DeSantis passes Trump in latest round of polls...

this is as goofy as Madonna schooling folks on promiscuity.

 

Your problem is the voters of the Republican Party. They are the ones who put Trump in power in the first place and stuck with him even after he attempted to overthrow our democracy. Trump can go away, but you're still going to have all the same voters. And DeSantis is trying to capture their vote by being as just despicable as Trump.

 

BTW, I'm semi-buying the DeSantis surge in polling (and I have always been bullish on Trump in Republican contests). There is a pretty simple rule in Republican politics right now: find the best lib owner you can find. Trump not only lost twice now, but he impotently left office, with a bunch of his most ardent supporters heading to prison. Then he impotently gave up their red wave. So I could see them moving on to a guy that is basically Trump but with less losing. DeSantis is the same type of troll but with fewer losses (heck the guy is embarrassingly emulating Trump's appearance and even posture at this point). And it seems that the soft Trumpers are okay with him, since he is essentially Trump who isn't as embarrassing to defend at Thanksgiving dinner but who they can still view as owning those libs.

But yeah, I will point out that people like DeSantis or Graham or McCarthy aren't coming out to openly criticize Trump. That is because the consultant class has noticed something: that all Trump has to do is claim the system is rigged and it blows the whole process up. They have huge turnout problems the second that happens.

Combined with the fact that DeSantis is little more than a blank slate on which to project Republican's individual desires, and that is why I am only semi-buying it.

TLDR version: the joys of a non-policy based authoritarian party.

 

by supporting DeS and turning a blind eye to the problems the same way you turned a blind eye to DT's issues.

DeS is just as bad or worse than DT when it comes to his governing style. He has repeatedly shown that

1. He surrounds himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear regardless of their credentials. See Lapado for exhibit 1. Totally unqualified for the office but he forced UF to hire him and then gave him the AG job to support his unscientific approach to managing the covid outbreak.

2. He discharges anybody that disagrees with him. See the DA who is currently suing him for illegally replacing him and the Broward school board that he replaced and had them fire the super because she required masks in schools.

3. He uses the power of the office to punish people who disagree with him whether it is legal or not. See Disney. In this regard, he is actually worse than DT because DeS knows what he is doing is illegal but does it anyway and then withdraws when the rubber is about to hit the road. See Disney. See Lapado to UF. See distribution of covid vaccines to Neal Communites (Pat Neal major pub bundler, DeS supporter)

4. He breaks the law to award contracts to personal favorites. See immigrant flights contracts

5. He is racist and homophobic. In his own AG's words, woke is the belief that there are systemic injustices in the country that require remedy and DeS is 100% antiwoke so defacto 100% believes that there are no systemic injustices in need of remedy. In his words while he was teaching, the civil war wasn't about slavery. See don't say gay law.

6. He has no fear of legislative checks and balances and threatens anyone in his party that voices a different opinion. See Florida redistricting maps.

7. He believes he is the smartest person in the room and attempts to belittle and insult his opposition on a personal level rather than on the issues. See his insults of Fauci and others. See the comments from his classmates/teammates at Harvard

8. He is thin skinned and subject to impulsive outbursts. See the masked kids on stage with him that he attacked for wearing masks.

I could add many more examples to each and every one of these, but I think you get my point by now

But the thing that concerns me the most is his lifelong belief that it is his destiny to be POTUS. This has been documented over and over again. Anybody that believes it is their destiny will do anything within their power, often legal or not, to, in their opinion, fulfill their destiny. Someone who feels entitled to something will usually justify anything to secure what they believe is theirs by right

I will give him credit for mapping out a path and using his intelligence and perseverance to get there. Get to Harvard law, do a stint in the military, build the perfect little family, win a public office, suck up to power broker (DT) for endorsement and win higher office, play heavily to base to set himself up to win primary. Almost mirrors the script of Manchurian candidate sans the whole war hero thing and the invisible hand behind him

 

this is absurd & predictable. DT is the WOAT & yet DeSantis is even worse. The above post IMO is cherry picking ways in which RD may be worse. RD, like Biden etc. is regular shitty.

 

IMO there’s a good chance MAGA loses enough steam between now and primary that neither Trump nor Desantis is the most viable GOP candidate in a general election. The disconnect between the base and the general electorate is going to be a problem for both of them

 

I say DeS is worse because he will be more effective at using the authority of POTUS and it has been proven now that the pub party will support a pub POTUS regardless of how egregious their actions may be. Perhaps I should ahve said more dangerous instead of worse. Impeachment is almost an empty threat now that team pub has proven that they are more beholding to the party than the law. Legally, there is no doubt to anyone with any sense of impartiality that DT was guilty of both things he was impeached for

DT is a worse human being and much less intelligent, but I believe that DeS will be worse for the country because he is much smarter than DT and more focused on accomplishing his agenda than just seeking adulation.

Cherry picking? Providing documented examples to support a position is cherry picking? Really?

When has Biden stepped outside the authority granted to him to punish opposition and reward his sycophants? Not a Biden fan by any stretch but if you have been paying attention to Florida politics you would understand just how heavy handed DeS has been

 

There is much I don’t like about Desantis but it would seem he at least would be competent. I’d certainly rather see Desantis over Trump.

The momentum is definitely going his way but as I’ve said before:

1. We don’t know if he can survive the Trump onslaught of ridicule. No Republican has yet, since Trump has been around (with the exception of Kemp in GA).

2 Head to head polls with Desantis don’t mean much. It will be a crowded field, likely Trump vs everybody else. A Trump plurality may be enough.

3. We haven’t really seen Desantis on a national stage yet. Many supporters are just viewing him as an idealized politician of a combo MAGA lite / conservative perfect mash up. Once he actually gets on a debate stage it is a whole different ballgame.

4. Trump could lose and run as independent and torpedo Desantis. It’s very plausible Trump would do this. He’d rather burn the house down if he can’t be in charge, and campaigning has become a form of money inflow grift for him.

 

That would be great. Trump getting both himself and DeSantis out of our lives would be phenomenal. Two massive pieces of shit with one stone.

 

Passionately supporting a Viktor Orban knockoff sure as heck doesn't make you a moderate.

 

I didn't vote for a Clinton. (Although, I sincerely regret not voting for Hillary.) I also didn't vote for Gillum. (I didn't live in Florida at the time.) Looks like you'll have to throw out a new tu quoque fallacy.

 

I dislike DeS for the reasons stated. It would appear that you favor him just because he is going to own the libs. You were told similar things about DT and you refused to open your eyes to the issues then just like you are doing now. And before others assume I am just another "libtard", go back and check my record on opposition to Hillary and many of Obama's actions. Give me a Romney or Kasich or Hogan or Kinzinger all day long but keep these autocrat wannabe's out of office please. Those guys are moderates, DeS is far from moderate

 

Nah, bro. I'm not delusional enough to think I'm a moderate. Doc isn't a moderate either. Nor are you. Doc is a small-government conservative. You're a social conservative. And I'm a liberal.