Inside the "Disney for Adults" That Could Help Deliver Florida to Donald Drumpf

[KamaAina]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/donald-trump-marco-rubio-villages-florida

The largest retirement community in the United States is home to 49 golf courses, dozens of restaurants, a college, an app, and three movie theaters spread across three counties in an area larger than Manhattan. Since the first trailers popped up in cattle country an hour north of Orlando, Florida, four decades ago, the Villages has swelled to a population of more than 114,000 people; almost all are over the age of 55, white, and drive around the community in golf carts that can be outfitted to resemble taxis, fire trucks, or tanks. Residents refer to the place as "Disney for adults."

In addition to being one of the most quintessentially Florida places on Earth, the Villages is one of the most Republican places in Florida. For years its politics were dominated by H. Gary Morse, the late conservative megadonor who built the community and helped send Marco Rubio to the Senate six years ago and Mitt Romney to the nomination in 2012. On Tuesday night, voters there will go a long way toward determining who comes away with the state's 99 delegates. Rubio, who spoke to an overflow crowd at a rec center here on Sunday, is staking his political future on a strong showing. But lately, everything is turning up Trump.

Last month, the New York real estate mogul won the Villages Republican straw poll in a landslide. And he's looking strong in Sumter County, which consists almost entirely of the Villages, and where 47 percent of registered Republicans voted early—the highest percentage in the state. Trump backers are already planning a celebratory golf cart victory parade. "I think Trump is the only one that can save our government," says Bill Garner, a retired Army veteran who runs Trump's campaign operation here.

The Villages is a dreamscape of sorts—a college where no one ever goes to class, a summer camp where your parents never come to pick you up. The grass is a rich shade of green, and the daily newspaper is stuffed thick with classified ads, the way daily newspapers used to be. You are always living in that moment of spontaneous bliss just before the Cialis commercial begins. It is by outward appearances one of the happiest places on Earth, where residents sometimes greet people with the community's motto: "It's a beautiful day in the Villages!"

[StandingInLeftField]

1. Something like this?

[benld74]

2. Something that STARTS at $350K kinda tells you who lives there,,,,,

[Blue_Adept]

4. That may mean something in some places

but others? 350k is pretty low end. Hell, I'm in a simple middle MA town and new homes start at 400k here. And those aren't exactly massive places. A $350k price point for those wanting to escape new england winters is pretty damn cheap.

[Cal Carpenter]

6. Was that in the article?

There are definitely much less expensive homes there including some around the $100k mark, not to mention the condos/townhouse/apartment options. It is, however, an extremely homogeneous, conservative middle-class-and-up environment.

For the record, the place is my worst nightmare but I have been there to visit family.

[underpants]

3. I'll be shocked if he doesn't win Florida

I'll be surprised if he doesn't win Ohio

[Initech]

5. Trump is the only one who can save our government? Fucking hell.