islamic relations

muslim brotherhood

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, former comedian and political commentator Dave Rubin spends time with The Daily Wire just before going off the grid for a month. A former co-host of the left-wing news show “The Young Turks,” the New York Times-bestselling author and entrepreneur “left the left” to launch his podcast “<a href="https://www.daverubin.com/">The Rubin Report</a>” (along with his award-winning tequila brand <a href="https://drinkcopal.com/">Copal 22</a>). He shares his tricks to aging well and staying young at heart, and he offers a playful jab at Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. Here’s why everything he touches turns to gold.
***
Properly fit and tan for life in Miami, Dave Rubin reaches for a pair of reading glasses, telling me, “I just turned 50 this year and I can’t see anything, out of nowhere.” They say you should never meet your heroes, but if Dave had anything to do with honing your critical thinking chops (and having fun doing it), rest assured that he’s just as cool in real life as he is on his show. 
“I am the gateway drug,” he says with a smile. I don’t have the exact stats, but he’s probably converted more people to conservatism — and Florida — than most of his peers.
A good friend introduced me to “The Rubin Report” when Dave was still living in Los Angeles. I was too. His sparkling take on dark stuff such as lockdowns and BLM felt like manna from heaven. He’d spent years in entertainment working as a comedian and commentator (maybe you saw him on tour with Jordan Peterson), effortlessly infusing the cultural current with common sense.
These days, Dave’s living free in the Sunshine State. “I don&#8217;t miss anything about LA,” he says. “The only thing that would even remotely pop into my mind at this point is … Boa Steakhouse on Sunset. Actually it&#8217;s not as great as it used to be.” 
He moved to the City of Angels back in 2013 when it was thriving, and he eventually built the house of his dreams in Sherman Oaks. But after a year of battling “COVID craziness,” he called time of death on the SoCal experiment on which he built his successful career. “There&#8217;s just no magic to it anymore … There’s very little hope.” 
In the great state of Florida, Dave says, “I can fight for something as opposed to relentlessly fighting against something that seemingly is always getting worse.”
Rise and really shine
“I wake up at about 7 o&#8217;clock. I keep my Oura Ring on so I know how much I slept,” Dave tells me. A little later, if he’s not swamped with news hits and show prep, he catches a few extra winks. “One of my great pleasures is a 20-minute nap. I find it to be the best thing mentally and physically, and to stay sharp.”
Dave’s other little helper comes in the form of a mug. “I drink a lot of coffee, probably too much,” he admits. “I usually have two to three coffees before the show — one when I wake up, one if I&#8217;m working out — and then I often have coffee in the mug during the show.” Until now, I assumed it was tequila. He laughs, “Well, it depends on the day.”
The kids are alright
Family life revolves around keeping up with Dave and his husband David Janet’s two young boys. But it’s a bonus that Dave gets to play with the same toys he loved back in the day. “The kids are really into Transformers, and I was obsessed with Transformers when I was a kid,” Dave shares. “Now they know more of the names of the characters than I do. I still get down on the floor and get into that crazy imaginative world … It&#8217;s just absolutely incredible.”
To keep those growing minds fired up, screen time is limited. “We do a little bit of ‘Bluey,’” he admits. “I&#8217;m not gonna say I&#8217;ve never shown them a little bit of my old ‘Transformers,’ and a little bit of ‘Spider-Man.’” Screen time is every parent’s challenge with young kids. “I know parents just want a little peace and quiet,” Dave admits. He doesn’t judge anyone else. “I just think once you open that Pandora&#8217;s box, you can never close it.”
Right now it’s soccer practice for the boys if they’re not splashing around in the pool, but Dave has high hopes for their future in sports. “Obviously I want to angle them to basketball, but it&#8217;s Miami — we&#8217;re doing soccer at the moment. One thing at a time.”
Cocktails with conservatives
It was only a matter of time before Dave turned his happy-hour ritual into a portfolio asset. And just a year into its existence, his 100% blue agave tequila brand Copal 22 has won every competition it’s entered. 
“I try not to talk too much smack about Clase Azul because that&#8217;s what got me into tequila,” he says, talking some smack about the additives from the brand with the bell-top. “Everyone thinks that tequila is having shots of Jose Cuervo and jumping in a pool in college … We&#8217;ve just made something much more elegant and exquisite with Copal.”
Of course, tequila’s a bit of an outlier in the whiskey-soaked landscape of conservative media. Dave, you’ve got a tight five. Go.
“All my conservative friends — such as Michael Knowles and many others who I like a lot — they all drink whiskey and bourbon because they think that&#8217;s what men drink,” Dave jokes. “A man drinks it, and he has a cigar, and that means he&#8217;s a man, and he&#8217;s never put his arm around another man. But, they don&#8217;t really like it. They&#8217;re only drinking it to prove that they&#8217;re straight. Meanwhile, if you give them a little bit of tequila, they won&#8217;t become gay, but they will enjoy it a little bit more.”
So how does Dave knock one back? “Just pour it over one rock and swirl it for about 30 seconds,” he says. “If you want a little more flavor, or to feel like you&#8217;re drinking more of a cocktail, you could add a tiny splash of watermelon juice — or literally a piece of fruit. Mangoes are particularly good down here in Florida.” 
Touching grass
Dave is 10 years into his annual digital detox. Pressing pause on filming and going phone-free, he avoids the news for the entire month of August. He says the tradition has always kept him sane in the commentator space. But this time around, it’s particularly important. 
“I am going to disappear and not pay attention to anything, and not be infected by this endless algorithmic lunacy,” he confirms.
“This year, I think because of Charlie [Kirk’s] assassination, and then watching people that are my contemporaries — and some of whom were my friends — go completely insane, just how awful some of the nastiness has been on the Right when we should be so united against the crazy commies coming on the Left … It&#8217;s been a grating year in a way that I never really felt before,” Dave says. “I don&#8217;t think any of us realized how much of a dam Charlie was for craziness.”
“When I first did Off the Grid, I think [Ben Shapiro] might have been the first guy that brought me back. I was talking to him about it, and he goes, ‘Dave, you know, you really don&#8217;t need a whole month. The Jews have something called Shabbat once a week, you can try that first. This is a little extreme.’”
The rest of the year, Dave honors the Jewish day of rest with his family, a little challah, and some wine. He goes lighter on the devices, adding, “I&#8217;m not doing it 100% perfectly.”
Only getting better with time
Dave’s clearly Benjamin Button-ing with each passing year, but he’s vague on the anti-aging details. “I got my girl in Miami Beach. She does some kind of laser twice a year. I don’t know what it is … I feel like some burning on my face, and a lot of creams and stuff, and there&#8217;s some heat.”
“I run around a lot, and I eat right, and I don&#8217;t really eat sugar, and I eat a lot of red meat,” he says. He recently switched from tomahawks to filets to maybe lose a pound or two. “I don&#8217;t drink a ton, actually, but I exercise every day. And I&#8217;m also chasing two 3-year-olds around here. That&#8217;ll keep you young.”
He used to hit the basketball court for nine hours a week in the Florida heat, burning 1,500 calories during each three-hour session. But he’s nursing an injury at the moment. “I crushed my shoulder playing basketball, so I&#8217;m in the middle of physical therapy,” he says. Along with the sun and camaraderie, these workouts soothe his mind. “I&#8217;ve missed it more mentally in a weird way than physically. It&#8217;s the only time that I stopped thinking about all of this lunacy that we&#8217;re talking about.” 
No matter what, he finds a way to get moving. “Taking a walk in the morning is probably the most important thing,” he says. His dog Clyde is happy to accompany him. “Sometimes it&#8217;s humid as hell here and the mosquitoes are out. It&#8217;s not the most pleasant thing in the summer, but I think just moving a little bit in the morning is vitally important.”
Advice from the pod guy next door
Dave talks a lot about his experience touring with Jordan Peterson, watching others transform through his teachings as well as himself. He calls his own insight “Jordan Peterson-esque.” 
“Figure out what your adventure is in life and go do it,” Dave says. “It might mean that you want to put all your energy in your career, it might mean you want to put all your energy into your family, it might mean you split those two things.”
Whatever it is, he suggests lighting a flare to mark your path. “Always put something on the horizon,” he explains. “You always have to have things to look forward to. A lot of people that I know that are lost or confused, it&#8217;s because they&#8217;re not looking forward to anything. They just wake up … job&#8217;s not great, you&#8217;re just doing it over and over and over, and then you just kind of slowly disintegrate.”
“If you&#8217;re doing something that you love, or at least angling towards it, then you have things that you&#8217;re looking forward to in the future.”
You may want to reserve a court time for Dave’s next venture. “I really, really want an indoor basketball court, and I&#8217;m gonna get it one day,” he assures me. “I don&#8217;t know how I&#8217;m gonna do it, and it&#8217;s gonna be a hell of a thing to get property down here in this area that you can afford.” The challenge doesn’t sway him. 
“Do something worthwhile,” he says, “and people will find you.”

Upstream_Rubin 2

Weekend Plans With Dave Rubin, The ‘Gateway Drug’ To Conservatism

charlie kirk

dave rubin

lifestyle

the rubin report

weekend plans

Golf legend Tiger Woods switched his not guilty plea to guilty in court on Wednesday as he faces charges in a DUI case stemming from a rollover crash in Florida earlier this year.
Woods will pay a $1,000 fine and have his driver’s license suspended for five years. The judge stressed that the suspension is intended to protect the public and said there will be no exceptions.
Woods answered “yes” when asked whether he had enough time to speak with his attorney before changing his plea.
Woods officially changed his plea during an appearance in the Martin County, Florida district court. Woods&#8217; girlfriend Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr., walked with the golfer into the courthouse.
On March 27, Woods sped through a residential neighborhood in his Land Rover in Jupiter Island, Florida, and attempted to pass a truck pulling a trailer, but he clipped the trailer, flipping his SUV. No one was injured in the crash, but Woods caused $5,000 in damage to the truck and trailer, according to the incident report. He initially pled not guilty in the Martin County, Florida, circuit court.
Woods told deputies at the scene of the crash that he was distracted and had looked down at his phone before hitting the trailer, but one deputy described him as “lethargic and slow,” with “bloodshot and glassy” eyes and “extremely dilated” pupils, according to the arrest affidavit.
A breathalyzer test that Woods agreed to take showed no signs of alcohol in his blood system, but the pro golfer refused to take a urine test.
Woods informed officers that he takes “a few” prescription medications, and two hydrocodone pills were found on his person when he was arrested. Hydrocodone, which is typically taken to treat severe pain, is classified as a Schedule II controlled substance by the U.S. government and is among the drugs that the Food and Drug Administration warns “could make driving dangerous.”
“So at this time, I do believe your normal faculties are impaired,” one of the deputies told Woods as she placed handcuffs on him, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/body-cam-shows-tiger-woods-undergoing-sobriety-test-after-rollover-crash?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Body-Cam+Shows+Tiger+Woods+Undergoing+Sobriety+Test+After+Rollover+Crash">bodycam footage</a> shows. “And you’re under the unknown substance, so at this time, you’re under arrest for DUI.”
Prosecutors zeroed in on Woods&#8217; pain medications and secured a subpoena granting them access to the golfer&#8217;s prescription drug records between January 1 of this year through March 27, the date of the crash. Prosecutors were especially <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/prosecutors-zero-in-on-key-detail-for-prescription-meds-taken-by-tiger-woods?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Prosecutors+Take+A+New+Approach+In+Tiger+Woods+Case">interested</a> in the “date and time prescription was filled, type of prescription, number of pills in each prescription, the dosage amount, and all special instructions.&#8221;
After the crash, Woods stepped back from his normal life &#8220;to seek treatment and focus on my health.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m committed to taking the time needed to return in a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally,&#8221; Woods <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tiger-woods-breaks-silence-after-dui-arrest-pga-tour-also-issues-statement?author=Jordan+Schroeder&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Tiger+Woods+Breaks+Silence+After+DUI+Arrest%2C+PGA+Tour+Also+Issues+Statement">said</a>. &#8220;I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time.&#8221;
Woods, who is widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time, has taken pain medications after dealing with severe back injuries throughout his career and being in a serious single car crash in Los Angeles in 2021. He was also arrested in 2017 and charged with a DUI after police found him asleep behind the wheel of his car, which was on the side of the road.

Tiger Woods Attends Plea Conference Hearing In DUI Case

Tiger Woods Accepts Punishment After Changing Plea In Rollover DUI Case

sports

tiger woods

vanessa trump

An illegal immigrant allegedly broke into a 77-year-old woman&#8217;s Florida home, raped her, and choked her as she tried to escape, authorities said.
The victim awoke around 4 a.m. Saturday after hearing a noise inside her Mulberry home, according to the Polk County Sheriff&#8217;s Office. Axel Antonio Espinal Herrera, 24, of Honduras, allegedly entered her bedroom, forcibly removed her clothes, sexually assaulted her, and then slapped her as she tried to run away.
The naked elderly woman tried to escape through the front door when her attacker went into the bathroom, but he allegedly chased her, dragged her back inside, and choked her. He then fled, and the victim called authorities.
Detectives canvassing the neighborhood eventually found Herrera at a nearby home taking a shower and identified him based on the victim&#8217;s description, according to the sheriff&#8217;s office. The victim also identified him through a photo lineup.
Authorities arrested Herrera and booked him into the local jail on charges of kidnapping, sexual battery by force, burglary with battery, tampering with evidence, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and loitering/prowling.
&#8220;Sexual battery of an individual is without a doubt one of the most horrific crimes that occurs. And a violent, out-of-control sexual battery on a stranger even elevates that one more level,&#8221; Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a video statement.
&#8220;And then you take on top of that that the suspect is in this country illegally that pushes it over the top,&#8221; Judd said.
Herrera initially spoke with detectives, but refused to answer additional questions, according to the sheriff&#8217;s office. Detectives found multiple scratches on the suspect&#8217;s body which were consistent with the victim&#8217;s account of fighting back.
The Honduran national was also found to be in possession of cocaine, the sheriff&#8217;s office said.
The sheriff&#8217;s office contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which lodged a detainer asking for Herrera to be transferred to federal custody if he is released from the local jail.
Authorities also arrested two other Honduran men who lived with Herrera after they were found to be living in the United States illegally. ICE lodged detainers for the two housemates.

Untitled design – 2026-09-01T122420.822

Illegal Immigrant Accused Of Raping Elderly Florida Woman

grady judd

illegal immigration

polk county sheriffs office

sexual assault

Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon is running a coffee shop and bookstore in Jacksonville where, according to her own account, customers can receive free Plan B emergency contraceptive pills.
Nixon, a Democratic Socialist state representative, owns Café Resistance, which she describes as a “bookstore, coffee shop, and community hub.” In a <a href="https://convergencemag.com/articles/angie-nixon-dont-surrender-power/">June interview</a>, Nixon said the business distributes free Plan B while also hosting events and conversations for members of the “LGBTQ community.”
“We offer free black history lessons on the first and third Saturday,” Nixon said in the interview. “We host mental health workshops. We give away free Plan B emergency contraceptive pills. We invite the LGBTQ community to host conversations that build bridges.” Nixon described the establishment as a “safe place and community hub,” saying she opened it in response to Florida legislation restricting books and classroom instruction.
The café’s role in distributing contraception is one part of Nixon’s radical record on social issues that has put her at odds with Florida Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis. Nixon has <a href="https://x.com/AngieNixon/status/1622034876680527872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1622034876680527872%7Ctwgr%5Efce7b459fa6eb025bc02c23b0682574de54838ae%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftennesseestar.com%2Fnews%2Fflorida-democrat-admits-taking-daughter-to-drag-shows-just-folx-dancing-in-cute-outfit%2Fsberry%2F2023%2F02%2F07%2F">repeatedly</a> <a href="https://x.com/NRSC/status/2089882534125478399?s=20">defended</a> bringing her children to drag performances. In 2023, amid debate over Florida legislation restricting minors’ access to adult live performances containing lewd or sexual content, Nixon <a href="https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/04/12/florida-lawmaker-on-concept-of-erasing-lgbtq-community-over-drag-show-drama-damn-right/">said</a> the legislation was “designed to target parents like me.”
“I know what’s appropriate for my child &amp; this is taking away MY PARENTAL RIGHTS,” Nixon wrote at the time, describing the drag show as “just folx dancing in cute outfits.” Nixon has also opposed Republican-backed restrictions on transgender policies in Florida schools. During debate over legislation expanding Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law and restricting schools from using pronouns that do not correspond with a student’s sex, Nixon <a href="https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2023/04/01/florida-house-backs-parental-rights-in-education-law-expansion/">said</a>, “The LGBTQ community isn’t going away, trans people aren’t going away.”
After the Supreme Court ruled that states and schools could prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports, Nixon put out a <a href="https://angienixon.com/u-s-senate-candidate-angie-nixon-responds-to-scotus-ruling-allowing-states-to-bar-transgender-girls-from-girls-sports/">statement</a> criticizing the decision, arguing that it put “trans children and all young girls and women athletes in harm’s way.”
She also previously accused DeSantis of attempting to “eliminate black history and push out our LGBTQ friends.” Nixon is now taking that record to the statewide stage as she seeks to fill the Senate seat once held by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. She will face current Senator Ashley Moody to finish Rubio’s term — which ends in January 2029. Her campaign is centered on issues such as housing, wages, health care, and organized labor, while her record on cultural issues places her firmly on the party’s far-left wing.
Democrats face a steep climb in Florida, where Republicans have won statewide elections by increasingly wide margins. Nixon nevertheless argues that year-round organizing and an appeal to disaffected working-class voters can give Democrats a path back to power.
Whether that strategy can overcome Florida’s political landscape remains to be seen. But Nixon is offering voters a candidacy that pairs an explicitly socialist economic agenda with a far-left approach to some of the country’s most contentious cultural issues — a record that includes bringing her children to drag shows and operating a café where customers can receive free Plan B.

Florida Senate Candidate Angie Nixon Rallies Supporters On Eve Of Primary Election

Dem Senate Candidate Gives Out Free Plan B At Her Cafe

angie nixon

ashley moody

plan b

Florida students are heading back to school this year with a new addition to their history curriculum: a comprehensive study of communism, including its history, domestic movements, and the atrocities committed by communist regimes.
The new standards are the culmination of a five-year effort by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers to expand civics education and ensure students learn about the dangers of totalitarian ideologies.
The effort began in 2021, when DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-signs-law-requiring-students-to-learn-evils-of-communism-real-patriots-who-escaped-it">signed a package</a> of legislation overhauling civics education in Florida. One of those measures required high school students to receive instruction comparing political ideologies such as communism and totalitarianism with the principles of freedom and democracy underlying the American founding. The legislation also created the state&#8217;s “Portraits in Patriotism” initiative, which uses the stories of people who fled persecution in countries including Cuba and Venezuela to teach students about the value of American liberty.
In 2022, DeSantis signed legislation <a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/desantis-signs-law-requiring-lessons-on-victims-of-commmunism-in-florida-schools">establishing</a> Victims of Communism Day in Florida. Beginning in the 2023-24 school year, public schools were required to provide at least 45 minutes of instruction addressing communist regimes and the suffering of their victims, including poverty, starvation, migration, political violence, and the suppression of speech and religion.
Then, in 2024, DeSantis signed <a href="https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2024/governor-desantis-signs-legislation-further-enhancing-floridas-education-standards">Senate Bill 1264</a>, expanding the state&#8217;s existing requirements to include the history of communism in the United States, domestic communist movements and their tactics, as well as the atrocities committed by communist regimes around the world. 
“We’re going to tell the truth about communism in the state of Florida. We’re going to tell the truth about the evils of communism,” DeSantis <a href="https://www.fox13news.com/news/desantis-signs-bill-requiring-communism-education-courses-in-florida-public-schools">said</a> when signing the legislation in 2024.
The State Board of Education <a href="https://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/state-board-of-education-approves-new-history-of-communism-standards-.stml">approved</a> the resulting History of Communism standards in November 2025, with implementation beginning during the 2026-27 school year. The standards are designed to extend across the K-12 curriculum, with the state emphasizing that instruction will be age-appropriate at each grade level. Then-Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas said at the time, “With the resurgence of communist ideologies across the United States and throughout the world, it is more important than ever for students to understand the catastrophic failures and human suffering caused by communist regimes.&#8221;
The curriculum will cover more than the familiar history of the Soviet Union. It includes communism&#8217;s development in the United States, domestic communist movements, the tactics used by communist organizations, and the consequences of communist rule internationally. It also requires students to compare communism and totalitarianism with the principles of freedom and democracy that underpin the American system of government. 
The reforms have particular resonance in South Florida, where generations of Cuban, Venezuelan, and Nicaraguan immigrants have personal or family histories of fleeing communist and socialist regimes. When DeSantis signed the 2024 legislation, he was joined by veterans of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. 
“The most important fight against communism is the one that’s done in the schoolrooms,” Rafael Montalvo, president of the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association, said at the time. “That’s where the battle is happening right now.” 
Florida&#8217;s effort represents a sustained attempt to make anti-communism and civic literacy a formal part of public education rather than leaving those lessons to individual teachers or schools.
As students return to classrooms for the 2026-27 school year, the reforms that began with DeSantis&#8217; 2021 civics push are finally becoming a regular part of what Florida students are taught about America&#8217;s founding principles — and the ideologies that have historically opposed them.

US-NEWS-FLA-EDUCATION-BILLS-2-MI

Reading, Writing, Communism: Inside New Curriculum Teaching Kids About Evil

civics education

communism

education curriculum

TAMPA, FLORIDA — “Yeah, I have feelings about that flag over there,” the young campaign volunteer said to me.
He gestured toward the white and blue Star of David banner perched above the front of the sanctuary of Turning Point Church of God in Clewiston, Florida, where it hung a mere 20 feet from the ‘Fishback for Florida’ lectern. Somehow, despite the proximity, neither the sign nor the Israeli flag had burst into flame.
Sitting in the front row of the church, we were chatting about politics and the movement he had joined. Up until that point, not one attendee at James Fishback’s “closing argument” speech on the eve of the election had brought up Israel, or the Jews, without me raising it.
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<div id="attachment_1161793" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1161793" class="wp-image-1161793 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Israel-Fla-1536x1152.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" />Credit Dylan Housman</div>
“Israel is a broken record, though. We’ve made our point, it’s time to talk about other things,&#8221; the volunteer dismissively said to me, explaining that everyone who cared deeply about that hot button had already decided which camp they were in.
There were just over a hundred people there — good turnout for Clewiston, a rural town of just over 7,000 people about an hour and a half from Fort Lauderdale. I had flown to Orlando, and then made the nearly three-hour drive to Hendry County, to see for myself what the “groyper” movement — we’ll shorthand them as followers of Nick Fuentes and his “America First” faction — looked like in real life.
There have been other groyper-inspired candidates for public office, but Fishback is perhaps this new creature in its purest form. He launched his campaign with inflammatory Twitter tirades about Israel and AIPAC, he secured endorsements from both Tucker Carlson and Fuentes, he frequently lobbed racist attacks against his opponent Byron Donalds. But the critical difference from other groyper grifters was the act of running a real campaign. He made dozens of stops in the closing days of the campaign alone, had a strong digital operation, an organized group of real volunteers, and is a gifted communicator when he isn’t triggered into <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/208610/republican-candidate-fishback-black-man-lynched">telling a black voter they should be lynched</a>.
What he lacked in fundraising he made up for in an army of young men shitposting their way into social media semi-relevance. The ancient Vulcan proverb tells us Twitter is not real life. I wanted to put that to the test, and not just by reading a vote tally from my office in D.C.
The volunteer next to me said his main priorities were “family values” and affordability. In his early 20s, he was about to enter college, and said he had learned about Fishback via Instagram. I asked what his media diet was. He said he listened to Fuentes and Carlson, but since he liked to hear all sides, he sprinkled in the streamer Destiny — a professional StarCraft player turned political commentator. We laughed at the career move.
Two other young men sat by me in jeans and ballcaps, sparking memories of my cousins from rural South Carolina. They didn’t have anything to say about Israel or the Jews either. Their concerns were Flock cameras, data centers, and reclaiming “the Florida I grew up in.”
The event, hosted by senior pastor Troy Ezell, opened with a group prayer before Fishback finally took the stage and spoke for roughly an hour. I had seen Fishback earlier in the parking lot when I arrived, looking somewhat distracted from afar. But he performed well on stage. It was a speech that the vast majority of Americans on the right could cheer for — small town Florida, the American dream, citrus, cattle, and sugar.
“The real test of the economy is if a 30-year-old can get married and buy a home,” he said, which made a lot of sense to me as a renting 28-year-old getting married next year. He touted affordability, DOGEing Florida, banning abortion, and clamping down on migrant workers taking people’s jobs.
Perhaps most shocking was a positive reference to Ronald Reagan, who is broadly loathed as a false boomer idol by the young far-right, and his &#8220;I&#8217;m from the government and I&#8217;m here to help&#8221; line.
There was one mention of AIPAC, which was put side by side with CAIR, in the entire speech. There was one veiled reference to Israel in a section about foreign aid, and that was it. Some groyper.
After the speech ended, Fishback approached me. He struck me as quite slender in person, wearing a black suit with round-framed glasses that gave the 31-year-old a more boyish appearance. He was cordial, and greeted me warmly, if skeptically: &#8220;You&#8217;re from the Daily Wire?&#8221;
I asked him why he was talking about Israel and AIPAC less now than at the start of his campaign. He had tweeted about Israel 22 times in the month of March alone, but only three times in the final month before election day. He seemed increasingly reticent to play the hits that made him vertical video famous.
He rejected the premise. He promised he still planned to divest from Israel if he became governor, but also implied that it wasn&#8217;t forefront in his supporters&#8217; minds: “This campaign is about the issues that matter to Floridians. I am still bothered by the fact that the Florida State Pension Fund lends the Israeli government $385 million a year, but the closing argument of this campaign is about the insurance crisis in our state, education, the development choices that we’re making, but I still stand by the fact that I think we need to divest from any foreign governments.”
I wondered if I had gotten my priors wrong. The people I had met were, by and large, not groypers. The speech was cookie-cutter populist. I came to Florida expecting the Mos Eisley cantina, not bespectacled blather. But I was reminded that I was dealing with the Jim Bakker of Right-wing politics.
During his speech, Fishback said it “wasn’t personal” with Byron Donalds, whom he had falsely accused of being under federal investigation for sex-trafficking two weeks prior. I asked how the repeated racist attacks and inflammatory social media conduct could be anything but personal.
“My wife and I trade jokes and jabs together, it’s nothing personal between she and I. I have tremendous respect for Congressman Donalds … I wish them all the best.”
It had only been a month since he publicly asked why Donalds’ father “never calls” in a post about black parenthood. It had only been three months since Fishback&#8217;s <a href="https://www.thebulwark.com/p/james-fishback-florida-governor-candidate-very-weird-groyper-wedding">curious wedding to his mystery wife</a>, but he was more than happy to invoke her on the campaign trail.
As soon as my interview with Fishback ended, an outside advisor to the campaign approached me and said “the Israel stuff is dead.” When I asked what he meant, he explained he had been helping Fishback during the home stretch of the campaign and advised him to soften his rhetoric on Israel and Jews, because it was wrong to “attack a group of people.”
The advisor explained that he himself is a devout supporter of Israel for theological reasons, and he wouldn&#8217;t back any candidate who was anti-Israel. He said Fishback had been “taken out of context” earlier in the campaign, and that in reality, the candidate wasn&#8217;t particularly anti-Israel at all, much less antisemitic.
It was hard for me to square that with the candidate who had referred to kids’ cafeteria meals as “goyslop” on the campaign trail. But it was a common theme. When I spoke to Rev. Ezell, who was introduced to Fishback by his Gen Z son, he said he wanted a candidate who would “shake things up.” That he cared about immigration, data centers, and taxes. He liked Trump, and really liked Ron DeSantis, but Donalds was too much of a politician for him. I asked about Israel, and he too said he was supportive of the Jewish state, and seemed either unbothered or unaware of Fishback’s rhetoric about it.
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<div id="attachment_1161795" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1161795" class="wp-image-1161795 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church-768x576.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Turning-Point-Church-1536x1152.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" />Credit: Dylan Housman</div>
I began to wonder if the groypers had simply not survived contact with reality. Perhaps the necessities of primary politics had swept them aside as a vulnerability for a candidate who actually wanted to win instead of get nutpicked by the Daily Beast. Perhaps they really were all humble Pakistani bot farmers after all.
Actually, no. The next night, I was in Tampa at the airport Hilton for the Fishback election night party. There weren’t any signs or staff there to direct me where to go. I wandered deep into the bowels of the hotel, following scattered 20-somethings in suits and dresses like a trail of breadcrumbs through the Backrooms until I found the ballroom where the gathering was taking place.
There were a couple of staffers at a table that seemed to be checking people in. I had no credentials to speak of, so I simply walked past them. I spotted a bar cart and got into line for a beverage before I would start working the room. It turned out to be a cash bar. I was devastated.
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<div id="attachment_1161797" style="width: 1546px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1161797" class="wp-image-1161797 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1.jpg" alt="" width="1536" height="2048" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-432x576.jpg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/Fishback-Rally-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w" sizes=" (max-width: 1536px) 100vw, 1536px" />Credit Dylan Housman</div>
I took my whiskey neat and began talking to the kids around me. A 16-year-old black girl who had phonebanked for the campaign said she was Christian and liked Fishback&#8217;s pro-life social media presence.
I asked if she thought he was racist.
“We all have our moments, but I don’t think he would talk to me so nicely if he were really racist,” she said.
Without realizing it, I had blasted back in time. The room had all the awkwardly sincere vibes of the Young Americans for Liberty and CPAC conferences I had attended as a college student a decade ago. Out of the 250 or so attendees there, the vast majority were under 30, and half would need their ID scanned if they wandered skittishly down to the hotel bar. Just like our graybeard forebears with the Ron Paul Revolution, most of these kids seemed to know Fishback wasn’t going to win. But they were sure the future would be “America First” in due course.
Here, there was more interest in Israel. Notably, it disproportionately came from kids who I had talked to from out of state, not the Floridians themselves. A cadre of true believers had made a pilgrimage to see their leader on his campaign&#8217;s night of nights. Their Mecca was the Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore.
Fuentes often stresses to his followers the importance of “hiding your power level,” and unlike the Clewiston event, I suspect I encountered this on election night. The young crowd did not seem particularly politically sophisticated, and yet they were savvy in a Gen Z, digital native type of way. One young man I spoke to very cordially asked me multiple times if I was recording (I was not), and kept glancing down at my hands until he settled into the conversation. He was no fan of Israel, but he also decried Islam and &#8220;third-world Duginism&#8221; while totally rejecting any notion of alliance with the far-Left, an idea bandied about by a number of podcasters in this world.
Fishback eventually spoke to the crowd that night, for a much shorter period of time. He conceded his loss, but said the movement he champions is just beginning. Unlike at Turning Point Church, the shots at AIPAC came earlier and more often this time around. The crowd erupted into a chant of “Christ is King.”
<div style="max-width: 728px; margin: 0 auto;">
<iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 400px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/MALiMV8tCt95qDWbxK02wzY6BesNqoq4c?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=ee94acfb-a853-42e9-8b3e-f69293822b6e&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Christ%20Is%20King%20Chant%20Fishback%20Rally&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2F92023a27-7bcb-4d3d-aa1a-d365758fc518.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Credit: Dylan Housman
</div>
It was around this moment, with Fishback netting just over 10% of the vote for a third-place showing, that I realized the groypers had survived contact with literal reality, but not political reality. They are like youngsters of the past voting independent in the 2016 election, palling around with the other kids at the libertarian club in college, having late-night discussions about how war and tariffs were bad, energized by every little bit of confirmation bias we could find that the movement was going “our way,” just not quite yet. I know this because I was one of those. But even for all that talk, there was the underlying feeling that the movement was not, in fact, going our way. And once we were hit with political reality, most of us grew up and moved on.
&#8220;The online thing is real in the sense that it&#8217;s loud,&#8221; Polk County GOP Chairman Sam Romain told me the next morning. &#8220;It&#8217;s just not attached to anything. It doesn&#8217;t produce a volunteer, it doesn&#8217;t produce a check that clears, and it definitely doesn&#8217;t produce a grandmother in Lake Wales who marks your name.&#8221;
Yes, there is a darker element to this generation of starry-eyed radical Right-wing youths. Our discussions of free trade and gun rights did not have the vile implications that the &#8220;Jewish Question&#8221; does. But the overall arc looks the same. Just like most of us Gary Johnson voters at the YAL conference ended up becoming conservatives once he crashed and burned, I imagine most of these kids will have their sharp edges whittled down by institutional conservatism as they are increasingly exposed to Big Boy Politics.
That&#8217;s not to say that some of the ideas may not last. But the dumbest, most extreme ones likely won&#8217;t, and the <a href="https://www.richardhanania.com/p/the-based-ritual">Based Rituals</a> in hotel lobbies at conferences will get replaced by 9-5 jobs and pragmatism in due course.
Fishback’s strength is his smooth-talking, chameleon-like charisma. He was anything to anybody during his campaign. A pro-life warrior to the young Christian girl, a God-fearing warrior for old Florida to the pastor, an anti-data center protector of farmland to the young blue-collar laborers, and a truth-teller about Jewish power to the antisemitic podcast listeners. The incongruence is a product of our evermore-siloed media environment.
Like Bakker, the televangelist superstar who was undone by allegations of sexual misconduct and a financial fraud conviction, the charm Fishback has in spades is undone by his erraticism. Just two years ago he was making staunchly <a href="https://x.com/ianmiles/status/2023202273678233659">pro-Israel arguments</a> against liberals and writing for the Free Press. Then he tried to grift his way onto DOGE and <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/floating-challenge-trumps-florida-governor-pick-james-fishback-127603333">join arms with the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy</a>. This year, he ran a campaign targeting Jews and Indian immigrants.
He is an empty vessel who will say or do whatever the whims of the moment call for. Pulling that off if you’re disciplined with a clean record can make you a president. Doing it when you are facing lawsuits, have unpaid legal bills, lied about working for DOGE, were credibly accused of dating a 17-year-old, and hurl racial epithets at your opponents by the dozen gets you 10% of the vote in a gubernatorial primary.
And probably a podcast on Rumble, too.
&nbsp;
Dylan Housman is the Managing Editor of the Daily Wire. <a href="https://x.com/Dylan_Housman">You can follow him on X here. </a>

Here Lie The Groypers

byron donalds

groyper

james fishback

nick fuentes

A Florida businessman won a chaotic Republican House primary that featured a former Trump adviser, two former congressmen from different states, and a January 6 defendant. 
Media mogul Jim Schwartzel defeated nine other candidates to win the GOP nomination to replace Rep. Byron Donalds in Florida’s 19th Congressional District on Tuesday. Schwartzel defeated the Trump-endorsed Catalina Lauf, earning 29% of the vote to the former Commerce Department adviser’s 22%. 
Other candidates in the race included former Illinois state Senator Jim Oberweis, former North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn, former New York Rep. Chris Collins, and January 6 defendant John Strand. The seat opened up after Donalds decided to run for governor. 
President Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117090504981894603">endorsed</a> Lauf last week, saying she “has proven she has the Courage and Wisdom to deliver strong results for the incredible people of her State and Nation.” Before her run for Donald&#8217;s seat, Lauf ran for Congress in Illinois twice, including once in the Republican primary against Oberweis.
Cawthorn represented North Carolina&#8217;s 11th district in Congress from 2021 to 2023, and he made national headlines for saying he was invited to cocaine-fueled orgies by fellow lawmakers. He lost in the GOP primary to Rep. Chuck Edwards, who recently announced he would not be running for re-election after the House Ethics Committee found evidence he treated female staffers inappropriately. 
Two of the other candidates in the Florida race previously received pardons from Trump. 
Collins, who represented New York in Congress from 2013 to 2019, was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-congressman-christopher-collins-sentenced-insider-trading-scheme-and-lying">convicted</a> of insider trading and lying to the FBI. He was sentenced to 26 months in prison, but was pardoned by Trump about two months into his prison sentence. 
Strand, who was sentenced to over two years in prison for protesting inside the Capitol on January 6, was pardoned shortly after Trump’s second term began. 
Many of Schwartzel&#8217;s campaign ads in the days leading up to the race focused on how the other candidates were recent transplants to Florida.
Schwartzel, who owns and operates a large conservative radio channel in Florida and runs publishing company Gulfshore Life Media, ran a pro-Trump campaign on a platform of fighting for term limits, protecting Florida&#8217;s water supply, and opposing DEI and transgender ideology. 
“Southwest Florida sent a clear message: this congressional seat belongs to Southwest Florida. We had a hard-fought, spirited primary but now it is time to unite our party and turn our focus to November and beyond. I am ready to get to work supporting President Trump and his America First agenda and delivering results for Southwest Florida,” Schwartzel said after his win. “This is my home. It always has been and it always will be. I will never forget who I represent or why I ran.”
He is expected to easily win the heavily Republican favorable seat.

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Businessman Defeats 2 Felons, A Trump Endorsee, And Madison Cawthorn For GOP House Nomination

catalina lauf

jim schwartzel

madison cawthorn

Michael Caruso, the Palm Beach County clerk of courts and former Republican Florida state representative, was arrested Tuesday on charges alleging he sexually abused his grandson, a child under the age of 12.
The arrest carries a dark political irony: Caruso was one of the Florida lawmakers who voted for a 2023 law making certain sexual offenses against children under 12 eligible for the death penalty. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has indicated additional charges could follow.
Caruso, 67, faces charges of kidnapping, lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd or lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse causing mental injury, according to an <a href="https://www.flgov.com/eog/sites/default/files/shared/2026/08/EO_26-170_Caruso_Suspension_0.pdf">arrest affidavit</a>. The alleged victim, Caruso&#8217;s grandson, was under 12 at the time of the alleged abuse. Caruso has not been charged with sexual battery, which can be a capital offense under Florida law when committed by an adult against a child under 12. Florida law defines sexual battery to include certain forms of oral, anal, or genital penetration.
Caruso served in the Florida House from 2018 until 2025 and was appointed Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last year. DeSantis suspended him from office Tuesday following his arrest, with Shannon Ramsey-Chessman sworn in as interim clerk.
The allegations against Caruso date back to 2024, according to investigators. The boy&#8217;s father became aware of possible abuse in October 2025 after observing concerning sexual behavior involving the child and his younger brother. The child subsequently told investigators that Caruso had molested him during a 2024 fishing trip and &#8220;placed his &#8216;pp&#8217; in his mouth&#8221; while showering with the victim on a family cruise in August 2025. The alleged conduct described by the child could fall within Florida&#8217;s statutory definition of sexual battery, though Caruso has not been charged with that offense.
According to the affidavit, Caruso later acknowledged taking the child fishing and separating him from his parents during the cruise but denied abusing him. During a recorded conversation with the boy&#8217;s father in February, Caruso allegedly said the accusations were impossible because he is attracted to women and warned, “If you report this to the authorities there won&#8217;t be any of me left, I can tell you that.” The investigation remains ongoing.
The arrest comes three years after Caruso voted for HB 1297, legislation <a href="https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2023/governor-ron-desantis-signs-third-consecutive-anti-crime-pro-public-safety">signed</a> by DeSantis in 2023 that created a capital offense for an adult who commits sexual battery against a child under 12. Under the law, such an offense can be punished by either death or life imprisonment. Caruso&#8217;s current charges include lewd or lascivious molestation, which is a separate offense under Florida law. 
Florida lawmakers approved the legislation by votes of 95-14 in the House and 34-5 in the Senate. The law was part of DeSantis&#8217; broader 2023 public-safety agenda and was explicitly designed to make certain child sex offenders eligible for capital punishment. 
Caruso&#8217;s case will now proceed in Orange County, where the alleged victim lives. He is being held without bond pending his first court appearance.

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