Donald Trump has the most passionate supporters in politics.
They come up with creative ways to show it.
And a Florida man won a big legal fight over one show of support for Donald Trump.
Giant Trump banners in Florida get homeowner in trouble
Marvin Peavy began to show his support for President Donald Trump in 2021 with banners he hung from the balcony of his home along County Road 30A in Seagrove Beach, Florida.
The creative banners which had slogans like “Trump Won” and “Let’s Go Brandon” got national attention on social media.
Spent the morning with Marvin Peevy on @30a, he’s had Trump flags up on his house since 2020, refuses to pay a fine for doing so or take them down. I love him. Awesome dude. pic.twitter.com/HZUVj9LqwM
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 30, 2024
The Florida panhandle is one of the most pro-Trump areas in the country, but Peavy’s banners got him in trouble.
Walton County officials ordered him to take down his banners because they violated the property maintenance code
Peavy was not going to back down because of some government bureaucrats.
The county began fining him $50 but he refused to budge.
“I had one single sign hanging and hung it… it made me very nervous when I did it and because I’m like going, hey, you know, we’ll get in trouble here for something. But anyway, I hung it… Code enforcement started dropping signs at my house telling me I got to take my signs down,” Peavy said.
He argued that Walton County was violating his First Amendment rights and a legal battle ensued.
Peavy displayed more than 30 banners at his house while he was fighting the county in court.
“I think if the county had probably left me alone and let me do what I wanted to do,” Peavy explained. “The signs would have been down, but, you know, sometimes you wake the wrong giant. The giant wakes up and says, you’re not going to push me around. And that’s basically what happened.”
Florida man wins free speech case after being fined for Trump banners
Peavy refused to pay the fines that Walton County was hitting him with and won a hard-fought victory for his free speech rights.
Florida Judge Jeffrey Lewis ruled in Peavy’s favor against the county by declaring the banners did not violate the code.
“No fines or liens shall be assessed, asserted, collected or established against (Peavy), now or in the future related to the sign ordinance at issue,” Lewis wrote.
Walton County was ordered to pay Peavy $42,000 in legal fees for the case.
“We just settled on that because (what) it basically boils down to is: Walton County has to admit that they were wrong, in a sense, for coming to my house on Father’s Day four years ago,” Peavy stated.
Peavy argued the case could set a precedent for free speech around the country.
The banners are going to stay up and will continue to rotate every month.
“We are going to keep putting signs up. I mean, we won, right? We’ll support our country. We the people,” Peavy said.
“There will be a new sign hung every month to let everybody know what’s going on in the world. We have a giant billboard there and we’re going to take the time and we’re going to put them up and make everybody in Seaside love us,” Peavy added.
Marvin Peavy fought the government bureaucrats and won to show his support for the President.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
