If you were to strip away all the trappings of President Donald Trump's inherited wealth — the planes, the superglued combover, the spray tan — it's not hard to imagine our nation's president could have easily wound up filtering down to the Keys and living a life of low-rent hucksterism. He loves the Florida coastline! He could have moved down here and married a woman named Barb who shares his love of Jean-Claude Van Damme films and well-done steak. They could've made a killing overcharging tourists for alligator-wrestling shows before inevitably getting indicted for tax evasion.Key West welcomes Trump with a chorus of "Conch Republic Hellos" because Florida (WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE) - video via @ColleenHough pic.twitter.com/592ghwBHRG
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) April 19, 2018
Instead, Trump has burned any goodwill he might've ever had in socially liberal Key West. Dozens of residents of the Conch Republic officially rejected Trumpism yesterday the only way they know how: by very loudly shouting F-bombs at his motorcade as he drove past a huge LGBTQ pride flag.
"Love Trumps hate!" the protesters begin chanting in the clip. The chants quickly turn to boos and hisses and then to outright cursing.
"Fuck you!" a few people scream. "Fuck youuuu! Fuck you!" At least one woman can be seen flipping the bird at the president's motorcade.
Yesterday Trump became the first sitting president in 55 years to visit Key West, in what was billed as an educational trip to brief our big, beautiful, smart baby boy on the ways in which federal and state officials try to prevent drugs from entering the Keys. Trump apparently responded by stating this proves the nation needs "the wall" despite the fact that the Keys are islands, which are, by definition, surrounded by water and do not share land borders with anyone.
GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo accompanied Trump on the trip, but, as Politico's Marco Caputo pointed out yesterday, Curbelo stayed conveniently far enough away from Trump at all times in what seems like a transparent attempt to prevent Democratic election opponents from snapping a photo of him next to the president. (Curbelo denied this on Twitter.)
Though the rest of Monroe County voted for Trump in the 2016 election, Key West's lovable bunch of wackos remained the only residents in the island chain to buck that trend. Anti-Trump fervor has apparently remained high in Key West: Though CBS Miami noted "cheering supporters" greeted Air Force One when Trump touched down in the city, the TV station also mentioned protesters lined his motorcade route to scream things at America's large adult president.When we posted this in FL Playbook —about @RepCurbelo’s failure to appear onstage at a tax event with Trump in Miami— the congressman’s office pushed back
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) April 19, 2018
But Cubelo kept just enough distance to make sure @DebbieforFL didnt have a pic to use against himhttps://t.co/1iwDTBXCaS pic.twitter.com/VeEopQYCY0
God bless the Conch Republic. Long may it reign.
