55.2%. That is the percentage of Miami-Dade County that voted for Donald Trump in 2024. This is a new development, as the 305 was historically a Democratic bastion. In 2020, Democrats won 53.4% of the county while that figure was 65% in 2016.

Even casual followers of The Miami Creation Myth know I am no Trump fan. I’ve made many memes and written many stories lampooning what I see as the fundamental hypocrisies and casual malice inherent to the MAGA movement. However, when I first set out on this weird satirical journey seven years ago, my foundational goal was to give Miamians a space to laugh and feel seen and acknowledged. So, how do I proceed as a satirist and champion of Miami when well more than half the county fundamentally and sometimes violently disagrees with me?

As a Cuban American living in South Florida, I am very often surrounded by a much higher percentage of Trump supporters than 53%. They are family, professional associates, and friends dating back decades. And here’s a wild assertion sure to shock some of my readers: I like and love them. Many are decent human beings. I absolutely disagree with them on myriad issues, but I don’t think they are evil, cruel, or irredeemable.

Given my environmental activism, I am often in progressive spaces where the above statement predictably flabbergasts all others in attendance. I’m admonished for not sufficiently purifying myself of enemy elements when many leaders in Miami’s conservation, reproductive health, affordable housing, transit, social justice, and education communities have long ago purged their social networks of anyone on the Right, thereby choosing to only associate with those who agree with their politics. My question to these people is: What the fuck are you doing?

I get the impulse to wipe your hands of the MAGA movement and everyone associated with it, but the average Miamian earns $37,858 a year. Do you think they’re just Democrats? Do you think the only people worthy of help in this city carry canvass totes to the grocery store, compost, and correctly use they/them pronouns? If you claim that certain concepts like health care, equal protection under the law, affordable housing, etc. are universal, will you deny them to more than half the county because they voted a way you don’t like? How can you effectively service or communicate with them if you do not interact with, much less attempt to understand them?

I can’t count the times I’ve heard progressives declare that all those who voted for Trump should be thrown to the wolves. Let’s play this out. So, these Trump voters don’t receive an ostensibly universal service, and you get some sense of karmic satisfaction knowing you hurt someone who voted for a candidate who hurts you. Great, but you’re not hurting Trump. Maybe an abuelita in Westchester doesn’t get an MRI or a father of three in Doral can’t afford rent. You think Trump cares? The person on the shit end of the stick does, and they and their friends and family will remember your smugness next time they’re at the ballot box. Congrats, all you accomplished was spreading a bit more misery in the world.

For the record, not many people in Miami have received more vitriol from the MAGA movement than me. Some of it is classic discriminatory drivel.

It’s odd that some people think calling me queer is an insult. That’s like claiming I’m Albanian. It’s just incorrect, and the fact bigots believe I should feel something other than bemusement says volumes about them and nothing about me.

Then there’s the hate I get from my own Cuban American community.

And, finally, there are the threats to show up to in-person events to harass me.

They never showed, though event security was on the lookout.

These are the relatively tame messages. I’m not posting the threats of violence or death because I honestly don’t want those screenshots on my phone. I also blacked out my harassers’ names and pictures because I don’t wish harm on them. I won’t even reply or clap back. I don’t want them doxxed, bullied, or fired from their jobs. I just don’t want to interact with them. Also, for what it’s worth, my favorite attempted slight is that I inflated the 27,790 pounds of trash I removed from the mangroves despite documenting every one of the 154 days I’ve spent cleaning them.

So, here I am, a Miami satirist berated by some on the Left for interacting with those on the Right and harassed by the Right for asking them to remember their immigrant roots and maybe be less overtly bigoted (I don’t ask, I lampoon—but you get my drift). All the while, I’d really rather spend my time making fun of Broward.

I’ve thought about giving up on The Miami Creation Myth. I really have. I just want to make people laugh. I don’t want death threats in my DMs or to pay for a service that scrubs my personal contact information from the internet (it costs $320 a year, for those curious). The caustic rhetoric, heightened emotions, and rampant dehumanization make this all much less fun than when I started seven years ago.

I believe that, at its best, satire helps the powerless laugh at their tormentors, who love nothing more than to persecute those with the least ability to defend themselves. This might not seem like much when compared to the real-world harm the oppressors perpetrate, but despots often have extremely delicate egos. They want to be feared and respected, so when their actions elicit laughter rather than reverential silence, it shatters their fragile public self-images.

Things will get very ugly for the most vulnerable these next four years. Undocumented immigrants, the queer community, women, Black folks, and just about anyone else lacking a direct line to President Trump will be repeatedly and mercilessly attacked. Can a Miami satirist with a small, regional following do anything to stop this? Absolutely not. But maybe, if I’m really good at my self-appointed job, I can make the members of those persecuted communities feel a little less alone. I might even elicit a chuckle or two in dark times. For now, that’s all I can do, so that’s what I’ll do.

Yes, the flood of hate in my inbox sucks. The threats of violence are awful. But, I (hopefully) won’t be arrested and (probably) won’t get deported for using The Office meme templates to poke fun at MAGA Latinos. We’ll find out together.

So, for now, I’ll keep doing what I do: writing silly stories and making silly memes of silly people doing awful things. I’ll also maintain relationships with and remember the humanity of those who disagree with me. I have no illusions that any of the above will change anything meaningful in Miami or anywhere else. I just hope that someone somewhere connects with something I made and, for just a moment, feels seen.

If you like our stories, buy our book!

Andrew Otazo

'Miami Creation Myth' author Andrew Otazo has advised officials on Cuba policy, worked for the Mexican president, fired a tank, and ran with 30lbs of trash.

Check out the first free chapter of Andrew’s upcoming book here.