Final details were being worked out and guest lists submitted Saturday ahead of President’s Trump’s highly anticipated visit to The Villages.
The president is scheduled to speak about Medicare at The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center at about 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. The visit is being billed as an invitation-only affair, which typically means names of invited guests have to be submitted and approved by the White House prior to the event.
The president is scheduled to arrive at Ocala International Airport aboard Air Force One at about 1 p.m. and most likely will address the crowd that’s sure to be assembled at the facility. From there, it’s unclear if he will make the 30-mile trip to The Villages by motorcade or via helicopter.
The Sharon can seat about 1,000 people, though indications are the crowd won’t be that large. The theater, which opened in April 2015, has played host to a long list of celebrities over the past four years. But Tuesday’s event will by far be the biggest affair held at the facility that’s named Sharon Morse, the first wife of late Developer H. Gary Morse, who died of cancer at age 63 in December 1999.
The president is certainly no stranger to the Sunshine State. He frequently visits his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, which he has labeled the “Winter White House.” And in June he chose the Amway Center in Orlando as the site to announce his plans to run for a second term.
Trump also showed a particular interest in Florida during the 2018 gubernatorial election by endorsing then-Congressman Ron DeSantis. At the time, the former Navy officer who served in Iraq was considered an underdog to Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who was heavily backed by The Villages Developer but ended up losing to DeSantis in every Villages precinct in the August 2018 primary election.
DeSantis went onto secure the Republican nomination and then defeated his Democratic challenger, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, who carried an endorsement from former President Obama, notorious liberal trial attorney John Morgan and “Blacklist” actress Megan Boone, the granddaughter of Gary and Sharon Morse and the daughter of Villages Vice President of Sales Jennifer Parr.
In a June visit to The Villages to sign a bill that could help Floridians get cheaper prescription medicines from Canada – an idea Trump supports – DeSantis talked about how the president probably understands Florida better than any other president has in the past. He cited his connection to South Florida and said in conversations between the two Trump has shown an immense interest in Florida politics, largely because he understands the critical role the state plays in presidential elections.
As for Tuesday’s event, the list of guests who will be attending hasn’t been released by the White House. Villagers for Trump – the grassroots organization created a little more than a year ago that now boasts 1,700 members and clearly is the choice of local Republicans – has secured tickets for some of its members to hear the president speak. A select group of 10 members are expected to have a private audience with the president on the topic of Medicare. And a large group of members plan to be outside the Sharon to welcome the presidential motorcade when it arrives.
If this political event follows the same protocols as those in past years when GOP presidential candidates frequently would visit Florida’s Friendliest Hometown, then a large list of Morse family members, Villages department heads and high-level employees also are likely to be on the guest list. And it’s expected that GOP leaders from various groups and other community leaders, including members of the Sumter County Commission, also will be in attendance.
It was unclear Saturday if members of The Villages Democrats Club plan to protest outside the Sharon during the president’s visit. The group will be involved in a press event Tuesday morning put on by the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and the Sumter Democratic Executive Committee. The gathering will be held at 10 a.m. at local Democratic headquarters at 300 N. Main St. in Wildwood and the topic will be what the group’s consider Trump’s “phony rhetoric” about Medicare. It’s unclear how long that event will last but it’s expected to be over long before Trump arrives in Spanish Springs Town Square.