Opinion: By honoring Trump, Sarasota County GOP is validating a fraud

On Oct. 19, the Republican Party of Sarasota County will be honoring Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis as "Stateswoman of the Year."

Bowling trophies and Boy Scout badges have more cachet.

Any honor this clown car full of hypocrites and kiss-ups bestows upon any person going forward is as worthless as a bag of wet hair.

Case in point: Donald J. Trump.

The RPOSC did Sarasota proud not only once (2012), but twice (2015) when it named Trump as "Statesman of the Year." Yeah, it was embarrassing, but then Trump was elected president, and with it came a morsel of validation. Well, this whole charade is back to being flat-out embarrassing again.

That's because a judge in New York has called Our Favorite Statesman a fraud and a cheat for wildly overvaluing his real estate holdings in order to secure more favorable bank loans.

Several of these transgressions occurred during the years we honored him. How is that for a new level of embarrassment?

Here are some examples: Between 2012-2016, Trump falsely claimed his residential triplex in New York was 30,000 square feet. That was an overvaluation between $114 million and $207 million.

"A discrepancy of this magnitude by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades can only be considered fraud," the judge wrote.

Sarasota's first Stateswoman: Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis to receive Sarasota GOP stateswoman award

Trump's honor: Anderson: Donald Trump, Sarasota's 'Statesman of the Year'

Build the wall: Sarasota's role in Trump's border wall

So what does RPOSC do? Why, honor him, of course. I mean, some of this stuff is laughable it's so bad.

The Trump Organization owns 200 acres of land in New York called the Seven Spring Estate. In 2014, Trump claimed it was worth $291 million. A professional appraiser put it at or below $30 million. That's an overvaluation of 400%.

A prestigious piece of property the Trump Organization owns is called 40 Wall Street. In 2011, Trump overvalued that by more than $300 million.

Mar-a-Lago is the best one. Trump overvalued his Florida residence by 2,300% between 2011-2021 compared to appraisals by the Palm Beach County Assessor. I mean, 2,300%! Who even attempts to do that? You almost have to give him credit.

The list goes on and on. There are other properties and licensing deals just as ridiculous, but you get the idea.

What it comes down to is simple: During the years that Trump was honored in Sarasota, he was a fraud.

And if the Republican Party of Sarasota County has any shred of integrity, it will take these honors away. Wipe them off the record books. Remove Trump's name and insert Vern Buchanan's. How has he never been honored, by the way? Not that he's a local U.S. Congressman or anything.

Yes, remove Trump's name from the list of previous honorees. That's the way it is supposed to work. People have lost far more for doing much less.

Milli Vanilli had to give back a Grammy and all they did was lip-synch.

Lance Armstrong was stripped of seven Tour de France championships, and all he did was dope like everyone else did.

Prince Harry lost his military titles, and all he did was move out.

O.J. Simpson was stripped of the Heisman and all he did was … oops, bad analogy.

This will never happen, of course. Trump will remain as our only two-time "Statesman of the Year." Then again, many people are saying he's the best two-time "Statesman of the Year" Sarasota County has ever had so maybe we should consider ourselves lucky.

And in just a few weeks a dinner will be held in honor of our very first "Stateswoman of the Year." Isn't that exciting? Who can wait? Not me, that's for sure.

So allow me to be the first to say:

Welcome to Sarasota, Mrs. DeSantis.

Welcome to the club.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Welcome to the club, Casey DeSantis. Hope you don't mind frauds