It seems like DeSantis bet on Natcon which is the ideology of Thiel, Sacks and other GOP elites might not really play. It has made him popular in Florida but he also did a lot of actually popular stuff in Florida. Sure MAGA gets mad about “woke capitalism” but it’s not clear that normies Ron needs to win really know or care about all this stuff as a voting issues. These attacks on Target or “ESG” are popular with the very online Ben Shapiro crowd, Musk Bros etc but those people are likely voting Ron anyway and
For a long time being extreme to win the primary and then getting back to the middle has been a problem for republicans and now as the extreme mess has gotten worse in the right I don't know how they'll be able to go from a lot of these antics that help them win the primary back into the middle. I understand the press doing all they can as they did with Trump but it's really a key reason why they keep losing the popular vote. And it is what is costing them Independence in the handful of purple states that the side elections.
Tall anthill to die on: "It's traditional in Florida to wear Cuban-heeled boots!""Is that because Cuban men are shorter than average?""... shut up"— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 1, 2023
Also Ron's campaign has no real north star On the one hand he is the populist governor, economic steward etc On the other hand he is ultra maga to the right of trump on every issue especially abortion and guns On the other hand he is a trad republican on social security On the other hand he is a natcon humping the legs of GOP elites and the tech bros The whole Musk thing is a good example because normies just don't care about ESG and crypto and all David Sacks pet Natcon issues. It links him to very online donor elites while Trump mocks him about disney
Shorty has a short fuse.. After declining to take audience questions after his first New Hampshire campaign event today, Ron DeSantis lashed out at a reporter for asking him about it while he was chatting with members of the crowd individually.Here’s the video, via @NBCNews —> pic.twitter.com/Z2WtLy0JNj— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) June 1, 2023
TBF, that tactic has worked very well for DeSantis in Florida. It's how he shows he is strong enough to stand-up to the lies of the liberal media.
He is a clown..... DeSantis Praised Dr. Fauci in 2020 Gov. Ron DeSantis is attacking Donald Trump for “turning the country over to Dr. Fauci in March 2020” but DeSantis was praising the chief public health official at the same time in previously unreported quotes, saying Fauci was “really, really good and really, really helpful” and “really doing a good job,” CNN reports.
I listened to his take on PSA. He is like the PSA guys but slightly better because he was a GOP so he watched people ride the tiger, rode it abit himself and adds a fascinating sober view of what happened. He hugs this space where Rick Wilson meets PSA.
He demonstrates that in an alternative reality, we could have nice things A guy from a conservative background, who is rationale, who is not a bigot, who will engage with the Obama bros on the issues. I found it remarkable how little i disagree with Miller on - he could easily be one of the Obama bros Miller is doing actual journalism in MAGA land. His work following the early days of the Desantis campaign or on the Lake campaign reminds me very much of HST. I think he has an insight that no journalists are bringing.
Yup, I'm pretty much there to my surprise. Though, it does seem he not as favorable on Big Government as I am, which generally means he's for lower taxes, which I'm not. But it really did surprise me how much he views social issues the same as I do. Maybe it's because he is from Wisconsin, where I live.
It was surprising for me as well, and I think it illustrates just how far we've travelled from 'normality'. Centre right liberals are basically democrats now. Same in the UK
This article is why i still check in on the Bulwark about once a week. JV Last and Longwell have started asking why on earth the GOP elites are so all in on Ron. The debate got going in conservative circles in recent days because never trumpers and lefties have started noting that Ron is much more extreme that Trump on a number of issues and also very bad at this. That caused the Ronboi elites to get very angry online, because their position is if you don't want Trump, you cannot criticise "the precious". It's this kind of dear leader, boot licker tendency in the GOP that is a big part of the problem. Surely GOP elites should criticise Ron (like they did on Ukraine) to force him to adopt more reasonable positions. But we are back to the game of claiming Ron is merely saying this stuff for the base but will govern sensibly. sigh .... So why aren't they trying to find someone better? Like surely even Youngkin is better and more electable than this? It's actually very strange This article from JVL is paid - but you can hear the ideas on his podcast with Longwell - i mostly summarised it above. "I suspect that Republicans who desperately want a post-Trump future ought to start shopping around for a Plan B. But who am I kidding? We all know that their Plan B is Trump." https://t.co/oVfC9muGot— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) June 5, 2023
The very online debate about whether Ron is actually more extreme and dangerous with Trump is kind of illustrative. The campaign operatives and Ronboi elites seems to believe electability means 'strength' and that means running to the right of Trump on everything except (so far) without the extreme election denial. The sane world tends to believe that the hardcore MAGAe will vote for Trump no matter what, so the Ron lane is white college educated (i.e. the elites) plus whatever non college educated base is ready to move on - so you'd think its better to be positioned more in the middle. Indeed it keeps getting forgotten that Trump ran to the left of Ted Cruz and co on multiple issues. Remember great healthcare, economic populism ... and Trump was supposed to be more moderate on abortion! This is happening again where trump is calling out Ron on his disney failure (jobs!) Polling is suggesting Ron is losing with the non college educated whites badly. i.e his base is just GOP elites. At the same time, his extreme policies are likely a big problem. Miller suggests the whole thing is a misread of his own local popularity. e.g on Covid he was a big failure, but he kept Florida more open, which voters liked. Instead of running on that, he is now becoming an anti-vaxx conspiracist and is deep in the weeds with the Musk set. In other words, he is presenting as an extreme weirdo rather than the sensible guy who can win
Sure, but they were pushed there by the MAGA. But they are not a typical Republican now - they are intellectual. And it was them, or those over at Serious Trouble (or probably both) who mocked the lack of intelligentsia in the current Republican party. And I would guess that those like Tim Miller and Josh and others have a more diverse set of friends and associates than the MAGA members, so they are more socially accepting of different people. But they likely always have been, and in the Tim Miller-Wisconsin sense, non-confrontational and want lower taxes because their neighborhood are just fine.
Florida is truly a special place.... where common sense and decent go to die! There you have it. The same scumbag politicians who voted for this anti-immigrant crap admit they did so to scare people from coming to Florida while also begging immigrants in a church to talk to their community so they don’t leave and keep working here. It’s all so disgusting.— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) June 5, 2023 Got footage from inside this event. They admit the bill is “100% meant to scare” immigrants and beg the crowd to “urgently” convince “your people” to not leave Florida since folks in the agriculture industry are mad workers are leaving. The hypocrisy is so brazen and disgusting. https://t.co/LzsV2qgG0F pic.twitter.com/BnWnWCWqcI— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) June 5, 2023
The part that amazes me the most, is that immigrants and POC still buy into the GQP. I mean, it's like they hope to be the house slave or the ghetto beater, AND not face any backslash from their communities. Off course some of them truly believe that after the MAGAts chase out the gheys, the blacks, the messicans and the dems, they are not going to continue with them. Pretty much like the log cabin republicans.
Alina Garcia knew exactly what she was voting for. But I'm guessing her district is no longer solely Cuban dominated and the bill affects other Latinos who don't have a sweetheart asylum protection.