“America Is Full”: The Slogan Shaking Florida

Permanent resident cards with welcome guide and flag.

James Fishback is betting that the next big Republican star will be the man who looks Florida’s growth machine in the eye and says, without blinking, “America is full.”

Story Snapshot

Hard-line “America Is Full” message fuses immigration moratorium, anti‑H‑1B, and anti‑DEI into one Florida‑first crusade.
Hedge fund CEO runs for Florida governor while managing an anti‑DEI ETF, blurring lines between MAGA politics and “anti‑woke” finance.
Campaign openly leans on Great Replacement‑style rhetoric in a major GOP primary, pushing the party’s immigration Overton window further right.
Fishback attacks rivals like Byron Donalds as captured by donors and Big Tech, casting himself as the uncompromising option for 2026.

How “America Is Full” Became the Center of a Governor’s Race

James Fishback’s slogan did not start as a poll‑tested catchphrase; it grew out of his conviction that both legal and illegal immigration now amount to an invasion that breaks the social contract with American citizens. He tells conservative audiences that the country is “importing the Third World,” handing out welfare, and “replacing” Americans in the workforce and electorate, language that echoes the Great Replacement narratives usually heard on the fringes, not from statewide candidates.

Fishback folds Florida’s housing crunch and rapid demographic shifts into this story, arguing that the state’s vaunted boom has hit a natural wall. He points to soaring home prices, foreign buyers, and clogged infrastructure as proof that “Florida is full,” and uses that line to justify a complete federal immigration moratorium, mass deportations, and an end to H‑1B visas that bring in high‑skilled workers, especially from India.For voters who feel squeezed, the logic is brutally simple: close the door, then fix the house.

The Hedge Fund Populist Trying to Out‑MAGA MAGA

Fishback built his brand first on Wall Street, not in a county GOP, landing at David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital after sending an unsolicited 2019 rate‑cut trade idea that hit. The relationship later collapsed into lawsuits and trolling, but the episode cemented him as a brash, self‑taught trader who believed he saw macro trends before the establishment. He parlayed that persona into Azoria, a hedge fund and ETF platform that markets itself as backing companies that avoid DEI and other “woke” policies.

This fusion of finance and culture war sets him apart even in DeSantis‑era Florida. Where the current governor took on Disney, Fishback offers an ETF that promises conservatives they can fight DEI through their brokerage accounts. He then carries that logic into politics: if corporations and bureaucrats discriminate via diversity schemes, then government must unapologetically discriminate for citizens, not foreigners. That framing aligns with a common‑sense conservative view that policy should reward taxpayers first and treat citizenship as a meaningful boundary.

Inside the MAGA Network: Loyalty Tests, Fed Dreams, and a Governor’s Bid

Fishback’s rise has wound through the Trump universe in ways that reveal both his ambition and his appetite for risk. He worked “from the beginning” with the DOGE effort to draft Vivek Ramaswamy into the presidential race, then navigated the fallout when tensions flared between Elon Musk and Trump over 2024 politics. Former colleagues and reporters describe him as constantly seeking access, offering ideas, and positioning himself as the movement’s sharpest financial mind.

That self‑image drove an extraordinary lobbying push for a Federal Reserve Board seat in 2024, where he phoned Trump directly, circulated memos, and branded himself the former president’s “bulldog” for slashing interest rates. Trump instead chose Steve Miran, leaving Fishback on the outside but more visible than ever. He then launched an Azoria ETF pitched aggressively to Trump‑world donors, promising strong returns and leveraging his social‑media reach, a move that raised eyebrows among operatives wary of mixing political access with personal fundraising.

Florida’s Succession Fight: Hard Caps, H‑1Bs, and Israel Money

The 2026 race to replace Ron DeSantis gives Fishback his biggest stage yet. He enters a crowded GOP primary that includes Rep. Byron Donalds, a well‑known MAGA ally, and instantly runs to his right. He brands Donalds as “H‑1Byron,” “DEI Donalds,” and “Big Tech Byron,” arguing that any Republican who voted for H‑1B expansions or accommodated corporate DEI cannot be trusted to defend American workers or Florida culture when the pressure hits.

Beyond immigration, Fishback connects foreign policy and household economics with a proposal to end Florida’s unique financial support for Israel and redirect roughly $385 million into $10,000 down‑payment grants for young married Floridian couples buying their first home. Supporters see a classic America First move: money earned in Florida should help Floridians build families and equity. Critics question whether such rhetoric, combined with his embrace of replacement‑theory language, crosses a line from hard‑nosed prioritization into conspiratorial politics that could damage the party’s broader appeal.