I was in a house full of Republicans on Memorial Day. I was curious what they thought about the numerous GOP Presidential contenders. Not much. Most of them are convinced Donald Trump will be the nominee. That's certainly what the polls say, but he's also under four criminal investigations for (1) inciting a mob on January 6; (2) intentionally concealing confidential documents that included nuclear secrets; (3) pressuring the Georgia Sec'y of State to "find" the 11,000 or so votes he needed to win in that state; and (4) falsification of business records in Manhattan. Regardless how these pan out, it's safe to say he's going to be distracted. The constant media attention, and I agree some of it is very unfair, is bound to lead to Trump fatigue. So I doubt he will be the nominee.
I think it will be DeSantis.
I was surprised this weekend to hear a positive discussion of him on NPR, which is hardly a conservative outlet. It was with a writer for The New Yorker, which is hardly The American Spectator. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the program or the article. I could only find a reference in National Review.
Here's what I learned.
DeSantis grew up in a working class neighborhood, and his gift for baseball got him a scholarship to Yale. Students who attended with him say he was so smart and so outside the box that it was impossible to copy his work because only he thinks that way. He then graduated from Harvard Law. He served in the military, and in Iraq. He has a near photographic memory. During COVID, he read all the literature, not just the abstracts. His decision to care for the elderly, while keeping the state open for business, was in hindsight the right call. California, which had strict lockdowns, had about the same death rates as Florida. He's stubborn, as his current fight with Mickey Mouse proves. He has embraced an anti-woke philosophy. This does have an appeal among Republicans and even some Democrats, absent the book banning and the slurs against those whose sexual orientation are outside the norm. It's unclear to me how much of this is honest conviction and how much is opportunism.
He's quite formidable
Do the Democrats have anybody other than Biden? We really have a weak bench compared to Republicans.
UPDATED 11:30 AM: My thanks to a reader who was able to find the New Yorker article, written by Dexter Filkins.
46 comments:
I have received and have rejected a number of comments from right-wing lunatics that seem incapable of sticking to a subject. This post is not about vaccines or evil Democrats> Geez. This should be easy for Rs.
I certainly think it’s time to scrape the Trump family of grifters off the GOP. Trump will never say he’s not running because that would cut him off of the Republican National Committee money, which he needs to pay the attorneys defending him in all these cases. DeSantis is overly ambitious and is grabbing headlines but he has already done considerable damage to Florida’s economy by blowing Disney’s billion dollar business campus expansion. At least 2,000 jobs that will stay in California. If he couldn’t negotiate with the largest employer in his state what a disaster he would be on the world stage.
Looks like the GOP just handed Biden-Harris four more glorious years. Both parties need a complete reboot. Sad.
Wait I was told Desantis is worse than Trump. Receipts below. Bernie, if Trump is a racist, nazi, fascist (Per media) what does that make Desantis?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-desantis-trump-2024-elections-dangerous_n_6463fb43e4b06749be104b49
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/3590320-desantis-is-scarier-opponent-than-trump-say-dems/
I'm similarly a lone D in a family of Rs, all of whom I love dearly. But so many Rs are the kings and queens of projection. My R family members are constantly raging against the woke, suppodedly easily-triggered snowflake Ds. But these same folks themselves are instantly triggered and often go into full meltdown whenever they're challenged or even questioned about the veracity of their many targets in their ongoing culture wars with fellow Americans. As the eldest child in a large family, I do get some pleasure out of so easily triggering my family at holiday gigs. Looking forward to the family fireworks at our 4th of July picnic this year! Lol!
Trump brings out the super haters. His nomination will fuel the Dems into overdrive. Do they have anyone to beat him? Not sure, but I would rather have DeSantis give it a go before Trump. Too much drama with him. He had his turn. It would be nice if Trump could keep raising money for DeSantis, but he is too much of a narcissist to do that (and yes, I voted for him twice, but not this time if there is another option)
8:36 glorious years-- for who?
DumptRUMP, AKA Baggage Boy, AKA Don the Con. Never send an egotistical, bullying child to do a man's job. Elect a real man and leader. DeSantis 2024
“I was in a house full of Republicans on Memorial Day.”
Jealous that you got invited to Terry Houck’s Memorial Day BBQ…my invite must have gotten lost in the mail!
8:48, I agree he is scarier than Trump. He's a lot more intelligent, is squeaky clean and focused.
DNC is hoping that Trump survives the next 18 months as it will be another cake walk for Biden. They've also successfully painted DeSantis as a Trump lite candidate in order to keep their base motivated. The issue for the GOP if DeSantis wins the nomination on merit or by default is the very real risk of Trump supporters sitting out and refusing to vote for anyone who doesn't have Trumps blessing.
Honestly, the GOP should cooperate and expedite any or all of the ongoing investigations and bury Trump quickly and decisively. Remove and/or mute his influence now and with the speed of the national news cycle it will be out of the system in 6 months. Does this risk 2024? Yes, but honestly its a long shot anyway. Its more important to press reset then be ready for 2028.
Trump will early on name Tim Scott as his running mate to soften his image. DeSantis will pick Nicki Haley to soften him with women. This will be a fight to the finish & De Santis will not back down & hold his own against Trump personal shots.
Hard to argue against the capabilities of DeSantis to lead & Florida will miss him as Governor as he will ultimately roll over Biden/Harris at the polling places.
Write in ballot program by Dems is however hard to overcome unless Republicans engage their own 2000 mules!!
As a moderate Democrat, I'd consider holding my nose and voting for DeSantis. I like that he is 44 years old and his credentials are presidential. While I surely do not agree with all his positions, I have reservations about voting for a President who will be approaching 80 and I'm not impressed with Kamala Harris's performance as VP. If the Dems come up with an alternative to Biden/Harris , I would likely go that way.
Desantis served in Baghdad as a JAG legal adviser to SEAL Team One when he could have been making a ton of money at a fancy law firm. That tells me he has character. I like him but I wish he would let the Disney thing go. My favorite candidate is Tim Scott, but he’s too nice for todays politics I guess. If we were choosing based on being the smartest Vivek Ramaswarmy is smarter than all of them when he’s sleeping lol.
Would this be the article?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/27/can-ron-desantis-displace-donald-trump-as-the-gops-combatant-in-chief
BernieOHare to 10:38, That’s it! Thanks
You'd really like DeSantis conversations to not be about vaccines and mandates and masks. That's exactly why I like DeSantis. Your prayers for collective amnesia will not be answered. It's time to clear the air.
Point is neither party puts up great candidates anymore. In a 2020 rematch Biden wins hands down. God Bless America.
I believe tRump will be the next candidate again despite being a seditious traitor to his country because the Repub majority base at its core still enjoys and can not resist the clown show he puts on. They still enjoy his anti-woke, anti-intellectual, conspiracy theory rants which other R candidates cannot lower themselves to...at least not yet. Remember, the former Huckster in Chief has had years of conning people and banks out of their money long before he became president. He has honed those skills to become the greatest con man in history. There are still people out there with posters, shirts and flags depicting a draft dodger as Rambo, they will swear he is a great business man despite all his bankruptcies and won't show his taxes, they will show him with Jesus's hand on his shoulder when it's obvious his only religion is his next bucket of chicken and sexual encounter. For many on the Repub side this these things are not the bugs, they're the features. For these reasons amongst others I believe the cult base will carry him thru for the next nomination.
R's need to promote the mail in voting. It is not going away!!
11:55, He's definitely the party favorite at this moment.
"You'd really like DeSantis conversations to not be about vaccines and mandates and masks. That's exactly why I like DeSantis. Your prayers for collective amnesia will not be answered. It's time to clear the air."
I welcome a rational discussion about the efficacy of masks and vaccines. I disagree with DeSantis on his anti stances. In fact, DeSantis was initially very much for the vaccines. I'm unclear on whether his change was the result of a mutating virus or a matter of opportunism. I'd agree masks provide only limited protection and must be worn correctly. But something is better than nothing. I'd also agree that vaccines today are much less effective than they were at first. But something is better than nothing. I agree completely that the draconian lockdown imposed in Pa and other states did far more harm than good. Aegrescit medendo.
"Point is neither party puts up great candidates anymore. In a 2020 rematch Biden wins hands down. God Bless America."
I think the Rs have a deep bench and we have nothing.
I think he's memory-impaired, as he clearly has forgotten exactly where he stands on abortion laws.
It doesn’t matter if Trump becomes the nominee of the Republican Party, but I think he will be, creating a dilemma for that party. In the end, the next President will not be Donald Trump. Obviously, the Dems don’t want to lose the White House but, truthfully, the Republicans have no problem losing. They are not an honest opposition party, they are just role-playing here.
The Republican Party will find a way to destroy itself, it has lost the faith of its strongest supporters already due to its lack of support for another Trump term. That rejection will only grow.
Funny how supposedly senile Biden just cleaned the GOP's clock on the debt limit. He looks like a compromiser. The same for McCarthy, but he also looks like toast as a result.
I like Biden's experience. I don't trust either Trump or DeSantis to preserve democracy.
Then Desantis covered up the covid death results and fired the whistleblowers. And that's only a fraction of the authoritarian moves he has made. Rolls Eyes.
For someone that did a deep dive into the intricacies of covid. Why did blame the Biden administration for withholding the useless medication. The ones that weren't effective against omicron only the original strain.
The best thing for Desantis would be that trump has a "my pillow" in the swankiest cell at Rikers. Failing that he has to swim in the trump cesspool and beat trump at trump's game--well gotta admire Desantis's optimism. Then with a GOP primary winning he's gonna pivot to the middle--? to get the moderate vote for the general election.
After that he gets to deal with President Biden with trump whining to his followers about how Desantis robbed him.
Lastly quite a lot of women will want to punish republicans over the abortion issue--many more than the evangelicals can offset as Desantis has yet to make great inroads with that faction.
It might be a bridge too far for Desantis.
The "children can't get sick" candidate. Yeah, he's a keeper!
Trump will be our next President because most people realize how bad the politicians have screwed up this country, He will get rid of thew FBI and Justice department and replace them with good people not the shit we have now. Trump will also put in term limits to get rid of the career politicians. Trump is not afraid of the political class in this country. He will also clean up the fake media who lie to the people. Trump is superior to all the politicians out there.
I like my presidents with disgraceful heroin addicted kids and $5 million payments while he was VPOTUS. I also like my POTUSs to have taken inappropriate showers with their daughters (it's in her diary). That's what I want in a POTUS: a senile racist child toucher. Yeah.
Whoever votes for Biden is mentally deranged.
I am Pro Trump despite his idiotic ways..BUT with DeSantis in the race he will get my vote..He brings everything Trump could ever do to make the country and economy great without all the negative baggage and stupidity.
I must have missed where he got that clean debt limit with no strings that he insisted on. Both the far left and the far right are pissed off, always a good sign in my book.
Nothing to be scared of. We've got to bring this country back from the precipice of disaster that is Biden-Harris.
I voted for Trump twice, but no more. His petty arrogance went too far when he began attacking DeSantis before he even announced, and now mocking his former loyal press secretary by calling her a "Milktoast." I have Trump fatigue. DeSantis in 2024!
If its true that DeSantis would consider Nikki Haley for VP, that would win me over a bit. I too feel like Kamala Harris is MIA/incompetent as VP. I'd love to see a more pro-active VP, especially a young, smart female, being involved on a daily basis and she could really help that ticket.
Its sad how delusional some Trumplicans are with their pronouncements of what Trump will do when he wins again. He. Will. Not. Win. Ever.
It simply ignores all facts, logic and rational thought. He barely won the electoral college in 2016 against an awful candidate in Hillary Clinton. He spent 4 years in office with little to show for it other than helping Mitch McConnell get 3 justices on the Supreme Court. During his 4 years in office, he managed to lose majorities in both the House and the Senate, then got bounced out of the White House in 2020, acted like a sore loser and emboldened a crowd of supporters to attack congress. None of this is a proven track record of "winning". Trump voters and supporters are clearly still out there and haven't left, but as lack luster as Biden has been, there has been no major shifts in polls to indicate any massive level of voter remorse, otherwise the 2022 midterms would have turned out much differently.
Trump and by extension the current GOP have record LOW favorability with voters under the age of 40. College graduates and suburban voters used to be solid Republican voters but that has badly eroded over the past 25 years. The GOP base is elderly, rural and minimally educated, all 3 of those demos are shrinking. Baby Boomers are now dying at a higher rate which is tilting elective power towards younger voters.
Other than George W Bush's second term in 2004, a Republican presidential candidate hasn't won a popular vote in this country since 1988.
I get hope and faith, I really do, but where in all of that does anyone have optimism for Trump getting elected President again?
It was crack cocaine. Get it right.
"Other than George W Bush's second term in 2004, a Republican presidential candidate hasn't won a popular vote in this country since 1988."
True indeed. The current state of the country reflects the left's conquest. Trillions in debt, WWIII boiling, social strife and division, youth suicide and addiction, lawlessness: we're one big San Francisco, the ultimate manifestation of the progressive agenda.
And that is why people would vote for trump again.
DeSantis doesn’t have a chance. He is too thin skinned and won’t be able to take the pressure. He is no longer in the military, and his state is one of the worse states in our country. Trump will be in jail for all of the crimes he committed and you republicans, yes you too Bernie, should be ashamed of what the republicans have become over the last decade. For me there isn’t a Republican worth my vote, and the young Americans who are being discriminated against based on the last decade will vote out all of the old republicans who are worthless, which are the majority.
As for our president, Biden, has done a wonderful job passing numerous bills, while working with the Kill America Republicans, and still move our country forward. Hey Bernie, how about writing the many bills Biden has passed as compared to tRump.
Biden is our only shot at preserving democracy. Trump and DeSantis are literally fascists. And he's doing a good job, considering where we were when he took office.
Just what we need, another one of these characters
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/judge-disqualifies-himself-disney-desantis_n_6479b7b4e4b02325c5e01b67
De sanctimonious is a great man. Just appears to lack in the concept of consistent messaging. Who doesn't these days.
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