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A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

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The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Off-Ramp Ron

Off-Ramp Ron

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According to this Times article by DeSantis beat writer Nicholas Nehamas, Ron DeSantis knows he’s not going to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee and is looking for an exit that preserves his 2028 prospects:

After a humbling loss in Iowa, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is starting to signal that he is building an off-ramp from the race for the Republican presidential nomination, a seeming acknowledgment of his dim prospects of defeating Donald J. Trump given his low poll numbers in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

So far this week, Mr. DeSantis has cast his eyes forward to 2028 with anecdotes about Trump supporters saying they would vote for him next time around if he runs again in four years. He has conceded that Mr. Trump’s thumping victory in Iowa on Monday made for a “good showing in terms of him winning the nomination.” And he has openly admitted that he believes he made a strategic mistake by icing out the traditional media earlier in the campaign.

It all amounted to a kind of frankness that Mr. DeSantis has not always shown in his public comments about the nominating contest — and a marked change in tone for a candidate who spent most of last year brashly promising he would win Iowa, which he lost by 30 points.

With any luck, the back half of DeSantis’s governorship won’t go as smoothly as the first now that statehouse toadies have no immediate motivation to cower and suck up. There’s also reason to hope that wingnut donors who got torched by Ron in 2024 remember how wantonly he squandered their millions and keep their wallets shut in 2028.

DeSantis braying like a jackass

Most of all, I hope Trump settles the heir apparent question once and for all this year by getting clobbered by Joe Biden. (Again.) Maybe such a glorious event could finally prompt Republicans to eschew candidates with Trump loser stink on them. That group definitely includes The Beast’s imitator Ron DeSantis.

Open thread.

PS: I will probably not be able to resist dancing on DeSantis’s political grave for a few more weeks. Don’t feel constrained by the topic of the post — talk about whatever!

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  2. 2.

    Captain C

    Maybe such a glorious event could finally prompt Republicans to eschew candidates with Trump loser stink on them. That group definitely includes The Beast’s imitator Ron DeSantis.

    Given the record of Republican governance since at least Nixon, I hope they keep putting candidates with loser stink up for decades, as that’s how long it’ll take for us to clean up their rather extreme messes.

  6. 6.

    matt

    Well, he’ll always have the memories of spending millions living the high life, flying private jets on donors’ dime.

  9. 9.

    Captain C

    @Jackie: I understand Florida’s politics are kind of weird, but I still don’t understand how someone so off-puttingly weird and uncanny valley-like ever got elected to anything, even if all the notes he hit would be right coming from an actual human being.

  10. 10.

    Old Man Shadow

    Ron DeSantis knows he’s not going to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee and is looking for an exit that preserves his 2028 prospects…

    So he’s banking on a disaster that kills off 99.9% of the human population and leaves the remaining .1% with severe traumatic head injuries?

  11. 11.

    Baud

    @Old Man Shadow:

    So he’s banking on a disaster that kills off 99.9% of the human population and leaves the remaining .1% with severe traumatic head injuries?

    So he’s banking on Trump winning?

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    Ron’s glide path looks to be about 45 degrees and I predict he has Scott Walker odds of another run. Win-Win.

    Japan’s lunar lander seems to be safe on the surface–you go, Japan–and has issues with its solar charger system so maybe not useful beyond the battery life. They’re “working on it.” In sum, a very tricky thing to pull off and a first for their program.

    For the first time all rainy season, California has a continual week of rainstorms lined up, beginning today. We are very subpar on snowpack and this is very welcome news. The joys and agonies of a Mediterranean climate. Check back for “Eek, floods!” posts next week.

  13. 13.

    Chat Noir

    I will probably not be able to resist dancing on DeSantis’s political grave for a few more weeks.

    You’re good! I enjoy reading your schadenfreude at DeSantis’s well-deserved implosion on the national stage.

  15. 15.

    Shalimar

    @Captain C: I refuse to go back and watch all of his pre-2018 Fox appearances, but I assume DeSantis came off as semi-normal for 2 minutes at a time?  Hard to believe now that we have 5 years of his misgovernance, but there was a time when he made his reputation on public appearances.  And that God-awful commercial reading the Trump fairy tale book to his kids.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    Today’s Letter of Note is from 10-YO John F Kennedy to his father, Joseph K., seeking a raise.

    Late-1927, having just become a Boy Scout and acutely aware that his weekly allowance wouldn’t cover the costs of such a lifestyle, 10-year-old John F. Kennedy approached his father and asked for a raise of 30¢. Keen to teach the future President a quick business lesson, Kennedy Sr. immediately told him that, unless his plea was put in writing, it wouldn’t be heard.

    The following letter soon arrived at his desk.

    A Plea for a raise
    By Jack Kennedy

    Dedicated to my
    Mr. J. P. Kennedy

    Chapter 1

    My recent allowance is 40¢. This I used for areoplanes and other playthings of child hood but now I am a scout and I put away my childis[h] things. Before I would spend 20¢ of my 40¢ allowance and in fixe [five] minutes I would have empty pockets and nothing to gain and 20¢ to lose. When, I a[m] a scout I have to buy canteens, haversacks, blankets, searchlidgs [searchlights], poncho things that will last for years and I can always use it while I cant use a cholcolate marshmallow sundae with vanilla ice cream and so I put in my plea for a raise of thirty cents for me to buy scout things and pay my own way more around.

    Finis

    John Fitzgerald Francis Kennedy

  18. 18.

    Dangerman

    … that preserves his 2028 prospects.

    So, you’re saying there’s a chance?

    /dumb and dumber

    ETA: Missed it by THAT much.

    /get smart

  19. 19.

    JoyceH

    I’ve seen pundits suggest that the only thing keeping DeSantis in is the possibility of Trump flaming out – a public descent into insanity, going to prison, or dying.

    In other news, the bandage is off Jazzy’s foot but she’s still in the cone for a while. My main issue is Whimsy wanting to play so rough. I’m reading all the articles about keeping puppy from attacking older dog (she’s just playing, but it’s not fun for poor Jazzy), and trying all the tricks but she’s just so relentless!

  21. 21.

    BlueGuitarist

    Re

    Trump’s thumping victory in Iowa

    Still seems weak to me that the de facto R incumbent got barely half the votes of a small number of Iowa Caucasians

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    Wut, a treasured first-responder going rogue and shit? Say it ain’t so!

    A former firefighter pleaded not guilty Wednesday after he was arrested last week on suspicion of detonating an improvised explosive device and planting several others across El Dorado and Sacramento counties. Benjamin Cunha, 41, was arrested last Friday after an investigation by the FBI, California Highway Patrol and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office, the CHP and Sheriff’s Office said in statements.

    Cunha, of Orangevale, was arraigned on several felony charges including possessing and exploding an explosive device with the “intent to injure, intimidate, and terrify a person, and to wrongfully injure and destroy property,” according to the criminal complaint. He faces 11 counts of allegedly possessing an explosive device “in, on, and near a public place ordinarily passed by human beings,” court documents said. Cunha also faces a special allegation for having a previous felony conviction.

    The Sheriff’s Office in a social media post said Cunha was arrested following an investigation into a “series of improvised explosive devices that had been placed alongside roads and highways, in multiple locations in El Dorado County and Sacramento County.” Sheriff’s officials did not specify which roadways were involved. In a separate social media post, the CHP said Cunha was apprehended after an “intense operation” in which an explosive ordinance disposal team carried out “critical search warrants.”

    Cunha was convicted of arson in 2016 after pleading guilty to setting at least 30 fires in rural areas east of Sacramento during 2006 and 2007, causing $7 million in damage, The Sacramento Bee reported at the time. He was sentenced in early 2017 to five years in prison and agreed to pay $246,862 in restitution to Cal Fire. He set the fires after serving as a volunteer firefighter for the Diamond Springs Fire Protection District in El Dorado County. Cunha also worked from 2001 to 2003 as a seasonal firefighter for Cal Fire, The Bee reported.

    Cunha “was motivated by boredom and the desire to be paid overtime when called out to fight fires,” according to a written plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento in the arson case. Even though he was a volunteer, he could have been eligible for payment during busy periods, Robert Combs, chief of the Diamond Springs district, said at the time.

    Cunha is being held in the El Dorado County Jail and is ineligible for bail, court records show. Sheriff’s officials earlier said Cunha’s bail was set at $2.1 million. [Best news I’ve read all day.]

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article284359884.html#storylink=cpy

    He seems nice. Kind of like had George Santos gone into firefighting and amateur explosives.

  23. 23.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    For those planning on dancing on Puddin’Boots grave, make sure to check if the ground is muddy first, because others, before they feel like dancing, will be “relieved”.

     

    Ewww. But tots earned, also, too.

  27. 27.

    Harrison Wesley

    I’d feel a lot better if the Pudding Strangler stayed far away from Florida after he bows out, especially now that his own party is backing off.  I do not want to be in his way when he goes out to air his grievances.

  28. 28.

    EarthWindFire

    Ron DeSaster apparently thinks there will be a 2028 GOP campaign if Trump wins? That’s cute. I mean, Republican voters are delusional enough to think there will be a 2028 election without Trump if he wins/lives out his term but Ronnie really should know better.

  29. 29.

    Old School

    Won’t Trump be running again in 2028?  A Biden victory would be the second time an election was stolen from him, so he’d likely be running again.

    (Unless he dies before then.)

  30. 30.

    Geoduck

    The Shaitgibbon getting clobbered might actually boost DeSantis’s profile, since he sort of almost defied him. But it’s a risk I’m more than willing to take.

  31. 31.

    West of the Rockies

    That photo…  man, talk about a dearth of authenticity.   Could some of that be an emotional/social disorder?  Is that the face of Antisocial Personality Disorder, or is he simply 100% a wretched human?

  32. 32.

    Hoodie

    Can’t see how Ron will have much in the way of national prospects in 2028.  He had one chance to capitalize on his boomlet and fucked it up royally.  He’ll be remembered for white boots, heel lifts, pudding and weird mannerisms.  From what you and others have said, seems like he’s burned a lot of bridges in Florida if he’s thinking of running for Rubio’s senate seat.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    I look forward to DeSantis going away.

    I hope there is ongoing resistance in Florida to his policies and actions.

  37. 37.

    Tony Jay

    @…now I try to be amused:

      Never mind Ron, how is Lady Macbeth Casey going to take it?

    In the darkened corridors of Tallahassee’s recently constructed Palais d’Gouvernance Absolute, just audible over the shallow breathing of embarrassed State Guardsmen, a curious ear can pick out the patient tap-scrape, tap-scrape, tap-scrape of painted fingernails on marble tabletop emanating from behind the locked doors of the Governor’s Suite. And in the dreadful space between each tap, in the agonising pause before each scrape, a wretched, blubbering sob is dragged from the man-shaped figure that has been standing in front of those doors for the better part of forever, fingers closed over the handle, frozen in fear. Every hour or so one of the State Guards will shuffle a foot, bite a lip and, in a stuttering whisper, ask once again:

      “Governor, you want I should..?”

    “Querying. Response Negative. Countdown Paused. Venting Fearwaste. Orders Awaited.”

    But the orders never come. And the tap-scrape, tap-scrape, tap-scrape from behind the doors goes on and on and on.

  39. 39.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Kent: He can’t run in 2026 (only 2 consecutive terms), but he could run in 2030.  Hopefully he’ll be long gone by then.  Maybe he’ll have himself made president for one of Florida’s public colleges – he sort of specializes in picking grossly unqualified people for those roles.

  41. 41.

    mrmoshpotato

    According to this Times article by DeSantis beat writer Nicholas Nehamas, Ron DeSantis knows he’s not going to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee and is looking for an exit that preserves his 2028 prospects:

    Long walk off a short pier?

    Shopping for new Fuck Me boots?

    Maybe he can reignite his fight with the House of Mouse?

  44. 44.

    mrmoshpotato

    PS: I will probably not be able to resist dancing on DeSantis’s political grave for a few more weeks. Don’t feel constrained by the topic of the post — talk about whatever!

    Can we join?  Who’s up for a tango class, conga line?

  46. 46.

    encephalopath

     

    They set $100 million on fire to arrive here.

    Good for everyone who got paid, I guess.

  47. 47.

    Harrison Wesley

    @trollhattan: Maybe Matt Gaetz will give it a shot; possibly Vern Buchanan – Ms. Cracker would have better insight than I do.  ETA: maybe Casey?  Nothing would stop her legally as far as I know.

  54. 54.

    Old School

    @TBone:

    Good grief!

    Chris Avell, pastor of Dad’s Place in Bryan, Ohio, was arraigned in court last Thursday because he kept his church open 24/7 to provide warmth to the unhoused.

  60. 60.

    piratedan

    with a governance track record in place and the high hopes of the First Lady of Florida in mind, I would worry about the “emotional backlash” that these disappointing Presidential results and polling has shown.  What else can a petty vindictive asshole still do to his constituents now that the nation has indicated that “they’re just not that into him”?

    Hoping that he’ll just spend the remaining time in office in a good long non-communicative sulk.

  61. 61.

    kindness

    Ron is sure gonna be pissed when Trump announces he’s running again in 2028.  Trump will do this (if he’s still alive) even if he wins in 2024, which he won’t.  And really, why won’t someone tell Ron he and his wife Cruella are right out of central casting for the bad guys in 101 Dalmations.

  62. 62.

    Yarrow

    So glad Meatball Ron isn’t going to win the nomination. Sorry he’s coming back to Florida, Betty. I think he’s been weakened by his run though. He wasn’t ready for prime time and it became pretty obvious over the months he ran. He won’t control the legislature like he did and people will be planning to run against him. Bad news about that, I’ve heard rumors Matt Gaetz is planning to run for Governor. Retch. Even so, Republicans in disarray in Florida is good.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    It’s January 19th.

    You’re a Republican.

    It has now come to pass.  Through your inaction, and through the constant enabling of your GOP elected officials, trumpov – rambling, ranting, deranged, perpetrator of Dobbs, “absolute immunity” trumpov – is already your de facto candidate for president.

    You broke your own party by not standing for anything at all except a desire to stick it to the libs.  And since you broke it – you bought it.  It’s alll yours.

    You were warned.  You had ample evidence for the 2016 election, and then an impeachment, and then a failed Covid response, and then a 2020 election, and then a failed insurrection, and a second impeachment!  You had a rape conviction. You had 91 felony charges drop.  You could have demanded better at. any. time.

    Well, now you have approximately 290 days of dread, disbelief, and self-loathing ahead of you, watching it all swirl completely down the drain.  Enjoy!

  64. 64.

    3Sice

    Plenty of “Ron and Casey’s” head off to Florida seeking their future. Eventually you hear she and the kids are back living with her Mom.

    No one ever asks after “Ron”.

  65. 65.

    TBone

    Somebody made a meme when fElon Skum went to the border, where he looks exactly like Walking Boss in Cool Hand Luke, the reflection in his glasses is just…I don’t know if they even had to Photoshop it.

  68. 68.

    West of the Rockies

    DeSantis kind of makes one pine for the normal Republicans of yesteryear, like Christine O’Donnell and Joe the Plumber.

  70. 70.

    West of the Rockies

    @Jeffro:

    Well said.  And when that day comes to pass, will Republicans at last take a long-ass look in the mirror?

    Nah…

  71. 71.

    XeckyGilchrist

    Lemme guess. His new plan is to be even stupider, angrier, and more pointlessly vindictive than before.

  76. 76.

    Suzanne

    @Mike in NC:

    Meatball Ron should save the white go-go boots for his inevitable resurfacing in 2028. 

    Maybe he can wear them with that mint green cape dress that Casey wore. A perfect Spring ensemble.

  79. 79.

    Chris

    Ron DeSantis knows he’s not going to be the GOP’s 2024 nominee and is looking for an exit that preserves his 2028 prospects:

    Should have thought of that before running in 2024, asshole.  It’s going to be a lot harder to get to the top now that all your think you’re 1) the RINO backstabber who tried to steal the rightful throne of Literal Jesus Appointee Donald Trump, and 2) the beta cuck who was so little threat to Trump he couldn’t even be bothered to debate you and still squashed your campaign like a grape.

  80. 80.

    RevRick

    @trollhattan: Meanwhile, there’s a huge snowfall deficit in the Hindu Kush/Himalayas that portends disaster in the coming months. The glaciers which slowly feed the rivers in South Asia are not being replenished with snow. That increases the dangers of glacier lakes flooding collapse (excess glacier melt overfilling mountain reservoirs). All this is due to a weak Western Disturbance in the Mediterranean and Black Sea region — the system which usually funnels moisture into the Central Asian mountains. The danger here is that when the Western Disturbance does show up during warmer conditions it could trigger massive flooding, like the kind which inundated half of Pakistan last year.

    This is my/your/our fossil fuel burning working its black magic upon nature.

  82. 82.

    Dan B

    @trollhattan: Waves hello from far northern tip of Mediterranean climate, at least after July 15th.  Seattle’s had the coldest Temps in 30 years and some Zonal Denial plants are sad, vewwy sad.  At the same time we’re not Portland – repeated ice storms, or Vancouver and Bellingham – snowbound.  The freeze seems to have dumped lots of snow in the Cascades.  Fingers crossed!

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:DeSantis peaked a year ago. He’ll never be that strong a candidate again.

    Yup, not even close.

    And by 2028, FSM willing, the trump-loser-stench will be so strong that anyone who bent the knee to him – much less tried to be ‘trump lite’ – is going to be the opposite of what the GOP powers-that-be are looking for.

    I’ll say this too: after the shellacking that’s coming for the Dobbs/”absolute immunity” Republicans this November, the big dark-money GOP donors are going to pick some super-sunny fake and get behind him/her EARLY for 2028.

  86. 86.

    Tony Jay

    @TBone:

    That’s what I’ll miss. As a couple they looked like they’d just walked off the Odd Looking Fuckers production line and were living proof of concept for every funny name gag going.

    No one else (other than the Trump Klan) gives us all that to work with, for free.

    THEY GAVE US SO MUCH!

  88. 88.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @Jeffro:

    I’ll say this too: after the shellacking that’s coming for the Dobbs/”absolute immunity” Republicans this November, the big dark-money GOP donors are going to pick some super-sunny fake and get behind him/her EARLY for 2028.

    I figure the only way the GOP can oppose Trump in the primaries is to have a pre-primary to choose one anti-Trump candidate. That is to say, go back to the days of the smoke-filled rooms.

  89. 89.

    RevRick

    @BlueGuitarist: But we all know that the vast majority will fall in line behind Trump come the general election. The rule of thumb is that the candidates will each get about 90% of their partisans to vote for them. The trick is to try to push your 90 up to 92, and to try to shave their 90 down to 88.
    If the recent special election in Florida is any sort of precursor, the fact that the non-partisans broke 2-1 for Keen ought to keep Republicans up at night.

  90. 90.

    eclare

    @Jeffro:

    If your prediction holds, I think Kemp has a very good chance of being the nominee in 2028.  He is not an anti-Trumper, but he did stand up for letting the vote count stand.  Georgia’s economy is doing well, and although he has the same social/cultural positions as any RWNJ, he doesn’t bleat about it.

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    @Princess:

    He’s a fool if he thinks anyone not named Trump will be elected in 2028.

    exactly!

    “Gov DeSantis, the former president has spoken openly about a ‘3rd term’ or a ‘make-up term’ in 2028 if he wins in 2024…what makes you think you’ll be able to run for president in 2028 without having to run against trump all over again?”

  99. 99.

    Paul in KY

    I can only imagine that the stupid woman (stupid to get so close to him & to be a GQPer) must have smelled very tasty & engaged his primary feeding mechanism. I guess he managed t control himself, or I would have read stories this morn about him eating her sweet, sweet brains.

  100. 100.

    Rjv

    New York Times political reportage: “Dear Mr DeSantis, we play softer ball than Brian Kilmeade. Please tell us how much disarray Dems are in“

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