“No one…as in no one…wants Trump to win. And if this means voting for Anybody But Trump, we’re there for it”.
To all my Bulwark friends- I think we can agree that the current Republican Party represents an ongoing threat to our democracy. I don’t know if the party is salvageable but I do know that as long as the GOP keeps winning elections, they have no…as in zero…motivation to change. So, how about this…you stop voting for republicans, any and all republicans, until they loose enough elections and are brought to their senses. If the GOP goes back to being a normal party, then vote for all the republicans you want. Until then, you need to vote for dems or independents. A hard pill to swallow, but a necessary one.
When I was in 8th grade I ran for student council president of my middle school. My family didn't own a printer so I wrote out hundreds of "Vote for Maggie!" stickers with colored Sharpies.
And my launch was better than DeSantis' launch. And, not to brag, but I had the 3rd and 4th grade vote on lock because they all knew me as a crossing guard for the safety patrol.
I feel a little like Tucker Carlson. I know I don't really want to be a bad person who takes pleasure in the misfortune of others. But it seems I am.
DeSantis's suffering and utter humiliation is absolutely exquisitely enjoyable. It couldn't happen to anyone who deserves it more!
No, wait, there actually is one other person who deserves it more-- but let us not let that detract from the beauty of the moment.
And to see Elon Musk share in the moment... priceless. I think the humiliation of two world-class assholes is worth every penny of Elon Musk's wasted expenditure!
DeSantis is making the same mistake people some on the left made (e.g. Liz Warren). They think the super online activists on Twitter are who they should cater to and as a result have become super online. The average GOP voter is in their 60's and not on Twitter. Whoever is advising this campaign shouldn't be allowed to run a campaign for homecoming king.
In your wildest imaginations, could you have ever dreamed it was going to be that much fun to do last night's live stream?
When your party's two front runners are Trump and DeSantis, I think I'd much rather be the other party, even with an octogenarian candidate who has trouble speaking publicly. I'll say this for Biden and his crew: They know Biden's limits. They know what he can and cannot do. And in DeSantis's case, this whole setup was concocted to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, such as looking human and talking to reporters. But it still became an epic embarrassment. Because you have a bunch of people who are high on their own supply, who think that because they're rich it's impossible for them to be incompetent at anything. What a bunch of clowns.
My question is what happens when Trump gets charged with many serious crimes, like using confidential documents for his own benefit, sedition, attempting to ove through the Georgia election, and many others I don’t even know about. Are the Republicans hoping that one of the charges will disqualify him from running, or do they have the ability to find a solid bottom? So far, there is no sign of it. The House Republicans want Trump more than they want the American economy to continue functioning.
DeSantis is certainly proving to be a very strange and inept candidate. All he has in his favor is several very rich people who don’t want Trump but don’t mind an angry fascist.
I'll go ahead and say it: unless Ron DeSantis's target is a gay teenager, he's sorely outmatched. This Twitter Spaces thing boggles the mind. There's a reason everyone does "the speech at an important location" route for their campaign launch: it's a visual medium that gets you in front of as many eyeballs as possible with a clear message.
Even if Twitter was a competently run website and Spaces didn't crash, how many of DeSantis's target voters - conservative retirees, have Twitter, let alone know how to join a Space?
Don't get me wrong, DeSantis isn't quite dead on arrival. But he's got a long way to go to appearing even competitive in the race now. I'd give him like a 15% chance to win. And that's grim.
His campaign motto is "Make America Florida" and he can't even be bothered to launch his campaign on home turf? The same turf he holds so dear he wants the rest of the country to reflect it? It was exactly the launch event DeSantis deserved.
Personally I don’t care who wins the “tin-foil” hat primary. If it’s Trump;’he’ll most likely be in jail. The Smith investigation has teeth the size of a 60 foot great White Shark.
If it’s DeSatan; his draconian record in Florida should be enough to sink him. Abortion bans, book banning, Disney, LGBTQ laws, and his authoritarian tendencies, etc...
DeSantis has turned Florida into a kleptocratic kakistocracy. We’re already seeing a rain drain away from Florida with professors, doctors and nurses leaving the state. Disney canceled a billion dollar project that would have created 2,000 jobs; other companies are projected to follow suit.
Bottom line: America won’t elect a fascist. And with his record, democrats have the receipts...:)
Honestly, I find talking about DeSantis to be less interesting than talking about all the guys who have been trying to talk up DeSantis, in particular, the donors. Make no mistake: the only reason DeSantis is in this position is because for months now, the media and the donors who are looking for someone, anyone, to replace Trump have been boosting DeSantis.
And it's not hard to see what they see and what they think is important when you look at the guy. You have a governor of a big red state who does conservative things and who ostensibly listens to them, the powerful people, and who likely won't try to go after them. He's also a white guy. All of this fits the bill of what a traditional GOP candidate is: a white guy from a red state who has been in government and who isn't likely to upset the interests of the monied class of the GOP.
But here's the thing, and it's the most important bit that they claim to want but have been overlooking: the case for DeSantis is that he's not internet poisoned like Trump, that he's living in the 'real world' and not being dragged about by every random internet outrage of the day. Their argument is that Trump is insane because he's too online, and DeSantis is not as online, so he's more likely to actually accomplish things.
But that ignores the reality of DeSantis, who is as brain poisoned as Trump is, if not more. The guy who the donors have been floating as not crazy and who appeals to moderates and independents launched his campaign on the website that is swiftly turning into Truth Social 2.0. The guy who they claim appeals to regular people spends his time legislating against random niche red pilled issues. The guy who they say appeals to people in Iowa's campaign slogan is 'make America Florida' which is perhaps second only to 'make America Ohio' in how bad it is, and that's without mentioning that it's just a rip off of 'make america great again.'
And I can't help but point out that DeSantis isn't going to be able to run as the 'winning' candidate without saying Trump lost. The arguement being put forth by the DeSantis boosters is that 'we need a winner.' Well, these people say that Trump was cheated. And if he was cheated, that means he never lost. Meaning, that he won. So if he won, then he's still a winner. And if he's still a winner, then DeSantis can't be more of a winner than him.
This is because he can't possibly run against Trump, because Trump controls roughly 40-50% of the GOP base by default. Those are his die hards, the ones who are there for him, not the GOP. They don't translate. But no one can win a nomination without them either. And we can probably say that around 20-30% of the GOP, even if they're not Trump die hards, are still interested in him and approve of him in a general sense.
The other thing is, DeSantis feels like a tribute band version of Trump. Before the hyper-online issues, before the 'he's a winner' issue, before the base being for Trump issue, the core arguement for DeSantis was 'he's Trump but he'll go further than Trump.' Which is a bit like saying 'they're like Motley Crue but they rock harder.' You're just playing someone else's hits! You have no identity of your own! Say what you will about Mike Pence or Tim Scott, men who are not going to win the nomination, they at least have their own identities. Strip away the Trump-lite part of DeSantis and what you're left with is a weirdo from Florida who can't think for himself.
Reality is, there is no 'not trump' lane in the GOP so long as the base loves Trump.
DeSantis: If you want a racist, misogynistic conman, why settle for DeSantis when you can get the original? But if Trump is as dead as Elvis, or a judge and jury have taken him down, then Republicans will have to go with a pale imitation, and DeSantis is the best faux-Trump on offer.
Elon: If Musk didn't have a controlling interest in Twitter, he'd be out on his ear this morning. He'd have been fired by Tweet.
“No one…as in no one…wants Trump to win. And if this means voting for Anybody But Trump, we’re there for it”.
To all my Bulwark friends- I think we can agree that the current Republican Party represents an ongoing threat to our democracy. I don’t know if the party is salvageable but I do know that as long as the GOP keeps winning elections, they have no…as in zero…motivation to change. So, how about this…you stop voting for republicans, any and all republicans, until they loose enough elections and are brought to their senses. If the GOP goes back to being a normal party, then vote for all the republicans you want. Until then, you need to vote for dems or independents. A hard pill to swallow, but a necessary one.
When I was in 8th grade I ran for student council president of my middle school. My family didn't own a printer so I wrote out hundreds of "Vote for Maggie!" stickers with colored Sharpies.
And my launch was better than DeSantis' launch. And, not to brag, but I had the 3rd and 4th grade vote on lock because they all knew me as a crossing guard for the safety patrol.
I feel a little like Tucker Carlson. I know I don't really want to be a bad person who takes pleasure in the misfortune of others. But it seems I am.
DeSantis's suffering and utter humiliation is absolutely exquisitely enjoyable. It couldn't happen to anyone who deserves it more!
No, wait, there actually is one other person who deserves it more-- but let us not let that detract from the beauty of the moment.
And to see Elon Musk share in the moment... priceless. I think the humiliation of two world-class assholes is worth every penny of Elon Musk's wasted expenditure!
What we have here... is
FAILURE to Com- MUN -icate.
FAILURE, to Com-MUN-icate.
FAILure -- tap tap tap -- is this on?
Who could have guessed? Twitter turns out to the the Four Seasons Landscaping venue of the internet.
I always look forward to Morning Shots, but I generally don't laugh so loudly that I wake up the cat AND the dog. Congratulations, Charlie!
"What we heard last night was a botch, wrapped in humiliation, stuffed into the backseat of a clown car."
A turducken of political and technical incompetence.
DeSantis is making the same mistake people some on the left made (e.g. Liz Warren). They think the super online activists on Twitter are who they should cater to and as a result have become super online. The average GOP voter is in their 60's and not on Twitter. Whoever is advising this campaign shouldn't be allowed to run a campaign for homecoming king.
In your wildest imaginations, could you have ever dreamed it was going to be that much fun to do last night's live stream?
When your party's two front runners are Trump and DeSantis, I think I'd much rather be the other party, even with an octogenarian candidate who has trouble speaking publicly. I'll say this for Biden and his crew: They know Biden's limits. They know what he can and cannot do. And in DeSantis's case, this whole setup was concocted to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, such as looking human and talking to reporters. But it still became an epic embarrassment. Because you have a bunch of people who are high on their own supply, who think that because they're rich it's impossible for them to be incompetent at anything. What a bunch of clowns.
My question is what happens when Trump gets charged with many serious crimes, like using confidential documents for his own benefit, sedition, attempting to ove through the Georgia election, and many others I don’t even know about. Are the Republicans hoping that one of the charges will disqualify him from running, or do they have the ability to find a solid bottom? So far, there is no sign of it. The House Republicans want Trump more than they want the American economy to continue functioning.
DeSantis is certainly proving to be a very strange and inept candidate. All he has in his favor is several very rich people who don’t want Trump but don’t mind an angry fascist.
I'll go ahead and say it: unless Ron DeSantis's target is a gay teenager, he's sorely outmatched. This Twitter Spaces thing boggles the mind. There's a reason everyone does "the speech at an important location" route for their campaign launch: it's a visual medium that gets you in front of as many eyeballs as possible with a clear message.
Even if Twitter was a competently run website and Spaces didn't crash, how many of DeSantis's target voters - conservative retirees, have Twitter, let alone know how to join a Space?
Don't get me wrong, DeSantis isn't quite dead on arrival. But he's got a long way to go to appearing even competitive in the race now. I'd give him like a 15% chance to win. And that's grim.
So, am I really seeing this right: Donald Trump actually sent out a message in which he associated himself directly with Adolf Hitler and Satan?
Wow. Color me impressed. Finally something truthful emerges from him as the blind squirrel finds his acorn.
His campaign motto is "Make America Florida" and he can't even be bothered to launch his campaign on home turf? The same turf he holds so dear he wants the rest of the country to reflect it? It was exactly the launch event DeSantis deserved.
Personally I don’t care who wins the “tin-foil” hat primary. If it’s Trump;’he’ll most likely be in jail. The Smith investigation has teeth the size of a 60 foot great White Shark.
If it’s DeSatan; his draconian record in Florida should be enough to sink him. Abortion bans, book banning, Disney, LGBTQ laws, and his authoritarian tendencies, etc...
DeSantis has turned Florida into a kleptocratic kakistocracy. We’re already seeing a rain drain away from Florida with professors, doctors and nurses leaving the state. Disney canceled a billion dollar project that would have created 2,000 jobs; other companies are projected to follow suit.
Bottom line: America won’t elect a fascist. And with his record, democrats have the receipts...:)
Decorum... I do not think that word means what you think it means, MTG.
Sorry, huge Princess Bride fan.
Honestly, I find talking about DeSantis to be less interesting than talking about all the guys who have been trying to talk up DeSantis, in particular, the donors. Make no mistake: the only reason DeSantis is in this position is because for months now, the media and the donors who are looking for someone, anyone, to replace Trump have been boosting DeSantis.
And it's not hard to see what they see and what they think is important when you look at the guy. You have a governor of a big red state who does conservative things and who ostensibly listens to them, the powerful people, and who likely won't try to go after them. He's also a white guy. All of this fits the bill of what a traditional GOP candidate is: a white guy from a red state who has been in government and who isn't likely to upset the interests of the monied class of the GOP.
But here's the thing, and it's the most important bit that they claim to want but have been overlooking: the case for DeSantis is that he's not internet poisoned like Trump, that he's living in the 'real world' and not being dragged about by every random internet outrage of the day. Their argument is that Trump is insane because he's too online, and DeSantis is not as online, so he's more likely to actually accomplish things.
But that ignores the reality of DeSantis, who is as brain poisoned as Trump is, if not more. The guy who the donors have been floating as not crazy and who appeals to moderates and independents launched his campaign on the website that is swiftly turning into Truth Social 2.0. The guy who they claim appeals to regular people spends his time legislating against random niche red pilled issues. The guy who they say appeals to people in Iowa's campaign slogan is 'make America Florida' which is perhaps second only to 'make America Ohio' in how bad it is, and that's without mentioning that it's just a rip off of 'make america great again.'
And I can't help but point out that DeSantis isn't going to be able to run as the 'winning' candidate without saying Trump lost. The arguement being put forth by the DeSantis boosters is that 'we need a winner.' Well, these people say that Trump was cheated. And if he was cheated, that means he never lost. Meaning, that he won. So if he won, then he's still a winner. And if he's still a winner, then DeSantis can't be more of a winner than him.
This is because he can't possibly run against Trump, because Trump controls roughly 40-50% of the GOP base by default. Those are his die hards, the ones who are there for him, not the GOP. They don't translate. But no one can win a nomination without them either. And we can probably say that around 20-30% of the GOP, even if they're not Trump die hards, are still interested in him and approve of him in a general sense.
The other thing is, DeSantis feels like a tribute band version of Trump. Before the hyper-online issues, before the 'he's a winner' issue, before the base being for Trump issue, the core arguement for DeSantis was 'he's Trump but he'll go further than Trump.' Which is a bit like saying 'they're like Motley Crue but they rock harder.' You're just playing someone else's hits! You have no identity of your own! Say what you will about Mike Pence or Tim Scott, men who are not going to win the nomination, they at least have their own identities. Strip away the Trump-lite part of DeSantis and what you're left with is a weirdo from Florida who can't think for himself.
Reality is, there is no 'not trump' lane in the GOP so long as the base loves Trump.
DeSantis: If you want a racist, misogynistic conman, why settle for DeSantis when you can get the original? But if Trump is as dead as Elvis, or a judge and jury have taken him down, then Republicans will have to go with a pale imitation, and DeSantis is the best faux-Trump on offer.
Elon: If Musk didn't have a controlling interest in Twitter, he'd be out on his ear this morning. He'd have been fired by Tweet.