I am going to have to assume all this is true because a sane person could not make this up, but the way you tell it makes it almost feel… human in its stupidity. I expect this to escalate and wait for the hyaenas to enter the stage. I hope they don’t disappoint me. The hyaenas, I mean. They seldom do.
You should read some Carl Hiaasen, if you haven’t already. He was a newspaper columnist who freely borrowed from Florida’s weirdness for his fiction. The whole state is a confounding stew of aggression, foolishness, and desperation.
He’s on my buy list, I read that “Squeeze Me” is a good start, thanks for reminding me.
Exactly what I came here to say. You beat me by 6 minutes.
You’re so lucky. Andy Pander is my “representative”. You got Stanton?
I think Biggot Biggs is the worst congressional representative in the country currently serving. Chief nut case in the FreeDUM Caucus, gave tours to insurrectionists, bought and paid for by special interests, former president trump’s Number 1 ass kisser.
And Tim Dorsey.
I do. 
FWIW, that’s the book I’m currently reading.
Then it will go straight up to the top of my list.
I finally realized that I forgot to include these in the OP:
and of course
https://i.redd.it/ymlou7jw3ua61.jpg
I largely grew up in South Florida and spent quite a few years in the Panhandle ('70s-'90s all told) and I agree with this post.
I totally buy that he got conned, because you couldn’t build a better mark in a lab. Money-adjacent, corrupt, thinks he’s smart but clearly a moron. I’d be more surprised if he didn’t get fleeced regularly.
Never stop writing, @Ann_Hedonia. You told this sordid, disgusting tale in a wonderfully engaging and concise manner. I love your riffs!
An Intercept writer tweeted a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald, who he identified as his grandpa and a veteran, and asked several right wing figures for a Memorial Day retweet for him.
Guess who took the bait?
If only we could sic Serge Storms on the lot of 'em.
Admittedly I wouldn’t have identified that picture as Oswald either.
I’m guessing that at the point Matt Gaetz retweeted it, the account name wasn’t “matt gaetz is a pedo” as it appears in the screenshot presented. Although who knows…
From what I’ve read, the poster does this kind of thing often and changes his handle once the target retweets it.
Here’s another of his “victims” from today;
Digging down into the Twitter thread, Candace Owens (who apparently is something of a big deal in right-wing circles?) took him to task for photo-shopping LHO into a uniform. She got rightly dragged for her lack of historical knowledge.
I loved the side-by-side of Owens saying “I can’t read this because she blocked me. Most people who lie for a living block people who expose them” followed by “@RealCandaceO blocked you”.