It’s a done deal. The Hialeah City Council will consider a street naming Tuesday, but it’s all but on the map. That’s because the street that is to be named is to be named for former president Donald Trump, who is defending himself against 91 criminal charges spread across four states and federal indictments.

He is currently standing civil trial in New York in a $250 million fraud lawsuit filed by the attorney general.

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Parade of who’s who in the Florida GOP poured praise on ex POTUS

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I had mixed feelings watching Wednesday as the Donald Trump White House walked back his ludicrous, false and self-serving claim that Congresswoman Frederica Wilson had lied about a conversation between the president and the widow of a fallen soldier from Miami Gardens who he said “must have known what he signed up for.”

It was a little bit exciting, I must admit. And vindicating. And hopeful. Because Trump, or his administration, was finally forced to go from doubling down on twitter and beating his chest with “I have proof” that she lied to “I was misunderstood” and/or “taken out of context” after the national media picked up the story and the soldier’s widow and mother confirmed the congresswoman’s recounting.

But it was also a little bit nauseating. And infuriating. And sad. Because many if not most of his outraged supporters kept insisting on Facebook and Twitter that Wilson was the one who lied, attacking her with memes ridiculing her cool signature hats and calling her crooked. And none of them have expressed the same, or any actually, outrage at the multiple times Trump said she lied and had the “proof” to boot.

“Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!” That was his tweet Wednesday morning.

He later reiterated his lie and dared her to repeat it: “I didn’t say what that congresswoman said. Didn’t sy it all.  And she knows it,” Trump told a reporter later that day. “I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who was — sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren’t too surprised to hear that.”

This sad episode for the poor, emotionally exhausted family of Sgt. La David Johnson is, however, the perfect example of what Ladra finds the scariest thing about the Trump presidency: His die-hard fan base and their blind, knee-jerk, defend-him-at-all-costs campaigns that use smear tactics to discredit anybody that has the nerve to say anything except how great he is.

Read related story: Donald Trump announces — ‘stupid losers, make me POTUS’

Remember how San Juan Mayor Yulin Cruz Soto nearly cried on live television after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico last month, literally begging Trump to step up and “save us from dying.” It sort of reminded Ladra of Kate Hale when the former Miami-Dade Emergency Operations Management director also criticized the federal response after Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in her famous “where the hell is the cavalry” speech. Nobody villified Hale. Nobody said she was politically motivated. Hale was a hero as far as anybody was concerned.

But not Cruz Soto. Despite the fact that she was wading in waist high water, personally looking for survivors, while Trump played golf and insulted her on the internet, she was demonized.  Immediately — as people on the island still struggled a week after Maria to get clean water to drink — she was attacked as a leftist Democrat who was only critical of Trump to help her party and build her profile so she could run for governor. After all, how could things really be so bad in Puerto Rico if she had the time and resources to get a custom t-shirt printed with “we are dying” and another one with the word “nasty” after Trump’s critical Cruz Soto tweetstorm? Huh? Huh? They lambasted her for vacationing in Cuba in 2015, even though Trump toyed with doing business there, and called her a socialist because she has supported labor unions, which are more American than hot dogs.

To top it all off, they accused her of hoarding relief supplies in her home instead of distributing them to her desperate constituents, which is as fake news as it can get. Today, a month after Maria landed on the island, there are people still posting that Yulin Cruz Soto has been or is about to be “impeached” by the city council for “stealing hurricane supplies.”

Why don’t they just call her a whore and get it over with? Oh, I know. Because they have moved on.

The target del dia is Wilson, who was in the limousine when Myeshia Johnson, the soldier’s widow, took the call from Trump and put him on speakerphone. “She was crying the whole time, and when she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’ That’s the hurting part,” Wilson was quoted as saying.

“He was almost like joking. He said… something to the effect that ‘he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but I guess it hurts anyway.’ You know, just matter-of-factly, that this is what happens. Anyone who is signing up for military duty is signing up to die,” Wilson said, communicating what the whole family, who she has known for years, was feeling.

“That’s the way we interpreted it. It was horrible. It was insensitive. It was absolutely crazy, unnecessary. I was livid,” Wilson said.

As most of us were when we heard about it. Except the Trumpistas who cannot ever see anything the president does as bad or wrong. Like he said during the campaign, he could “shoot someone and not lose any voters.” By gosh, I think he was right.

After all, it was only a few days ago that Trump suggested he is doing a better job of honoring war dead by saying he is the only president who had called the families of all the fallen soldiers and said or implied that previous presidents, specifically Barack Obama, had not done that. He went so far as to invoke the dead son of his chief of staff, John Kelly, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010. Well, several families have already come forward to say that they did, indeed, get calls from Obama. And at least four families who have lost loved ones in the military since Trump was elected have said he did not call them. Trump has not apologized for or acknowledged these lies — told hastily and under pressure when he was asked why was waiting so long to call the families of Sgt. Johnson and three other fallen soldiers after they were ambushed in Niger Oct. 4 by militants believed to be linked to ISIS. That’s bad but it’s come to be expected of the narcissist manchild devoid of any empathy.

Karen Meredith, who lost her son in Iraq, bristled at his remarks and said they were “disgraceful” and “unbecoming.” In a statement, the Gold Star and Military Families coordinator for VoteVets said, “This is not about you, it is about them. It is about all of us who lost our loved ones in war. For once in your life, please stop making everything about you. For once in your life, at least pretend to know what empathy is. For once in your life, at least try to care about other people and their feelings.”

You kind of expect Trump supporters to attack her, too, and dig up something awful she did or said in college, don’t you?

By late afternoon Wednesday, the White House walked back its insistence that Wilson had lied and said the president was simply misunderstood — all the while still insisting that the congresswoman took advantage of a sacred moment for political purposes. “This is a president that loves our country very much,” his spokeswoman said, changing the narrative, “who has the greatest level of respect for men and women in uniform, and wanted to call and offer condolences to the families. To try to create something from that, which the congresswoman is doing, is, frankly, appalling and disgusting.”

That gave license to the Trumpistas to continue their campaign, some questioning why she was there in the first place. “Why was crooked Fredricka there when the president called? She orchestrated the entire scheme. Disgusting,” one woman wrote in TrumpTweet style on her Facebook page.

Well, because she has known this family for years, since he was a member of her 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project mentorship program, which she started at the Miami-Dade County School Board. She is probably the one who got the limo to take them to Miami International Airport to receive Sgt. Johnson’s remains. It probably comforted them to have her there.

Read related story: Donald Trump win is scarier than an unlikely civil war

How is it possible that it is easier for these people to continue to attack the congresswoman than to admit that their beloved president made a mistake or said something wrong? This is not so unique or even terrible — if he admits it. What he said could, indeed, have been a clumsy attempt to give Johnson’s death some meaning, to provide some comfort to the family about Johnson being where he wanted to be. How many of us have not said the wrong thing at a funeral or memorial service? I know I have. I once told the boyfriend of a dear friend who took her own life that maybe I could have done something if I had reached out. Of course, immediately it ocurred to me that it may have sounded like I was saying I could have done more than he and I clumsily apologized in tears. He embraced me and said he understood. Nobody was hurt. It’s hard to come up with the right words in these circumstances. People understand that.

Trump could have done that. He could have apologized as soon as it was brought to his attention that it was taken the wrong way. He could have said, “You know, what I said sounded terrible. I’m sorry. It didn’t sound that way in my head but I can understand why you might have been hurt. Please forgive me. It’s difficult to find the right words.” Man, he would have been a hero. Even I would have had to stand up and take notice.

Instead he lies and lies to defend himself. And his legion of supporters lie even more so they can continue to laud him. They won’t call him out on anything.

Not even on the other Gold Star widow in Indiana who told reporters Wednesday that she was still waiting for Trump’s call after her husband was killed in Afghanistan — over the summer. Whitney Hunter stayed by the phone for days after military officers told her to wait for the president’s call. But it never came.

I’m waiting for Trumpistas to call Hunter a liar and post memes insulting her tomorrow.

It was bound to happen. In fact, one might wonder what took Annette Taddeo so long to bring up Ana Rivas Logan‘s Republican stripes.

It happened this week, when Democrat voters received a mailer where Rivas Logan is pictured between President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who she only served in Tallahassee with for a year. “A history of voting Republican,” it says on one side. And that’s true. Because Rivas Logan only became a Democrat after she was beaten out of office by another candidate in the SD40 race, former State Rep. Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz (who happens to be running in the GOP primary).

The year was 2012 when Rivas Logan and Diaz were thrown into the same district via redistricting. Neither one would move out. The party backed Diaz, who went on a negative attack questioning her Cuban roots and calling her an unfit mother. One piece linked Rivas Logan, a former Miami-Dade School Board member to then Superintendent Rudy Crew, who was unpopular and hated by Cubans, in particular, for allowing communist books in the curriculum. Rivas Logan switched parties shortly after, citing the anti-immigrant sentiment in the GOP but everybody knows she felt abandoned by the party, even stabbed in the back.

Read related story: Outing non-Cubans in Miami politics

In this primary, it’s all about the fact that she was even in that contest.

“Once Republican, always Republican,” the mailer says. Well, wait a minute. Wouldn’t that also apply to former Gov. Charlie Crist, who ran as a Democrat with Taddeo as his running mate?

The mailer points out that Rivas Logan is still getting “Republican money” because 90% of her money is from the Lewin family of Davie, who own 411-Pain and other healthcare interests and are registered red. Of course, 90% equals $10,000 of the $12,925 she’s collected (and it’s actually more if you consider that she loaned herself $2,500), so big deal?

The piece is paid for by Fight Back Florida, Taddeo’s PAC, which is chaired by Raul Martinez Jr., who used to be former Congressman Joe Garcia‘s chief of staff and who Taddeo ran against in the congressional primary last year. The PAC has reported raising $37,500 since May, including a $10,000 contribution last month from Diario Las Americas Multimedia.

But the piece seems late, landing more than two weeks after absentee ballots went out, and short, coming on the heels of not one but at least three anti Taddeo pieces put out by Floridians for Accountability, an election communications organization that has been inactive since 2008 and didn’t report any activity last month. One of the pieces also tries to compare Taddeo to Trump repeating false allegations from 2014 that she was under IRS investigation for not paying her employees. That simply isn’t true and the complaint that was filed was done so for political purposes. Two other hit pieces targeted where Taddeo invests her money — which includes Big Oil, Big Tobacco and Big Pharma, none of which are Dem darlings.

Read related story: Dade’s newest Dem, Ana Rivas Logan, hails First Lady

Ladra still thinks Democrats will have to hold their nose and vote for Rivas Logan if they want to get that seat back. They should have never lost it to former Sen. Frank Artiles, who was forced to resign in April after he was caught making racist remarks to black legislators in public. But their best chance to get it back is Rivas Logan, who came in second in the primary to former Sen. Dwight Bullard without spending very much or campaigning really. Because the very Republican background that is a liability for Rivas Logan in this primary is what is going to make her a better candidate for the general against Diaz, for a rematch, or former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who would enter the general limping from the full frontal attack campaign in his primary that has included allegations of violent outburstss and improriety with women. 

Or maybe all this drama in both primaries gives the NPA candidate, Christian “He-Man” Schlearth, an advantage.

Normally, the Miaim-Dade Republican’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner is headlined by a GOP politician. Recent years have seen heavyweights like Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez Cantera, presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio and vice presidential then-nominee Mike Pence last year.

This year, the group will have a poitician’s handler as the keynote speaker. Well, not a handler. The handler: Kellyanne Conway, former campaign manager turned White House whisperer to President Donald Trump. Conway, whose official title is counselor to the president, will be regailing local Republicans with her alternative facts at the June 27 dinner, which is the group’s main annual fundraiser.

And of course her presence is expected to sell tickets. But the “save the date” notices have a disclaimer so that we don’t confuse Conway with a dancing monkey: “Ms. Conway is a special guest for this event.  Her participation in the event is not a solicitation of funds.”

The dinner is still at the DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport and Convention Center, but it’s in a bigger room, said Miami-Dade GOP Chairman Nelson Diaz. The old room maxed out at 450 or 470 people and tickets to the dinners with Rubio and Pence sold out quick. This new room can accomodate more than 2,000 if needed.

Diaz loves Conway, who he says is a model for her courage, but he feels they are not in danger of selling out. Still, you never know. Conway is interesting enough that people might go who aren’t necessarily Republican. Ladra is tempted. Or will she have the same Trump effect that Pence and Congressman Trey Gowdy had last year? The local GOP tried to get The Donald himself, but Gowdy was the original surrogate tapped by the then presidential candidate to be the keynote speaker last year. Pence was a surprise bonus. But some anti-Trump Republicans — notably Congress members Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo — stayed away because of the toxic campaign. Might they stay away from the toxic campaigner?

Ladra says nana nina. Why? The difference between last year and this year is two words: White House.

Which leads us to wonder… how does our county GOP always get the big ticket?

“We always get great speakers, but it’s a lot of work,” Diaz told Ladra, adding that they had been in talks with Conway and her peeps since February or early March. That’s a very fast turnaround for the White House, where it can take up to six months to get a response for such a request.

“We have friends in the White House,” Diaz told Ladra. “We have friends everywhere. That’s part of the secret sauce.”

Speaking of secrets, this won’t be the first time that the Secret Service is also a guest, which can make logistics more difficult. “You can’t do this. You can’t do that,” Diaz said. And, no, he can’t go into details.

No word yet on whether Conway, who we imagine has just a tad less security than Pence, will stay for dinner or dine privately in another room like Pence did with his wife and his small army of bodyguards.

Tickets to the 69th annual Lincoln Day Dinner will be on sale in the nexts day or so online at www.miamidadegop.org.

February is the short month. And it is almost over already. Key word: Almost.

Because first, there are a few more poltical events for the Cortadito Calendar: A town hall without an elected, a film screening, a fundraiser, a party to open a shiny new police station, another moratorium on medical marijuana, more talk about transit and, egads, bromeliads — and, yes, another protest of Donald Trump.

We even have events on Saturday! But Friday is a free day.

As always, keep sending info on your government meetings, campaign events and political powwows to edevalle@gmail.com and keep your Cortadito Calender caliente!

MONDAY — Feb. 20

11 a.m. — Okay. So there is still a protest. The Labor Community Roundtable United Front Against Trump has obtained a permit to peacefully rally against president Donald Trump on President’s Day because “he has attacked every value we embody and does not represent our interests.” The gathering at the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami, 301 Biscayne Blvd., is called the Miami Not My President’s Day Rally and it will protest not just Trump’s anti-immigration order, but but everything under the umbrella of “the un-American policies of the current White House.” They include the Muslim ban, the border wall, the pipeline that threatens to destroy sacred lands, the White House website purged of certain information, the lack of action on climate change. Why not throw the kitchen sink at him, too? His failure to release tax returns? His constant calling of the media “the enemy of the American people”? His cushy relationship with Putin? His terrible cabinet choices? Ladra has a feeling all of that will be fair game. “Donald Trump stands against the progress we have worked hard to enact. He does not represent our interests. He was voted in by a minority of the American public but governs as if there’s no resistance. But there is — and on February 20th, we will honor previous presidents by exercising our constitutional right to assemble and peacefully protest everything Donald Trump stands for,” says the invite on Facebook. “There is a congressional recess on February 20th that aligns with President’s Day. Let’s rally while our federal representatives are back in town and remind them who they represent.”

TUESDAY — Feb. 21

10 a.m. — The North Corridor Transit Coalition will meet to discuss progress on the north-south corridor along 27th Avenue. Expected to attend: Miami-Dade Commissioners Barbara Jordan, Jean Monesteim and Audrey Edmonson as well as Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert and other officials. Transportation and Public Works Director Alice Bravo will likely be there as well. The meeting is at Jordan’s district office, 2780 NW 167th St.

6 p.m. — It looks like pot shops and cell phone towers are not wanted in Miami Lakes. The town is the next local government body to consider a moratorium on issuing permits or approving any plans for medical marijuana dispensaries or treatment centers for 180 days. This is what tops the planning and zoning board’s agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. They are also considering a moratorium on telecommunications towers. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at government center, 6601 Main Street.

7 p.m. — The Kendall Dems and the Democrats of South Dade will have journalist Michael Grunwald, former senior national correspondent at Time magazine, speak at their regular monthly meeting at the Unitarian Universalists Congregation, 7701 SW 76th St. Social time is at 7 p.m., the business meeting starts at 7:30 and the speaker starts at 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY — Feb. 22

9:30 a.m. — The Miami-Dade Commission meets again (for the fourth time in 15 days) and will have mosquitos on the agenda again. A controversial proposal to ban the use of bromeliads in county landscaping was deferred on Feb. 7 after several nursery owners and experts balked at the idea that they are breeding grounds for the Zika-carrying mosquitos. And while it’s gotten less attention, they also may vote to instruct the mayor or his designee to award more than $77 million worth of contracts for various engineering and design services for our state- and federally-mandated water and sewer repairs. These contracts are bunched up, more than one per item, and on the consent agenda so they may not get a lot of discussion (more on that later). Also on the table for Wesdnesday: The creation of a stadium district zoning overlay around the Hard Rock Stadium to be administered by the city of Miami Gardens; bid waivers to increase existing contracts for RicMan and Lanzo Construction work on Shenandoah area water and sewer mains by $5.2 million and $4.3 million, respectively; loaning a developer $17.5 million in housing bond funds for acquisition and development of Hadley Garden Apartments; and a report from Mayor Carlos Gimenez on potential funding for a Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (hint: there ain’t no public money except a $100,000 grant). Oh, and they’re going to spend $155 million in aviation funds. The meeting is at County Hall, 111 NW First Street.

6 p.m. — Miami Dade Young Democrats and Downtown Democrats will jointly present a screening of the documentary film 13th, which argues that slavery is being effectively perpetuated in the U.S. through mass encarceration of African Americans. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion on race and politics in the U.S. criminal justice system. It is at the offices of the New Florida Majority, 8330 Biscayne Blvd. The New Majority will also be meeting at 7 p.m. to discuss plans for the April 29 climate march.

THURSDAY — Feb. 23

6 p.m. — North Beach residents are hosting a fundraiser for Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco‘s run for city mayor. The hosts include Brad Bonessi, Diego Caiola, Richard Hall, Rick Kendle, Mickey Minagorri, Dr. Todd and Corey Narson, Betsy and Rudy Perez, Tom Richarson, Luis and Gloria Salom and Daniel Veitia. Wait, isn’t Betsy Perez the plant that Mayor Philip Levine backed against his colleague, Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez. Awkward! Grieco has already raised $340,000 as of Jan. 31. But he wants more to fight former State Sen. Dan Gelber, who filed paperwork at the end of January and has no contributions to report yet. Grieco’s fete begins at George’s Italian Restaurant, 300 72nd St., at 6 p.m.

6 p.m. — Don’t go to the constituent town hall meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio if you actually expect to see the former POTUS wannabe live in person. He has not confirmed. The Facebook event invite says there will be “numerous panelists” and speakers ready to address concerns. This really looks like a protest of his kowtowing to Donald Trump because it is hosted by Indivisible Miami, a group formed to resist Donal Trump’s policies and agenda. Pero por supuesto that he’s not going to confirm! Want to join others in beating him up verbally? Go to the Unitarian Universalists Congregation, 7701 SW 76th Street, which is also where the Democrats of South Dade Club has had its meetings for years. Not very subtle, guys. The town hall is from 6 to 9 p.m.

SATURDAY — Feb. 25

2 p.m. — The city of Homestead has completed the construction of its new police headquarters, reportedly on time and on bubdget. The 55,000-square-foot facility, at 45 NW 1st Ave., replaces the old police station (photographed left) built in 1912, which was outdated and had serious toxic levels of radon and mold, posing health risks to the officers and visitors. The new station, funded with a bond referendum approved by 74% of the voters in 2014, was designed by Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects and built by Munilla Construction Management. Expected to be part of the formula that revitalizes the downtown, the three-story station opened last week on Wednesday. But the grand opening public party — with music, free refreshments and an opportunity to meet the police force — is from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

5 p.m. — Libertarians will get together and share their grief and outrage and plans for the future at Republican Liberty Caucus of Miami’s spring quartlerly meeting Saturday at Groovy’s Pizza and Grill, 2770 SW 27th Ave. There will be discussion regarding the RLC National & State Convention in May, about the annual membership drive and the upcoming Tallahassee Days (March 13-14), where members will visit with state lawmakers to discuss their policy priorities. The guest speaker was still TBD as of this posting, but the discussion will likely be about changes in Florida law regarding solar panels and home-based energy generation. For more information, call Hector Roos at (305) 300-7237. There is no cost for the meeting, but you have to pay if you order from the menu.