The Race For 2024

[lpetrich]

What Went Wrong for Ron DeSantis - The New York Times - Dec. 24, 2023 - "The Florida governor entered the year flush with cash and momentum. In the months since, internal chaos and Donald Trump’s indictments have sapped even his most avid supporters."

In speaking with voters, the governor reverts to a word-salad of acronyms — D.E.I., COLA, C.R.T. — and rushes through the moments when crowds burst into applause. He delivers a stump speech filled with conservative red meat but has not shown the empathic instinct to make deeper connections.

...
“He lacks charisma,” Mr. Scaer said in an interview later. “He just doesn’t have that.”

If the great promise of the DeSantis candidacy was Trump without the baggage, Stuart Stevens, a top strategist on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, said that what Republicans got instead was “Ted Cruz without the personality.”

“There was a superficial impression that DeSantis was in the mode of big-state governors who had won Republican nominations and been successful — Reagan, Bush, Romney — but DeSantis is a very different sort of creature,” Mr. Stevens said. “These were positive, expansive, optimistic figures. DeSantis is not.”

 

[Ford]

Ron DeCeased … campaign ‘suspended’ (euthanized) to the great surprise of NOBODY.

Damn. Ron ain't been beat this bad since he got out of the ring with Mickey Mouse...

 

[Derec]

Damn. Ron ain't been beat this bad since he got out of the ring with Mickey Mouse...

That's not a nice thing to call Gavin Newsom.

 

[TomC]

Damn. Ron ain't been beat this bad since he got out of the ring with Mickey Mouse...

That's not a nice thing to call Gavin Newsom.

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

 

[Derec]

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

RdS and Goodhair debated (i.e. the proverbial ring) not too long ago.

 

[TomC]

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

RdS and Goodhair debated (i.e. the proverbial ring) not too long ago.

I never paid much attention.

Are you saying that DeSantis got his butt kicked by both Disney and Newsom?
Tom

 

[lpetrich]

Ron DeSantis drops out of Republican presidential race | Ron DeSantis | The Guardian

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” he said in a statement posted on X. “He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

Until the middle of last year, he was mounting a formidable challenge to Donald Trump.

In November 2022, DeSantis cruised past the Democrat Charlie Crist to win a second term in Tallahassee. In his victory speech, he crowed: “We have embraced freedom. We have maintained law and order. We have protected the rights of parents. We have respected our taxpayers and we reject ‘woke’ ideology.”

Referencing Winston Churchill, a near-mythic figure on the American right, he went on: “We fight the woke in the legislature. We fight the woke in the schools, we fight the woke in the corporations. We will never ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”

He received a rapturous reception, supporters with an eye on 2024 chanting “two more years” and the New York Post branding him “DeFuture”, as speculation abounded that Rupert Murdoch was finally set to move on from Trump.

But despite formidable fundraising, a seemingly strong campaign structure, strong polling and a rising Republican star in his wife, Casey DeSantis, after a long run-in to a formal campaign declaration, little went right.

His fight with the Disney Corporation. His seeming stilted and awkward, as if he was clumsily following instructions on how to do social interaction. Sending immigrants to Democratic states. ...

 

[lpetrich]

‘God spoke to me’: Ryan Binkley’s quixotic quest for the Republican nod | New Hampshire | The Guardian - "The pastor from Texas is an extreme long shot in New Hampshire, but he’s forging ahead with his lonely bid"

In a movie, Ryan Binkley would be storming towards the presidency.

At more than 6ft tall, with a strong jaw and an athletic physique, Binkley looks the quintessential Hollywood vision of a political leader. The long-shot Republican candidate for president wears well-cut suits and has a full head of dark brown hair. He has a lovely set of teeth, nice shiny shoes, and he smells nice.

But Binkley’s problem? No one knows who he is.

...
The sum total of his efforts so far has been almost zero attention from US media, a lot of puzzlement when he introduces himself to people, and 774 votes in Iowa.

What is he running on?

Binkley is trying to sell people his version of Republicanism: budget balancing and small government, with a heavy dash of Christianity-inspired social conservatism. It’s the faith bit that inspired Binkley to run for president.

“I am a business owner, I’m a pastor,” he said.

“And God spoke to me many years ago about this. It became increasingly clear that he had a message for our country that … I think is this: we are so far in debt, we’re at a precipice. Something’s coming financially that we’re not ready for. I don’t know what it is.”

and

Binkley has a plan to balance the US budget, and would rein in health insurance companies so Americans can receive better medical care. If elected president, he would “focus on people truly struggling financially”, he said, by improving education and offering job training.

Seems like Clintonism.

Who he is:

Binkley, a high school football star who has an MBA from Southern Methodist University, may have made his money in finance, but it is Create church, the Christian church he co-founded with his wife, Ellie, that appears to be his passion. Housed in a gigantic building just north of Dallas, it’s the kind of modern American church where a band plays electric guitars and keyboards on stage, and parishioners raise both hands in the air and close their eyes as they pray.

 

[lpetrich]

Republican Presidential Candidate: Ryan Binkley

He is the co-founder and current CEO/president of Generational Equity Group, a merger and acquisitions business advisory in Texas. Ryan and his wife are co-founders of Create Church, where Ryan is the lead pastor.

Binkley’s campaign focus includes immigration reform and border controls, boosting the economy, privatizing healthcare, utilizing cheap energy sources like nuclear energy, and supporting pro-life policies.

 

[thebeave]

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

RdS and Goodhair debated (i.e. the proverbial ring) not too long ago.

I never paid much attention.

Are you saying that DeSantis got his butt kicked by both Disney and Newsom?
Tom

More like the opposite:

DeSantis-Newsom debate has sudden end, just after Hannity announces last-minute extension

As the debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was wrapping up Thursday night, a few minutes past the 90-minute mark that was originally agreed upon, Fox News moderator Sean Hannity asked the two whether they'd debate again. After Newsom said he could debate all night, Hannity said he'd extend the debate to a full two hours.

But after a commercial break, Hannity announced that the two were unable to stay longer after all. A DeSantis source who was backstage, as well as another source on the ground not affiliated with either campaign, said Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had walked onto the stage during the last commercial break — after Hannity seemed to have secured an agreement from both governors to continue the debate — and ended the debate on behalf of her husband.

Seems even Gavin's wife thought he was getting his ass kicked. If it was the other way around, she would have wanted him to continue, no?

As far as Disney goes, they're currently digging their own grave, with or without De Santis' help. Their movies are shit these days.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Damn. Ron ain't been beat this bad since he got out of the ring with Mickey Mouse...

That's not a nice thing to call Gavin Newsom.

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

Mickey Mouse isn't the CEO of Disney either.

 

[TomC]

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

RdS and Goodhair debated (i.e. the proverbial ring) not too long ago.

I never paid much attention.

Are you saying that DeSantis got his butt kicked by both Disney and Newsom?
Tom

More like the opposite:

DeSantis-Newsom debate has sudden end, just after Hannity announces last-minute extension

As the debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was wrapping up Thursday night, a few minutes past the 90-minute mark that was originally agreed upon, Fox News moderator Sean Hannity asked the two whether they'd debate again. After Newsom said he could debate all night, Hannity said he'd extend the debate to a full two hours.

But after a commercial break, Hannity announced that the two were unable to stay longer after all. A DeSantis source who was backstage, as well as another source on the ground not affiliated with either campaign, said Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had walked onto the stage during the last commercial break — after Hannity seemed to have secured an agreement from both governors to continue the debate — and ended the debate on behalf of her husband.

Seems even Gavin's wife thought he was getting his ass kicked. If it was the other way around, she would have wanted him to continue, no?

As far as Disney goes, they're currently digging their own grave, with or without De Santis' help. Their movies are shit these days.

You really believe that, don't you?
I can well imagine Trumpistas making that claim.
Tom

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

The Colorado case was premature.

Accusation is not the same as conviction.

The 14th amendment doesn't require conviction.

Fine, I accuse the entire 118th Congress of the United States of treason; I accuse them individually, collectively, and severally.

Excellent. Hire a lawyer and take them to court. Don't spare any expenses on legal fees. Maybe other libertarians will chip in to support your efforts.

Not necessary. According to Zipr all that matters is that an accusation exists.

 

[thebeave]

I don't believe that the CEO of Disney is Newsom.
Tom

RdS and Goodhair debated (i.e. the proverbial ring) not too long ago.

I never paid much attention.

Are you saying that DeSantis got his butt kicked by both Disney and Newsom?
Tom

More like the opposite:

DeSantis-Newsom debate has sudden end, just after Hannity announces last-minute extension

As the debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was wrapping up Thursday night, a few minutes past the 90-minute mark that was originally agreed upon, Fox News moderator Sean Hannity asked the two whether they'd debate again. After Newsom said he could debate all night, Hannity said he'd extend the debate to a full two hours.

But after a commercial break, Hannity announced that the two were unable to stay longer after all. A DeSantis source who was backstage, as well as another source on the ground not affiliated with either campaign, said Newsom's wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had walked onto the stage during the last commercial break — after Hannity seemed to have secured an agreement from both governors to continue the debate — and ended the debate on behalf of her husband.

Seems even Gavin's wife thought he was getting his ass kicked. If it was the other way around, she would have wanted him to continue, no?

As far as Disney goes, they're currently digging their own grave, with or without De Santis' help. Their movies are shit these days.

You really believe that, don't you?
I can well imagine Trumpistas making that claim.
Tom

I don't have any reason to disbelieve it.

Wouldn't a "Trumpista" (a Trump supporter, I guess?!) want de Santis to look like a miserable, bumbling failure in this debate? A display like that would cause some undecided GOP'ers to swing towards the Trump camp, would it not?

 

[Copernicus]

The Colorado case was premature.

Accusation is not the same as conviction.

The 14th amendment doesn't require conviction.

Fine, I accuse the entire 118th Congress of the United States of treason; I accuse them individually, collectively, and severally.

Excellent. Hire a lawyer and take them to court. Don't spare any expenses on legal fees. Maybe other libertarians will chip in to support your efforts.

Not necessary. According to Zipr all that matters is that an accusation exists.

No, you actually need to convince a court that you have a case. That was easy to do with Trump's record. I'd like to see someone trying to convince a court that Biden was likewise guilty of having engaged in an insurrection.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

The Colorado case was premature.

Accusation is not the same as conviction.

The 14th amendment doesn't require conviction.

Fine, I accuse the entire 118th Congress of the United States of treason; I accuse them individually, collectively, and severally.

Excellent. Hire a lawyer and take them to court. Don't spare any expenses on legal fees. Maybe other libertarians will chip in to support your efforts.

Not necessary. According to Zipr all that matters is that an accusation exists.

No, you actually need to convince a court that you have a case. That was easy to do with Trump's record. I'd like to see someone trying to convince a court that Biden was likewise guilty of having engaged in an insurrection.

I didn't write "Biden", I wrote "the entire 118th Congress of the United States ... individually, collectively, and severally."

I wonder how you messed that up when the exact words are a few lines up? But anyway, which court convicted Trump of treason?

Still, the whole mess with the ballot access is evidence of how our system is screwed up because the political parties should have government support for their primaries. At this point they are private organizations and if they want to have a primary they should fund it themselves.

The LP of Florida actually met the qualifications to have a taxpayer supported primary. Then they submitted to have one. The state of Florida turned them down. Normally I would say that their applying in the first case was bad, but I think (hope) they did it only to make a point.

If the parties run their own primaries, the Secretary of State wouldn't have thing one to do with them doing so.

Now we have a potential situation in Colorado where Nikki Haley may win the primary while Donald Trump wins the caucus, and both claim victory and ownership of the delegates for that state. Because the government is involved in the decision making of a private organization, which it shouldn't be.

The SCOTUS may very well force the states of have Trump on the ballot, when they should rule to not have these particular ballots.

As per the Iowa results, I am glad that DeSantis beat Hillar^y^t^tHaley. Now on to New Hampshire where Haley is counting on Democrats to vote for her in their open primary. The problem is, the Democrats are also actually having a primary for some reason and forgot to put Biden on the ballot. So Haley is saying "vote for me in the Republican primary" while Democrats are saying "vote for Biden in the Democrat primary".

 

[Copernicus]

The Colorado case was premature.

Accusation is not the same as conviction.

The 14th amendment doesn't require conviction.

Fine, I accuse the entire 118th Congress of the United States of treason; I accuse them individually, collectively, and severally.

Excellent. Hire a lawyer and take them to court. Don't spare any expenses on legal fees. Maybe other libertarians will chip in to support your efforts.

Not necessary. According to Zipr all that matters is that an accusation exists.

No, you actually need to convince a court that you have a case. That was easy to do with Trump's record. I'd like to see someone trying to convince a court that Biden was likewise guilty of having engaged in an insurrection.

I didn't write "Biden", I wrote "the entire 118th Congress of the United States ... individually, collectively, and severally."

I wonder how you messed that up when the exact words are a few lines up? But anyway, which court convicted Trump of treason?

OK, but it doesn't actually matter whether you said "Biden" or "118th Congress" to my point. You still need a court to adjudicate the process, and that is what happened in the state of Colorado. They did not need a treason conviction, because the precedent for 14th amendment disqualification never required any criminal conviction in the past.


See: The precedent for 14th Amendment disqualification

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Nice. Your reply doesn't say where Trump was convicted, which was my specific question.

Are you saying there was a court in Colorado that accused, tried, and convicted Trump of insurrection?

 

[Copernicus]

Nice. Your reply doesn't say where Trump was convicted, which was my specific question.

Are you saying there was a court in Colorado that accused, tried, and convicted Trump of insurrection?

No, I'm saying that the Colorado court determined that Trump fell under the disqualification clause in the matter of having participated in an insurrection. Your idiotic legalistic argument is totally irrelevant, since no such conviction was needed in order to disqualify him from a ballot for public office. Don't worry about it. The Supreme Court will take a stab at getting him back on the ballot--possibly by trying to say that Jan. 6 was not technically an "insurrection" in the sense intended by the framers of the 14th. That's within their prerogative, and the can basically make up any pretense they want for getting the guy eligible to get back into the office and finish the job that he tried to accomplish on Jan. 6.

 

[Elixir]

According to Zipr all that matters is that an accusation exists.

Republicans have already set that precedent with The Big Lie.