Trump Birthday Rally and Flag Day

Military and PGA Boulevard, 6/14/18. Good turnout for a rousing salute to the President.

The Elephant in the Room

Congressman Brian Mast, speaking at the Abacoa chapter meeting on Monday, confronted his critics and doubled down on his call for age limits and the ban on the sale of “gas operated, semi automatic” rifles, such as the AR-15 and AK-47. (Actually that definition probably applies to many of rifles sold that are not single shot bolt action devices.)

In an attempt to guide the audience down the path of his thinking, he asked a series of questions, starting with “who would keep the gun laws as they are?” (most raised their hands.) Very few agreed with “expanding background checks”, “raising age limits”, or banning other categories of equipment, but there was support for restrictions based on mental health. He referenced the “national firearms act”, in place since the 30’s that bans the retail sale of automatic weapons, and argued most don’t think that infringes on the second amendment.

A self described owner of many firearms himself, who grew up around weapons and was trained in the military, Congressman Mast supports the usual gun rights position that guns are tools and you don’t blame the tool for the action of the wielder. That said, he does object to the “lethality” of semi-automatic rifles in the hands of the mentally defective, and believes that the sale of these weapons should be stopped “at least for a while”, while we figure it all out.

Banning the sale of the AR-15 and the like would obviously lead to banning the possession of such of course, and by some counts there are over 3 million AR-15 variants in the hands of American citizens, who are almost entirely law-abiding. That, presumably is part of “figuring it all out”.

While Brian also touched on other topics, such as his support for the tax cuts, opposition to the omnibus spending bill, opposition to sugar subsidies (controversial in Florida), and his initiative to open a Congressional office in the VA hospital.

He also deflected criticism he has received from low conservative “scores” from Heritage Action and Freedomworks. Heritage assigned him 46% on their “key votes” where the average house Republican is at 64%. Freedomworks has him at 49%.

“I wasn’t elected to represent Heritage Action” was his defense, and suggested that he supports President Trump in areas where these organizations do not.

To be fair, the scoring is somewhat one dimensional and a vote is not always what it seems. Your really have to look at the votes and decide for yourself. Heritage Action dinged him for example, for reauthorizing the CHIP program and supporting FAA reauthorization without the privatization they wanted. Most bills have pros and cons, and there is room for interpretation.

During the Q&A, most focused on his position on guns. Teri Hughes lit into him for blaming guns for Parkland, even though there were so many governmental failures that did not adequately deal with the shooter before hand.

Then Linda Wummer asked the question many of us were thinking – how are you going to win your base back and get re-elected? Many people in the room have been strong fans of the Congressman, worked for him in 2016, and have defended him against critics since he was elected. His current difficulties are self-inflicted. Calling for a gun ban is tilting at windmills – it is not likely to happen, and there is no upside to proposing one (if you are a conservative).

Brian is now facing a primary challenge from Mark Freeman and Dave Cummings – something that would have not have happened without this stumble. The Democrats have Lauren Baer and Pam Kieth – neither likely to draw many Republican votes, but in this narrow R+4 district, turnout in November will be key.

Politicians always break your heart at some point, and Brian has broken many over the last few months. This seat is too important to lose over a single issue though, and we have to put on our big-boy pants and consider the big picture. If you disagree with Brian only on the gun control proposal, it is painful but not likely to make a substantive difference in the debate that has already moved on. Consider what losing this seat to a Democrat will do to the Trump agenda, and maybe you will choose the pragmatic course.

Red Meat from an Ag Commissioner Candidate

“Americans come first in America” – that was the message from Agriculture Commissioner candidate Colonel Mike McCalister this week at Abacoa.

Delivering a fiery speech that touched on all the “hot buttons” – guns, the Constitution, standing for the anthem, respect for the flag, “In God we Trust”, and fighting the “new world order liberals”, the Colonel said very little about Agriculture or the job he is running for, but the crowd loved it.

On church and state he said “We are one nation under God … and we’re going to stay that way!” To immigrants, legal or otherwise, his advice was “Assimilate, not Agitate!”.

Touching on the spirit of the founders who were both smart and brave, he stressed our American Heritage and teaching about the Constitution, which some officials, even judges act as if it doesn’t exist.

His remarks were not very different than those he delivered in past campaigns (Governor in 2010, Senate in 2012), but as then, he was well received by the audience.

On his current campaign, he pointed out that the Agriculture Commissioner oversees many things, particularly Consumer Services. Although he had a long military career, his degree is in Earth Sciences, and he currently operates a palm tree farm. He sees diseases (citrus greening, etc), labor availability and water as priorities.

Ending with a quote from Ronald Reagan, he reminded us that we are still “the shining city on the hill” and that “our best days are ahead of us.”

Also at the meeting were CD18 primary candidates Dave Cummings and Mark Freeman who tried to explain why they think Brian Mast should not have a second term.

We also heard from Dr. Robert Katz, Executive Director of America Resurgent, a veteran’s support group. This group is putting on a benefit for disabled veterans in September called “Tipping Point 2018”. Check out their website for more information.

A Pleasant Afternoon at Celebrate America

A beautiful Sunday afternoon at the Wellington amphitheater brought together a great lineup of speakers, organizations and tea party enthusiasts to celebrate how far we’ve come since the dark days of 2009. The celebration of the good things that makes us Americans, our support for the President, and an admonishment to “hold accountable” those politicians that go to Washington and become part of the swamp, was a theme that was well received.

Moderated by WFTL radio host Joyce Kaufman, the speakers included elected officials and candidates, and national leaders of activist organizations, all members in good standing of the tea party ethos.

Mark Meckler (Convention of States) told us that we are a self-governing people with a Washington that does not trust us to do so. He reported that 12 of the 34 states needed have now ratified the Article 5 Convention of states proposal.

Joe Budd, GOP Committeeman to the RPOF for Palm Beach County, reported that PBC delivered the fourth highest vote total in Florida for President Trump, who he compared to Sampson (who really got the last laugh on draining the swamp).

Mike McCalister, candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, gave us one of his stemwinder speeches on America.

Billie and Karen Vaughn, Gold Star parents, said that politicians should be changed regularly, just like diapers. They are looking forward to going to Jerusalem for the ribbon cutting on the new embassy.

Reverend CL Bryant, a Freedomworks senior fellow who tells us the tea party is alive and well has this message to the Washington Republicans – “Support this President or GO HOME!”

Conservative commentator Gina Louden told us how important Florida is in national elections and how we need to be Trump’s “home-town advantage” in the midterms.

Driena Sixto, regional director for Turning Point USA spoke of the great success they have had organizing college students for conservative principles.

And finally, CD18 Congressman Brian Mast spoke of the wide benefits of tax reform and how President Trump will return America to its greatness.

Derek Hankerson on Trump vs. Reagan

Is Donald Trump the return of Ronald Reagan? How are they similar and how do they differ?

Speaking at the Abacoa meeting on Monday, Derek Boyd Hankerson, who was the NE Florida Regional Coordinator for the President in the 2016 election, made the case that they are much more similar than many would admit.

Getting his start in politics for the 1984 Reagan-Bush ticket, he did opposition research for the legendary Lee Atwater. A good start, given that campaign’s 49 state blowout win over Walter Mondale.

Obviously, President Trump is something new in American politics, but he shares with Reagan many characteristics that make both men different from “typical” politicians. Both have roots in the entertainment industry – Trump as producer and star of the Apprentice and many years of beauty pageants, and Reagan as a prolific movie star and television host of “Death Valley Days” and “General Electric Theater”. Both were elected in times when people were calling out for radical change from their far left predecessors. Both were dismissed by the media and other politicians as lightweights who could not win a national election, and both were considered at the same time extreme and simplistic.

The two men shared deep passions and held strong principles and they were persistent in selling their agenda. Both were Democrats before they were Republicans, and both were divorced. On policy, they both favor a strong national defense, protected gun rights, low taxes and fewer regulations. Both believe that America is an exceptional country and would “Make America Great Again”.

Derek then suggested some differences between their presidencies. Trump was a newcomer to politics whereas Reagan had been Governor of California and President of the Screen Actor’s Guild. Significantly in the 36 years between, communications technology has changed enough to provide President Trump an advantage that Reagan lacked – the ability to circumvent the liberal media in a direct way and every day. Trump’s mastery of all types of media, particularly Twitter and cable news, allows him to eliminate the gatekeepers. Furthermore, his showman’s instincts let him “mess up the heads” of his detractors in a way that has never before been practiced.

Derek ended with the goal that we all share – “Trump 2020!”

There were several other speakers at this meeting, including Dawn Witherspoon. Dawn’s husband, a local paramedic, was killed in an auto accident by a drunk illegal immigrant from Guatemala. She told a compelling tale of the considerable resources that are available in the area, particularly Jupiter, to aide illegals, but very little assistance is available for their victims. When her husband’s killer was about to be released by a judge on $5000 bond, to then disappear into the illegal community or leave the country, she reached out to Representative Brian Mast who was able to get an ICE hold on him.

Her story is very timely given the recent news of the death of Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson. He was also killed by a drunken illegal immigrant, who had also been deported multiple times.

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There were also several short remarks from other speakers. Governor candidate Bob White introduced himself. Iris Scheibl spoke about the March election in Palm Beach Gardens that will present 4 changes to the charter – including a weakening of term limits (Vote no on all 4 questions!!). David Caulkett of FLIMEN described for us the upcoming meeting regarding the Florida Constitution Revision Commission. Gardens councilman Matthew Lane spoke about his approach to evaluating city contracts.

Upcoming meetings will include a forum for Governor candidates on April 2, and the Tax Day Tea Party rally in Wellington on 4/15.

PBCTP Marches in Veterans Parade

Sunday November 5 on Clematis in West Palm Beach.

Dan Bongino’s Thoughts on Donald Trump

On Monday at Abacoa, our speaker was Dan Bongino, former NYC police officer, secret service agent, congressional candidate and Foxnews contributor.

It was a busy day for Dan – a morning appearance on “Fox & Friends”, the “Hannity” radio show in the afternoon, and a scheduled appearance on “Tucker Carlson” at 8pm. That last engagement posed a scheduling problem for the meeting, so his presentation began about a half hour early. While most had arrived early for the 5:30pm buffet, some did not and we apologize if you missed the first part of Dan’s remarks.

The phenomenon that is Trump was the focus of the talk. While late to the “Trump Train” as a Ted Cruz supporter, Dan had initially missed what Donald Trump has that the 16 others do not – he does not need anybody – not money, not endorsements, not the GOP establishment. This provides unprecedented power and independence.

The President is also a master at trolling the left, easily making them reveal what they really believe, and they fall for it over and over.

On Immigration for example, by outrageously promising to build the wall and make Mexico pay for it, many Democrats began to outwardly show that open borders and unrestricted immigration was their platform – a position held by only a small minority of the country.

On the NFL controversy, he easily forced the league and the teams into revealing a position of opposing the flag, the anthem and the military – putting them and their handlers on the left again way out of the mainstream. He also was able to claim patriotism and love of country for himself and the GOP.

On taxes, Trump easily manipulated the Democrats into their reflexive position of wanting to raise taxes on the “rich”, not to raise revenue for government (it doesn’t) but to punish the achievers in society.

The Democrat party is no longer a mainstream party in the US, holding influence only in the blue enclaves on the coasts. At the state level, they have been wiped out pretty much everywhere else.

Dan took some questions from the audience then and discussed Antifa and like groups and their “heckler’s veto” which threatens violence at college speaking events, then asks the administrations to shut down the event because “there may be violence”.

He also made the point that whenever a Democrat calls for tax cuts to be “paid for” – you should ask them if any tax cut in history cost the government money. The answer – no, tax cuts always result in more revenue. The Bush tax cuts for example, generated $755B for the treasury over 10 years.

Check out Dan’s new book – “Protecting the President: An Inside Account of the Troubled Secret Service in an Era of Evolving Threats.”

A Tea Party Patriot’s Update from Jennie Beth Martin

Over the last few weeks we have been making sure our senators know we want to see ObamaCare repealed. We delivered letters and signatures to senators’ local offices as well as a few offices in DC. We also delivered 1.5 million signatures from around the country directly to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week. Thank you so much for volunteering to go to your senators’ offices.

Last week we saw the Senate fail to repeal ObamaCare. This has been discouraging and frustrating and it is time for Congress to live under ObamaCare with the rest of us. In hopes of uniting congressional Republicans to take action, we are encouraging President Donald Trump to end the congressional exemption from ObamaCare. Please call the White House and tweet President Trump this week. Check here for more information on our calls to action and talking points.

Please mark your calendars for an event in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 23rd. We are still working on details and will be in touch soon. This event will be focused around tax reform and growing the economy, it could possibly cover other major topics including: ObamaCare, the budget, and the national debt.

We are looking for names of people and stories from you that highlight the urgent need for tax reform. We need ways to illustrate how high taxes are harming you and your family or your business. Also, we need stories about how changing the tax code would benefit you. Please send these stories to localcoordinator@teapartypatriots.org.

An update from Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund –

Last week we endorsed Congressman Mo Brooks for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Alabama. He has been a strong fighter and has helped us through his work in the House Freedom Caucus. With the recent events in the Senate, it is critical we get another champion to work towards our values.  We will have volunteer efforts over the next two weeks supporting him, sign up now and let us know if you can help.

Washington Report: TPP Website, PDF, Audio

Constitution Minute: PDF

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

-Don’t forget to post events to our website so we can alert activists in the area to encourage more participation of in-person gatherings over the summer. This can include your monthly tea party meeting, an event that your group is participating in, a congressional town hall, or a sign waving event. www.teapartypatriots.org/events

-If you’re interested in the Constitution Project or would like to receive occasional updates, please send an email to Chris Wright at constitution@teapartypatriots.org.

-Our Washington Report (legislative update) hosted by Bill Pascoe is held each Monday at 1:00pm Eastern and is open to all our supporters. You can catch it live on Facebook or through Go To Webinar.

-Tea Party Patriots Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/teapartypatriots/

-Go To Webinar Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7148725915499449346

Feel free to share these links with others so they can participate as well.

Congressman Brian Mast Gives a Congressional Update

At an event dubbed “A Community Conversation”, District 18 Congressman Brian Mast gave a legislative update to a welcoming and enthusiastic PBCTP crowd last evening at Abacoa.

Starting with bills he is personally submitting, he described two:

– the “Oath of Exit”, an amendment to be offered on the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which asks veterans who are mustering out to pledge support for their fellow veterans and seek help with their own problems.

– the “Veterans Homestead Act”, like the Homestead Act of the 1800’s, would provide land – 1 acre per year of service, to veterans to provide them entrepreneurial opportunities.

Although you wouldn’t know it from the mainstream media, the House of Representative has accomplished a lot in their first six months. In particular, Brian talked about:

• Deregulation – there have been 14 Congressional Review Acts signed by the President, rolling back much of the late-term Obama regulatory state
• The REINS Act (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny), which requires Congressional approval of regulations costing more than $100M
• Repeal of much of the Dodd Frank Financial Reform
• The 6 month budget that provides $1.5B for the border
• Kate’s Law
• The sanctuary cities bill
• The American Health Care Act, repealing and replacing Obamacare
• The VA Accountability and Whistleblower Act that allows wrongdoers to be fired

Unfortunately, only the Congressional Review Acts have become law – the rest are gathering dust in our dysfunctional Senate. In Brian’s view, the agenda today is driven by group-think and the GOP Senators are a disappointment.

There were many questions submitted on index cards from the audience, including:

• When will Obamacare be repealed? Brian explained that without 60 votes in the Senate (like the Democrats had in 2009) the replacement possibilities are limited. There is much misinformation – Medicaid is not being “cut” just having its growth slowed. Repeal will be a very large tax cut. Whether the Senate acts or not we will have to wait and see.
• Is there going to be a cut to veterans’ benefits in the VA budget – specifically regarding Individual Unemployability (IU)? Brian opposes this provision, which would impact disabled veterans who become eligible for Social Security. (See the sidebar for a further explanation).
• When will we see Tax Reform? All of Brian’s Republican colleagues know that 2018 is looming and failure to act on tax reform will be a threat to re-election. He hopes to see something this year.
• If Senate doesn’t act on Obamacare Repeal, should we just let it fail and the Democrats take the blame? Brian does not think that is a good result for the people affected by it.
• Should our embassy move to Jerusalem? YES – should happen now.

In closing, Brian said he is planning some townhalls during the August recess (assuming the House does not stay in session), one of which will be in Palm Beach County. He asks that all of his supporters show up and bring their friends. A lot of his townhalls in the past few months have been packed with opponents of Brian and the Trump agenda and he could really use our help to show balance.

The next PBCTP meeting will be at Abacoa on July 31 with Chris Gaubatz who will talk about “Understanding the Threat” of radical Islam in the US.

Brian Mast Speaks to Overflow Crowd at Abacoa

On Tuesday morning, well over 100 Tea Party stalwarts assembled for a breakfast buffet and some interaction with our CD18 Congressman Brian Mast.

With a Q&A format that started with written questions and progressed to passing the microphone around, the Congressman answered questions on a wide variety of topics, in many cases expanding on the questions to provide a nuanced look at the opportunities and challenges of this Congress.

Brian gave us a current status of the pictures on the wall at the VA, as the attention he brought to the issue resulted in a Presidential Order to mount the pictures of Donald Trump and VA Secretary David Shulkin in all VA facilities, then spoke of Congressional term limits as a way to help “drain the swamp”. Term limits would stop the “tenured” nature of committee chair positions, part of that swamp infrastructure.

When asked about interactions with lobbyists, he told us he meets with those pushing all sides of issues every day, but also reaches out to stakeholders for bills, like state Governors and other representatives, and finally sorts through the BS and makes up his own mind. Doing the right thing matters more to Brian than pandering for re-election, something he wished would motivate more of his colleagues. This is part of the reason that he has not joined any “voting caucuses” like the Freedom Caucus or the Tuesday Group – he does not want to commit to voting in lockstep with a Caucus consensus if he doesn’t agree with it.

On the budget, Brian was disappointed that there are not 12 individual appropriations bills in process as had been promised by House leadership, and he wished that the continuing resolution that passed had actually reduced spending. He was able to get $60M in that bill to reimburse the county for protecting the President when he comes to Mar-A-Lago though.

He spoke of co-authoring the “Hamas Sanction Bill” (Palestinian International Terrorism Support Prevention Act – H.R.2712), introduced a few days ago, his support for NASA and space exploration in general, and supporting the proposal for a water retention reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee as well as dike repairs.

And regarding the VA, he has asked Secretary Shulkin for space within the WPB Veterans Hospital for one of his staff to meet with Veterans regarding problems with care delivery. If Congressman were on-site to observe what transpires at VA facilities and raise the alarm when warranted, problems with the VA could be quickly improved. Since no space is yet forthcoming, Brian is asking his constituents, particularly the veterans, to contact the local VA Administrator and ask them to provide the space.

Following are some pictures provided by Carol Porter:

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