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Readers react: Tucker Carlson and Matt Gaetz; Is Florida a leper colony?, and the Florida Man song | First Words | Orlando

¶ Lay it down, clown

Last week Fox News’ Tucker Carlson floated the so-called “Great Replacement theory,” which argues that white Americans are being replaced by non-European ethnicities in service of a grand political project by the Democratic party, and the Anti-Defamation League pointed out that this is both laughable (really, who thinks the party that couldn’t shoot straight could pull together a scheme of this size?) and deeply racist (if you think white Americans are the “real Americans,” we’ve got some indigenous people who’d like a word) (“Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz defends racist ‘replacement theory’ after Tucker Carlson shares it with viewers,” Sept. 27). No big surprise there. Somewhat more surprising — because your average man who’s staring down prison doesn’t go around touching third rails — Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz popped up out of his social pariah-dom to both defend Carlson and call the ADL themselves racists. Classic!

@Liz Miller: Look, I may not agree with the way Matt Gaetz handles his personal life, but he is an elected official and I will defend to the death his right to be dragged from Congress in handcuffs, humiliated, disgraced, tried for his crimes and thrown straight the f*ck into prison.

@Karl Frutchey: It’s too bad they can’t just be honest & say they hate brown people. Gaetz is just [ed. note: allegedly] a child sex trafficking Republican. Apparently the GOP supporters in Florida like that stuff. He just likes to have sex with children and sell them to his friends. Maybe Tucker is one of his special friends too.

@William Jarvis: 1990s right-wing talking point: We support *legal* immigration. 2020s talking point: Mein Kampf!

@Minna Alstein: Why does he still have his job?

¶ Welcome to the Thunderdome

Visit Florida Chairman Danny Gaekwad told members of the Enterprise Florida Board of Directors last Wednesday that the embattled tourism agency will request millions of dollars for marketing during the upcoming legislative session, and will ask lawmakers to extend an Oct. 1, 2023, “sunset” date for the agency (“Visit Florida asks for $75 million, increased lifespan to bring tourists back to state,” Sept. 30). So weird that people are staying away from Florida this year, hmm, why could that be the case …

@Paul Kern: DeSantis’ anti-science propaganda has turned us into a leper colony. It’s easy to see why regaining tourism will be a serious problem.

@Michael Reinhardt: Give the money to the people living in Florida rather than to tourism.

¶ Later, gator

Last week an Orlando man, Army veteran Abdul Gene Malik, trapped an alligator in his driveway with a garbage bin. (“Orlando man traps alligator using only a trash can in viral video,” Sept. 29.) The next day, Jonathan “Song a Day Guy” Mann immortalized Malik’s extremely moto deed in music (“Someone wrote a song about the Florida man who trapped an alligator in a trash can,” Sept. 30). These are the days of our lives.

@Julie Wilder: We NEEDED this song. Music for the win.

@Carla Guinta: That is awesome! Central Florida needs to name an OC Balladeer or a group and write songs to be passed down the generations of all Florida Man activities!

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