Buttigieg slams DeSantis over LGBTQ-focused ad

The entire platform built on “trans-attack” is baffling to me. They make up, what, like less than 1% of the population? Yet it takes up the majority of their talking time. To me, ot sends a message that they have nothing good to talk about, so they invent screaming points to direct away from substance.

 

Is Buttigieg chest feeding these days ?

CDC Jumps the Shark, Advises Trans People on 'Chestfeeding'

*nothing to see here

 

DeSantis went from someone I liked in his handling of covid to someone who i won't vote for now. Crazy. My biggest thing is how do these campaigns not have someone who is truly an independent and can say "hey, that issue is a non starter for a huge part of the population" or "that is next level dumb, don't run that ad".

 

“seems like an unpleasant person” really lept out. I think it describes him perfectly from everything he’s done and I’ve read about him.

However, we know from the election of Trump that a substantial number of Americans don’t care about character and integrity in their president. DeSantis is clearly a threat to our traditional values, but many agree with him. It’s alarming.

 

He visited the Pulse memorial in 2019 and met with local Dems, including a gay congressman. Seems like a different world. If I had to guess, he's more the guy he is now than the one in 2019 who thought there were certain niceties Republicans had to display. As people have pointed out, I'm not sure who this ad is helping him with, it almost makes Trump look like a more decent person lol.

 

He looked to be a fantastic governor in 2019, before Covid. But Covid turned him, or exposed him, to who he is today.

 

That makes some sense, and I agree.

DeSantis may also feel based upon Trump's success in the party and the attention garnered by MTG and others, that being "mean" and tough is what the times demand. Of course, as nasty as Trump has been since he came down the escalator, he was also a known commodity for many years and has the charisma and sense of humor to balance out that side of him. Trump is also usually careful to attack individual people, or the media as a group even - but he usually doesn't go after all Democrats or entire groups of people.

I feel like perhaps voters put a lot of weight on authenticity and a leader who is comfortable in their own skin. The little things like DeSantis changing the way he pronounces his name or asking Gaetz how to say things without alienating Trump voters seem small but may signal to people that he's still trying to figure out who and what he wants to be.

 

The platform needed a fundraising foil after Roe was overturned. That ship sailed.

Ergo, Mrs. Doubtfire will now turn your kid non-binary.

It’s not complicated math.

 

He was fantastic during Covid. Since then? Nothing but bad moves in my view.

 

Yes. He is a believer. As his poll numbers plummet, he has doubled and tripled down. He acts like someone willing to lose the presidency for these beliefs.

 

I will also add that most of the younger people working for him are grubby little fascist/moms for liberty/groyper types (100% true right-wing creeps and true believers), and that probably reflects in some of the media content put out.

 

Here’s what FRANK BRUNI of the NYT had to say about DeSantis:

“The version of most politicians that we need to worry about is the one that they don’t want us to see. That’s why campaign reporters dog them; they’re waiting for the veil to slip.

But the version of Ron DeSantis that we need to worry about is the one that he proudly shows us. He embraces his meanness. He luxuriates in his darkness. Let other politicians peddle the pablum of inspiration. He prefers to ooze the toxin of contempt.

That’s one of the morals of a provocative anti-gay, anti-trans video that the DeSantis campaign shared late last week. The campaign’s promotion of it prompted accusations of homophobia even from some Republicans, and justly so: In an attempt to smear Donald Trump, the video doesn’t just accuse him of coddling L.G.B.T.Q. Americans. It revels in DeSantis’s vilification of them.

Initially distributed by a Twitter account called Proud Elephant, it presents a bizarre montage that’s superficially an anti-woke battle cry, pitting a truculent DeSantis against a scourge of degenerates. But while his viciousness comes through precisely as planned, so does something unintended: an undercurrent of homoerotic kink. Up pops a shirtless hunk with a ripped chest. Here’s a glowering Brad Pitt in his “Troy” drag. Are honchos with a Homer fetish some new thing? I need to get out more.”

I just hope the GOP can field someone other than Trump or DeSantis. The former governors of Ohio, Maryland or New Jersey would be far better despite their warts.

 

Yeah, this part is always the most fascinating. Like when Tucker gushed over the Russian military video, with shirtless hunks doing pushups and stuff.

 

And this by Bruni:
“The Florida governor is running one freaky and unsettling presidential campaign. He’s more focused on putting certain Americans in their places than on lifting others to new heights. He’s defined by the scores he pledges to settle instead of the victories he promises to achieve. He casts himself as someone to fear rather than revere. That video actually flashes an image of Christian Bale in “American Psycho” as a flattering DeSantis analogue.”

Do his supporters not see this?

 

They apologize for it, excuse it away by claiming he is misconstrued, and then they finger-point. They cannot look at the reality of his actions in the eye.

 

Don't forget how some will accuse the left of being triggered by it. They take great joy in that facade.

 

This is the problem when all your staffers are extremely online, I think they are going for the "dark Ron" angle but you have to have brainworms to understand what's going on. So if you do "get" it you are basically already in the fold.

 

Just like we do with the GOP’s descent into inanity. That’s what’s wrong with all of us: we spend more time being hyper-partisan and wagging fingers - me as much as anyone - rather than in seeking common ground.

 

Wait a second so you're telling me the the bill wasn't actually about parental rights?