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You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Late Night Open Thread: An Ongoing DeSaster

Late Night Open Thread: An Ongoing DeSaster

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There are natural politicians, people who have ‘the rizz‘… and then there’s Ron DeSantis.

Ed Kilgore, at NYMag — “DeSantis Is Trying to Out-Trump Trump. It’s Not Working.”:

There’s a huge strategic dilemma at the heart of Ron DeSantis’s 2024 presidential campaign. He wants to convince the MAGA Republicans most likely to vote in primaries that he’s Trump without the drama, and perhaps even more radical than the 45th president. But that’s at odds with the “electability” argument that he’s better positioned to beat Joe Biden. Since DeSantis formally launched his campaign, Trump has maintained and even expanded his lead in virtually every poll of Republicans. The Florida governor has responded by leaning more heavily on a hard-core ideological pitch that may leave some anti-Trump Republicans, not to mention swing voters, cold. The Florida governor is trying to out-Trump Trump, and it’s not clear this strategy has much of a chance of success with the GOP base still in love with the 45th president…

DeSantis’s remarks at the candidate cattle call hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the country’s most politically focused organization of conservative Christian activists, in Washington on June 23 represented his most strident effort yet to get to the former president’s right. Trump is generally seeking vengeance against his enemies in the federal government; DeSantis is promising “accountability” for alleged COVID tyrant Anthony Fauci specifically. Trump is a hero to the anti-abortion movement; DeSantis insisted on a draconian six-week abortion ban that Trump called “too harsh.” Trump wants to finish building his border wall; DeSantis wants to militarize the border to stop the “invasion” of immigrants, and even to blockade Mexican ports to stop delivery of chemicals used to make fentanyl. Trump appointed three hard-core conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court; DeSantis would only appoint a justice as extreme as Clarence Thomas…

The acid test for DeSantis won’t come in any shared candidate event or even in the debates that begin in August (which Trump may or may not deign to attend). It will be in the Iowa caucuses, where in the recent past the candidate successfully depicting himself as the “true conservative” in the field has generally won (e.g., Mike Huckabee in 2008, Rick Santorum in 2012, Ted Cruz in 2016). And indeed, it was the site of Trump’s biggest defeat in 2016 (though of course he later denounced it as “stolen”). DeSantis has surrounded himself with veterans of the Cruz campaign. And that is very likely reinforcing his decision to run much like Cruz did, relying on a hard-core conservative message and an expensive field effort focused on the likeliest — which often means the most conservative — voters.

Without question, this strategy will take a toll on the breadth of DeSantis’s support among more moderate Republicans who have plenty of other candidates to choose from. And there’s little evidence that general-election swing voters are really longing for an effective extremist (DeSantis’s big 2022 performance in Florida, which is receding rapidly in voters’ memories, is now his only evidence for “electability”). But you can appreciate that unless DeSantis wins Iowa or over-performs expectations notably, he’s probably sunk. He’s not looking that strong in New Hampshire, and in South Carolina he’s fighting not just Trump but two Palmetto State rivals…

It may be rather difficult to soften this image of DeSantis if it doesn’t work to outflank Trump. And it clearly hasn’t so far; Trump continues to lead his governor by 30 points in the national RealClearPolitics polling averages and leads in every early state poll as well. If that pattern continues, even as Trump faces indictment after indictment, Ron DeSantis may wind up in a narrow corner of the Republican Party into which he has painted himself very deliberately.

… [I]n the month since DeSantis formally entered the presidential race, he’s stumbled in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

He got dragged into a tit-for-tat endorsement battle with Trump that generated some media attention but little measurable increase in support. His first visit to the state as a presidential candidate drew more headlines for what he didn’t do — take questions from voters — than the retail politicking he did. And that’s on top of polls that had already swung back in Trump’s favor.

There are signs that even inside DeSantis’s orbit, they see New Hampshire as a challenge. The super PAC that’s effectively running his operation has been off the air in New Hampshire since May — temporarily, its founder told POLITICO — while running a new ad in Iowa and South Carolina this week…

And DeSantis’ visit to the state Tuesday is being met with backlash from a major Republican women’s group.

The New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women released a statement Thursday slamming DeSantis for planning an event at the same time as their annual fundraising lunch — an event Trump is headlining. The group asked him to reschedule…

DeSantis world was quick to dismiss the group’s complaints, saying their event shouldn’t be a distraction since it’s in a different part of the state and at a different time than when Trump is speaking, and that the federation’s soiree is already sold out. They noted that two of the group’s members resigned over the statement targeting DeSantis, with the PAC blasting out their tweets. One of them, Kate Day, the now-former public relations chair, told POLITICO the federation erred when it “broke its neutrality in criticizing” DeSantis.

“If there’s one thing you don’t do in New Hampshire, it’s piss off the grassroots women,” said an adviser to a rival candidate granted anonymity to speak freely. “Don’t mess with them, they remember everything. Rookie move.”

Out of the four early voting states, libertarian-leaning New Hampshire was never the most logical fit for the conservative, culture-war wielding Florida governor. He tacitly acknowledged as much by removing any reference to the six-week abortion ban he signed in Florida from his stump speeches in the state, where the majority of voters identify as “pro-choice.”…

“It’s the worst strategic move he has exhibited thus far,” New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Mike Dennehy said. “It’s just stupid, actually. You don’t take on the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women.”

He added, “If he doesn’t turn it around, it could be death by a thousand cuts.”…

 
Gabriel Sherman, at Vanity Fair (from an article about Trump planning to skip the first RNC primary debate):

… According to sources, Trump has told advisers that he’s neutralized his nearest competitor, Florida governor Ron DeSantis. “He doesn’t think DeSantis is a threat anymore,” said the well-known Republican. According to the Trump campaign official, Trump keeps asking advisers if there’s any way DeSantis can make up the huge polling gap. In an NBC News poll released on June 25, Trump bested DeSantis by 29 points. An Emerson College poll published on June 22 put Trump ahead of DeSantis by 38 points. “He killed Ron in the crib,” the GOP operative, who advised on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, told me…

Jeff Roe, who runs the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, has complained privately about how the DeSantis campaign is performing, according to the prominent Republican, who has spoken with Roe. (Under campaign finance laws, super PACs are barred from coordinating with campaigns.) “Jeff is frustrated the campaign isn’t getting more press coverage,” said the Republican. Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for the Never Back Down PAC, dismissed such criticisms. “Governor Ron DeSantis and his team are doing a great job showing the country what the future with a President DeSantis would look like. Any suggestion otherwise is bullshit,” Perrine said in a statement to Vanity Fair.

Indeed, GOP operatives are already starting to prepare autopsies for the ailing DeSantis campaign. According to the GOP strategist, DeSantis’s biggest mistake was vastly overestimating how his success in Florida would play nationally, and then waiting until this spring to jump into the race, thereby allowing Trump to define him with a barrage of personal attacks. “It was arrogance. Ron thought Trump was dead because of the election losses and miscalculated,” the strategist said, adding that DeSantis’s confidence was so high last November that his advisers got the feeling he and his wife, Casey DeSantis, wanted to create a new political dynasty, à la the Clintons. “They believe that Casey will try to replicate the Hillary [Clinton] model if Ron were to win the presidency,” the strategist told me. DeSantis’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment…

IMO, if Casey wanted it that badly, she should just have used Ron’s political resources to start her own campaign. She’s probably thinking the same thing right about now.


Nobody outside Florida is intimidated by DeSaster’s bluster:

WILMINGTON, Delaware, June 27 (Reuters) – The Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) board did not act negligently when it criticized a sexual identity bill signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Delaware judge ruled on Tuesday, in a case the judge said was improperly directed by a conservative legal group.

The ruling by Lori Will of Delaware’s Court of Chancery means that Disney will not have to turn over internal records including years of board members’ emails sought by shareholder Kenneth Simeone, who sued Disney in December.

The shareholder said he wanted the records to investigate possible wrongdoing by directors in connection with the company’s decision to criticize the 2022 law, which critics have derided as the “don’t say gay” law.

While Will said it might turn out to have been a bad business decision, the evidence at trial showed directors did not allow their personal views to dictate the company’s response to the bill.

The judge said Simeone cannot use a provision of Delaware corporate law meant to empower shareholders to investigate boardroom wrongdoing to “search for hypothetical conflicts.”…

Will also found that the lawsuit was brought to benefit the Thomas More Society, a non-profit law firm that champions conservative causes that was paying Simeone’s legal costs. Simeone’s lawyer, Paul Jonna, is a special counsel for the organization.

“The plaintiff’s counsel and the Thomas More Society are entitled to their beliefs,” Will wrote, adding that a corporate records lawsuit “is not a vehicle to advance them.”

Reader Interactions

169Comments

  3. 3.

    Jackie

    I’m looking forward to Pudd’n Boots demise. I was initially hoping he’d dilute TIFG’s influence, but he’s definitely not The Chosen One.

    TIFG is gonna have to sink on his own – which I have no doubt is already happening.

    GOOOOO Jack Smith!

  7. 7.

    Urza

    So, Molon Labe, they really can’t come up with new ideas can they.  Gotta just keep reusing 3000 year old slogans because thats as advanced as their brains will ever get.

  9. 9.

    Splitting Image

    @Urza:

    So, Molon Labe, they really can’t come up with new ideas can they. Gotta just keep reusing 3000 year old slogans because thats as advanced as their brains will ever get.

    They also never seem to remember that the Persians did come and take their weapons, and they did pry them out of the Spartans’ cold, dead hands.

  10. 10.

    sdhays

    Ron thought Trump was dead because of the election losses

    Hahahaha! They’re even stupider than I thought if they believed that. That ship sailed on by when the Republican Party by and large went all in on Trump’s stolen election lies. Unbelievable they didn’t grasp that Republicans don’t see him as the loser he is because no Republicans dare to call him one. Including Ron DeSantis!!!

  11. 11.

    eversor

    @Urza:

    They only know that slogan because of the 300 movie.  Which is a good fun gory ass movie but it was really popular on the right.  Never mind that Sparta was a full on communist/socialist nation with empowered women that none of them would last 30 seconds in if they weren’t offed at birth for not being up to standards.  Also very, very, very, gay.

  12. 12.

    Martin

    So, I’m counting on everyone here reporting both DeSantis and Trump for wearing attire that doesn’t match their gender at the debates because of their high heels.

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    Speaking of Florida Man …

    Ken White
    @[email protected]

    BREAKING: Special Counsel Jack Smith reportedly launching Mann Act investigation of former President Donald Trump

    He probably knows where Hoffa’s body is; I expect him to yap about that before too long, also too.

    It takes a very special kind of stupid to be recorded admitting to *every* component of a federal crime. https://t.co/QE9Z9Feie7

    — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) June 27, 2023

    The world’s productivity will jump about 20% when this monster is finally out of the news.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    Ken

    If he doesn’t turn it around, it could be death by a thousand cuts.

    I assume this is meant metaphorically, but the involvement of the New Hampshire Republican Women gives me pause.

  16. 16.

    Cameron

    By next year the effects of some of DeSantis’ worst policies should be clear – destroyed education system, businesses reliant on migrant labor (particularly agriculture) in the tank – and would provide superb content for an opponent’s attack ads.   And he wants to make the whole country like Florida?  I think he’s lucky that he’s not going to get the nomination.

  17. 17.

    Splitting Image

    @Martin:

    So, I’m counting on everyone here reporting both DeSantis and Drumpf for wearing attire that doesn’t match their gender at the debates because of their high heels.

    And in Trump’s case, a girdle and make-up.

  18. 18.

    Urza

    @Splitting Image: Was watching Eldorado on Netflix since it came out.  All the wannabe brownshirts probably don’t realize the founder of the order was a well known gay man.  And there were many accusations that a group of all men that hates women and was started by a gay man….  Even after forced marriages to reduce the rumors there was obviously something still going on.

    Obviously they never read history to understand where their memes come from.

  19. 19.

    Kayla Rudbek

    The IRS and the USPTO are the only two federal agencies that bring in more money than they spend, and the USPTO has the advantages of being funded by filing fees, and being an agency that people want to get something from (patents or trademarks).  The Republicans are too stupid to do basic math.

  20. 20.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Martin: Nice thought, but the existence of cowboy boots kinda makes it moot.

    Louis the Sun King would also like a word. Masculinity incarnate, as long as the heels are red. :-)

  22. 22.

    different-church-lady

    Here’s the thing DeSantis doesn’t get: Trump pulled off an upset because he made hatred fun*. DeSantis just goes right for the ugly part of hatred.

    (*”fun” in the perverse way his cult thinks of as fun)

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    I find it hilarious that among the Cabinet departments that DeSantis wants to eliminate is Energy. Apparently, just like Rick Perry, he thinks that it’s all about forcing solar power down the throats of innocent oil-loving Americans, and doesn’t realize that a very large fraction of the Department is all about designing and building nuclear weapons.

    Rick Perry at least eventually gained enough self-awareness to realize that he was out of his depth as Secretary of Energy and to listen to the career staffers. I’m guessing Ron DeSantis will never rise to the level of wisdom shown by Rick Perry.

  29. 29.

    SpaceUnit

    The next big MAGA thing is going to be shitting your pants to own the libs.

     

    No, seriously.  I’m calling it.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    DeSantis: We would do education, commerce, energy, and the IRS.

    So, is DeSantis going to fund the federal government solely with tariffs and a national sales tax?

    Or smoke and mirrors?

  31. 31.

    The Moar You Know

    Governor Ron DeSantis and his team are doing a great job showing the country what the future with a President DeSantis would look like.

    Boy, they sure are, and America is reacting like someone just dumped a deuce on the dining room table.

  33. 33.

    Ken

    @Scout211: Makes it illegal to transport women across state lines for immoral purposes. Popehat’s post was accompanied by a photo of Trump and his daughter in a private jet, and I assume it was a joke and there are no such charges. (It was, I assume, prompted by today’s tell-all book teaser, which said that Trump, in the White House, would talk about how his daughter’s breasts, and what it would be like to have sex with her.)

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    @Scout211: Mann Act: Taking women across state lines for carnal purposes.

    (Context: TIFG talking about Ivanka.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  36. 36.

    coin operated

    @Sebastian:

    Get rid of DoE? This baffoon does not know DoE handles our nukes, does he?

    Oh…he does.  But the mouth-breathers that make up the base wouldn’t know it if they got an in-person tour at Cheyenne Mountain.

  37. 37.

    TriassicSands

    I thought DeSantis was competing with Trump to see who could be the cruelist, most bigoted candidate. Now, it appears that DeSantis has decided to challenge Trump on which one is dumber. Based on that clip about eliminating the IRS, I’d have to say this could be a real fight.

    The genius of Trump and DeSantis both is their ability to be just as stupid, bigoted, and absurd as their voters. It’s like having the opportunity to vote for yourself for president.

  42. 42.

    TriassicSands

    @coin operated: …an in-person tour at Cheyenne Mountain.

    Now you’ve done it. If Trump is elected next year we can expect to see in-person tours of the Cheyenne Mountain facility and since the emoluments clause doesn’t actually appear to exist (except in the Constitution) and corruption is now an acceptable norm, Trump will make millions. One of the first tours, naturally, will be for Putin and Xi.

    “This is all fascinating, Donald, thank you so much,” says Vlad to his old comrade.

    “Go ahead and take photos or videos,” replies the president, “and for an extra $100,000.00, you can post it all on the Internet.”

    And we’ll have you to thank. Good job.

    (Not really, I’m sure Trump will be able to come up with money-making ideas like this all on his own.)

  43. 43.

    TriassicSands

    @dmsilev:

    Eventually, we’ll have a Republican candidate for president vowing to shut down the entire federal government. After all, there are probably right wing “academics” out there who think that an updated version of the Articles of Confederation would be the ideal way to push America to even “greater greatness.”

    Surely, the world would be a safer place if all the states had their own nuclear arsenals.

    2053 News Report:

    Today, Georgia governor Marjorie Taylor Greene ordered a nuclear strike on Colorado. At the same time, she sent a message to Lauren Boebert — six time failed Colorado gubernatorial candidate — that said, “Take than, bitch. You stole my impeachment motion. Today is payback.”

  45. 45.

    TriassicSands

    @Another Scott: The world’s productivity will jump about 20% when this monster is finally out of the news.

    There will undoubtedly be gigantic profits for anti-depressant makers when Trump cultists have to face life without Donald to lead the way.

  46. 46.

    CaseyL

    DeSantis may be banking on Trump being… unavailable…  to accept the nomination.

    If Trump is clapped into Federal Prison, even if he can still run for President, he won’t be able to campaign much.  And his share of votes will dwindle, quite possibly down to the legendary 27%.

    Whether DeSantis would get any more than that is an open question.

  47. 47.

    KrackenJack

    @different-church-lady: ​
     What DeSantis also doesn’t realize is that electing a vulgar, disgusting buffoon is a key part of owning the libs. MAGAts actively despise competence and any evidence that someone is better than them.

  48. 48.

    Scout211

    @James E Powell: I did know that Newsweek still exists.

    It’s only online now and more like  National Enquirer lite. That’s why this particular “exclusive” landed there.

  50. 50.

    James E Powell

    @CaseyL:

    DeSantis may be banking on Trump being… unavailable…  to accept the nomination.

    No doubt. If Trump is out the race for whatever reason, who would beat DeSantis?

  51. 51.

    RaflW

    It’s all just gibberish to the MAGA minions, but WTF does “I’m gonna use the IRS to push back on woke ideology” mean? He’s going to personally direct them to aggressively audit liberal groups and individuals?

    He’s a tinpot fascist, but JFC, he’s a really idiotic one, too.

  52. 52.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Perfect Game Alert

    Yankees 3 outs from perfect game.  would be 22nd in the 148 year history of la grandes ligas and the first in 11 years.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @James E Powell: If Trump is truly out, it would change the race entirely.  People who have been keeping their powder dry for 2028 may decide to go for it sooner.

  54. 54.

    TriassicSands

    @James E Powell: If Trump is out the race for whatever reason, who would beat DeSantis?

    About 30% of Democrats — with the hickory handle of a pick axe. Another five to ten percent with a 6-foot-long steel pry bar.

    Oh, you mean for the nomination. Probably no one.

    The only problem is there really seems to be only one way to eliminate Trump — his death. And life is far to perverse to provide that before November 2024.

  56. 56.

    TriassicSands

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    With Trump out, who better to “step up” than Marjorie Taylor Greene? You may be right, we could see the largest field of presidential candidates in history. But that would depend on the timing. It might not change anything if his “removal” came too late for candidates to enter and raise money.

    But, would that mean that Chris Christie would drop out? He seems to be running, not for president, but to keep Trump from being president.

  59. 59.

    James E Powell

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Who among those not already running would jump in if Trump exits? Youngkin? Noem? I believe Romney will never let the dream die. I don’t see any of them beating DeSantis. He already has an organization, billionaire sponsors, and the undying love the political press.

    Note to everyone else: I meant who among Republicans would beat DeSantis. And you knew that.

  61. 61.

    eversor

    @dmsilev:

    No Ron does know what the DOE does.  But his Christian base wants it gone because to them anything government is forcing anti Christian ideology because it’s liberal and doesn’t let them boss people about.  Once you sign up with Christianity you are stuck with all this.  There’s no way out of it but get rid of Christianity.  But since conservatives need Christianity for votes, that’s out of the question.  And since liberals won’t get rid of Christianity conservatives get to, and should, win everything.

  62. 62.

    feebog

    If Ron DeSantis was an airplane, one engine would be dead, the other on fire and rapidly losing altitude.

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @James E Powell:

    Who among those not already running would jump in if Trump exits? Youngkin? Noem? I believe Romney will never let the dream die.

    I’m surprised you never hear about No Labels or some such group trying to draft Romney for the much fapped “unity ticket”

  72. 72.

    different-church-lady

    @eversor:

    And since liberals won’t get rid of Christianity…

    Yes, liberals have the ability to eliminate a major worldwide religious belief. They just… won’t.

  80. 80.

    prostratedragon

    82 games in and this is the first one they’ve given up, so all those other slackers around the leagues better get on it.

  81. 81.

    Redshift

    In retrospect, it amazes me that DeSatan’s people thought the way to out-Trump Trump was with policy positions. The GOP (and especially it’s base) has been a post-policy party for years. TFG doesn’t do policies, he does riffs that can sound like policies if you’re thinking that must be what he’s talking about since he’s a candidate, but that aren’t really.

    Some of RDS’ policies are just channels for hate, like TFG’s, but as he tries to do more, they get more wonky and they no longer register with wingnut voters.

  82. 82.

    Redshift

    @James E Powell: Youngkin, absolutely. He said he wasn’t running, and then he got cute and pointed out he’d said he wasn’t running this year (suggesting he might run next year, hint, hint.)

    His entire governorship has been doing nothing for the state and instead pursuing wingnut conspiracy theories to burnish his presidential prospects.

  87. 87.

    Alison Rose

    @eversor: I sincerely hope you get crabs.

    ETA I know no FPers will see this, but I would be interested to hear the explanation as to why eversor’s comments are allowed. If they were directing this maniacal hatred toward Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or literally any other religion, I suspect it wouldn’t be blithely ignored. Just because Christians are a majority in this country doesn’t mean it’s okay to speak in terms of literal eradication. And I say this as a damn Jew. This isn’t John crabbing about evangelicals wanting to make us live in a theocracy. This is someone repeatedly and bluntly demanding the complete erasure of an entire faith, which would also mean the people who follow it. Explain to me why that’s okay?

  93. 93.

    Yutsano

    @eversor: ​

    And since liberals won’t get rid of Christianity conservatives get to, and should, win everything.

    Dude…

    Please stop this shit. Your absolute intolerance for Christians is getting to the point where you might end up being my first pie victim. And I have it as a point to listen to all voices. You are so blind in your rage you can’t even see that you’re acting like those you claim are worth elimination.

  95. 95.

    James E Powell

    @eversor:

    And since liberals won’t get rid of Christianity conservatives get to, and should, win everything.

    And yet, conservatives don’t win everything.

  96. 96.

    TriassicSands

    @Alison Rose:

    I have no idea what eversor’s background is, but if i found out he’d been abducted into a radical Christian cult and had only recently escaped, I’d probably have no trouble believing that. There has to be something going on — past or present — that has caused eversor to fall off the cliff into a pit of irrationality where virtually everything bad is the fault of Christianity.  I don’t “believe,” but I don’t see Christianity or Christians as a problem until they try to impose their beliefs on others — See SCOTUS and among other decisions Dobbs. What Modi is doing in india is similar, but it is Hinduism, not Christianity.

    I’d like to think that world would be a better place if everyone gave up religion (certainly organized religion) altogether. But I don’t believe that would make a lot of difference and I’m not going to try in any way to make that happen. People who had been using religion to cause trouble would probably find some other excuse. As Kurt Vonnegut used to say, “So it goes.”

    I don’t think they should ban eversor, but a front pager ought to have a chat with him about his comments. Religious zealots can be dangerous, but I don’t think being an anti-religion zealot, in this case Christianity, is going improve anything. And it is sooooo tiresome.

  97. 97.

    Chetan Murthy

    @TriassicSands:

    And it is sooooo tiresome.

    Says Winston Churchill, “A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”

  98. 98.

    frosty

    @Alison Rose: I’m with you. My dad grew up in Queens and saw the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He visited once when I was sharing a house in SoCal. We were watching a Dodgers game and he told my housemates that he’d see them in Brooklyn. I had instant cred!!!!

    ETA: Orioles fan here from the time I moved to Baltimore in late ’78 and could walk to games at Memorial Stadium the next year when they were in the Series. I can’t believe they’re doing so well!

  99. 99.

    frosty

    @Alison Rose: ​
     Good comment. I’ve pied this commenter so I don’t see it any more but I unpied your response. This one needs the banhammer.

  100. 100.

    piratedan

    for those getting started or wanting to make mastodon more helpful…. the following tool compares who your followers follow to help you flesh out who you might wish to follow yourself; click on the link and it will perform a comparison against your current followers to perhaps expand your horizons or fill in some blanks.

    followgraph.vercel.app/

  101. 101.

    lurker

    @Sebastian:

    @coin operated:

    @dmsilev:

    kinda suspect a lot of these guys from energy states (natural resources exploitation states) assume that DOE (Energy) is the agency doing permitting for oil and gas drilling and the like.  They likely do not realize it is DOI (Interior).

    DeSantis may or may not know this, but I find underestimating the ignorance of top-level leadership in any organization is a mistake – they do a lot of things in government, corporations, non-profits, schools and elsewhere because the top person (often but not always guy) thinks they are an expert instead of realizing they are uninformed.  No reason DeSantis is not showing the same ignorance that Perry showed before he got the job at DOE.

    @eversor: dude, this is just a sad form of clickbait at this point, personally disappointed I am giving you a response at all, and I agree with some of your points…

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Alison Rose:

    I’m like others, I’ve pied this person.

    I don’t need someone who often seems to hate everyone, who often seems pissed at the world, who often is far worse than useless. But this person gets to show up and be a horse’s ass because horse’s asses are a part of the world. I’m not absolutely sure of John’s banning limits but this sure seems like a good, rational one to start with.

  105. 105.

    JWR

    Just checked in on The Great IRS “Whistleblower” Caper, and this headline popped up:

    Fox News
    This IRS Whistleblower Appears To Be Highly Credible: Nicole Parker

    Well, that settles it then! But srsly, after I finished giggling, I went for some weightier fare from Mediate, where I read some of the whackier of this weeks right-wing talking bits:

    On the Wednesday edition of Cruz’s podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, recent episodes of which have been entirely focused on President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, its co-hosts began with the president denying ever discussing business dealings with Hunter.

    “It’s very clear that you hear him yell — No. Implying I didn’t lie about never speaking to Hunter about my business dealings. Did you ever lie? No. He says it there clearly and he is irritated. No,” co-host Ben Ferguson said.

    “He hasn’t said that this WhatsApp message is false. He hasn’t said that he wasn’t sitting there with Hunter Biden. He hasn’t said that Hunter didn’t have — was freelancing and doing it on his own. He just is flat out stonewalling. ‘Nope, I never lied. Piss off. I don’t have to tell you anything,’” Cruz noted, referencing an alleged text from Hunter in which he invoked his father to close a deal.

    The mental horsepower that must go into translating gobbledygaslight into one’s native tongue must be staggering.

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    @feebog:

    It’s a single engine plane with one wing on fire, the cockpit is full of smoke, the pilot is stoned and thinks the smoke is from his joint, the low fuel warning light is flashing, and he just turned into a lighting storm because he can’t see for the smoke and the direction he turned to has a hill dead ahead that is a thousand feet higher than the plane is currently. So everything is happening at DeStupid normal.

  107. 107.

    Ruckus

    @lurker:

    Yeah he seems, just swell. I have I believe 3 people pied. If I could I’d put him in twice, he’s that ridiculous. Of course ridiculous really doesn’t do him justice. Fucking ridiculous doesn’t come close either. Really fucking ridiculous seems to not quite get there either.

    Maybe we need a post to come up with a proper description.

  108. 108.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Redshift: In 2016 trump campaigned on building a wall and throwing out the Mexicans.

    Reporters with ask the people attending his rallies what they thought and they would reply “he doesn’t really mean it”,  “he’s just joking”,  “even if he meant it he could never get it through congress”.  Even they knew it wasn’t policy.  They never cared about policy they just wanted someone who would validate their hatred; to give him a permission slip for being racist.

  109. 109.

    Tony Jay

    RoDS is a General Election catastrophenomenon in the making, so I really do hope he stays around until next year when Trump (fingers crossed) gets Solomon’s Babied into enough separate hunks to serve out each individual case Jack Smith is bringing against him in a different prison. By then RoDS’ highly pertinent inability to inspire anything other than instinctive revulsion in at least 60% to 65% of voters will have convinced the Right’s moneymen that they need another candidate ASAP, so there’ll be a highly entertaining multi-billion dollar stampede over there as all the billionaires and PACs and lobbying groups scramble to get their own candidate to market and kneecap RoDS before it’s too late.

    Carnage. Beautiful, self-inflicted carnage. With Inmate 45 unable to keep himself from screaming “Traitor!” at everyone who doesn’t make their number one priority pardoning him and stepping down so that he can have ‘his’ job back.

    Meanwhile Biden and Harris and Co get on with the mundane work of running the country properly and occasionally pointing at the chaos with a “Da Phuck?” expression on their faces.

  110. 110.

    TriassicSands

    @lurker:

    Hey, it’s all human beings that are  bad, religion is just an afterthought. Every single one of us — rotten. Albert Schweitzer? Bum. Gandhi? Don’t get me started. The Dalai Lama? Unbelievable warmonger! And — no surprise — they were or are all terrible people because of, you guessed it, religion.

    But somehow, there are millions of really good people who are religious. It isn’t religion that is the problem, it is how people use it. Many of the nicest, kindest people I’ve ever known have been religious. Somehow, I think they would have been just as nice and kind if they’d been believers in a different religion or none at all. In all likelihood, if they had grown up in a different country with different religious traditions, they would have been adherents to a different religion.

    And some of the worst, cruelest people I’ve ever known, or known of, have at least played at being religious. A number of them are running for president today in the US. But that’s no surprise, since to get into the GOP today you pretty have to pull the wings off butterflies as a hobby. (No, I don’t mean Joe Biden, although he’s obviously just one tiny step above Beelzebub. You can tell that by what’s on Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the way, responding to his son’s addiction and other difficulties, Joe abandoned him, threw him to the wolves under the bus. Or was it under the bus to the wolves.)

    I’ll repeat, I don’t think they should ban eversor; they should have a chat with him and try to help him redirect his energies, at least when he comments.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    @TriassicSands:

    A grand idea that is.

    Do you really think someone as pissed as eversore is, is capable of change? Sure the ban hammer should be a last resort, but something like a 2 month mandatory vacation for him seems to be not out of line. Possibly with a warning that if nothing changes a permeant ban is not impossible.

  114. 114.

    TriassicSands

    @Ruckus:

    I’d give eversor a chance. If all eversor wants to do is endlessly rail about you know what, then, there really isn’t any good reason for his/her/their continued participation. It would not surprise me if eversor can’t change. I’ve been commenting here for a long time and I don’t remember ever having one  commenter do pretty much nothing but rail about one subject and do so in a way that is both tiresome and, at times, offensive. Given the choice, it shouldn’t take long for eversor answer the question.

    It helps that no one has to read eversor’s comments or has to respond. It should be quite unsatisfying if no one responds to any of his/her/their comments. I know it’s difficult to not respond when someone is doing something like this, but withholding attention could be effective.  But it’s not up to me.

  115. 115.

    WereBear

    I have been trying to figure out conservatives for my entire life. The only thing I can conclude is that I do not have the same capacity for hate that they do.

    I simply cannot be motivated by constant spite of the pettiest kind.

    Yet they build their life around it. Along with outright criminal tendencies, judging from their leadership.

    Science should study them. We could revamp the DSM.

  116. 116.

    Ruckus

    @TriassicSands:

    I have no idea if there has ever been anything said to this person by someone who can ban him. (I assume it’s a him, I actually have zero idea) But the name has come up for discussion quite a bit and I’d bet that many if not most of us have him/her blocked. He adds nothing to the discussions. Just from this one post I can bet that a lot of us have him blocked. I wonder if more of us have him blocked than any other commenter. Given his toxic attitude I’d bet yes.

  117. 117.

    Frankensteinbeck

    For the hundredth time, DeSantis’s tactic of maximizing cruelty to win the nomination was working.  It’s a great strategy.  The cruelty is absolutely the point with the Republican base.

    His campaign tanked when Trump attacked him and DeSantis refused to fight back.  He’s losing because he’s weak and a weak champion of bigotry is no champion at all.

    The base is not in love with Trump anymore.  His only good rallies are showing up for someone else.  They like him, but the passion is gone.  But who else is in the news feeding them red meat?  Only the school wimp, DeSantis.

    @eversor:

    Also very, very, very, gay.

    Yes, it’s hilarious.  Bisexuality was legally required for men in the Sparta they love.  Women were merely encouraged to have female lovers, since the men would be away at war a lot.  In fact, the men were away at war so much that if her husband was out for too long, a woman by law had to take a male lover to get her pregnant.

    The Spartan laws were pretty funny viewed from a long, long way away, and conservative dumbasses know nothing about them.  They’d have loved some stuff.  Ancient Greece was a slavery based economy, for example.

  118. 118.

    Baud

    Banning Christianity is the policy proposal the Baud! 20XX! campaign has been missing!

  119. 119.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    All policy proposals are missing from the Baud! platform!  Baud! is all things to all people!  That’s how you got elected, Mister, Misses, Miss, Sir, Madam, Lord and Lady President.

  121. 121.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    Banning Christianity in the areas where it’s not made compulsory should be the policy. Light on your feet, keep them guessing, maintain your room to manoeuvre rather than being tied down by ‘promises’ and ‘commitments’.  And anyone who disagrees or questions your core values is implicitly both a religious fundamentalist and a militant atheist, whichever paints them worse in specific markets.

    Now, moving on to the pro-child-labour planks in the platform…

  122. 122.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    We’re being too hasty, if we get rid of Christianity then we’ll have to work at the end of December and there will be no Black Friday sales.

  124. 124.

    PAM Dirac

    @frosty:

    ETA: Orioles fan here from the time I moved to Baltimore in late ’78 and could walk to games at Memorial Stadium the next year when they were in the Series. I can’t believe they’re doing so well!

    Similar for me. My Dad was from Connecticut, so had a basic Yankee hate that was passed down. We lived on Long island in ’62 when the Mets came into the league, so became a Mets fan. Went to the first games the Dodgers played back in NY, A Memorial Day double header. The Dodgers were mostly pitching and defense but beat the Mets something like 8-2, 12-5. Years later I was in school in Baltimore and went to many Oriole games. Walk down 33rd St., stop at the Golden Star at Greenmount and pick up a couple of the biggest egg rolls I’ve ever seen, get the student bleacher tickets for $1.50, eat the egg rolls watching batting practice, and then enjoy the game. Very good times.

  127. 127.

    Gvg

    @Omnes Omnibus:

     

    @TriassicSands: The front pagers are not psychiatrists or counselors. And even professionals can’t help people who aren’t ready. This is asking for too much perfection. Sometimes you need to let it go. The frontpagers may, if they so choose do what you suggest, but they should not be expected to. I don’t. I think they have already had to put up with enough.

  128. 128.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Tony Jay: You know Harrods and Regent St would be very lonely without mass Xmas consumerism

  129. 129.

    PAM Dirac

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    I know people who hate the damn Yankees so much they’d make a deal with devil

    Six months out of every year ..

    ETA:  Speaking of the Senators: The hitting star for the Dodgers in that Memorial Day doubleheader I mentioned was Frank Howard, who in the late 60s was a fan favorite bashing home runs for the Senators.

  130. 130.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Martin:

    So, I’m counting on everyone here reporting both DeSantis and Trump for wearing attire that doesn’t match their gender at the debates because of their high heels.

    My WAG is that Trump thinks he’s above mixing it up with the hoi polloi in a debate.  And I bet his advisers (quite sensibly, IMHO) think that if he doesn’t show, a lot fewer GOP voters will bother to tune in.  So why bother to show up and raise those midgets’ profiles?​

  131. 131.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @PAM Dirac: Frank Howard is one of my dad’s favorites.  As a kid he loved big guys like Kiner, Kluszewski, Killebrew, Kong Kingman.  (sounds like a monster movie)

  134. 134.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Tony Jay: I’m meeting friends at St Pancras for high tea when I return from Munich.  I hope they’re not too hoity-toity as I’ll be the one wearing a Dennis Skinner lapel pin.

  135. 135.

    Princess

    @different-church-lady: I was trying to think of a way to put this but you nailed it. Trump makes hatred fun. He’s very clever that way. They want the fun even more than they want the punishment, though they’ll take that too. Ron doesn’t get it. There’s nothing fun about him.

  143. 143.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: Now, moving on to the pro-child-labour planks in the platform…

    The Baud! 20XX! campaign prefers the term “universal employment”

    (Euphemistic utility aside, it is also more accurate, since the program will include seniors. “Retirement” is such a 20th-century concept — it is time to move beyond that.)

  145. 145.

    Ken

    @lowtechcyclist: I think there’s also an aspect of dominance there.  Remember the RNC’s earlier attempt to exert some control over the party they supposedly run, which went something like:

    RNC: We will require all candidates to pledge their support to the eventual nominee.

    TRUMP: No.

    RNC: Okay, then.

  148. 148.

    Geminid

    @Gvg: The person used to comment about his anti-Christianity obsession exclusively. Since then he’s branched out and delivered good commentary about areas where he has personal or professional knowledge, which I appreciate because his life experiences are very different from mine.

    But he inevitably comes back to the obsession. It’s like the proverbial sore thumb that sticks out and keeps getting hit. It doesn’t bother me like it does others though. It’s a totally impractical political program anyway. It’s like saying “We can never get anything done in the Senate until we combine the Dakotas and divide California into four states.” An irrelevant argument.

    So I just scroll past these comments like I scroll past the ones griping about pickup trucks. Seen one, seen them all.

  149. 149.

    Tony Jay

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:

    Ha. We’ll be going through St Pancras/King’s Cross near the end of next month on the start of our rail journey via Eurostar and night-train to Sicily. The plan was to go down on the 22nd but with the rail strike we’ve got to go a day earlier, which is annoying in that we need a hotel, but actually preferable in that we’ll get a day in London.

  150. 150.

    Tony Jay

    @Ken:

    ‘Universal Aspiration’ is the applicable focus grouped term. ‘Employment’ raises expectations of a salaried position that puts far too much pressure on the nation’s hard-pressed job creators and gives the shiftless old and young alike too much agency.

    The work itself will make them free, so their labour should be too.

  151. 151.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    Not as common as his anti-Christian rants, but he also can’t let go of Hillary Clinton. Reminds me of that woman in the Trump video that was leaked recently.

  153. 153.

    different-church-lady

    @JWR: It’s usually about one game out of five. Although it might be two in the case of the A’s this year.

  156. 156.

    SFAW

    @Scout211: ​
     

    Mann Act explainer for the uninformed, please?

    Transporting mynahs over staid lions for immortal porpoises, I think.
    [Apologies for using a very old punch line.]

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    Laura Rozen (@lrozen) has been excepting portions of A NewYorker article about the Iran strike plans Trump was waving around at Bedlaminster, and their context: it was Trump, not the Milley, who was pushing for an attack on Iran in December of 2020. Milley even flew to Israel and told PM Netanyahu to stop encouraging Trump.

    Now that Iran has enriched to 60% U-235 a sufficient amount of material to make 4-10 bombs, there is a real potential for war. Laura Rozen has linked to reports on negotiations between the US and Iran aimed at heading off enrichment to bomb grade uranium. Officials have been reticent about the process, but remarks by Iran’s Supreme leader while visiting an enrichment facility, as well as complaints by Congressional Republicans and Netanyah, indicate that a deal is in the works.

  158. 158.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: I’ve always referred to the period from Thanksgiving to New Years as the American Ramadan, ever since a Moslem friend complained about how you couldn’t get anybody to respond to phone calls or email during Ramadan. (He was dealing with the Saudis)

    We could just call the same period “Actual Ramadan”. Plus add Saturnalia  at the end for tradition’s sake.

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger met with Jack Smith in Washington yesterday. I’d like to know the details of that meeting.

    Meanwhile, we will soon be entering the time frame where Fulton County DA Fani Willis has signaled there will be indictments, presumably of Trump and others.

  162. 162.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gvg: Don’t bring me into this.  I neither called for the commenter to banned not spoken to sternly.  I think they are a bigot and have said so.  That’s it.

  163. 163.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ken:

    It was!  It both confirmed most of what I knew and taught me a lot more.  I knew hardly anything about Sparta’s downfall and the wealth consolidation aspect.  Really fascinating stuff.

  165. 165.

    Uncle Cosmo

    So the scientists at Woods Hole stumbled upon a compound which when given to bottle-nose dolphins stopped or reversed aging. The problem was that the only source of the compound was baby seagulls of a species living in the Florida Keys within the first few days after hatching.

    To collect more, the scientists sent one of their trucks down to the Keys with instructions to catch the little birds. And when they had a full load, they drove north again. But as they crossed the border into Georgia, the state police pulled them over, confiscated the truck, and hauled them into court.

    Can you guess what the charge was?

    .
    .
    .
    . wait for it
    .
    .
    .

    Interstate transportation of underage gulls for immortal porpoises

    :^p

  166. 166.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay: ​
     

    Banning Christianity in the areas where it’s not made compulsory should be the policy. Light on your feet, keep them guessing,

    You know what would really keep them guessing: Banning Christianity in the areas where it IS compulsory.
    Which would be as coherent a policy as anything the Rethugs churn out. [Sorry, Baud, not saying you’re a Rethug.]

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