Both men were born in 1978 and were raised largely by single mothers in low-income homes, Donalds in Brooklyn and Wilcoxson in rural Immokalee, one of Florida\u2019s poorest towns. In a recent Facebook post, Wilcoxson wrote that he would lay down his life for Donalds, comparing their partnership to Starsky and Hutch<\/em>, and vowed never to let Donalds \u201cfail or fall.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s a yankee and I\u2019m a true southerner,\u201d Wilcoxson told the Florida Trident<\/em>. \u201cI really believe in \u2018give me liberty or give me death.\u2019 I do whatever needs to be done, but I\u2019m a senior advisor. We talk about everything. I care more about him winning than anything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite Donalds\u2019 explosive rise to political prominence, both he and Wilcoxson have been the subject of controversy among liberal and conservative circles alike in their home district in Southwest Florida, a MAGA stronghold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the fall, Donalds and Wilcoxson were recorded in two heated situations involving Collier County School Board Member Kelly Lichter, who has filed a federal lawsuit against Donalds\u2019 wife, Erica, in a dispute over control of a local charter school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In one of the videos, Donalds and Wilcoxson surround Lichter, a fellow Republican, in a supermarket and Donalds can be seen shouting after her, \u201cStop the lawsuits, Kelly!\u201d In the other, police are seen restraining Wilcoxson, who says he stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 300 pounds, after he allegedly lunged at Lichter\u2019s husband, Nick, during a local Republican Executive Committee (REC) meeting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson said he was playing the role of peacemaker in the restaurant and was only responding to the aggression of Lichter, who chairs the REC, and two other men at the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cindy Banyai, Donald\u2019s Democratic opponent in the last two congressional races, said Wilcoxson similarly \u201ccornered\u201d her on the campaign trail in the past and \u201cshouted\u201d at her, prompting Donalds to pull him back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLarry is the intimidator, that\u2019s his role,\u201d said Banyai. \u201cI call him Byron\u2019s id. He does all the stuff that Byron wishes he could do, but can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Collier Republican Committeeman Rob Tolp says the behavior, along with other internecine political conflicts, has caused Donalds to become persona non grata<\/em> at his home REC to which he has belonged for years. He said there are specific concerns about Wilcoxson\u2019s temperament and arrest history, which has never been fully explored by local or national media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe resorts to threats of violence almost instantaneously,\u201d said Tolp of Wilcoxson. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like it\u2019s his first go-to move. That\u2019s a bad sign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Court and police records reviewed by the Trident <\/em>show that Wilcoxson has been charged with armed robbery, aggravated battery, misdemeanor battery, and grand theft auto in Collier County over the years, beginning with the armed robbery arrest when he was 14-years-old growing up in Immokalee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While attending college in Tallahassee, where he earned a criminology degree from Florida State University, Wilcoxson frequently got first-hand experience in the justice system as well. From 1997 through 2000, he was charged with multiple crimes, including a forgery and stolen credit card case for which he took a plea deal and was sentenced to probation; a firearm charge on college grounds for which he was never formally charged (he said the charge was false); a petit theft arrest that he won at trial, and a charge of criminal mischief that was dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The judge withheld adjudication in the forgery and credit card case, meaning that the only felony Wilcoxson is known to have been convicted of was the grand theft auto charge in 2015. He was served six months in jail, but the conviction was vacated in 2022, which means he has no standing convictions on his record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In March of last year, his former fiance, Melissa Kamin, filed an injunction for protection against Wilcoxson alleging that she was \u201cpicked up, thrown on the kitchen counter, and held against [her] will\u201d in her Marco Island home where she lived with Wilcoxson. Kamin further alleged that Wilcoxson had somehow found her across the state in Lauderhill, where he \u201cbroke into my car and scattered all my personal property on the ground,\u201d according to her petition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson said Kamin\u2019s allegations were false and denied he\u2019d ever been violent with her at all. Court records show that after she obtained a temporary restraining order, Kamin voluntarily dismissed the injunction in May. Efforts to reach her were not successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a child molestation case from 2006 that remains the most disturbing of the criminal charges filed against Wilcoxson. Police alleged Wilcoxson molested a 13-year-old student when he was working as a substitute teacher at a middle school in Indianapolis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially held on $100,000 bond, Wilcoxson said the case \u201cmentally and physically hurt\u201d him so much that he considered taking a gun to the police department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was going to make them kill me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The charges were ultimately dropped for unknown reasons. Wilcoxson denied he molested any children and claimed police set him up in part because he was related to Edgerrin James, the Hall of Fame NFL running back who was a star for the Indianapolis Colts at the time. And he said he was the victim of racist cops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe f\u2014ers made me take four lie detector tests,\u201d Wilcoxson said. \u201cThe officer said, \u2018N\u2014\u2013, I want to send your ass to prison for the rest of your life.\u2019 Report that, because that bothers me a lot \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo you think I would have actually gotten into the game of politics if I was guilty of any crimes, let alone that kind of disgusting and horrendous act or behavior?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A look at the public record shows there are many questions still unanswered about the case. The Indianapolis Star<\/em>, citing prosecutors, reported at the time that Wilcoxson had been fired from the school for exposing himself to a female custodian and federal court records show there was more than one accuser. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson himself said there were multiple alleged victims. When asked if they were all lying, he didn\u2019t directly answer the question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m not gonna open up that can of worms,\u201d said Wilcoxson. \u201cThe law has spoken. It took me to a dark place. In my America, in your America, only a Black man will be guilty and will always be guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said he would quickly resign his position with Donalds should his past run-ins with the law cause troubles for the Congressman, who did not respond to requests by phone and email from the Trident <\/em>for an interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore I would let anything happen to Byron,\u201d said Wilcoxson, \u201cI would step down from Byron.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The girl is known only as \u201cT.T.\u201d in federal court records. She was a student in Wilcoxson\u2019s class at Henry W. Longfellow Middle School in Indianapolis, where she attended sixth and seventh grade. In June 2005, her mother, Valerie Davis, learned from T.T. that Wilcoxson had molested her, according to a federal lawsuit filed the following year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Davis reported the alleged abuse to the school system, which, along with police, conducted a \u201csuperficial and flawed\u201d investigation, according to the complaint, which was filed by Indianapolis attorney Robert Feagley against the City of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Public Schools, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and Wilcoxson on behalf of Davis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis investigation incorrectly and falsely determined that Wilcoxson was the cousin of an Indianapolis professional football player and that T.T. and Davis were simply \u2018out to get Wilcoxson,\u2019\u201d Feagley wrote in the complaint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The suit alleged that while T.T. was treated in a \u201chostile manner\u201d by authorities and threatened with arrest for filing a false report, Wilcoxson was cleared and allowed to remain employed as a substitute teacher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That employment ended in February 2006 after Wilcoxson was accused of exposing himself to a female custodian at the school. Five months after that, on July 20, Wilcoxson was charged with three counts of sexual molestation of an unnamed 13-year-old student at Henry Longfellow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWilcoxson gave the girl a nude photograph of himself, which Marion County prosecutors said she showed to several classmates,\u201d the Star reported. \u201cProsecutors said three other students told authorities they saw the picture. The girl told police she had a crush on Wilcoxson. The assaults occurred in Wilcoxson\u2019s car while it was parked in a lot [near the school], prosecutors said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case worked its way through the courts for a year before the charges were dismissed. The reason for the dismissal isn\u2019t clear, but the court docket shows the judge granted a motion to exclude a witness\u2019s testimony the day before the case was shut down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson provided no answers as to why the charges were dismissed, but said he was videotaping his sexual encounters with women at the time and that police seized those tapes and found no incriminating evidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was having a menage a trois with three women at once and I had the video footage,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI said [to police], \u2018Did you see any little girls in there? I\u2019m a real life pimp. I\u2019m a lady\u2019s man.\u2019 They went through all my sexual tapes, all of them. They looked on my computer. I said, \u2018Did you see me looking at porn with kids?\u2019 I don\u2019t do that. That\u2019s what white men do. As a criminologist, look at the statistics. With Black men, it\u2019s homicide, it\u2019s robbery \u2026 with white men, it\u2019s bombs, it\u2019s serial killers, it\u2019s child molestation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson said he might have hurt his own cause when he lashed out at Indianapolis police officers, particularly a certain detective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was young and I said a lot of nasty stuff,\u201d said Wilcoxson, who was a month shy of his 28th birthday when he was charged in the case. \u201cMy lawyer said, \u2018You wouldn\u2019t have been arrested if you wouldn\u2019t have said what you said.\u2019 \u2026 I said [to the detective], \u2018I\u2019m gonna f\u2013- your wife, maybe your daughter too.\u2019 I\u2019m older now. That was my stupidity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n As for the allegation that he had exposed himself at the school, Wilcoxson said the custodian alleged it occurred when he was in the men\u2019s bathroom and she had entered to clean it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShow me the camera where she even walked in on me,\u201d he said. \u201cThey said the camera wasn\u2019t working.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Federal court records show that the case filed by T.T. and her mother was settled out of court on June 22, 2009. The terms have not been disclosed, but Wilcoxson said he didn\u2019t even remember the civil case, which was targeted primarily at the school system and police department, and that he\u2019d returned home to Immokalee by that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Less than a year after the case settled, Wilcoxson pulled off what seemed to be a magic trick: He was running as a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives and was already a favorite of the conservative Tea Party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI pretty much took them by storm,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When Wilcoxson took the stage at a Naples Tea Party rally on June 5, 2010, he made sure the older and almost all white audience knew that he had more than just a criminology degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy most proud degree is my Masters of Divinity,\u201d he said of the degree he earned from tiny Martin University in Indianapolis. \u201cBecause I am a child of God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Running with no party affiliation, Wilcoxson then served up some anti-immigrant rhetoric, complaining of murders on the border and the beheading of a Mexican prison warden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you can do [these crimes], I definitely don\u2019t want you around me or my fellow American citizens,\u201d he told the crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though he lost that race as well as a 2012 run for Hendry County Clerk of Court, his campaign wasn\u2019t impacted by the controversy in Indianapolis. On one occasion it was mentioned in a Naples Daily News<\/em> column that painted Wilcoxson as a victim of racism in the case. From the newspaper in July 2010: \u201c[H]e says he was targeted by police who roughed him up and used racial epithets during an investigation of a sexual molestation case to which he had no connection. The experience left him sensitive to instances of racism. The tea party simply isn\u2019t a racist group, he said.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson\u2019s local arrests also went largely unexamined. In the juvenile robbery case in Immokalee, sheriff\u2019s deputies alleged a 14-year-old Wilcoxson, whose nickname is Scooby, shoved and tried to strike one of the victims and that his .22-caliber revolver discharged \u201cduring the scuffle,\u201d according to the arrest report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After the legal troubles in Tallahassee, Wilcoxson returned home to Immokalee, where he was arrested in 2003 on charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The arrest report alleged Wilcoxson, then 25, hit someone with a stick in a fight on the street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Witnesses told police that the person Wilcoxson was with pulled a gun during the fight, which predicated the aggravated assault charge. Prosecutors never formally filed any charges in the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere was some gangsters and again, I\u2019m not afraid of you all gangsters \u2013 I fought back,\u201d said Wilcoxsin. \u201cI did that. I fought back, but there were no charges filed, and [the people he fought] apologized to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In late 2013, after his electoral defeats, Wilcoxson got a job at Hertz Rental Cars at the Naples Airport and, according to a police report, was fired after being accused of driving a vehicle for two months without permission. After his termination, the company suspected Wilcoxson had taken another vehicle, a Chevrolet Impala, and reported it to the Collier County Sheriff\u2019s Office. When deputies found the Impala in Wilcoxson\u2019s driveway, they charged him with grand theft auto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While he awaited trial in that case, Collier deputies charged Wilcoxson with misdemeanor battery in Immokalee after he allegedly attacked a car detailer named Johnny Lee Hughes. According to the arrest report, Hughes was washing a car when Wilcoxson parked his own car next to it, obstructing his work. Hughes told deputies the two men were in a verbal argument and that Wilcoxson returned later and approached him in an \u201caggressive manner with his shirt off.\u201d Hughes said he \u201cretreated\u201d but Wilcoxson thought he was going to spray him with the hose and attacked him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLarry struck Johnny on top of his left eye causing Johnny to fall back [and hit] his head against a trailer containing water for Johnny\u2019s car detailing business,\u201d Deputy Michael Portnov wrote in his report. \u201cLarry also struck Johnny in the lips.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A witness confirmed Hughes\u2019 account, but Portnov, who took photos of Hughes\u2019 injuries, reported that Wilcoxson claimed he had returned to \u201cmake amends\u201d with Hughes and alleged Hughes was the initial aggressor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe hit me with the iron end of the hose,\u201d Wilkinson told the Trident<\/em>, adding that surveillance video supported his story. \u201cThen I went to beating on him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Portnov determined that Wilcoxson \u201cmaliciously and intentionally struck Johnny against his will\u201d and charged him with misdemeanor battery. He took the case to trial and a jury found him not guilty on July 27, 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A year later, during the grand theft auto trial, Wilcoxson argued that he had a rental agreement with Hertz to possess the car, but a jury convicted him and he was sentenced to six months in jail. The conviction was vacated in January 2022 after Hertz came under fire for faulty business practices that caused numerous customers across the country to wrongfully face car theft charges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So why did Wilcoxson take possession of the car? <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause I smoke crack and I smoke marijuana and I also do heroin and I was a druggie,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While he said the words in dead seriousness, it was clear he was being sarcastic about preconceived notions about him as a Black man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything is a joke to me \u2013 life is a joke,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m always going to be looked at as a villain. People will say, \u2018Oh that\u2019s just a Black thug.\u2019 I also tell them to put adjectives in front of it, smart, intelligent, handsome, whatever you want to put in front of it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilcoxson acknowledged that his personal thoughts on racism might seem to contradict Donalds\u2019 stance against teaching about America\u2019s racial history in public classrooms that might make some students uncomfortable. He says that while he acknowledges racism exists, he judges everyone on an individual basis and supports law enforcement (and has police officers in his family). <\/p>\n\n\n\n He described his life in Immokalee as a struggle both due to race and poverty, with his mother, who died in 2004, serving as the supportive heart and backbone of the family, while his father, Harry Wilcoxson, was in and out of prison,. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy father was a kingpin, living a double life, my father was that guy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m 44, about to be 45, and my father spent 30 years behind a fence.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Harry Wilcoxson\u2019s rap sheet includes convictions for assault with intent to commit second-degree murder as well as cocaine trafficking convictions in both Florida and Georgia. He was most recently convicted on 2014 charges of cocaine distribution and possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to 20 years in prison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite losing an appeal, Harry Wilcoxson was released at the age of 80 from federal prison in November 2020 after serving just a fraction of his sentence. Larry Wilcoxson said his father was pardoned by former President Donald Trump, but Harry Wilcoxson\u2019s name is not on pardon lists released by the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was Larry\u2019s mother, Dorothy Dove, who not only paved the way for his academic success, he said, but also instilled in him a strong Republican mindset (though he also admitted she voted for Bill Clinton and county records show Wilcoxson was once a registered Democrat). As an example of his mother\u2019s conservatism he said she didn\u2019t approve of abortion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was with a girl who had an abortion and she was livid about it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was his decision to join Tea Party politics that led to his union with Byron Donalds \u2013 and the rise to the upper rung of Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though he never won elected office, Wilcoxson said he developed political cachet as at one time essentially the lone Black voice in the Naples Tea Party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe party is only like 3 percent Black and it gave me the opportunity to speak for Immokalee and for what they consider a poor town, an uneducated town,\u201d Wilcoxson said. \u201cIt allowed them to see somebody like me, who was smart, dressed extremely well, and I have the same values that they have. I took them pretty much by storm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was during his early political barnstorming that another budding Black politician, Byron Donalds, arrived to court the same crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe happened to be speaking at the same engagement,\u201d Wilcoxson recalled. \u201cI spoke first and then he spoke and I was like, \u2018Who\u2019s this young negro trying to steal my thunder?\u2019 I knew I was the only Black person out there. I was like, \u2018What\u2019s he doing?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said later he and Donalds recognized each other from FSU, which they attended at the same time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMe and Byron had crossed paths back at Florida State,\u201d said Wilcoxson. \u201cWe were running in different crowds. He had gained weight, that married weight. He said, \u201cDidn\u2019t I see you in Tallahassee?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, I used to see you!\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the two men share much in common, Donalds had a greater gift for oratory and won a seat in the Florida House in 2016 before graduating to Congress in 2020 and taking Wilcoxson, his body man, along with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe don\u2019t give a dern about whether he wins or loses,\u201d Wilcoxson said of Donalds. \u201cHe grew up differently than other statesmen; he grew up on these streets.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s there where Wilcoxson said he still feels most at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou can find me in the hood \u2013 that\u2019s my people, that\u2019s where I come from,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything else is a facade.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n About the Author:<\/strong> Bob Norman is an award-winning investigative reporter who serves as Editor-in-Chief of the <\/em>Florida Trident and journalism program director for the Florida Center for Government Accountability. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By\u00a0Bob Norman When U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds is mentioned in the media, his name is routinely preceded by the same two words: \u201crising star.\u201d Donalds has completed just one two-year… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyM1wvMDFcLzIzMDEwNDE0MTgyMi1ieXJvbi1kb25hbGRzLWhvdXNlLTAxMDQyMy5qcGc_Zml0PTQ4MCUyQzI3MCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IkNvbnRyb3ZlcnN5IHN1cnJvdW5kcyBHT1Agc3RhciBSZXAuIEJ5cm9uIERvbmFsZHMgb3ZlciBoZWF0ZWQgY29uZnJvbnRhdGlvbnMgYW5kIHRvcCBhZHZpc29yXHUyMDE5cyBkaXN0dXJiaW5nIGFycmVzdCBoaXN0b3J5IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.Oe0ktI4H5cRNFLJHHFaPLumTuhScctKynPdR2lNShjEMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjNcLzAxXC8yMzAxMDQxNDE4MjItYnlyb24tZG9uYWxkcy1ob3VzZS0wMTA0MjMuanBnIiwidHh0IjoiQ29udHJvdmVyc3kgc3Vycm91bmRzIEdPUCBzdGFyIFJlcC4gQnlyb24gRG9uYWxkcyBvdmVyIGhlYXRlZCBjb25mcm9udGF0aW9ucyBhbmQgdG9wIGFkdmlzb3JcdTIwMTlzIGRpc3R1cmJpbmcgYXJyZXN0IGhpc3RvcnkiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.bK46nbppRWqrXLiInZhZyuJGxwF8O8-lSnFRq6CZRSIMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[15322,15846,15291,15843,15845,15844,15847,15848],"class_list":["post-76076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-byron-donalds","tag-criminal-history","tag-florida-politics","tag-larry-wilcoxson","tag-political-controversy","tag-republican-party","tag-southwest-florida","tag-tea-party"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76077,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76076\/revisions\/76077"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/flcga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screenshot-2023-04-25-11.46.16-PM-300x160.png?resize=300%2C160&ssl=1\")
\u201cI\u2019m a Lady\u2019s Man\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/flcga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screenshot-2023-04-26-7.06.30-AM-300x291.png?resize=300%2C291&ssl=1\")
\u201cI Fought Back\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/flcga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screenshot-2023-04-19-1.15.59-PM-300x234.png?resize=300%2C234&ssl=1\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/flcga.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Screenshot-2023-04-26-4.42.20-PM-300x210.png?resize=300%2C210&ssl=1\")
\u201cEverything Else Is A Facade\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n