Byron Donalds: The Kamala Harris of MAGA
Florida Deserves Better Than Byron Donalds
There is something particularly grating about a man who confuses Twitter engagement for governance, who believes that standing in a room where decisions are made is the same as making them. Byron Donalds, in a feat of sheer audacity, now wants to be governor of Florida—a state he has spent his career ignoring, save for when he finds it politically convenient to pretend otherwise.
His campaign, already blessed by the divine hand of a Trump pre-endorsement, is a textbook case of the empty suits that have increasingly plagued the conservative movement. Donalds has done nothing for Florida beyond appearing on Fox News—many, many times—to remind viewers that he, in fact, exists. Yet, like a reality show contestant who assumes his fifteen minutes are permanent, he now imagines himself fit to govern.
This is the tragicomedy of Byron Donalds—a man whose resume consists of unearned praise, undeserved deference, and an inexplicable belief in his own significance.
The Phantom Conservative
The essence of the MAGA movement—at least before it was overrun by frauds—was its rejection of the GOP’s dead weight. It was meant to be a break from the party of do-nothing politicians, the kinds of Republicans who campaigned on conservative principles only to legislate like milquetoast centrists. Byron Donalds, despite his perpetual presence in Trump’s orbit, is precisely the kind of politician MAGA was supposed to purge.
Consider, if you will, the issues that define Florida’s present reality. The insurance market is in crisis, homeownership is becoming unattainable for working families, and illegal immigration remains a major concern. All of these are what Ron DeSantis has been and will spend the next two years he has left working on. These are also matters that one might think a serious gubernatorial contender would have weighed in on by now, maybe even proposed solutions. Donalds, however, has largely been absent. That is, unless one counts his tireless efforts to elevate his own profile on cable news and conservative podcasts.
He has to date spent more time discussing Trump’s legal troubles than Florida’s housing crisis. More time railing about “wokeness” in some vague national sense than addressing the real battles taking place in his own backyard. He is not a leader. He is a spectator.
The Kamala Harris of MAGA
Of course, there was one Florida issue that managed to capture Donalds' attention: the revision of the state’s education curriculum, a revision written by black scholars and actually aligned with national AP standards. It contained a passage—one that was directly reflective of Booker T. Washington’s own teachings—on the resilience and adaptability of black slaves, how they used certain skills to build independent lives after emancipation.
For any serious person, this would’ve been an opportunity to push back against the left’s dishonest hysteria. Instead, Donalds saw an opening for himself and took the low road, aligning with Kamala Harris in attacking Ron DeSantis from the left. In doing so, he became the useful idiot of the Democratic Party’s race-baiting machine in Florida, regurgitating their propaganda to score a few points for himself and denigrating the scholars who had written the curriculum.
That Donalds would parrot the progressive lie that Florida was teaching slavery as a “good thing” is not just a misstep; it is a revelation of his true nature. Here is a man who claims to be a conservative yet willingly aids and abets the very forces that seek to destroy the movement. He didn’t stand against the woke mob; he attempted to become its Republican spokesman.
He pounced on this moment not as an opportunity to defend academic integrity or conservative governance but as a way to advance his own ambitions. He accused his own state under conservative governance of essentially endorsing slavery. The irony here is twofold: First, that Donalds, who had been largely uninvolved in any serious education policy discussions before this moment, suddenly saw fit to speak up; and second, that in doing so, he aligned himself with Kamala Harris, the very personification of opportunistic race-baiting.
This is not the behavior of a conservative. It’s not even the behavior of a competent grifter. It’s the mark of a man who has no ideological compass, no grounding in principle, and no instinct beyond self-promotion.
Who Benefits from Byron Donalds?
What, precisely, does Donalds bring to the table? He has no serious economic vision for Florida. He has never proposed meaningful reforms in Congress. His tenure has been marked not by leadership but by presence—he exists, and therefore, we are meant to be impressed.
But someone benefits from a Byron Donalds nomination. It certainly isn’t Florida Republicans. It’s the same class of GOP consultants and self-serving careerists who thrive in a party that rewards fealty over competence. The people who turn every election into a referendum on Trump’s personality rather than actual policy. The same grifters who elevated Kari Lake, Mehmet Oz, and Herschel Walker under the belief that brand is more important than governance.
Donalds is the perfect vessel for this kind of politics. He checks a demographic box. He mimics Trump’s cadence. He tweets the right slogans. And if that’s all that matters, then why even bother running elections at all? Why not just have Trump pick candidates by lottery?
MAGA has already suffered through its fair share of hollow figures—men and women who coast on the movement’s energy without offering anything in return. Donald Trump manages to win two out of three times, but at the state level, the MAGA movement is often hurt by these empty suits, even with Trump’s endorsement. Byron Donalds is the latest in this long and exhausting parade, a political empty vessel who imagines that Trump’s endorsement alone will be enough to carry him across the finish line.
But Florida isn’t a participation trophy state. It doesn’t reward careerists who seek office simply because they think they are owed it. And if Republicans are serious about governance—if they are truly invested in the movement they claim to champion—then they will recognize Byron Donalds for what he is: a man who has built a career on nothing and now wants to be rewarded for it.
The Kari Lake of Herschel Walkers
If the Republican Party’s future is to be dictated by candidates like Byron Donalds, then it may as well hand the keys to the Democrats now and be done with it. He is, in every way, the worst elements of the populist right combined into one gloriously incompetent package—the performative bluster of Kari Lake with the intellectual depth of Herschel Walker.
Floridians don’t need a man whose defining talent is his ability to ride Trump’s coattails. They need a leader. The state has real issues, and it