J.D. Vance flies into Naples for lunch, rakes in millions, and flies off to do it again in Miami

News and commentary for Floridians and other thoughtful Americans

J.D. Vance flew in for lunch yesterday.

At least I’m assuming food was served. I wasn’t invited. But even had I been, my wife and I don’t ordinarily drop a quarter-million dollars on our noonday repast.

Yep, that was the price tag per couple — $250,000. Which, I gotta say, is some cover charge. Of course, there were also $100,000-a-couple tickets, too, but I’m guessing we would have been talking folding chairs or standing room only in the back of the room.

The venue was the Naples Yacht Club. I was invited there for a reception once, and I have to say it is a lovely place, right on the water, as you would suspect, surrounded by, well, yachts.

Vance jetted into our little municipal airport, not too far from downtown, to ooohs and aaahs from the locals. Mostly Republicans, of course, Naples being possibly the reddest city in the reddest county in the scarlet red Sunshine State.

The streets were lined with onlookers, where a reporter for the Naples Daily News captured this quote from a woman hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who is a heartbeat away from the Oval Office:

“Sometimes our president kind of goes off the rails, and I think it’s very important that we show the Republican Party that we’re here for them.”

How’s that for an endorsement!

I don’t know what Vance told his deep-pocketed audience.

I’m imagining that someone might have asked him, “So, Mr. Vice President, are the Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, still eating the cats and dogs of their neighbors like your boss, Donald Trump said, you know, after you amplified that baseless rumor on the campaign trail?”

To which I will also imagine that he might have given his standard response:

"If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do,"

Translated from political doublespeak: “I have no problem lying my rear-end off to get elected.”

(For the record, the woman who started that vicious rumor did so because her cat was missing. She later found it in her basement, and she apologized to her neighbors.)

Vance is the Republican National Committee’s top fundraiser, and reports on his various trips around the country indicate his message tends to focus on the importance of raising lots of money for the midterm elections to fully realize the dream of the “MAGA mandate.”

After collecting the cash in Naples, Vance reboarded Air Force 2 for a trip to Miami Beach to do it all over again. It is unknown if his flight path took him over Alligator Alcatraz and, if so, if the inmates there were awestruck by who was passing overhead.

And while there were throngs of locals to adore him in Naples, there also were a few people in this corner of the Sunshine State who have yet to swill the Kool-Aid.

As the Naples Daily News reported, Paul Stephens, a Navy vet and spokesperson for Free Indivisible SWFL, said he was there, “to let Vice President Vance know that a lot of people in the United States are not happy with the Trump policies regarding a lot of things, but particularly immigration and the recent shootings that were caught on video.”

He added:

“We think our government is taking a dictatorial direction. We have a president who does not pass legislation but rules by what he calls executive orders. I call them kingly fiats.”

Speaking of which, the next national No Kings Day rallies are scheduled for March 28.

J.C. Bruce is the founder of Tropic Press, a Florida online news service dedicated to sharing news and commentary relevant to Florida readers, whether it originates in the Sunshine State or elsewhere. Bruce is an award-winning former newspaper editor, journalist and author living in Florida, his native state.

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