Right-wing activists rage at Florida GOP during Sarasota County gathering

On a muggy afternoon in late July, roughly 200 right-wing activists gathered at a Venice country club to plot a course of action.

Despite Donald Trump winning the presidency for a second time, an entrenched and corrupt elite had — in their telling — managed to hold onto power in the Sunshine State.

Over plates of catered barbecue chicken and sauteed vegetables, the activists — some hailing from far-right Republican clubs, some from anti-vaccine organizations and others seeking to draw Christian clergy into conservative politics — focused their ire on their own party.

“How’s it possible that we can have the most popular Republican president in our lifetime, but still have so many ‘RINOs’ in our party?” Cathi Chamberlain, an activist with the group Pinellas Watchdogs, asked the crowd, using the term — short for “Republican in name only” — to describe members viewed as disloyal to the party’s core values.

“We don’t just have ‘RINOs’ in Washington, D.C.,” she said. “We have them in our own backyard, right here in Florida.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2025/08/09/defend-florida-republican-party-gop-elections-maga-trump/