Some Florida voters unwavering in their support of Trump.
President Trump did nothing wrong, they say
Some will watch, some will catch up via Fox News at night, and others will ignore the event entirely. But no matter what comes out at the public impeachment hearings that got underway Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s fervent South Florida supporters say they won’t waiver.
To them, the impeachment inquiry is a sham — a merit-less attempt by Democrats to damage Trump.
“It’s a joke. All they do is make up lies,” said Robert Korhonen, of Fort Lauderdale, one of about 100 people who attended the monthly Americans for Trump Broward meeting Tuesday night — in a county that’s biggest Democratic stronghold in the state. “It’s just a big frigging waste of time and I think most Americans are smart enough to understand what’s going on here.”
Democrats, Korhonen added, are “trying to throw as much crap against him as they can. Trump is not guilty of anything. He hasn’t done anything wrong. They keep throwing crap and trying to trap him in stuff. But he’s innocent. They got nothing. They got nothing.”
David Lhota of Plantation, a lawyer, said information that’s come out in advance of the public hearings shows the president has done nothing wrong.
Democrats see it entirely differently, that there’s proof Trump pressured the president of Ukraine to meddle in the 2020 election by coming up with dirt that would make Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden look bad. Lhota thinks Biden’s dealings in Ukraine from his time as vice president are what should be investigated.
What’s going on now, he said, is “a sham, a lot of propaganda. I think it’s just a vehicle to try to persuade the public prior to the elections, throw a lot of mud. See what sticks. It’s a complete hoax. It’s disgusting. I think it’s weakening our country. It’s spreading lies.”
“The election didn’t turn out the way they wanted, and now they’re trying to change the results,” Lhota said. “The only focus is on smearing the president’s good name and I think people will see that. And in fact, I think it will backfire on the Democrats if they carry this out too long and keep trying to promote this propaganda.”
Sofia Manolesco of Deerfield Beach, who works in the fitness industry, doesn’t see the impeachment inquiry as serious. “I think that most politicians are paid actors, and they just do what they need to do to ramp up public opinion and try to get people excited.”
Americans for Trump attracts die-hard supporters of the president from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Raffle prizes between speakers included a “border patrol kit” and a “build the wall kit.” And U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the only senator somewhat critical of Trump, was labeled a “rat” and an “enemy.”
Romney was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
The Trump club is something of a refuge for his supporters in overwhelmingly Democratic South Florida. “You feel good among people that think the same way,” said Maria Canosa, a retiree from Tamarac.
But Canosa, Korhonen and Lhota have plenty of company among Trump supporters elsewhere in Florida — and their energy is critical to the president’s hope for re-election. Florida awards 29 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency — more than any of the half-dozen swing states that will decide the 2020 election.
Polling a month ago from the New York Times Upshot and Siena College found that 49% of Floridians support the impeachment inquiry, with 44% opposed — which shows the deep political divide in a state known for its extremely close elections.
Among Floridians who voted for Trump in 2016, Times/Siena poll found 16% supported the impeachment inquiry, and 81% were opposed. Among Hillary Clinton voters, 87% supported the impeachment inquiry and 8% opposed it.
Korhonen, an artist, said “most of the Democrats live in their own little bubble, their own little world, and they just don’t get it. They’re just so far off in lunacy world that they just don’t get it.”
Canosa said the impeachment hearings are simply one more way that Democrats are attempting to undermine Trump.
“They have never given this man a fair shake,” she said.
Americans for Trump president Scott Newmark, like most of the club members, expect the Democratic-controlled House to impeach the president and the Republican-controlled Senate to vote against convicting and removing him from office. “It’s like we’re watching the movie in real time — but we know the ending.”