The thread is about DeSantis.
An interesting question is that if Trump goes down before the R nomination as many here suggest he will, AND if DeSantis is as unexciting an orator / campaigner as folks are saying, AND so DeSantis too does not win the R nomination, …
Then who does win the R nomination? What’s left in that rogues’ gallery of R wannabes?
Back to DeSantis and enough with Trump.
Sorry, What_Exit. Just following the conversation and forgot the original topic.
Understandable, that’s why not even a modnote. Just trying to get back on track.
DeSantis is certainly attempting to pitch himself as a viable alternative to Trump.
“Yes, the truth will set you free,” Mr. DeSantis said. “Because woke represents a war on truth, we must wage a war on woke.”
His first national ad buy is going to start running on Monday.
Actually, for the evangelical = cultural reactionary / Xian-themed hater vote, DeSantis is by far a more sensible R primary candidate for the believers to back than is anyone else.
That’s really a constituency he ought to be able to succeed with. Will he? We’ll soon find out.
Hutchinson has the sane lane to himself. DeSantis’ prospects are going to hinge on how crowded the MAGA lane gets. One on one vs. Donald, maybe he wins the nomination. Add maybe Pompeo and Pence and Scott- who knows? Donnie’s hard core base won’t desert him and if the remainder of the hard right is split several ways, I don’t see where DeSantis wins it.
There is something seriously wrong with DeSantis and Republicans. I really hope they get absolutely obliterated in 2024. They certainly deserve it.
With what they’re up to in the abortion word I’d expect their opponents to get 100% of the female vote and about 75-80% of the male vote. Oughta be a slam dunk.
Hint: it won’t be.
a. Voters just about always think that the candidate they leaned to before the debate is the one who won. Here’s a correlary of that: Orator excitingness is some combination of electorally unimportant and impossible for someone outside the candidate’s lane to judge. Or, in other words, DeSantis is likable enough.
b. While we know that GOP primary seasons can be unpredictable, we don’t have a metric for predicting which way they will go. So the rational approach is to go by the best evidence we now have – polls. And polls consistently show that Trump is the GOP nomination front-runner, with DeSantis best positioned to win the nomination should DJT falter.
c, Something inside me can’t quite accept “b” above, as I keep on remembering the times Ben Carson and Herman Cain zoomed, from nowhere, to the top of GOP nomination polls, only failing because they turned out to be poor unvetted candidates. Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, from a GOP viewpoint, have little downside and a big own-the-libs upside. If I was DeSantis, I would be much more worried about them than their current dismal polling indicates.
Unless something has changed procedurally between 2020 and now, the R primary system is heavily loaded towards establishing the frontrunner real early and essentially forcing all the subsequent states to endorse the most favored candidate or be irrelevant.
That places a tremendous premium on coming out of the gate strong. Super Tuesday is going to be early on Mar 5, and the R primary season is effectively over that night if anyone has a big lead leaving that. Much less entering that.
Federally irrelevant and vibrantly unrepresentative Iowa & New Hampshire of course go first in our insane system. Then comes fairly calm NV, then Reactionary wacko hard Right SC. Then Super Tuesday from coast to coast.
If anyone is to alter the course of the R river, they need to be mostly done with their voter gathering long before Jan 22, 2024 when the IA caucuses meet in their barns.
Not to mention that charismatic brick known as Mike Pompeo. Though I’m sure both Trump and DeSantis are glad he’s opted not to run.
Steamboat Ronnie may have shot himself in the foot, money-wise:
GOP donor pulls plug on funding DeSantis over book-banning crusade
Thomas Peterffy, the founder Interactive Brokers Group Inc., previously [said]while he would vote for former President Donald Trump if he’s the GOP nominee in 2024, he would do what he can to make sure the party nominates a different candidate. …
Now, Peterffy said he and other donors are holding back from supporting DeSantis, who hasn’t formally announced his campaign. Peterffy added that they will be withholding all funding for candidates until it’s more clear which one could win the general election, Financial Times reported.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer dickhead!
Pompy has said he’s out? I hadn’t heard that yet.
Just yesterday…
Aha! Thanks for the link.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. There is something seriously wrong with DeSantis and the Republican party. How can anybody think that this is ok?
Because they’re thinking that the people it would hurt aren’t like them. They’re the “other”. The ray of sunshine is that the stances you must take to win the hearts of the heartless, and therefore the nomination, are going to doom you in the general election. You can’t win the nomination without kneeling before the altar of the almighty gun, you can’t win without calling for a national abortion ban, and you can’t win without hating LGTBQs. All of this make moderates and independents not want to vote for you.