Liam Fineout
What’s better? Being the Governor of the third-most populous state in the nation, or “sipping on rosé and smoking a marijuana joint in Maui?” The answer may be both for John Morgan.
The self-proclaimed lawyer “for the people,” Morgan spoke at the Capital Tiger Bay Club, a non-partisan forum founded in 1971 that focuses on current political issues, at the Civic Center on Wednesday.
Morgan was part of a panel with Erwin Jackson, Dana Brooks, Dave Barret, and Tim Center. But as expected, it was the often bombastic Morgan who stole the show, with his trademark lack of a verbal filter. He came out guns a-blazing, taking stabs at Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, Gov. Ron DeSantis, former 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum, the MAGA movement, and the Bernie Sanders–AOC duo, all with a big smile on his face as the crowd cheered with him.
“I’ve been getting all these texts and these videos of our Governor invoking my name. Just everywhere. (DeSantis) said that the Florida House is taking orders from me, and that the Senate is taking orders from me … my question is this to those people at the House and in the Senate: When the f**k are they gonna start doing what I tell them to do?“ Morgan mocked.
Morgan didn’t shy away from questions about him running for Governor, but he said he wants to create a third party in Florida in response to the current state of the Democratic Party in Florida post-Gillum 2018 and following a massive influx of registered Republicans over the past 5 years.
“I don’t think there’s a future for just running as an independent. I really don’t. I think that there has to be a team for all of us stuck in the middle. They reminded me of that song, ‘clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,’ stuck in the middle. That’s where a lot of us are,” Morgan said.
Morgan didn’t single out any candidates — Byron Donalds is already running on the GOP side, with Casey DeSantis mulling a run, while former Republican David Jolly is considering a run on the Democratic ticket and former Democrat-turned NPA Jason Pizzo plans to run as an independent — but he said he’d make a decision about whether he’d throw his name in the hat once the field comes into better view, likening his eventual choice to the Kentucky Derby.
“That’s what I’m going to do, I’ll wait till (the) horses are coming down the back stretch, and I will see who’s there, and I will see some that I can’t tolerate, and I’m going to see some that I could. And I’m going to make my decision there. But in the meantime, I’m gonna still try to be doing good things for good people,” Morgan said.
Morgan added he is still looking for a name for the political party he wants to create and will hold a public competition to come up with one.
