Call it the Education of Francis Suarez.
As Suarez, the mayor, remains engulfed in a scandal surrounding his consulting work for a developer doing business with the city of Miami, Suarez, the Republican presidential candidate, is also dealing with incoming missiles of criticism — some launched from his own back yard.
“I think he is a complete fraud.” That was how Miami Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, former mayor of Miami-Dade, welcomed Suarez’s entry into the race last month.
Those are strong words, and Gimenez said them with no hesitation, no attempt at tact or diplomacy on Sunday-morning political shows.
Gimenez, a friend and long-time supporter of another presidential candidate, Donald Trump, continues to make clear his dislike for Suarez and has said so publicly several times.
Is it personal or politics?
Suarez has said it feels “personal.”
It might be both, although Gimenez said his attacks are his own, and not on behalf of Trump.
Family feud
What’s the genesis of the bad blood? The thinking is that Suarez’s efforts to become a strong mayor back in 2016 irked then-County Mayor Gimenez. And then there was that unsightly infighting between the two mayors over federal COVID-19 funds. Suarez wanted some control over them; Gimenez fought him, and other municipal mayors, off.
And there is a little bit of the Hatfield & McCoys, too, stemming from the days when Suarez’s father, Xavier Suarez, was the mayor of Miami and Gimenez was city manager. Then, there are the years when Gimenez was the mayor of Miami-Dade and Suarez, the father, was often at odd with Gimenez.
Sure, it’s politics, and its players lash out to elevate or wound. It comes with the territory. But Gimenez’s public contempt for Suarez seems a bit over the top. Suarez’s chances of making it to the top of the pack running for the Republican nomination are rather slim — unless Giminez also is trying to forestall any lucrative job offers that might come Suarez’s way as a result of his run.
Otherwise, why all the vitriol? It’s a bad look for all of Miami-Dade. The often-irritated-looking Gimenez should keep that in mind.
That said, Suarez has stepped on a few land mines himself since he declared his candidacy.
The day after his announcement, he appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning, America” with George Stephanopolous, who made Suarez get that deer-in-the-headlights look by insisting an unwilling Suarez answer questions about Trump’s indictment.
Then, Suarez bravely went on “The View” and was easily sliced and diced by the women on the show, largely for not denouncing Trump, even though Suarez has said he did not vote for Trump. Still, he stays away from criticizing him publicly. As the mayor tried to promote his “successes in Miami,” no one cared. Trump was front and center.
Of course, most Republican hopefuls are tiptoeing around Trump. Criticize him bluntly, and tick off his voters — though there’s a chance of converting those who have tired of the bellicose former president.
Then, on June 27, there was the Uyghur incident. Know who they are? Neither did the mayor, it seemed.
When show host Hugh Hewitt asked Suarez if he would be talking on behalf of the Uyghurs on the campaign trail, Suarez responded: “What’s a Uyghur?”
And just like that, there went Suarez’s foreign-policy platform. He should have known that the Chinese government has faced significant international criticism in recent years over its treatment of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in the western province of Xinjiang.
Nikki Haley weighs in
Then came the hardest blow. Hearing of the Uyghurs blunder, fellow GOP presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said not knowing about the genocide under way “is shameful,” answering a question about Suarez’s lack of Uyghur knowledge.
If you recall, as Haley was considering her presidential run, she met with Suarez once in Miami, spurring rumors that she was looking at him as a possible running mate.
As of this moment, that might not be in the cards.
Pitfalls aside, Suarez might find making his case across the country preferable to have to face persistent questions here at home about his profitable relationship with a developer who needed the city’s help to get his Coconut Grove development on track.
Now, the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating; and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust and the State Attorney’s Office are asking questions, too.
It’s some awfully heavy baggage for someone running for president — other than Teflon Trump, of course — to lug around the campaign trail.
