President Donald Trump and his political allies have been obsessing over recent pro-Trump boat parades that have taken place around the country, as if groups of boaters are going to somehow magically sway the election in Trump’s favor. As it turns out — even the boaters aren’t outside the realm of Trump World’s frequent criminal activity. Carlos Gavidia, who organized and led a “Trumptilla” boat parade off the coast of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on May 3 (among other activism) and helped spark the boat parade trend, was recently apparently set to face a felony criminal charge over sending a threatening text to a resident of his now former Florida community. In the text, Gavidia says that he said: “I’m coming after you. I’m going to ruin your life” — and yet somehow, he and his lawyer act surprised that police are involved.
Carlos Gavidia, a Trump boat parade leader, is expected to be charged with sending a threatening text, a felony, to a resident of his former Jupiter country club community, his attorney told The Palm Beach Post. https://t.co/BUWdq90I36
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 1, 2020
Gavidia was, specifically, slated to be charged with issuing written threats to kill or do bodily injury. According to Gavidia’s attorney Stuart Kaplan, Gavidia was planning to turn himself in at the Palm Beach County Jail on Tuesday morning.
Previously, besides the boat parades that he’s helped organize, Gavidia even attended the recent acceptance speech for the GOP presidential nomination that Trump delivered at the White House. Allegedly, at least according to Gavidia’s LinkedIn profile, he’s also a “committee member” of the Trump Victory Finance political action committee, which The Palm Beach Post describes as “a major fund-raising arm for the president’s re-election.” Gavidia has also promoted violence in the past — alongside an image of a man with an assault rifle, he wrote on Instagram that Antifa “ANIMALS NEEDED TO BE HUNTED!!”
As for the threatening text message incident, Gavidia claimed that “he and his family were victims of constant harassment in Jupiter’s exclusive Admirals Cove,” which is where the person lives who got the recent threat from Gavidia and where Gavidia lived until he recently moved out. Allegedly, Gavidia sent the text after his target confronted them in some fashion while he and his wife were at dinner. Gavidia does not seem to have provided many details of the alleged harassment, although allegedly, his target “flipped him off” prior to the threat.
Gavidia said, referring to his boat that he decked out with pro-Trump regalia:
‘Sometimes I regret even wrapping the boat and starting this nationwide movement because I got a target on my back. Everybody wants to make Trump look bad. Unfortunately, I took a stand and I even took a bigger stand when I got ridiculed.’
It is, of course, entirely incorrect to suggest that there’s some kind of nationwide conspiracy to make Trump look bad. Trump doesn’t need much help with that.
Kaplan, Gavidia’s attorney, complained:
‘It’s outrageous and really shameful that law enforcement is involved. I think it is being used as a vindictive means to get even with Carlos.’
Apparently, Gavidia offered to apologize to the person who he threatened, but that person did not accept the overture. Kaplan shouldn’t be surprised that Gavidia is facing legal trouble for threatening to “come after” someone and “ruin” their life.
Gavidia is, of course, the latest in a long line of folks in the Trump orbit who’ve faced criminal charges. Recently, Steve Bannon even joined the list.
