The consensus seems to be that President Trump must carry Florida once again to retain the White House.  If he does — fingers crossed — this will mark the fourth time in recent memory that Floridians have helped prevent a Democrat takeover of our country.

But time is running short.  Here in Pinellas County, where I live, Democrats run a slick operation, as evidenced by their snazzy website.  On the other hand, Republicans meet — I kid you not — at a local country club.

The third time Florida helped save America was in 2016 by electing Donald Trump and avoiding the unmitigated disaster known as Hillary "Benghazi" Clinton.  She would have locked up the entire country to deal with the Wuhan virus, for God knows how long.

What were the other two times when Floridians were instrumental?

The first time was in 2000, "the year of the hanging chad," when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore after a protracted post-election vote-counting process that went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of Bush.  On January 6, 2001, Congress declared George W. Bush the 43rd president of the United States.

What if Gore had been elected instead of Bush?

The 9/11 Twin Towers attack would have taken place as scheduled, to which a President Gore would have reacted by:

• Embarking on a world apology tour, blaming the attack on U.S. policy "errors," "imperialism," "arrogance," and so on.
• Groveling before various and sundry Muslim tyrants, begging them to help prevent more attacks.
• Weakening our military so the U.S. would seem less of a "threat to world peace."

The second time was in 2016, when Ron DeSantis was elected governor of Florida, defeating the Democrat candidate, former mayor of Tallahassee Andrew Gillum, whose political career is over, at least for now.

In March 2020, Gillum was found vomiting and intoxicated in a Miami South Beach hotel.  A gay male escort, also in the room, had to be taken to the hospital after an apparent drug overdose.  Gillum was unable to communicate with police officers owing to his condition.  He denied taking drugs.  He was not arrested.

What if Gillum had been elected instead of DeSantis?

• Gillum would eventually have announced his candidacy for the presidency, hopping aboard the clown car.
• The Democrat press would have thrown its full support behind Gillum, portraying him as a sort of "second coming" of Obama.  Cory "Spartacus" Booker never got that treatment even though he's also black.
• Gillum is as glib as they come and would most likely have emerged as the leading candidate after debates.
• Gillum is also a radical leftist.  Biden, Sanders, and the rest of the clown car would eventually have dropped out to coalesce behind him.
• With Biden out of the picture, the Democrat Party would have been spared having to deal with Creepy Joe's corruption, sexual escapades, and senility.
• Gillum would have reacted to the Wuhan virus by following other autocratic Democrat governors, locking up Florida until a serum was developed.
• In the fall elections, Gillum and the Democrat machine would have conspired to make sure he carried Florida, possibly defeating President Trump. 

Let's hope Floridians keep Gore and Gillum in mind when they head for the polls this November.