Yes, this year was one for the books, and in classic Miami fashion, our local baddies knocked it out of the park. Our scammers swindled suckers, our commentators concocted conspiracies, and our politicians participated in pandemic pandering. At the very least, there was some comfort in their consistency.
Each year, New Times rounds up a list of 12 scoundrels and ne'er-do-wells, except for that time in 2018 when we all procrastinated for too long and simply gave up. Luckily, we managed to get our shit together this go-around. Once again, we present to you the annual Dirty Dozen.
Ron DeSantis
Under the Chinese zodiac cycle, 2020 is the Year of the Rat. But if the State of Florida had its own zodiac cycle, 2020 would be the Year of the Ghoul. And no one in Florida has danced on more graves, preyed on the most vulnerable, and eaten as many souls as Gov. Ron DeSantis.The novel coronavirus has infected 1.2 million Floridians and killed more than 21,000 over the past nine months. Meanwhile, the governor has downplayed the severity of the pandemic from the start. A Sun Sentinel investigation dug into all the ways DeSantis misled residents about COVID-19. DeSantis denied that there was community spread of the virus despite evidence to the contrary, disregarded the advice of scientists and medical professionals, and barred Florida Department of Health spokespeople from issuing news releases or social media posts about COVID-19 in the lead-up to the November presidential election. As Thomas Unnasch, co-director of the University of South Florida's Center for Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, told the Sentinel, DeSantis put "politics before science."
If there's one thing DeSantis has gotten right, it's proving he has more business living in a haunted house than in the Governor's Mansion.
Armando Salguero
One of the most stomach-turning outcomes of this summer's Black Lives Matter protests was finding out who in our communities and families has been racist all along. Among those creeps was Miami Herald sportswriter Armando Salguero, who took issue with athletes speaking out against racial injustice this year, calling them "America bashing" people. After denying the premise that the U.S. was founded on racist ideals, he then signaled on Twitter that he didn't find it troublesome that the U.S. counted enslaved Black people as three-fifths of their white counterparts when measuring the population. Salguero, who came to the U.S. as an immigrant from Cuba, argued that America has it better than other countries, so people here don't have a right to complain. His comments made even his own coworkers downright uncomfortable, and many Herald journalists condemned Salguero's words. If the columnist wants athletes to stop talking about real issues and just stick to sports, maybe he should consider taking his own advice.
Matt Gaetz
Matt Gaetz, who represents the Florida Panhandle, could probably win an award for being the biggest tool in Congress any day of the year. But in 2020, his penchant for political theatrics reached new heights. In March, he caught heat for making light of the COVID-19 pandemic by wearing a gas mask on the House floor for a vote on a coronavirus aid package. After one of Gaetz's constituents died of COVID-19, he defended his use of the mask, claiming he was totally serious about protecting himself and others. But that defense falls apart when you remember that Gaetz spread a conspiracy theory — on national television, no less — that effectively killed a research organization's grant to develop a cure for the novel coronavirus.In November, Politico reported that the congressman had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. Gaetz recovered and reportedly never had symptoms. But knowing he came down with the virus hasn't given him pause. He keeps taking group photos and selfies with partygoers at superspreader events, including at a New York Young Republican Club gala and a fundraiser for the right-wing organization Turning Point USA. Gaetz swears that because he has antibodies, he's no threat to anybody. Really, the guy is a fucking menace, but at the very least maybe his selfies will help with contact tracing.
Katie Miller
Only a special complicit someone could be married to White House immigration adviser Stephen Miller, so it makes sense that Katie Miller, press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, rivals her husband's lack of empathy. In a book published this year by NBC News reporter Jacob Soboroff, Separated, the Weston native made it clear that she shares her spouse's draconian beliefs about immigration, including the Trump administration's policy of ripping kids away from their parents. "My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids I'll think about the separations differently. But I don't think so... [The Department of Homeland Security] sent me to the border to see the separations for myself — to try to make me more compassionate — but it didn't work," she told Soboroff. Asked if she was a white nationalist, she said no, but not terribly convincingly. "If you come to America, you should assimilate," she said. "Why do we need to have 'Little Havana'?" Miller's idiotic and heartless comments set off a firestorm in Miami. "Now you know, Trumpsters, what they really think of you," Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago wrote.In November, Miller gave birth to the couple's first child. Will being a mother make her more compassionate? We're not counting on it.
