President Trump expected to discuss Medicare at The Villages in Florida

President Donald Trump is leaving Washington for the first time since House Democrats ramped up their impeachment inquiry _ and he’s heading straight into the warm embrace of a Republican stronghold.

Trump is due to visit The Villages, a sprawling retirement hub about an hour north of Orlando that is a must-stop for GOP candidates. The president plans to announce an executive order to protect Medicare and address an invitation-only group during his visit Thursday.

Support for Trump appears to be holding firm in Florida, the largest swing state in the 2020 election with 29 electoral votes that are crucial for the president’s reelection.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida sent out a fundraising email in which it promised to put all donations into a newly established “Presidential Protection Fund.” Chairman Joe Gruters, a state senator who served as co-chair of Trump’s 2016 Florida campaign, said response to the email has been “great,” but he said he didn’t know how much money had been raised.

“When I served in Congress, I fought back against the Democrats’ witch hunts every single day,” DeSantis wrote in the email. “I REFUSED to let them overturn the 2016 election and erase your vote from history. Now that Democrats are officially moving to impeach our duly elected president, my duty to protect him isn’t over. I want the President to know that we have his back in this fight 100%.”

DeSantis credits Trump for helping him win office in November, and it was the president who appointed Peter O’Rourke, a candidate the governor backed, as the new executive director of the state Republican party after several months of instability.

“The party’s moving forward,” Gruters said. “We’re united: the president, the governor and myself. … We are firing on all cylinders.”

As for the impeachment inquiry, Gruters said it will only drive up turnout for Trump among the GOP base.

“The president has been under siege non-stop … since he won the election,” he said, adding that Democrats “don’t have a candidate that can win and they’re not right on the issues, so the only thing they can do is try to discredit the president.”

More than 120,000 people live in The Villages, which is 55 percent Republican. The community is mostly located in Sumter County, which supported Trump with 68% of the vote in 2016, compared to 49% statewide. The White House hand-picked each of the approximately 1,000 guests from a list provided to them by local GOP elected officials and party leaders, said county party chairman John Temple.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida sent out a fundraising email in which it promised to put all donations into a newly established “Presidential Protection Fund.” Chairman Joe Gruters, a state senator who served as co-chair of Trump’s 2016 Florida campaign, said response to the email has been “great,” but he said he didn’t know how much money had been raised.

“When I served in Congress, I fought back against the Democrats’ witch hunts every single day,” DeSantis wrote in the email. “I REFUSED to let them overturn the 2016 election and erase your vote from history. Now that Democrats are officially moving to impeach our duly elected president, my duty to protect him isn’t over. I want the President to know that we have his back in this fight 100%.”

DeSantis credits Trump for helping him win office in November, and it was the president who appointed Peter O’Rourke, a candidate the governor backed, as the new executive director of the state Republican party after several months of instability.

“The party’s moving forward,” Gruters said. “We’re united: the president, the governor and myself. … We are firing on all cylinders.”

As for the impeachment inquiry, Gruters said it will only drive up turnout for Trump among the GOP base.

“The president has been under siege non-stop … since he won the election,” he said, adding that Democrats “don’t have a candidate that can win and they’re not right on the issues, so the only thing they can do is try to discredit the president.”

More than 120,000 people live in The Villages, which is 55 percent Republican. The community is mostly located in Sumter County, which supported Trump with 68% of the vote in 2016, compared to 49% statewide. The White House hand-picked each of the approximately 1,000 guests from a list provided to them by local GOP elected officials and party leaders, said county party chairman John Temple.