Thoughts on National Security with Brigadier General Mark Holler

Our speaker on April 22nd was retired Brigadier General Mark Holler. A club member, General Holler brings a wealth of insight and experience to the topic of National Security Policy.

He began his talk by listing the key national security influences – Politics, Policy and Strategy.

In the political domain, our past approaches to the world have been defined by the theories of realism (enduring competition among self interested states), liberalism (relations governed by international law and the sovereign equality of states) and institutionalism (a dependence on enduring international organizations that establish rules for states to follow).

Although some would argue that Reagan and Nixon (with Kissinger) were realists, Mark argues that Donald Trump is the first true realist we have had as President since World War II. That rings true as nothing is more realist than “America First”.

Mark describes the Trump foreign policy as two objectives: End America’s decline; and Advance US Supremacy for national security.

We as a nation are in decline in so many areas, such as open borders, excessive national debt, DEI, military readiness, trade imbalances and supply chain dependencies, and the Trump agenda is addressing them all by using all the levers of national power. These include Diplomatic (peace talks, bilateral meetings with other leaders), Information (end running the legacy media with Truth Social, X, YouTube, Rumble), Military (major improvements in recruiting, judicious but active use), and Economic (sanctions, tariffs, energy dominance, DOGE).

Overall, Mark was optimistic for the future.

In the Q&A session, he was asked about triggering China (steps to head off a ran at Taiwan), Russia (2nd best army in Ukraine, not the world), military action against Iran (yes, probably) and our vulnerability to hypersonic weapons (classified but we have them too).

Chairman Carl Cascio Looks Ahead

Our February speaker was Carl Cascio, Chairman and former general Counsel of the county GOP.

Carl laid out his goals which included unifying the party apparatus of the REC, turning the county red in that we can win county-wide elections, and taking advantage of the opportunities that all of President Trump’s activities present.

Listing the percentage of voters who are Republican (32.4%), Democrat (36.5%) and independent (31.1%), he described a voter registration drive aimed at converting the independents. The county continues to improve for Republicans every month, currently standing at D+4.1.

He sees the culture changing after the 2024 election, where it is now “cool” to wear the MAGA hat in public where it was once a dangerous practice. We must relate to people through our values.

On the Trump administration, he says “get ready” – we have only scratched the surface of what is to come. Trump is the world’s best counterpuncher in politics and he is not going to put up with the likes of Jamie Raskin and others on the left anymore. In Congress, Republicans are mostly on the same side and the few who try to gum up the works so far have not been able to stop the agenda or the confirmations.

Closer to home, Carl envisions a DOGE for Palm Beach County to focus on the County budget, which has become bloated and expensive, and he wants to “audit” the county books.

At the end of the meeting we also heard from State Committeewoman Jodi Schwartz who gave us a Tallahassee update and invited people to attend “Palm Beach County day”, party Vice-Chair Jason Kulp who spoke about Lincoln Day on April 11th, and Royal Palm Beach Vice-Mayor Selena Samios who is running for Mayor in the March 11th election.

PBCGOP Chairman with Election Preview

Our September meeting featured county GOP Chairman Kevin Neal.

Starting with a discussion of the six statewide amendments on the ballot, he focused in on the Marijuana proposal (Amendment 3) and some comments from Governor DeSantis at a recent event. If passed, this amendment will be a large economic boon to Trueleive, the company that runs most of the medical marijuana dispensaries in the state. Contrary to popular belief, this amendment (if passed) would not allow you to grow your own, nor would it open up the market to a lot of competition – instead it will provide a bunch of new customers for Trueleive, the company that is largely funding the drive to pass this amendment.

On amendment 4, what the Governor calls the “abortion until birth” amendment, it is interesting that the text does not use the term “physician” and implies that anyone could legally perform an abortion if passed.

Kevin pointed out that both of these amendments (3 and 4) are funded by George Soros.

On another topic, vote-by-mail (VBM), Kevin shared some interesting statistics. It is important to request a VBM ballot for a lot of reasons, but specifically those that receive one are 2-6 times MORE likely to vote in the election. Since Democrats typically outpace us by large numbers in VBM, the implications are clear. He also asked people to vote early, either with VBM or at early voting – the longer you wait, the more the candidates need to spend to push you to do so. Vote early and most of the political text, mail, emails and calls will stop.

Several county races are of particular interest. HD89, a D+13 open seat, is a potential pickup (although long shot) for Daniel Zapata. We also have a shot at Anne Gerwig defeating incumbent Katherine Waldron in D+6 HD93. R+3 HD91 (Peggy Gossett Seidman) and R+1 HD94 (open – Megan Weinberger) are tight and we need focus to hold on to these Republican seats. We also have a shot at SB5, also an R+1 open seat that Gloria Branch could win and end a several decade hold by the Dems.

Also at the meeting were candidates Michael Gauger (D+5 Sheriff), Page Lewis (R+17 SB1), and Ted Sarandis (D+9 Port of PB group 2).

RCPB School Board Candidate Forum

On July 23rd, the five School Board candidates from Districts one and five that are Republicans introduced themselves to our members. They are all on the ballot for the August 20th election.

We also used this meeting to award this year’s Anne Roberts Scholarship. See: Scholarship Winners.

From north county’s district one, which is mostly north of Northlake Blvd in Palm Beach Gardens we had Matt Lane and Page Lewis. From south county district five, which is mostly Boca Raton, we had Gloria Branch, Suzanne Page and Mike Letsky. (Left to right in the above photo.)

First up, Matt Lane went through his extensive list of endorsements and relevant experience as a public official (Palm Beach Gardens Council) and manager. His priorities include getting back to basics (reading, writing, math), not DEI and CRT. He would prioritize spending to hire and retain the best teachers, promote technical education, and insure the health and safety of the students.

Next was Page Lewis who listed some of her life experiences that have molded her worldview. She ran a restaurant, lived on an island, and has survived hurricanes. In order to fund her non-profit that teaches remedial reading in places like Belle Glade she started selling houses. She says she is in the race for the families and is not a politician.

Jumping down to district five, Gloria Branch listed her endorsements, the boards she has served on and her non-profits that she started. With a background in banking, she is a substitute teacher and like Matt would prioritize the basics in the curriculum.

Suzanne Page, a college professor with a doctorate in Economics, also has a background in banking. She would challenge the school district budget and asks where all that money really goes. In 2020 she ran for this seat against incumbent Frank Barbieri and achieved 40% of the vote. One aspect of the pandemic she mentioned was that as students worked from home, their parents got a look at what was going on in the classroom and didn’t always like what they saw.

Mike Letsky, an enterpreneur and engineer has kids in the district. He sees the schools system as a business and points out the problem of high teacher attrition. He would focus on school safety and the budget, and has filed a records request to examine the budget in detail. He notes that test scores are lower than pre-pandemic and thinks students should master basic math before using laptops for all their work. He would structure pay to encourage retention of experienced teachers.

After a short Q&A session in which all the candidates participated, we had our open mike session for other candidates.

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At the end of the meeting, we heard from:

Anne Roberts Scholarship Winners

At our regular lunch meeting on July 23rd, the Anne Roberts scholarships for the 2024-25 school year were awarded to two deserving students by our Scholarship chairman Bette Anne Starkey.

The Anne Roberts Memorial Scholarship is available to any resident of Palm Beach County who is a full or part time undergraduate or graduate student seeking to further their education. Students must have a GPA of 3.0 or above and plan to attend an accredited college. Applicants must be registered (or pre-registered under 18 yrs. of age) Republicans. Current members of our Club may refer applicants for this scholarship.

William Hernandez (third from left) with his parents and club leaders:

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The club has been awarding these scholarships since 2009, with the following winners:

• 2024: William Hernandez, Palm Beach State, aeronautical engineering and Nate Waldstein, Univ of Central FL, Lakeland, business marketing
• 2023: Grace Templeton, Southeastern, Lakeland – sophomore
• 2022: no scholarships
• 2021: no scholarships
• 2020: Keelie Hanley, Embry Riddle Aeronautics, AZ, Soph and Rileigh Hanley got a full ride to USAF Academy, CO
• 2019: Jenna Calderaio-FSU-Senior, Jessica Blakley-Belmont University -Senior, Ben DeHaan-PBAU Junior, Rileigh Hanley-Embry Riddle Aeronautics -Freshman, and Keelie Hanley-Embry Riddle Aeronautics-Freshman
• 2018: Jenna Calderaio – FSU; Lauren Staff– UF and Jessica Blakley –Belmont University
• 2017: Jenna Calderaio – FSU, Lauren Staff – UF, Ryan Walker – Stetson Law, and Madison Andrews—PB State
• 2016: Dylan Brandenburg-FSU, Jenna Calderaio – FSU, Lauren Staff – UF and Ryan Walker-UF
• 2015: Dylan Brandenburg-FSU, Daniel Kozell-FSU, Hanna Matry-UF, Ryan Walker-UF, and Aaron Mejias-PBAU
• 2014: Dylan Brandenburg-FSU, John Clark-FSU, Jason Ferrara-Alabama, Daniel Kozell-FSU and Hanna Matry-UF
• 2013: Dylan Brandenburg-FSU, Elizabeth Cayson-Walden Univ., John Clark-FSU, Jason Ferrara-Alabama, Daniel Kozell-FSU, and Danielle Madsen-PBAU
• 2012: John Ryan Clark-FSU, Jason Ferrara-Alabama, Daniel Kozell-FSU, Shirley Schaff-Northwood Univ., and James Shackelford-FAU
• 2011: John Ryan Clark-FSU, Jason Ferrara-Alabama, Kimberly Twoey-PBAU, and Shirley Schaff-Northwood Univ.
• 2010: James Schackelford-FAU, and Cindy Morris-PBAU
• 2009: Nicole Vega-FAU

Club Participates in Red White and Blue Barbecue

On Saturday, June 15th, the club had a table at the President’s Council barbecue featuring many candidates for this year’s elections. We also met some new people and added to the club roster.

With Armand Grossman as master of ceremonies, John Fischer in colonial garb singing the anthem, and keynote speaker and Trump friend Peter Ticktin, we ate sandwiches from a food truck and heard the stump speeches from county Republicans candidates, many of whom had their teams manning information booths throughout the SCCC pavilion area.

If you weren’t able to attend, here are the candidates that spoke to us (or were represented by surrogates). CLICK HERE For a full list of candidates, with links to their websites.

Brian Mast (surr) Congress 21	Dan Franzese Congress 22	Andrew Gutmann Congress 22	Deborah Adeimy Congress 22
Gary Barve Congress 23	Bob Weinroth Congress 23	Joe Kaufman (surr) Congress 23	Forest Freedman State Attorney
Sam Stern State Attorney	Mike Caruso House district 87	Dan Zapata House district 89	Bill Reicherter House district 90
Anne Gerwig House district 93	Christian Acosta (surr) House district 94	John Fischer County Comm 5	Laurel Diaz Sheriff
Mike Gauger Sheriff	Roderick Clarke Port district 3	Tami Donnally State Committeewoman	Jodi Schwartz State Committeewoman
Jenniffer Lee State Committeewoman	Jason Kulp State Committeeman	Joe LaFauci State Committeeman

Representatives Roth and Caruso Give their Views on the 2024 Session

On Tuesday, May 28th, Representatives Rick Roth and Mike Caruso gave us their impressions of the accomplishments of this year’s legislative session.

As each legislator has their particular areas of focus, each had a different list of highlights. Here are the major items they discussed:

• 207 bills so far signed by the Governor, with 27 awaiting approval and 77 more to be presented to him
• Home schooling has really accelerated under the school choice framework – 77K 10 years ago is now 155K
• 2/3 of the house is republican – the reason we can pass such important legislation
• There was a focus on public safety this year, including:
  • HB1365 – Unauthorized public camping and public sleeping – sets minimum standards for a county to allow homeless encampments
  • HB49 – relaxed rules on hours worked for 16 and 17 year olds
  • HB621 – allows for the efficient eviction of squatters
  • HB549 – reduces threshold for felony theft to $40 from $750 and targets “group retail theft”
  • HB75 – raises penalties for impeding, threatening or harassing 1st responders
  • HB1451 – no ID cards for illegals issued by out of state jurisdictions accepted (issuing them already banned in Florida)
  • HB1036 – enhanced penalty for illegals returning after being deported

• $117B budget, 40% health care, $22B for agriculture
• HB1 – Keeping roads open when closed by protestors
• HB7073 – cuts business rental tax to 2% from 4.5%
• HB1611 – reduced lawsuits against insurance companies and lower taxes on insurance
• CS/SB 7028 – up to $10K to harden homes under “my safe homes”
• HB3 – limit access to social media for under 14
• HB1403 – increases school choice with additional voucher programs
• SB184 – protects 1st responders – stay 20′ back

As reference material, Representative Roth provided his written notes on the session which are available HERE.

The meeting included some elected officials – County Commissioner Sara Baxter and Jupiter Inlet Commissioner Jim Davis were in attendance along with the two representatives.

Candidates introducing themselves included:

Joe LaFauci for State Committeeman
Jody Schwartz and Tami Donnally for State Committeewoman
Anthony Aguirre for House District 94
Michael Gauger for County Sheriff
Deborah Adeimy for Congressional District 22

Joyce Kaufman Highlights December Meeting

Our December meeting featured WFTL Radio host Joyce Kaufman who gave us a somewhat subdued analysis of our current state of affairs.

What has been wrong with our message for the last 30 or so years that continue to see the devaluing of life?

The 2024 election, described once again as “the most important in our lifetime” is just that – it will decide if we are going to still have a country.

Referring to the recent Congressional testimonies by the Presidents of Penn, MIT and Harvard, Joyce pointed out the absurdity of their responses to the anti semitism on their campuses. While mobs of students are free to chant “from the river to the sea”, as if genocide was part of the curriculum, we remember how quickly they mobilized against the police when George Floyd was killed.

Through a series of anecdotes involving the liberals in her own family, she pointed out how much of our troubles stem from the things that we are not allowed to talk about such as religion, abortion and living a moral life. It is only going to get worse if we don’t stand up and start having these conversations. One of the reasons she supports Donald Trump is that he is unafraid to talk about anything, and tells us the truths that many do not want to hear.

Asked a question as to “what should the message be?”, her reply was the economy. Are we better off now than under Trump? Most would say no, regardless of their party affiliation. If we can agree on that then we can agree that we need a change of leadership.

Also at the meeting was Charles Bender, CEO of the Place of Hope, the club’s designated charity for this year. Charles described some of this year’s activities and their expansion into other parts of the state.

Comedian Eric Golub, who was selling books and other materials at the event and will be our speaker next month talked about Comedy as a political force, and gave us a taste of his performance.

Candidates included Page Lewis (SB1), Andrew Gutmann (CD22), and Matt Luciano (WPB district 5).

PBC Chair Kevin Neal at October Lunch

Republicans are far outpacing Democrats in voter registration in Florida and we have clearly moved into position as the second largest Red State after Texas. Chairman Neal began his presentation at our October lunch with these positive trends, also noting that Florida is the home for Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, the two dominant players in presidential politics. (Note: Palm Beach county is now D+8.6, 5 points better than going into the 2020 election. Statewide it is R+4.6, also 5 points better). Kevin described the massive migration of conservatives to Florida and the other red states as “live free or move”.

So statewide and in the county we are in good shape to pick up some of the seats that were close in 2022. There are also about 90 seats up for grabs at the municipal level. With filing dates coming up in November for the March elections, the party needs people to step up and run for these seats.

As we move into 2024, Kevin suggests that we all register to receive vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots. You can still vote in person if you wish, but having the VBM ballot is a backup plan. VBM is the method most prone to fraud, but the rules in Florida have been tightened (drop box monitoring, ID requirements, limits on ballot harvesting), and as long as the process exists we should take advantage of it. The most powerful way to fight fraud is to turn out for a landslide result – more votes for our side than they can overcome by cheating.

He suggested that we can’t stop our scrutiny of the process as there is some indication that in 2020, Trump got a lot more votes in Florida than reported.

Also at the meeting was a number of candidates for 2024 races: Deb Adeimy and Andrew Gutmann for CD22, and Page Lewis for School Board district 1.

Donald Trump wins RCPB Straw Poll

The club hosted a forum on September 26th to contrast Florida’s two presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis which included a straw poll.

After an introduction by Fred Scheibl who highlighted the unprecedented nature of this 2024 election, Willy Guardiola (“Christian on a Mission”, “Trump Corner” rallies, anti-abortion activist) explained his personal connection to Donald Trump and why he needs to be re-elected. Then Joe Budd (“Trump-45 club co-founder, 2 time Congressional candidate) outlined why he thinks it is time for Ron DeSantis to take the reins of our country.

The coming election is unique to say the least. The twice impeached front-runner who has been indicted four times by a corrupt DOJ and vindictive prosecutors in New York and Georgia is the left’s worse enemy. They are willing to trash the rule of law, the first amendment, lawyer-client and executive privilege to prevent him from re-taking the white house. The media has dropped all pretense of fairness or impartiality. Leftists in the states are trying to keep Trump off the ballot with the 14th amendment, and there are unresolved election integrity issues, even in Florida. Despite all that, he has a majority in most national polls and in one, beats Joe Biden by 10 points.

Willy referred to the outstanding Trump record – “Making America Great Again” at least until Covid came along and threw the world into chaos, and the awesome experience of being in the crowd of 800,000 for the January 6th rally in Washington (before anything happened at the capitol). Trump is needed again to repair the damage done by Biden’s leftist minions.

Joe explained that although he still loves Trump, he finds the drama exhausting. Trump could have accomplished more if he had picked the right team or fired the ones that proved to be working against him. He contrasted that to Governor DeSantis who has actually fired the “bad ones” – SOEs Susan Bucher and Brenda Snipes, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, and a couple of rogue prosecutors. He touted the Governor’s conservative record – a CPAC 93 when in Congress, and how the 6 week abortion ban puts him to the right of Trump. As far as the polls are concerned, Joe pointed out that we don’t have national primaries and the results in Iowa and New Hampshire (which he thinks DeSantis can win) will change the dynamics of the race.

The attendees were asked to complete a straw poll ballot after hearing the speakers, and they were collected and tallied during the Q&A session which followed.

The results:

For President
Donald Trump	53%
Ron DeSantis	37%
Nikki Haley	5%
Vivek Ramaswamy	2%
Chris Christie	2%
Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Others	0%
For Vice President
Nikki Haley	24%
Kristi Noem	13%
Vivek Ramaswamy	13%
Tim Scott	11%
Kari Lake	11%
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.	8%
Kim Reynolds	5%
Matt Gaetz, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump	1 vote each

There was also one vote for the ticket of Ann Coulter and Megyn Kelly.

Also at the meeting was candidate Deb Adiemy, running for Congressional District 22.

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