Trump vs. DeSantis, one more round
There will be a lot more of this sort of thing before the 2024 campaign is through:
For reasons that make sense to no one but his most ardent supporters, Donald Trump has decided to engage in a ridiculous smear campaign against Ron DeSantis. That culminated on Tuesday in the former president twice sharing a picture and post accusing the Florida governor of being a groomer and ephebophile.
RedState reported on that, noting that the picture in question has never even been confirmed to be DeSantis and was first revealed years ago by a far-left propaganda outlet. Assuming the picture is real, though, it would have been from a party for graduating seniors that DeSantis chaperoned when he was a teacher in his early 20s.
Former students have said that he did chaperone parties on campus while teaching (this was a boarding school with on-campus housing). None of them have accused him of anything but normal behavior, and if the scandal here is underage drinking in the 1990s, please hang on a moment while I laugh out loud.
I think the attacks do “make sense,” though. Trump knows DeSantis is his strongest rival, and Trump is using techniques from the playbook that helped get him the nomination in 2016. So far, DeSantis isn’t responding on that low level; he keeps pointing to his strong accomplishments as governor instead. I think that’s a wise move.
This fight has the potential to further split the already-split party in 2024, especially if Trump doesn’t win the nomination and decides to run as an independent.
https://youtu.be/gT9xuXQjxMM
It is based on a 2021 story by hillreporter.com website, and Trump is retruthing (?) a post by @Magnanimous.
Trump didn’t initiate the “smear”. When DeSantis responded, he didn’t say it wasn’t him, just that he doesn’t spend his time smearing fellow Republicans.
The story has been out there, and someone was going to use it. Better to get it out there now, rather than the middle of the campaign, ala Access Hollywood.
If true, it does show poor judgment if, even as a young teacher, he was partying with students and certainly illegal.
Most politicians would rely on surrogates to smear their opponents. That’s not Trump’s style.
I’m more concerned with some of DeSantis’ votes on free trade while in congress.
In a lot of respects, Glen Youngkin might be a better candidate than DeSantis– though his positions might not be any different than DeSantis on trade.
https://hillreporter.com/exclusive-pic-ron-desantis-accused-of-attending-drinking-party-with-students-at-high-school-where-he-taught-115220
trump may not have “initiate” the smear but he was aiming this at Rep voters, not Dems. I do not give a pass at trump for doing this.
Trump probably has some reasons, besides DeSantis being a rival.
Some quick Examples:
*The former president claimed that DeSantis voted against a border wall while in Congress, adding, “Wow, if I knew that I wouldn’t have Endorsed him (and he would have had to quit the race, down 35 points!).”
*He promoted a baseless assertion that DeSantis’ 2018 election was fueled in part by Trump’s election conspiracy theories.
*Trump criticized DeSantis for endorsing the prosecution of Jan. 6 rioters.
Not sure of the validity of these points considering its from our State Run Media, MSLSD, but with the Uniparty in Washington seeming to be on-board with DeSantis, NeverTrumper, Anti-Trumper (Dailywire… ahem) and the Insta-Trolls on board with Desantis, too,
I am getting increasingly suspicious and more anti Desantis for … 2024.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/feud-trump-desantis-already-taking-ugly-turn-rcna69743
C’mon guys… the InstaTrolls are Pro Desantis for 2024 – at least before the Republican Nomination.
Getting flashbacks of McCain in 2008.
What complicates the issue is that DeSantis isn’t running yet and, as far as I know, hasn’t really even indicated he will run but is being massively talked up as a stalking horse by everybody in the GOP who hates Trump. I mean, I’m not sure about foreign policy or trade but DeSantis is pretty darn Trumpy on immigration and other issues.
Mike
the time is too serious for this sort of garbage, like the carp roger stone picked up from the stinky end, I will stand with anybody on principle, but not this garbage,
hillreporter is a den of scum and villainy, has he learned nothing from the dustups with karen mcdougal or stormy daniels or that crone carroll?
I hate it, it won’t end well.
DeSantis I want but his time if it ever is isn’t now in the middle of major vote fraud that he has so little chance of winning.
Trump is getting older but it’s a losing cause so why not 2024?
I don’t think, based on DeSantis’s performance since becoming governor of Florida, that comparisons to McCain are apt. He understands, and has applied, the basic principles of individual freedom and rejection of government coercion.
it is really dissapointing, who is he listening to, there are plenty of targets, worthy of aiming at, and that some excuse it because reasons doesn’t make sense,
It’s a truly cringeworthy attack that makes him look worse than De Santis.
I think the GOP candidates should abide by Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment – Speak no ill of a fellow Republican.
Debit e the issues, the experience levels, the accomplishments, etc. Don’t smear one another. The MSM and Dems will do that soon enough.
Trump knows how to play rough. All those years in New York real estate were undoubtedly quite tough and required some hard-edged stuff. He isn’t afraid to go there.
IMO, the average GOP voter doesn’t like this kind of smear. On the other hand, Trump’s hard-core supporters will stick with him, no matter what he does.
At this point he’s not my first choice because I’m convinced the DOJ is going to indict him and he already has a ton of baggage from all the attacks on him and his family. I don’t blame him for wanting revenge and another term would be the sweetest revenge for him. After all, most of the smears against him have been total fabrications. But there are too many LIVs who don’t know the facts and think he’s a baaaad man.
I like what I’ve seen of Desantis as Florida’s governor. I have no illusions about the way he will be smeared by the Dems and MSM – it is and will continue to be vicious. That’s just the lay of the land right now. If you are a talented Republican, you’re going to get smeared.
Pompeo, Pence, Youngquist, and Nikki Haley are all possibilities for the primaries, but right now I favor DeSantis if he runs.
That some Never Trumpers seem to like DeSantis can be chalked up to the fact that he’s more polished and doesn’t have the rough edges and excess vanity that Trump has. It seems simply a matter of preferring the personality of DeSantis. We’ll see.
In the end, I will support full-heartedly whoever the candidate turns out to be. We must win the presidency in 2024 to have any chance to preserve our freedom. A hard-fought primary should not divert us from the main goal.
I have given up holding Trump in high esteem. He was one hell of a good president (Abraham Accords, anyone?) despite his often absurd tweets, endured the phony, malicious Democratic slander, the garbage dossier commissioned by Hillary and the DNC, the Pelosi-isms, the absurd House Jan.6 impeachment committee stacked with Democrats.
But loudmouth Trump’s voice now seems disconnected from the wisdom and ability acquired by experience and age to distinguish friend from from foe. He seems like an old boxer, punch-drunk.
I’m with DeSantis.
Did anyone notice the House applause when Paul Pelosi entered? Sickos.
First, is this a legitimate story?
Compare the picture of a man with the three girls, and then compare the picture in the annual. It looks like the same person.
Does it show poor judgement by a young teacher to be at a party with students holding what appears to be a beer bottle (if the picture is real)?
The Democrats aren’t going to bring the story up until DeSantis wins the nomination (if he runs and wins). You can bet they will publish it in every liberal MSM publication in the country, if he becomes the nominee.
Trump just “re-truthed” a post already on Truth Social by someone named Dong-Chan Lee.
More accurately, the Red State story is just an attempt to smear President Trump.
Trump, one of the two great presidents of my lifetime, can’t really think this benefits him, can he????
“that some excuse it because reasons doesn’t make sense,”
DeSantis is like Ukraine. He’s the battleground on which a war is being fought between Trump and the GOP establishment which hates Trump. And DeSantis is adding fuel to the fire by appearing to be content to play footsie with the Trump-haters.
Mike
“distinguish friend from foe.”
As long as DeSantis is flirting with running for President, he’s not Trump’s friend.
“I think the GOP candidates should abide by Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment – Speak no ill of a fellow Republican.”
And that’s how you end up with candidates like Bob Dole and Mitt Romney and Presidents like George W. Bush.
Mike
Odouls near beer its a waste of electrons
I shouldnt have to explain how inapt that metaphor is.
“I shouldnt have to explain how inept that metaphor is.”
It’s not perfect but it gets the job done. A metaphor that’s an exact match isn’t a metaphor. It’s just a description.
Mike
Oooh look, there’s somebody reporting what Donald Trump is supposed to have said and telling us all how bad a person he is for saying all these mean things, and instructing us all how to perceive this analysis and accept it at face value and – all together now – Hate Donald Trump Who Is Practically A Nazi.
Seems just like old times, eh? I think I’ll watch what he does and ignore what ‘he is said to have said’, as this seemed pretty reliable before…..
Me too, Aggie.
When the Headline about Trump has the word ‘Deranged’, yould think it was from our vaunted Mainstream Media.
Nope. It’s from Redstate.
Talk about a full court press.
I think the GOP candidates should abide by Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment – Speak no ill of a fellow Republican.
Gerald Ford’s surviving staff might wish to take exception to the notion that Reagan himself was thorough and consistent in observing said commandment.
I think Trump can work on being courteous to deSantis. DeSantis is not a declared candidate. (I also wish Trump would reconsider running; time to pass the baton).
I’m in the Desantis camp. Trump is toxic to many conservatives and independents. I like the Trump policy results but dislike the Trump personality. Many of my fellow conservatives dislike Trump’s persona. And I’m not sure that Trump is on board with the anti illegal immigration agenda (Kushner). He could have done much more in that regard.
The Trump agenda is what all conservatives should aspire to. I want Trump’s policy prescriptions without his personality.
And that’s how you end up with candidates like Bob Dole and Mitt Romney and Presidents like George W. Bush.
No it isn’t. You ended up with those candidates because (1) they were favored by BigDonors, and that confers and advantage; and (2) because for more that a generation, a critical mass of Republican primary and caucus participants favored the same candidate: The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is*. Not sure of how many, but my guess is that about 1/3 consistently favored this candidate, and that created a floor which could be supplemented with voters for whom the actual Guy in question was their considered choice. (In truth, the BigDonors may have favored this Guy because they wanted to be on the winning team). One curio about the 2015-16 donnybrook is that this vacuous constituency abruptly evaporated.
*The Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is is the incumbent president or the runner up in the most recent competitive contest, with the proviso that candidates who evince a tendency to adhere to a position in the teeth of public opposition cannot be The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is. Pat Buchanan may have been a surprise in 1992 and Rick Santorum may have done well in 2012, but they were too principled to be The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is, so didn’t get the donors or the oaf voters. (Ronald Reagan managed a tour-de-force in being able to fill this role while also having a fixed viewpoint). The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is was Gerald Ford in 1976, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, George Bush the Elder in 1988 and 1992, Robert Dole in 1996 (the referent being his performance in the penultimate competitive contest in 1988), George W. Bush in 2004, John McCain in 2008, and Mitt Romney in 2012. None of the candidates in 2000 could qualify as The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is, so the donors and clots repaired to the son of the most recent Republican incumbent.
The original Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is was Richard Nixon. Over the period running from 1804 to 1956, there were 16 vice presidents who did not succeed to the presidency and who had the opportunity to seek the presidency without challenging the incumbent for whom they worked. Only three were ever candidates for President in a general election: one running on the line of a minor party, one running as a candidate of the Southern faction of the Democratic Party on the eve of the Civil War, and just one a conventional party nominee. Prior to 1890, VPs who ascended to the Presidency shuffled off at the end of their term having been ignored by their party’s nominating convention. For over 150 years, the vice presidency was not a way station to the presidency unless the incumbent president died in office. Yet, in 1960, the Republican presidential nomination was handed to Richard Nixon without even token opposition, in spite of the fact that Eisenhower was not all that impressed with him and his preparation otherwise consisted of five years as a legislator and working for a few years as an associate in a transactional law firm. In spite of blowing the 1960 election (a career ender today), he was handed the nomination again in 1968, with only weak opposition from Nelson Rockefeller (who won 1 primary) and pro forma opposition from Ronald Reagan (who announced his candidacy on the day before the vote on the presidential nomination). It was always his turn. Not sure anyone has truly explained the rapport Richard Nixon had with the Republican electorate.
Go away already, Trump. This style will not win elections.
Trump is behaving as a I feared he would, and hoped he wouldn’t.
I thought he was a good President; not great but good, very good perhaps. Before he was President, I thought he was a nasty man. I believe that I was right on both counts.
Oh, and Aggie. All Trump has to do is say that he did not say that. Listening.
“for more that a generation, a critical mass of Republican primary and caucus participants favored the same candidate: The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is*.”
And why did that happen?
From 1955 through 1981, Democrats controlled the U.S. Senate. Democrats controlled the U.S. House from 1955 through 1995. Decades of the GOP needing the Presidency to have ANY real power in the federal government produced a “get in line” mindset in contrast to the “heard of cats” making up the perpetually-in-the-majority Democrats.
But that reality ended in the mid 90s, thanks to Bill Clinton. Maybe you can excuse the habit of obedience persisting in 1996 and even 2000…but McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012? If the GOP establishment had not responded to the utterly disastrous end of Bush the Younger’s Presidency by changing absolutely nothing, who knows how long it might have been before Republican voters started thinking for themselves.
Mike
Voter Fraud has not been addressed.
Mean Tweets and ‘style’ instead of results makes the decision.
Believing the distortions of smooth tongue liars verses thinking for oneself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpEDSvaP_-8&t=10s&ab_channel=rudessjo
Sad to see this kind of thing happen here.
Those who do not think must feel.
When I refer to Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment, I’m referring to down low smears, not questions about previous accomplishments, policy issues, physical/mental fitness, or ideas about solving problems. All these are fair game, but making accusations of moral turpitude without clear evidence does not help the party’s cause. But it does help the Democrats come general election time. It’s more fodder for their smear machine.
Nobody seems to notice when the neocons smear Trump
Nobody seems to notice when the leftists smear Trump
It is all a one way observation.
So be it.
John Condon:
Nobody notices? Are you kidding me?
We’ve been noticing since 2017 and even before.
I didn’t like Trump during the 2016 campaign, but I praised him as president and so did most people here. And people like Bill Kristol went off the deep end and never returned.
I’ve also written tons of posts on vote fraud. There’s a search engine here that makes them pretty easy to find.
This is unbelievable. Th ever Trumpers are going to loose us another election against a far left candidate with declining mental facilities., Its like there some actual form of evil out there running things.
If true this is putting modern Puritanism on previously accepted norms. The drinking age was 18 in most states until the mid 1980s, later in some states, so the term “underage” would apply to only high school juniors and not many seniors by the spring. And having a few legal beers with a well liked teacher in a social environment would be a treat. This sort of commentary from someone who hung out with porn stars? Riiiiight.
But it is another reason I am tiring of Trump. These antics are tiring. Then the wild eyed supporters are getting even more tiring. I used to like Conservative Treehouse but now they are frothing conspiracy nuts about any Republican not Trump.
I regret voting for both Bushes and especially Romney, who I despise at this point as a total liar and liberal. But Desantos I am not worried about being a Romney, so see Republican attacks on him as self-defeating. Argue policy and I’ll listen.
Neo: My original choice in 2016 was Ben Carson (Ted Cruz, like Mike Pence, was yet another DC Swamp creature that I did not trust)
With words flung such as “EverTrumpers, Puritanism, wild eyed supporters (see above, Neo), there is a reason why we are finished.
I look forward to your likes trying to explain these words to us “Trump Supporters” come election time.
We won without the Cruz nuts in 2016. Think your gonna win all 75 million of us in 2024 with words like that?
Enjoy your candidate, Ron Desantis.
Gonna have to walk back words like that real hard. Gonna be a veritable Moonwalk.
.
John Condon,
I, also, was a Carson supporter in 2016. JFYI.
“We won without the Cruz nuts in 2016. Think your gonna win all 75 million of us in 2024 with words like that?”
My view, is that Trump won in 2016 because he picked up a significance number of MotR voters who viewed Hillary with total disdain. I have a number of those in my family. I know, small sample size and anecdotal. However, none of those people would ever vote for Trump again due to his eccentric and off-putting behavior. I think if he is to be nominee, then deranged Biden (or maybe Newsom) takes the election in a landslide without any fraud.
and there is myopic thinking, have they not seen what not voting for trump has led us to, what part of the foundations of the constitution have not been weakened, in these last two years, i don’t know how much can be recovered if we get the White House starting in 2025
“However, none of those people would ever vote for Trump again due to his eccentric and off-putting behavior.”
Mean Tweets are eccentric? Troll behavior to his opponents eccentric?
Sounds like some Mike Pence voters.
Vanity and Hypocrisy of people who think they are above such behavior (Note the epithets in this blog aimed at Trump and his ‘supporters’).
Trump was an outsider.
Sarah Palin was an outsider.
The more I hear about Ron Desantis, the less I trust him and we will have a return to the (s)election of elitists as we have had since Reagan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ4SSvVbhLw&t=97s&ab_channel=openyourfuckingeyes
So tell your family to sit back, polish up their newly minted chrome plated politician and wonder why the bugs they are eating taste a bit more bitter than did last year.
But hey, he’ll coo in their ears and talk nice and they’ll say “ain’t he wunnerful!!! He’s so nice!!!!”
.
well there is the theft factor, sorry fortifying elections, to consider,
The Trump/Lindell campaign slogan = My Country (use promo code when voting).
DeSantis 2024.
It’s not 2016 any more. I am as outraged about 2020 as anyone else here. But we’ve had 2022, and in several crucial places, candidates who were nominated primarily as Trump loyalists didn’t win. We need to have the whole right side of the nation unite against the left this time around. Policies are the most important thing. Building a competent administration from day one is also very important. The candidate who shows me a focus on policy and competence will get my primary vote. Whoever the nominee is will get my vote in November 2024.
This morning, I saw Trump’s tweet with the cartoon where Trump is a boxer and DeSantis’s head is the punching bag. What juvenile tripe.
It’s eye-opening to see a crass brawler like Trump go after someone you do or could support. It gives a diferent perspective. DeSantis supporters, and even DeSantis agnostic Republicans, can now see Trump from the same perspective as the millions of soft Republican voters who either voted for the Democrat or stayed home in 2020 and 2022.
Mean tweets indeed. Trump can continue to make all of the mean tweets he wants from MAL after 2024. I just hope that’s not after he hands yet another election to the D team.
To begin with, Biden being senile or incompetent has nothing to do with him winning the 2024 election. Did we learn nothing from the last two elections? The election fortification operations will work as they have been. No legal redress is to be had for any detected shenanigans. It does not matter what kind of candidate the Ds run. The election fortification is there to see to it that the D gets the majority of votes. Being brain-damaged or even dead is no obstacle.
My home state is about to require mandatory voting, all by mail of course. The fix will be in forever, because turnout will no longer be an issue, and anyone who doesn’t feel like voting will have a vote cast for them, for the D. Since my home state is a one-party D state they can easily do that, and see to it they stay that way forever no matter how crappy the candidates.
Biden is not “vulnerable” like Jimmy Carter or Lyndon Johnson were. And if DeSantis is the Republican candidate the media will just slot his name into the “Trump” narratives like Mad Libs. Have we learned nothing? Every Republican presidential candidate is Hitler in the election year. (Actually Emmanuel Goldstein.) There’s already been one mainstream drama where DeSantis was portrayed as an accused homosexual rapist. Most voters will not know anything about DeSantis but the media’s lies. Where have we all been since 1980?
Unless elections are reclaimed it will not matter who the candidates are. One side of the aisle gets to sit on top of the hoop, kick the ball, and is allowed to make 4-point shots, while the other cheerfully plays straight man. Getting a new head coach or power forward will not solve the problem.
Elections have to be reclaimed, and it has to be done in red states first. Falling in with candidate drama just makes life easier for the fortifiers of elections, because you’ll be buying into their narrative that the elections are fair and you just missed it by that much.
What Frederick said.
(Unfortunately.)
I’ll just add that even making the claim (with proof) that any election shenanigans occurred will soon be declared a Federal felony…if this hasn’t been done already, “de facto”—cf. the “legal” organization targeting the “intransigent”, “deplorable”
“insurrectionists” run by the illustrious Marc Elias.
WRT the need for the public to fall in line to the official Narrative, Covid was, apparently, a dry run.
There were several kinks in the methodology to “iron out”.
The next iteration will be much “improved”.
(Cf. the difference between “Elections” 2020 and “Elections” 2022)
Hey! Remember when Russia was supposed to have blown up their own pipeline because…reasons?
https://www.newsweek.com/did-joe-biden-attack-russias-nord-stream-pipelines-1779948?amp=1
Mike
(Ted Cruz, like Mike Pence, was yet another DC Swamp creature that I did not trust)
That’s actually a bizarre description of Cruz and Pence.
Frederick, you’re right to say that at this time we can’t win states like yours. But we could win states like mine (NC) and others where elections still are elections, and we need a candidate who can draw moderate Rs and even Ds to to vote for him (at this point, but I’ve no objection to a female candidate in the future).
actually Pence proved very swampy from his memoir, from lying straight out about general flynn, to the way he underplayed the operatives like jennifer walters and olivia toye that were the fly in the ointment,
Decades of the GOP needing the Presidency to have ANY real power in the federal government produced a “get in line” mindset in contrast to the “heard of cats” making up the perpetually-in-the-majority Democrats.
==
Your thesis does not fit the chronology. The phenomenon persisted for > 30 years after the Republicans broke the Democrats’ lock on Congress. Somehow, it was not manifest for 25 years after Democrats took control of Congress in 1932. The Republican conventions in 1940, 1948, 1952, and 1964 were quite competitive and contentious (so was the 1976 convention, while we’re at it).
==
I used to like Conservative Treehouse but now they are frothing conspiracy nuts about any Republican not Trump.
==
The frothing conspiracy nut aspect of The Conservative Treehouse has always been there. I’ve also had a suspicion that much of what they present as knowledge of given situations is just imaginative reconstruction.
We won without the Cruz nuts in 2016.
You win with votes. There are few combox sectaries among ordinary voters. Keep in mind that the most controversial Mr. Trump had at the end of 2019 an approval rating among self-identified Republicans similar to that of George W. Bush in 2003, Ronald Reagan in 1983 and Richard Nixon in 1971 (in each case, just north of 90%). The Republican presidents who were viewed skeptically within their own party were Gerald Ford and George Bush the Elder (with north of 20% demurring in each case).
==
You have a bloc of self-identified Republicans who will vote for the Democratic candidate in any given year. Over the period running from 1976 to 2004, that bloc was an irreducible 9%, to some extent a residue of Rockefeller Republicans and to some extent a concatenation of those with idiosyncratic concerns which will change in composition from one election to another. “Obamacons” and “NeverTrumpers” are fodder for ‘news’ stories, but have no popular analogue. NeverTrumpers were more consequential because they included, sub rosa, the Congressional Republican leadership.
The candidate who shows me a focus on policy and competence will get my primary vote.
My reservations about DeSantis are about how he has let culture war issues dominate his public image. Some of that is because of lies from the MSM, like “Don’t say gay.” He did well on the illegal immigration front.
I agree that CTH has gone a bit too far in its criticism of DeSantis but it is still a valuable source.
Well, if DeSantis announces, then he’ll have to answer questions about foreign policy which are outside his purview as a governor. He’s been solid on immigration as a governor. He is attacking the “woke” ideology head-on in schools and colleges, which is where a lot of our cultural rot comes from. So far, so good.
I voted for Trump twice and I appreciated some of the things he did, especially appointing judges however I don’t think Trump really understood how to play the chess game of D.C. politics. Trump was a one man medicine show salesman and he had no idea how to use the power of his office to fire the people attacking him and he was unable to listen to his lawyers when he needed to shut up and stop trying to win the popularity contest of the day.
A good leader picks a smart, well seasoned team of advisors who know how to work behind the scenes playing political chess planning moves three of four steps ahead of the opponents instead of reacting to their moves. His home grown family team was probably not the best choice when he was being attacked every day by vicious insects nibbling at his ankles, enough bites and a person can no longer function and the D. C. maggots are master nibblers.
I don’t think Trump has learned any lessons from his previous time in office and while I give him a lot of credit for the good things he did I also hold him responsible for not using his office to clean out some of the FBI and other alphabet power hungry leadership. Trump’s desire for approval of the masses got in the way of his making hard, legal decisions during his first months in office when he needed to be the bad guy, Trump just persisted in being Trump and he did that all the way through January 6th when a whole group of nice well meaning people showed up and were used in the ‘made for TV’ mess that is still going on.
At this time we, the conservatives, need to concentrate on having good fair elections. I have no idea how to do that; however I am hoping we can get behind some thoughtful political chess players who know how the game is played at the national level and help us choose strong candidates who can run on positive ideas. I am tired of the vote for me because I am not as bad as the other guy candidates and I really don’t want another person in office who sells his points in the media and then issues statements like, “Nanny, Nanny, Bo Bo, stick your head in do do.” we don’t need anymore of that stuff.
Last thing we need at all levels are smart party leaders who don’t take anything for granted, vetting candidates, obtaining signatures, all the details that can cripple our party’s race at the smallest micro level, don’t be stupid or naive. Get some younger decent men and women to run for office who can pass every test, no hidden recordings about grabbing women parts and no lies about their credentials and past. With this many people in our nation there must be some good decent folk to run for local, state and national offices.
Perhaps Ron Desantis is a good choice, I don’t know; and instead of Never Trump I am thinking, isn’t there someone else without the baggage and a better understanding about the office of president? These are questions, not statements, someone with more knowledge and resources than me needs to do the homework and come up with the answer, then convince me.
I voted for Trump in 2020 becasue I knew that Biden was a drooling idiot but I am convinced now that Donald Trump is a completley disgusting human being and unelectable anymore..
@Kate:But we could win states like mine (NC) and others where elections still are elections,
Every day this becomes less true. Candidates don’t matter, not for national office. Protecting elections is what matters. The Ds in NC will vote lock-step for Biden’s shambling corpse, and they will do ballot-harvesting if they can and all the other shenanigans, if ever given the chance. The next time NC goes majority-D in the state legislature it’s forever. Voting DeSantis will not help you, and neither will withholding your vote in the primary from a bad R candidate. That is not how or why people vote in national elections any more. They’re not looking for the best man or the best set of policy positions. It’s not 1980.
Republicans have to win on counted ballots, not issues or candidates. Counted ballots come mostly from the stupid, the lazy, the unengaged, and the people who didn’t even vote–principled followers of politics are a tiny minority. The Democrats figured this out long ago. The national Republican Party figures are mostly content with the grift as it is.
Art Deco:
I agree on Conservative Treehouse.
Hmm..
Here’s an interesting “strategy”, though…
“Democrat mayor, entire New Jersey township council switch parties, from Democrat to Republican”—
https://justthenews.com/government/local/democrat-mayor-entire-new-jersey-town-council-become-republicans
OK, OK, the township has 11,000 people…but you gotta start somewhere…
(“Transformation” one can live with….)
Lookee here!
Andrew Cuomo jumps on the (NJ?) bandwagon.
Still doesn’t have a clue, though.
(He seems to believe that “Biden” really truly wants to make the southern border secure…not realizing that for President Fentanyl the southern border is ALREADY secure…and that “he” intends to make it even more so!
(Sort of like, in the good old days, when Cuomo could be criticized for not doing more to make the lives of elderly New Yorkers safer…)
“Andrew Cuomo blasts Biden over migrant crisis: ‘The southern states were right’ “—
https://nypost.com/2023/02/09/andrew-cuomo-blasts-biden-over-border-migrant-crisis/)
Cuomo’s gonna have to work much harder on the quality of his “epiphanies”….
It’s painfully obvious that Trump’s main goal is not to be elected president again, not even to be nominated again, and certainly not to save the country from the Democrats or to advance any kind of policy agenda that would serve the interests of the country and his supporters (current or former).
HIs primary (and only acheivable) goal is to keep his cheesy personality cult going. Perpetuating this silly cult (which serves only Trump’s childish ego and the wallets of his cynical shills) requires that there never be another Republican president (other than Trump) as long as Trump is alive. So Trump and his gargoyles are effectively working to keep the Democrats in power for the rest of Trump’s life.
At this point, Trump is a godsend to the Democrats.
“Make America Great Again,” my —.
Ballot harvesting is illegal in NC, and we will soon have the Voter ID law we approved several years ago. We do need to do more on getting out the early vote.
@Barry Meislin:“Transformation” one can live with….
Personnel is policy. Have all these Ds come to Jesus and are embracing new principles, or are they just more RINOs? This makes a difference. Rs who vote with Dems have been greasing the slope to where we are today.
@Kate:Ballot harvesting is illegal in NC, and we will soon have the Voter ID law we approved several years ago.
Until a judge or consent decree or a Secretary of State decide otherwise, or if the people who carry out these intentions decide they don’t wanna. The people who work for the NC government who have to implement these things vote nearly all D.
The people who work for the NC government who have to implement these things vote nearly all D.
People who work in the education and social services apparat vote Democratic. Other public employees, not so much.
We already went through that, Frederick. The outgoing 4-3 D Supreme Court made two last-minute adverse rulings just before the new 5-2 R Court took office. The rulings will be reconsidered, and chances are good they will be overturned. The state GOP has successfully sued to prevent the state BOE from changing rules illegally. Our Sec. of State has nothing to do with it.
@Art Deco:People who work in the education and social services apparat vote Democratic. Other public employees, not so much.
In other words, “nearly all D”, just as I said, since “other” is an afterthought, and a hell of a lot of them vote D too. What do you think state governments spend on? In North Carolina about 75% of the state budget is education and social services. The state universities alone are over 20% of state employees, and about 25% are in health and human services.
And 30% of NC state employees are African-American–what do you suppose their party affiliation is?
In other words,
After which you misrepresent my point.
In North Carolina about 75% of the state budget is education and social services.
It does not seem to occur to you that Medicaid finances care provided by employees working under various auspices.
The state universities alone are over 20% of state employees, and about 25% are in health and human services.
The hourly employees of the state universities are not political ideologues as a type. Neither are salaried support staff. Neither are hospital employees.
@Art Deco:The hourly employees of the state universities are not political ideologues as a type. Neither are salaried support staff. Neither are hospital employees.
If you have evidence of how numerous those people are and how their party affiliation differs, kindly show it, and not just say “nuh-uh” to the evidence I presented.
It does not seem to occur to you that Medicaid finances care provided by employees
LOL, I worked for 8 years for one of the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care providers so I have a pretty good idea about how it works…
Kate – Your Democrat SoS can still screw things up. In 2020, the PA Secretary of State advised local election boards that they should ignore PA statues governing election procedures. Counties governed by Democrats did just that.
Yes i didnt trust cuomo pere certainly not his son, but hes an outcast no for the wrong i understand sundance and trumps reasonings i think they are just aiming at the wrong targets
Bauxite, elections and election law do not fall within the job description of the NC Sec. of State. What happened in PA and some other states, where the SoS does have this authority, doesn’t apply here.
Kate – That’s good to hear.
For what its worth, nbcnews HAS reported this story, saying that Trump did put this message on twitter.
In other words, NBC news is reporting this alleged action by Trump, as the truth:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-escalates-attacks-ron-desantis-2024-clash-brews-rcna69712
To clarify what I said, in my comment, above:
NBC news is saying that- Mr. Trump [did] retweet, on twitter, this shaky rumor about Mr. Desantis.
I don’t think Trump is yet using Twitter, but I could be wrong. As I understand it, what he did was “re-truth” (or whatever they call it) the photo and link on his Truth Social.
yes its a pointless exercise, thats’ why nbc caught it,
Kate – Your Democrat SoS can still screw things up. In 2020, the PA Secretary of State advised local election boards that they should ignore PA statues governing election procedures. Counties governed by Democrats did just that.
The Secretary of State has no authority over elections in New York.
LOL, I worked for 8 years for one of the nation’s largest Medicaid managed care providers so I have a pretty good idea about how it works…
Uh huh, which is why you confused state financing with state employment.
And 30% of NC state employees are African-American–what do you suppose their party affiliation is?
If they’re not working in elections administration, why do I care?
NC is about 20% black, as is my own neighborhood. I have worked for some years on elections in Wake County, either the largest or second-largest county by population in the state. There are lots of African-Americans working for the Board of Elections year-round. The county does a very good job of following state election laws. I don’t see that the skin color of the elections staff has any effect on results.
Is “Truth Social”, Trump’s copy or competitor, of Twitter?
I don’t know about TS.
Truth Social is the competing platform Trump put up after being booted off Twitter and leaving Washington. I think it works pretty much like Twitter.
@Kate,
Great. Thank you. 🙂