It’s funny how Biden is seen by Republicans as senile and yet he skillfully outflanked them at the SOTU address on Social Security and Medicare.
The unknown quantity with DeSantis’ run will always be Trump and Trump supporters, some of which have gone over to the Ron side but others are still full-fledged followers of TFG. How the 2024 primaries pan out will depend on how that base picks sides in the end, and it could still go either way.
I wonder how public perception of DeSantis will be affected by Disney’s lawyers handing him his ass.
DeSantis is being criticized for his campaigning while severe flash flooding has struck Ft. Lauderdale, a city just north of Miami.
Supposedly, big money donors are concerned.
But that’s not their only complaint
Sounds like he’s doin’ great! 
Perhaps they’re concerned that RD’s policies will prove real popular and he’d be elected, but he’s not actually going to just let the fat-cats run the country to their liking. Whatever else you care to say of Trump, he was so busy stuffing his own pockets that he really didn’t much care how much others were stuffing theirs. RD might not be so … preoccupied.
That is indeed interesting.
Among other things, it implies a nationally popular Republican must be a non-politician (like Trump). As in, has never held elective office.
Or badly.
Even professional pundits can’t accept this, but it is true.
The American presidential debate that mattered was the very first one in 1960. Nixon wore the same color suit as the set background. DeSantis (and Biden) would not make that mistake because the handlers all know about it.
Indeed. The War With Disney can be a signal that RonDe is, as I put it in another thread, leaning in the direction of a putinist fascicm, of expecting the big capitalists to be subservient to the political ruler and being willing to use the power of the state to punish them for political dissent.
It does, and it gives an explanation, other than an own-the-libs race focus, for the Ben Carson and Herman Cain boomlets I can’t forget.
But your mentioning the above reminds me of some limitations of the focus group approach. I can’t believe them incapable of voting for a politician – that’s just what they say in front of other Republicans.
In the general they will vote for “Heroic Whoever (R)” and they will do so in huge numbers to prevent “Evil Embodied (D)” from DESTROYING AMERICA!!1! as they’ve been told will certainly happen if they don’t. Whether “Heroic Whoever (R)” is a pol or not is utterly immaterial in that contest.
In the primaries they may or may not vote at all depending on their individual enthusiasm. But, tautologiclly, some (R) will win the (R) nomination whether with huge turnout or lackluster turnout. So whether it’s a politician or a non-politician is almost moot in that contest too.
But …
If one wants to place a bet ahead of time on who the nominee will be then insider/outsider matters a lot. It’s yugely important for consultants, pundits, party strategists, and Dopers.
Celebrity “outsider” non-politicians have been very successful in being elected all over the world in the last 15-20 years by no-nothing populist-leaning parties of both left and right. Here in the USA it’s the Reactionary Right that has embraced no-nothing populism, and so is best positioned to put up a celebrity as a solution. I think somebody like e.g. Sean Hannity would be a very formidable candidate for the R nomination.
DeSantis is losing ground in Florida and his trips to DC aren’t getting him anywhere
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ personal appeal to congressional Republicans in DC on Tuesday night appears to have spectacularly backfired, as Florida lawmakers continue throwing their support behind Trump in the 2024 presidential race.
I think this dickhead is over now:
Yeah, they’re trying to score points on the dumb bastard (Christie is considering running–hahahaha!), but they are solid points about him not being a real conservative, etc.
But the real reason DeSantis is over is that he’s threatening to build a prison next to Disneyworld. Uh huh. The right likes to pretend to be the party of law and order as well as business, and then it threatens to weaponize criminality against a pillar of the state’s economy?! WTF/SMH/ETC.
In this whole sordid affair, DeSantis seems:
He’s done.
Not to mentioned ineffective, outsmarted by his target, and made to look like a fool.
Right! Playground bully got the beatdown.
I will point out that list could easily be applied to the other unmentionable R front runner. Which list has certainly seemed like a recipe for success for That Other Guy.
Then again, That Other Guy seems to have a lock on that particular lane in the R primary race. Which suggests DeSantis needs a different schtick & quickly or he will in fact be done. At least as to 2024.
Let’s hope DeSantis doesn’t collapse too completely. Remember, the best-case scenario is that he (or another person not Trump) wins the nomination by a nose, and Trump destroys the GOP by blasting the nomination as “stolen” while attempting to run as an independent.
As others have said, if the original band is playing (even if old and tired) why book the tribute act?
Trump is criticizing DeSantis for being anti-business in this case, and Trump was arguably pro-business in most respects. FWIW, Biden has actually kept most of what Trump did in terms of tariffs, trade agreements, etc. Even Trump’s tax cuts are still around.
Trump’s bad characteristics are popular with the MAGA base when he is winning (and I guess also when he claims he was cheated out of a win). DeSantis is clearly losing. I don’t think he gets the MAGA props when there’s a beta dawg alert out on him.
Being a dick and getting punched in the dick is all he seems to have at this point.
I saw that someone on Twitter called him “Diet Trump”.
That questionable perception is why he can win a general election.
As to wining the nomination, I don’t think he will. But those battles are unpredictable.