I keep reading that the Republicans have a DeSantis problem or that Florida has a DeSantis problem, but in Politico I read that DeSantis has a Florida problem. Get this:
In the run-up to the primary, DeSantis solidified his place as Trump’s chief rival for the nomination largely based on an electability argument. He was MAGA, like Trump, but without the former president’s baggage or toxicity to moderate Republicans and independents — the kind of voters Republicans will need to run Joe Biden from the White House next year.
But as DeSantis edges closer to announcing, he is testing the limits of how hard right he can go without undermining his rationale for running in the first place. It’s a significant risk in a primary in which Republican voters — sore from losing the White House in 2020 and a less-than-red-wave midterm two years later — are desperate to nominate a candidate who can win.
“In a way, the Republican dominance of the Florida Legislature may end up hurting DeSantis because his proposals can become reality,” said Barrett Marson, a Republican strategist in Arizona. “That may help him in a primary in Iowa or Texas or South Dakota, but in a general election in Arizona, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, it could be ruinous for him.”
To restate, DeSantis might be in trouble because the Florida legislature is likely to pass some of his hard-right policy proposals in the next few months, which would be a big screaming warning that as President he would actually do what he promises to do, which would turn off voters. Reflect on that for a bit.
His most recent thing is to call for a ban on abortions past six weeks’ gestation. That by itself should destroy him in a general election for POTUS. How many times must Republicans get beaten up over this issue before they get the memo? Or does DeSantis think he can somehow pivot to a more “moderate” position once he get the nomination? I don’t think so.
A DeSantis spokesperson declined to comment. But a top Republican consultant in Tallahassee, who was granted anonymity to talk freely about DeSantis, said there is a logic behind the governor’s moves.
“The bottom line is that if he decides to run he wants to have the most robust cultural and policy conservative list of accomplishments,” said the consultant. “This makes him impervious to hits from the right.”
Taken to logical conclusions, this seems to be saying that no presidential candidate who can win a Republican nomination has a prayer in a general election. At some point the Republican Party may need to address this.
One New York Republican, granted anonymity to speak freely about the party primary dynamics, said a six-week ban viewed as unpalatably restrictive to some will be considered too weak by some anti-abortion rights purists in the right wing of the GOP.
“This position is so scrutinized that you’ll lose a core constituency in allowing for any abortion at any time,” said the person, who is partial to Trump. “Six weeks sounds like the middle ground that a political operative would advise you to take. Six weeks is not what the Christian right voters will accept. There is a definite bifurcation between political realities and politically paid staffers.”
There is a definite bifurcation between the Republican base and the sense God gave turnips, in other words. See also S.C. Republicans propose bill that could subject women who have abortions to the death penalty. So “pro life” they are.
Speaking of bifurcations, one may be closing between Trump and justice. Dozens of Mar-a-Lago staff, from servers to aides, are subpoenaed in classified documents probe is the latest at CNN. Jack Smith is also pushing to get Evan Corcoran to testify.
And yesterday we learned the Fulton County special grand jury heard testimony we didn’t even know about.
Fulton County investigators have an audio recording of a phone call that former President Donald Trump made to the Georgia House speaker to push for a special session to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Fulton County special grand jury, which investigated Trump’s actions in the state after the 2020 election, heard the recording of Trump’s call to David Ralston, according to five of the jurors who spoke anonymously to the AJC. A source confirmed to CNN the existence of the recording, which hasn’t been made public.
Don’t take too long, folks.
If you keep tacking to the right, you end up going in a circle.
This applies not only in sailing, but in politics.
And as the right in America becomes more and more unhinged, the majority of voters in this country will rightly see them as cruel authoritarian jerks.
And so, as a result, RepubliKKKLANs, in their closed-loop world of epistemic closure (but I repeat myself), will be seen as the party of right-wing circling-jerks.
(LOL! See what I did there? "Circling-jerks!" 😉 Get it? )
Yeah, I know: Another long trip to a lame punchline by me.
Oh well…
And though this might be slightly OT, but since we're talking about that arsehole DeSantis today, you might want to Google "DeSantis and Guantanamo Bay."
It turns out that the RepubliKKKLAN's (possible) new hero may have been more closely tied to the torture there than any of us suspected*.
I, for one, until yesterday, never even knew he was a young JAG officer on duty there in the mid-00's.
Maybe I forgot. But I don't remember that ever being a subject when he was being discussed.
*Of course, if DeSantis WAS indeed associated with the torture there, this will make him an even bigger, more popular hero to our KKKruel KKKonservative KKKlansters!
"…this seems to be saying that no presidential candidate who can win a Republican nomination has a prayer in a general election." Maha
This is the money quote from the post.
The success of striking down Roe has created irreconcilable differences between non-progressive voters and the GOP fetus people passing legislation from the Dark Ages. In theory, some legislation proposes the death penalty for a woman who aborts by choice in the first trimester. There's a big chunk of voters who were occasional voters before but they will show in force until the GOP states being run by the fetus people are brought under control. DeSantos has gone overtly racist by attacking Black studies in Florida. I think it will resonate with Black voters as bigoted like a proposal to cease teaching the Holocaust because it's not relevant would make Jewish voters conclude that anti-semitism is going mainstream (again.) Hispanic and Asian-American voters are getting a dose of crap in their daily lives and they know who to thank. IMO,
Trump won in 2016 because a) HRC was a weak candidate who pandered to the Democratic donor class. I know progressives who could not stomach voting for her. b) voters in 2016 saw in Trump the illusion of a successful businessman which they know now was a facade. c) Russians were very effective in 2016 pushing the right voter's buttons through social media. It won't be so easy again.
The polls worth reading won't be done (IMO) for a year. That's state polling in the swing states. The national poll overcounts support for Biden in CA and undercounts Biden's standing in TX. The EC outcome is known in both those states and the polling of individuals in those states isn't statistically relevant until we elect POTUS by popular vote. I doubt we'll see state polling of the presidential race until 2024.
The question is if/when the GOP will evolve into a responsible conservative political force, rejecting the culture wars attacks on sexual fringe groups, racism, and antisemitism of the major players in Trumpism. My guess is that the GOP will try to "move on" from Trump when the facts from various trials become such heavy baggage that the WH is not just out of reach, it's out of sight for the GOP. When Trump becomes the GOP cuckold, by the GOP admiring DeSantis, Trump will be the one to file for divorce.
More like a) HRC was a victim of perhaps THE most lavishly-funded, fanatically-dedicated, long-running, and successful smear campaign in the political history of the United States of America.
Plus, she was a weak candidate. Really, she was. I know a lot of Democrats were in denial about it, but it was clear to me in 2016 she was a weak candidate. She had the nomination sewed up before the primaries even started because she had the DNC, major patrons and many of the state parties lined up behind her, but then she ran a lame general election campaign that just didn't reach people who weren't already hard core Democrats. And then between the Russians and James Comey's blunders she was too easy to take down.
I voted for HRC rather than Trump but I had to hold my nose. She and Bill believe in serving their donor class. The Clinton Foundation was a conduit for exactly that.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/docs-show-clinton-foundation-donors-sought-access-state/story?id=41582158
A big smile came across my face the more I learn about DeSantis and his antics in Florida. It recalls a famous quote by Dr Smith from "Lost in Space": "We're Doomed!" Go for it, Republicans!
I really wonder who the Koch Brothers and the big money types will back. They desperately want somebody who can win. On the face of it, Mike Pence would seem to be their kind of guy, but I have to concede to the objections others raised earlier about his lack of charisma. He could be 2024's Jeb! minus the wealthy blue blood family.
Actually, IMO the GOP Big Donors can live quite happily for 1-2 more election cycles without the Presidency. Their Federalist hacks on the Supreme Court will block anything they don't like (Medicare for All, etc), leaving Democrats to focus on social policies which just give the GOP more ammunition for their Culture War propaganda.
Circle up the wagons and form up the circular firing squad! Gather firewood as traditional republicans face inquisition type conversion techniques. The jackboots need the practice and must be kept in form for the authoritarian takeover. We must create dystopia in order to avoid dystopia.
See, how easy is it to write a mission statement for republicans, even I can do it.
Truely, "How many times must Republicans get beaten up over this issue before they get the memo?". Reading comprehension is not a conservative social skill, and only traditional republicans value it. But they are not in control of the party. Those whose mental functioning stops at the brain stem are. Understanding requires higher level thinking skills based on facts not misinformation. So far, no republican candidate has voiced this notion. Is that the fault of the Koch organization? Until all of their candidates do, they are not ready to govern.
As important as 2024 is, we need democrats running every race and we need radio ads and talk. We need spanish language smart ads not just buzz words.
I heard Kamala Harris on Stephen Colbert talking about legislation that's supposedly going to help everything economic environmental etc and I have No Idea what she was talking about. When will Dems learn to communicate?
You can't bragg about an accomplishment no knows about and does not see.
Republicans are into performance stunts . it does not change my life too much but it bullies intimidates and literally outlaws others lives and the manufactured R outrage is known heard and codified into law . so we know what they are doing every day but dems will lose horribly if they assume RNo Dissentus or another like him cannot win with extremist views and laws turned into reality. I do not see anyone challenging the legal framework that is being built as we speak. Like having a cocoon being built around while you are alive, the wrongwing has foundations nonprofits billionaire money lawyers and judges actively
screwing us everyday. I hear of no cases challenging them or their hate/control fixation.
Blindly thinking we can hold the whitehouse senate and it'll be okay is unbelievably stupid. We need a new indivisible manual telling us what and how to fight the fascist reality we are facing.
Nobody here has said that the Dems will hold the Senate in 2024, blindly or otherwise. That might take a miracle. This post was only about the presidential race in 2024. As things stand right now I'm not seeing a viable Republican candidate, especially given how far right any candidate will have to go to get the nomination. Among other things the Dobbs decision, IMO, makes electing an anti-choice president impossible. Anti-choice candidates could win state and local elections, but not the White House.