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.
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!
Injustice Anywhere
Captain C
Off-ramp Ron looks like he’s about to puke meatballs in that photo/thumbnail.
Captain C
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.
Baud
Enjoy it, BC. You deserve it.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@Baud: Now let’s watch the meatball continue to roll downhill…
comrade scotts agenda of rage
“DeSantis beat writer” = Hell
matt
Well, he’ll always have the memories of spending millions living the high life, flying private jets on donors’ dime.
Jackie
@Captain C: That was his dismal rehearsal to show he has a sense of humor. It didn’t work as he scared the hell out of everyone in proximity.
...now I try to be amused
Never mind Ron, how is
Lady MacbethCasey going to take it?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.
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?
Baud
@Old Man Shadow:
So he’s banking on Trump winning?
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.
Chat Noir
You’re good! I enjoy reading your schadenfreude at DeSantis’s well-deserved implosion on the national stage.
Sister Golden Bear
@Old Man Shadow: Obligatory Dumb and Dumber reference.
Lloyd Christmas : [he gulps, his mouth twitching] You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary Swanson : I’d say more like one out of a million.
Lloyd Christmas : [long pause while he processes what he’s heard] So you’re telling me there’s a chance. YEAH!
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.
trollhattan
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
I envision HS Thompson being a literal DeSantis beat writer and it makes me smile a little.
Spending extended time with and around Ron? How about a little bit of surgery, can I do that instead?
trollhattan
Today’s Letter of Note is from 10-YO John F Kennedy to his father, Joseph K., seeking a raise.
Dangerman
So, you’re saying there’s a chance?
/dumb and dumber
ETA: Missed it by THAT much.
/get smart
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!
Baud
@trollhattan:
I’m changing my outlook signature closing to “Finis”.
BlueGuitarist
Re
Still seems weak to me that the de facto R incumbent got barely half the votes of a small number of Iowa Caucasians
trollhattan
Wut, a treasured first-responder going rogue and shit? Say it ain’t so!
He seems nice. Kind of like had George Santos gone into firefighting and amateur explosives.
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.
trollhattan
@Baud: It’s little wonder Jackie fell for the guy.
trollhattan
@BlueGuitarist: I would reframe “thumping” as “utterly unsurprising.”
Their goddamn horse race love.
Old Man Shadow
@Sister Golden Bear: Pretty much. The guy’s less charismatic than a bucket of rocks. Less likeable than the Plague.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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?
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.
tokyokie
@EarthWindFire: That’s the point I was going to make. I tfg wins this year, he won’t leave office until he leaves feet-first.
Kent
Is he term-limited in Florida? Or can he run for governor again in 2026 if he wants to?
Brachiator
I look forward to DeSantis going away.
I hope there is ongoing resistance in Florida to his policies and actions.
West of the Rockies
@Old School:
Keep a good thought!
Tony Jay
@…now I try to be amused:
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.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I don’t think that would stop him. I can easily see his cult followers running a “Weekend at Bernies” campaign and the NYT giving it serious attention.
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.
p.a.
DeSantis’ issue is his cheapness. He should never have gone off-the-rack for his human skin suit.
mrmoshpotato
Long walk off a short pier?
Shopping for new Fuck Me boots?
Maybe he can reignite his fight with the House of Mouse?
Captain C
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: If TFG croaks and TFG, jr. decides to run in ’28, I could totally see the corpse of TFG outpolling Junior.
Paul I Jacksonville
Isn’t there a consensus that if tfg wins, there won’t BE a 2028 election?
mrmoshpotato
Can we join? Who’s up for a tango class, conga line?
trollhattan
@Harrison Wesley: Who do you reckon beats Charlie Crist in ’26?
encephalopath
They set $100 million on fire to arrive here.
Good for everyone who got paid, I guess.
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.
West of the Rockies
@mrmoshpotato:
I think you meant Don’t Ever Fuck-Me Boots.
trollhattan
@Harrison Wesley: The Gaetz high school get-out-the-vote team will be epic.
West of the Rockies
@Tony Jay:
That was evocative and funny!
TBone
Just now caught today’s Tiedrich which goes PERFECTLY with Anne Laurie’s and Water Girl’s theme/previous topic here today. In case no one posted already:
Shortened your link. https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/a-pastor-was-arrested-for-saving
Harrison Wesley
@trollhattan: He does extend himself towards that age group.
...now I try to be amused
@mrmoshpotato:
You mean Fuck Me Sideways with a Rusty Pitchfork boots?
Old School
@TBone:
Good grief!
Tony Jay
@West of the Rockies:
I’m going to miss Ron when he’s gone.
Not in any defensible way, I admit, but I’ll miss his uncoordinated bouts of uncanniest valley misanthropy all the same.
Mike in NC
Meatball Ron should save the white go-go boots for his inevitable resurfacing in 2028.
Baud
@Old School:
He should demand a religious exemption under the First Amendment like right wingers do
CarolPW
@Old School: I guess that also means the pastor could be arrested for people falling asleep during his sermons or for giving congregants communion.
TBone
@Old School: you said it!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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”.
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.
TBone
@Jeffro: rub their noses in it hard. I once said “you broke it, you bought it” to the Rumpy neighbors’ spawn.
Baud
@Jeffro: Just for you,
today is National Popcorn Day!
West of the Rockies
DeSantis kind of makes one pine for the normal Republicans of yesteryear, like Christine O’Donnell and Joe the Plumber.
trollhattan
@…now I try to be amused: ISWYDT
Also, heh!
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…
XeckyGilchrist
Lemme guess. His new plan is to be even stupider, angrier, and more pointlessly vindictive than before.
trollhattan
@West of the Rockies: Remember when “I am not a witch” was career-ending?
Simpler times.
TBone
@Tony Jay: what circle of hell is that 😆
...now I try to be amused
@West of the Rockies:
You need to go back farther than that.
“I Miss Republicans” (John Rogers, 2004)
“I Still Miss Republicans” (John Rogers, 2006)
Tony Jay
@TBone:
It’s Ron’s all the way down, son.
Suzanne
@Mike in NC:
Maybe he can wear them with that mint green cape dress that Casey wore. A perfect Spring ensemble.
TBone
@Tony Jay: with Tacky Onassis forever.
eclare
@Suzanne:
AlaskaReader posted this in an overnight thread, and I thought of you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1ny9LgjRDA
You’ve probably already seen it, but in case you missed it, wow.
Chris
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.
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.
Geminid
DeSantis peaked a year ago. He’ll never be that strong a candidate again.
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!
Jeffro
@Baud: thanks!
S&P at a record high today – THANKS BIDEN!
The all-important consumer “vibes” also on the upswing – THANKS BIDEN!
Hey, if the GOP wants to run a one-term loser degenerate dementia patient cult leader in November, who am I to stop them? Pass me that popcorn!! =)
WaterGirl
@TBone: That’s fucked up.
Great cartoon, also
edit: I shortened your link. Everything starting with the question mark was expendable. Just tracking crap.
Jeffro
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.
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!
m.j.
@…now I try to be amused:
She will forget all about Ron and kneel at the foot of the dictator to be and beg to be the press secretary.
...now I try to be amused
@Jeffro:
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.
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.
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.
mrmoshpotato
@TBone: That lawyer can fuck himself with a rusty chainsaw for starters.
Princess
He’s a fool if he thinks anyone not named Trump will be elected in 2028.
Jeffro
@…now I try to be amused: they kinda sorta tried this time around, telling the Haley and DeSantis campaigns to bring their best argument, and they still couldn’t get it done.
(because neither one of them was willing to really lay into trump, is my take…but also because the early front-runner to be the anti-trump, DeSantis, turned out to be so incredibly horrible at basic politics)
Jeffro
@Princess:
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?”
TBone
@WaterGirl: thank you! I’ll try to remember to delete after the ? when pasting. I’m an old dog though, new tricks and all.
TBone
@mrmoshpotato: at a minimum.
Bex
@Tony Jay: Casey Munster. THX for the memories…we’ll be forever haunted.
The Lodger
@p.a.: Next time, he should go somewhere for his human suit other than Men’s Wearwolf.
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.
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“