Donald Trump has never been shy in his associations with people who’ve indulged in criminal behavior. He appointed Ivanka’s father-in-law the Ambassador to France after pardoning him. Peter Navarro went almost straight from the Miami Federal Correctional Institute to joining the Trump administration as the senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. Trump still takes advice from Steve Bannon and Roger Stone. Trump toyed with the idea of bringing back Paul Manafort, who still might be in hock to Russian oligarchs. He even tried appointing Matt Gaetz, who everyone knew, paid for sex with a minor and took her out of the country. We’ve seen the literal receipts, but the justice department chose not to prosecute. Trump himself has 34 felony convictions, making him the first President to have that honor.
Until now, the only person Trump seems to distance himself from is Florida Congressman Byron Donalds, who has forcefully advocated for Trump for the last two years. Donalds ditched Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for Trump early in the Republican primaries, hoping he’d be rewarded with the vice presidency or a cabinet position afterward—none of those panned out.
“There is only one leader at this time in our nation’s history who can seize the moment and deliver what we need — to get us back on track, provide strength and resolve, and Make America Great Again," said Donalds. "That is why I’m honored to endorse President Donald J. Trump for President in 2024, and I ask my fellow Americans to join me.”
After Trump won the 2024 election, people surrounding Trump convinced him that Donalds had too much baggage to take on. It seems in his late teens, Donalds was arrested at least a couple of times for passing fraudulent checks and distribution of marijuana. Donalds didn’t mention those arrests when appointed to the board of Edison College in Florida. He accurately claimed he didn’t have to report the bribery charge, which had been expunged from his record. He should have reported his drug dealing, which had been set aside due to a pre-trial diversion, but claimed it was almost the same, having been expunged.
Ron DeSantis is completing his second term as Florida governor and cannot run again in 2026 due to term limits. No one has officially entered the race, but leading candidates appear to include the sexual predator Matt Gaetz and United States National Security Advisor Matt Waltz. Waltz is making a name for himself by helping Trump make concessions to Russia before the negotiations started.
“Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement," said Trump. "RUN, BYRON, RUN!”
Donalds has announced he’s considering a run for the governorship and has already secured the apparent backing of the man who counts most in Republican circles. Maybe Trump was feeling bad about passing over Donalds multiple times, even appointing Herschel Walker, who once pointed a gun to his wife’s head, as the Ambassador to the Bahamas. Donalds answered Trump’s every call to appear on the campaign trail on his behalf. Whatever outrage or gaffe Trump committed, Donald was there to explain it.
While the Republican Party and Donald Trump seem willing to overlook Donalds’s drug dealing, Donalds’s ex-wife recalled their relationship in detail.
“He told me he was from Jamaica, and he had a Jamaican accent — and he was cute,” Hall said. “Then the next time I saw him, the Jamaican accent was gone, and he said he was from New York.”
Here's what else his wife had to say:
“We had so much fun together. At that time he was the greatest thing ever. He didn’t have anything to give me, his family wasn’t well off, but he was my first love. He was rough around the edges. There’s a polish there now that wasn’t there before. He would talk about how he grew up in a bad neighborhood and talk about how his family was poor. He had charm, but it was street charm. What he lacked was money.
The shininess of your relationship kind of falls off after a while. You realize that person stinks sometimes and isn’t always awesome. You don’t like to pay all the bills. He was always complaining about how he didn’t have any money.
We had this neighbor who sold drugs, and they got close. Byron thought that was his path to fix his money situation. He was making bad choices. It never made sense to me why he did it. I had a level of concern. I had to worry, ‘What if he got arrested?’”
It’s hard to believe a man with Donald’s record could get elected to anything, let alone Governor. Maybe Trump wants a governor he can control in the same way he has Mayor Eric Adams under his thumb in New York, holding the threat of criminal charges over his head. While the statute of limitations has run out on his first offenses. Donalds has filled out several applications and government forms under threat of perjury, denying ever being arrested.
Donald Trump’s endorsement should be taken with a grain of salt. Someone else could come along that Trump likes better or pays for the endorsement. The Trump administration once sold pardons at the end of his first term, so don’t count him out. I live in Florida and am trying to picture Byron Donalds as Governor without success because, in my mind, high office and drug dealing are incompatible.