Monthly Archives: January 2021
2020 Florida Presidential Results by Metro Area – Trump won the vast majority of Florida metro areas
Since November, we’ve seen a lot of breakdowns in Presidential results by county and by Congressional district. These are useful tools but also useful is to see a breakdown by Census Bureau designated Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). So we have broken that down here. MSA’s give us a greater picture as to how a region […]
The Big Cuban Lie and the Cuban Liars who tell it.
I don’t know everyone else’s writing process, I know mine. I come up with a working title and let the work flow from there. I’ll preface this title with telling you I’m third generation Cuban American brought up by a family not wedded to any political party. My grandparents and their siblings taught us about […]
1968 Miami protests and riots during the Republican National Convention
Less famous than the demonstrations and riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami saw massive protests that turned into riots simultaneous with the convention. Richard Nixon was nominated by the Convention for President, but Florida Governor Claude Kirk who was hoping to be on the GOP […]
The Trump Years: Cromwellian America
Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration is finally upon us. It can be seen in many ways as a restoration of sorts, after the turmoil of the last four years which have badly exposed the crumbling facade of this now largely failing nation-state. The United States has in Donald Trump’s tenure proven incapable of handling a pandemic […]
1933 attempted FDR Assassination in Miami
In this week’s Florida History Podcast, we discuss the assassination attempt on President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami. The Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak who was flanking FDR during his speech was mortally wounded. You can listen to the Florida History Podcast on Anchor (which hosts our show), Spotify, Google, Apple Podcasts, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Castro or Pocket Casts. Overcast, Castro, Spotify, […]
Republicans vs. the Voters: Chaos, Carnage and the Coup
On January 6th Republican representatives within the government voted to reject the will of the people, while a Republican mob from without tried to overthrow the government. Does this day signal the future of the Republican Party and the conservative right or will it be regarded as an anomaly in a fractured landscape of media noise? […]
#MLKDay – St Augustine, MLK Jr. and Florida’s critical role in the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
In commemoration of Martin Luther King Day 2021, it is timely to recall the critical role Florida played in the passage of Civil Rights legislation- specifically St Augustine which the epicenter of MLK Jr. and Southern Christian Leadership Council (SLC) activity during the Senate filibuster of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. Listen: The […]
Florida Democrats: Adopting a course change?
By Dr. Rachel Pienta Post-election headlines for the last twenty or so years could easily be recycled. “Dems in disarray, shell-shocked Democrats” were two popular phrases in circulation after November’s surprise. We have been here before. Political folks and media pundits used to say that Florida determined the presidency. I always found that to be […]
An Insurrection long cooked in the Sunshine State – the Florida inspirations for the “Parler Putsch”
This has been a sad week in American history – though I begin this commentary with an ode to my colleague Brook Hines who coined the cleverly brilliant term “Parler Putsch” to describe this week’s effort at a insurgency by right-wing groups to overturn the results of November’s US Presidential Election. Parler is a right-wing […]
The Politics around the Everglades since 1970
It’s our privilege this week on The Florida History Podcast, to be once again joined by Michael Grunwald, author of The Swamp and current writer for Politico Magazine. In this episode, we discuss the political fights over Everglades restoration since 1970. In the episode we discuss a wide ranging set of topics related to the “River of Grass,” the political, […]
The Florida Squeeze 