Yeah, don't get it. He's following Christie more than Trump with his bullying tactics. We saw how that worked out for fat asshole.
Florida is unique much of this regard. They are popular with those who don't want to pay taxes, because they have no state income tax. They are popular with people who who like warm weather. They have a large lower wage class due to the travel, entertainment, and farming industries, yet not much of anything else. There is a history of harsh racism, which probably goes as far back as Cortez (Cortes?). They are part of the Bible Belt, but probably have a larger evangelical population than average. 2000 and hanging chads Terri Schiavo Anita Bryant Regan and the Cubans And the outsized power that Disney had in Orlando for nearly 3 decades. It is not just one of those things, or any group, but all of that. Looking backwards, it is surprising that the Dems ever had a shot.
What are you talking about? They are power hungry and are trying to ruin parents and the government by being teaching kids things such as critical thinking.
Fair enough, but I suspect that a deep dive into the data might show that it was only recently that those losses became 'baked in' to the electorate. Exactly--for low-information voters, he's the right-wing Christian who was acceptable to moderates and establishment types. I forgot about that part--but there you have it, name recognition and legacy. Well, that was my point. I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that Democrats were more competitive in the State legislature until recently. I was making the inverse point--the Florida Democratic party very much does NOT have it's shit together. Fair enough, but his fraud case was several years ago. What worries me is that it's his HS bully act, not any particular policies, driving his popularity. 100%.
Not much. The previous governors, Scott and Criss were as moderate as can be. De Santis barely won in his 2018 election. What happened was just a lucky break in the form of COVID. De Santis took an anti-vax friendly approach and record numbers of anti-vaxers moved to Florida to get away from "repressive" policies in their home states. The 2022 election he won by a land slide.
He said stuff like that occasionally in between calling Mexicans rapists and promising to ban all Muslim immigration. You know--economic anxiety.
Everyone remembers the nativism ---> "mexican rapists' But he ran as an economic populist. Great healthcare, taxcuts for everyone, infrastructure, american jobs, trade wars, deficits don't matter etc This is all to the left of the unpopular traditional GOP stuff
Just one example - he promised great healthcare for working class voters a gazillion times. That is a major break from every other GOP politician who wanted to take away healthcare. Of course he was lying ...
Democrat presidential candidates were competitive until recently (and to some extent the governor race) but the legislature has been a GOP stronghold for the last two decades if not more. But last election was the perfect storm, of many of the factors that others have mentioned (Trump bump, antivaxx policies, migration) plus the aggressive redistricting and voter suppression that Ronda implemented; not only he dislodged two majority minority districts, but he was the all time disenfranchising leader in the country. Yup, it already faded from people memories. Well, that's the GQP and their voters nowadays.
It's true he ran that way but I'm unconvinced it was an important part of his appeal. To the extent it helped him win, I'd wager the economic populism mostly just distracted the pundits from how awful he really was. Chris Haye's tweet agreeing that he was running to Hillary's left being one example. Might have also given some Jill Stein-friendly progressives permission to vote third-party rather than against him, but I'm not sure how decisive that cohort actually was. Probably not very.
I think you are overlooking the importance of the great con. Americans knew Trump as a great businessman and dealmaker. I agree 'economic anxiety' was nonsense but that doesn't mean voters didn't hear his populist message - which struck such a chord because republican policy is wildly unpopular. That was the audacity of the con. To promise to replace obamacare with something much better, but then just try to steal their healthcare. Even after that you can find media coverage claiming Trump would now become like Bill Clinton and triangulate after the GOP congressional disaster - as the deal maker who could work across the aisle
He appeared in NE Pennsylvania a half dozen times in the last couple months of the 2016 campaign. I would say about 80% of his rambling was this sort of thing, but that got zero coverage in the legacy media or the more lefty web and social media sources. His racist crack-pottery got the sound byte for the news cycle. This had a double effect: it energized the sort of person who thought the coastal elites were out to get Trump (and by extension, them) AND it gave independents a reason to vote for him . . . especially since HRC's half dozen NE Pennslyvania appearances were all $1000 per plate fundraisers at supporters' mansions. And to reiterate your other point . . . Of course he was lying. My facorite was his claim to bring coal mining back to NEPA. Some of his supporters even bought coal-burning furnaces after he won. Too bad for them the (((globalist))) Democrats and George Soros conspired to make sure all that coal remained in the ground.
Of course, my comments were just the tip of the White Christian Heterosexual Supremacy iceberg for DeSantis. Good point. I think "Liberty" University should always be in quotes. Not much liberty there, it seems. It is like "Moms for Liberty" who are behind much of the book banning, fighting against "critical race theory" in grade schools, fights against "emotional learning," etc. Oh, they did a promotional video for Ron DeSantis last summer during the campaign. All of their "Media reports" are from Fox, Washington Examiner, The Epoch Times, Newsmax, Daily Caller, Breitbart, OAN, etc.
I can't believe anyone around here believed that one. The mines closed decades ago* because, with a couple of exceptions, they are all mined out. Not only are they empty of coal, most of them have been refilled with the detritus that was taken out in the process (it seems to have worked to solve the problem of subsidence. If there had been coal down there, I think there would be someone trying to get it out. *there's one left in this county. It employs three people, plus the truck drivers who are contracted to deliver the product when there's enough to process.
I'm sorry, the term "Orwellian" is now reserved for cable providers dropping Newsmax. You'll have to come up with a new word.
It's the "university" part that should be in quotes... Liberty Churchy Indoctrination Place is probably a better name..
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2005/10/lunch-discussions-145-crazification.html just remember the phrase “crazification factor”
Sensible observation from Dan Rather. The DeSantis playbook on race and education is just an updated edition of what I saw in the South in the 1960s.— Dan Rather (@DanRather) February 1, 2023
I love you Slim, we coulda been together, think about it You ruined it now, I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you scream about it Trump on Pence: "I took Mike out of nothing"Trump on Haley: "She's overly ambitious"Trump on DeSantis: "Got elected because of me" pic.twitter.com/C13nDZlb9s— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 3, 2023
It's part of a series: Reagan and the Taliban Founding Fathers. Reagan vs the Welfare Queen. Reagan and Gorbachev's wall. Reagan's War in the Stars. Reagan's Astrologist. They're modeled on this collection: