Republicans moved further to the right in the 1990s. I don’t think that they’ve moved right since 2016. Republicans have been rethinking what “conservatism” really means. Politicians and positions that looked like far-right bomb throwers and bomb throwing earlier now seem like part of the Uniparty. MAGA has addressed issues that weren’t priorities for the DC GOP. The Democrats have moved so far to the left that Republicans look more combative if they just stick to their old positions. Polarization is deeper now, and animosity is greater, but I doubt it’s because Republicans have moved to the right.

Bill Clinton won his elections. In 1992, Clinton got 43% to Bush’s 37%, and Perot got 19%, but all analyses of the Perot vote that I’ve ever read – and I’ve read quite a few – say that Perot pulled votes evenly from Clinton and Bush. In 1996, Clinton got 49.2% to Dole’s 40,7%, and Perot 8.4% – also drawing from both. Being “bailed out” by “dolorous Dole” equals losing an election.

Bill Clinton was popular at the time. Hillary hasn’t been popular. They are a political team but very different in their skills and personalities.

Clintons were corrupt and criminal. But they never weaponized the government like the Gestapo. The Clintons effort to steal the 2000 election came up just short.

The Gestapo units are real and the election steals far worse. Anyone who hasn’t noticed the difference needs to get their meds changed.

The concern with DeSantis is first of all that he doesn’t have that charisma and that appeal to ordinary voters. There’s also the worry that he’s too much an establishment candidate. Running to the right of Trump on social issues doesn’t lesson the worry. Other concerns are that as a “policy wonk” he’ll get too caught up in the minutia of government, or that as an ideological culture warrior he’ll ignore the bread and butter issues.

The left side of the culture war is so insane that they ought to be defeated, but I don’t think those cultural conflicts are the issues people vote on. I’m only going to vote for a candidate who’s sane on those issues, but my priority would be somebody who will bring the country back economically (at a more fundamental level, not just high stock prices and big corporate profits). If I vote in the primary, it may be for Ramaswami (Trump isn’t going to change), but it helps to recognize that politics and government aren’t kind to Boy Wonders and Wonder Boys. They get eaten up. DeSantis may be an example.

In nature, this lasts until a coalition of lower status members violently end the rule of the selfish alpha.

The REAL “Forgotten Man” is not that man. The REAL “Forgotten Man” is the man who will be expropriated so that politicians can buy votes by “helping”.

As soon as A observes something which seems to him wrong, from which X is suffering, A talks it over with B, and A and B then propose to get a law passed to remedy the evil and help X. Their law always proposes to determine what C shall do for X, or, in better case, what A, B, and C shall do for X… What I want to do is to look up C. I want to show you what manner of man he is. I call him the Forgotten Man. Perhaps the appellation is not strictly correct. He is the man who never is thought of. He is the victim of the reformer, social speculator and philanthropist, and I hope to show you before I get through that he deserves your notice both for his character and for the many burdens which are laid upon him. He works, he votes, generally he prays—but he always pays…”