Comments

DeSantis drops out of the race and endorses Trump — 95 Comments

1. I’m sorry he’s not going to be the nominee.

2. Sad day. We will now be left with flawed, senile, or just incompetent choices; depending on whether the Democrats push Biden aside for some nonentity like Gavin Newsom or Mrs Barack Obama.

   My first choice way back when would have been Mike Pompeo, with DeSantis a perfectly acceptable alternative. I admire Pompeo greatly and thought he would bring less political baggage. DeSantis stepped on a lot of toes with his actions in Florida. Bless him for that; but there is a price to pay.
   Pompeo wisely declined to enter the Trump circus tour.

   No matter what, the country is in for another rough four years.

3. DeSantis can’t be the VP candidate without ceding Florida’s electoral votes.

   DeSantis/Youngkin 2028?

4. All is forgiven. Onward, united.

5. A shame but still something like this or the inverse was going to need to happen. Once again DeSantis proves to be the bigger man and makes me wish he was the masthead. But I was saddened at how relatively slow his campaign got off to. So I guess back on the Trump Train for me, at least until further notice. There are certainly worse outcomes, and we’ve been living with one for three years.

6. If the vice president were a true executive officer, DeSantis would be ideal. He’d be wasted in the current arrangement.

7. DeSantis was alway my first choice but since it’s become obvious that he has no path to the nomination it’s probably best that he drop out now. I’d love to see Haley drop out now as well so that Trump can announce his running mate and we can get united behind the Republican ticket. Unfortunately I don’t see that happening.

8. Classy concession speech – the best I’ve heard from him. If only I had known…

   *wiping a tear*

   Of course, I’d still be with the presumptive nominee (pragmatism).

9. Richard Aubrey:

   I don’t think DeSantis would have been wasted, because his youth would have been a real asset in terms of Trump’s age (and Biden’s as well for running against Biden if Biden remains the opponent to Trump). I also think that Trump would have figured out a way to make use of DeSantis’ obvious skills.

10. I wanted him to succeed but he signed on karl Rove, and Jeff Roe, thats like dropping two anchors through your hull, from the outset,

11. DeSantis & Trump both have Florida residency & that isn’t permitted in a Presidential team. It’s why Cheney had to switch his residency from Texas back to Colorado to run with Bush in 2000. DeSantis can’t leave for obvious reasons. Trump would find it risky & expensive to switch his residency to New York, New Jersey, or any other blue state he owns a house in.

12. For attorney general? How about he continue doing the fine job he has been as governor?

13. I am disappointed.

    However, I’ve said from the beginning that I would support Trump if he’s the nominee, and I will. There is no imaginable Democrat or Independent candidate who would be an acceptable candidate for me.

    Haley should drop out now.

    DeSantis will be on the NC primary ballot, and I’ll vote for him to remind Mr. Trump that genuine conservatives are still his base.

14. Sad day for me. I’m switching my voter registration back to independent from GOP. I desperately wanted to vote for DS in the primary.

    I now fear the 4th Obama term as I have said, I dont think Trump can’t win the general. I will vote for him, but I think it’s a lost cause.

15. DeSantis is the uniparty. He was backed by Wall street until they figured out he could not win so they went to their next uniparty candidate Nikki Haley. So no DeSantis will not be Trumps pick for VP maybe Ben Carson

16. thats incorrect, there were certainly some donors like ken griffin who were more wedded to the consensus on trade, which has not given great results, or cultural issues even though his former state of illinois was a dumpster fire,

    there are some echoes of scott walker and his very expensive ring of consultants, although lawfare probably played a larger round there,

17. Tragic day for America. This hands the White House to the Democrats for four more years. It will be interesting to see what happens now to the polls cited by Neo showing Trump leading.

    We can hope Trump does not sink the rest of the ticket. Send some contributions to the Republican Senate candidates.

18. Bob Wilson:

    I’m sad about DeSantis, but I saw the writing on the wall many many months ago, not long after he entered the race. It was fairly clear long ago that Trump would be the nominee, barring black swan events. DeSantis still could be nominated if one of those black swan events were to occur.

    However, I’m not at all sure that DeSantis could have won the election, and I’m not at all sure that Trump would lose. I felt at the beginning that Trump didn’t have a chance, and I’m still not optimistic, but I now think he has a chance.

19. Older and Wheezier:

    DeSantis can’t run for a third consecutive term as governor. He was re-elected in 2022 and his term would be up four years later. Could he become something of a lame duck towards the end, even though he’s popular there? A successor had better be in the wings anyway, and if there’s a good lieutenant governor it’s not a problem. De Santis chose this woman to fill the spot.

    If he became Trump’s AG (if Trump were to win, of course), his term could start in January of 2025. Or, it could start after his governorship is up.

20. If Trump really wants DeSantis as his running mate, the fact that both are Florida residents isn’t a real problem. If the Republican ticket wins with 15 electoral votes to spare, half of Florida’s Republican electors could vote for Trump for President and the other half could vote for DeSantis for VP. Alternatively, if Trump needs all 30 of Florida’s votes, the Florida electors could vote for John Doe for VP. With no candidate having a majority of the electoral vote, the Senate (which will likely have a Republican majority) would choose the VP from the top two.

21. Jake:

    No, he’s not even remotely the Uniparty, and his record as governor is evidence of that. I’ve been writing about DeSantis for years, and no one took the position you are taking about him until it became clear he’d be challenging Trump in 2024. Then suddenly, at the drop of a hat, he became the evil Uniparty.

    And he’s endorsed Trump, not Haley. If you read what he said about Haley in his speech, it’s clear he’s not a Uniparty fan.

22. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but I do wonder to what extent the lawfare persecution of Trump firmed up such strong support and left DS in the dust.

23. As a Noble Floridian (a title I made up while at New College in Sarasota) I support Ron DeSantis.

    Unlike Scott Walker the semi-exciting Thinking Man’s Conservative in 2016, I believe DeSantis has a few dances left in him.

24. yes Scott really augured in, of course they put up that cadaverous Evers, and of course they bought the Supreme Court to make sure that Wisconsin is lost, with redistricting hijinks,

25. huxley, I think the lawfare persecution of Trump has a great deal to do with solidifying his support. I think Democrats did it for that purpose among other things. But I think Democrats also thought that the various bogus charges against Trump would “stick” with the non-hardcore Democrat public, and there they may have miscalculated.

26. This caught me by surprise. I assumed he would remain until at least after New Hampshire (even though he had all but given up there).

    Anyway, he did the right thing. He’s back in Florida and I dearly hope will work hard and succeed in maintaining his impressive record and expanding on it over the next three years.

    He’s said he has no interest in the Vice Presidency or a cabinet position; nor should he. Both would be a waste of his talent. Furthermore, it would be best for conservatism in general if he served out his gubernatorial term, and anointed a strong and clear successor for 2026.

    Furthermore, he’s a distinct possibility for 2028. We’re in a unique position in that almost certainly the GOP field will be open in four years. Either the Democrats (Slo Joe, Newsom, or whoever) win this fall or Trump wins and is term limited. The scenario I want is a Haley nomination and election…but I realize that’s unlikely.

    So, I don’t think this is the end for DeSantus in the national level. Not at all. He’s still very young and had plenty of time.

27. It’s too bad DeSantis didn’t get more traction. People say he’s not likable. Yes, he’s a bit on the wonky and serious side. That’s why I like him. 🙂 Getting this country back on track is serious stuff.

    Dropping out when he sees the reality of having no path to win the nomination is good judgement, IMO. I think he has a future in national politics. He’s capable, unafraid of the MSM, and serious about doing the right thing. Hang in there, Governor DeSantis.

    I’ve long been convinced that the left will not allow Trump to become POTUS again. They will stop at nothing to try to stop him.

    Lawfare hasn’t worked – it has only made Trump more popular.

    January 6th isn’t working for them. People are seeing how phony the assertions of an insurrection are.

    They will push the “end of democracy” line. But it can be refuted by merely pointing at Trump’s first term. (Why didn’t he declare a dictatorship then?) And at what they are doing – prosecuting political opponents, trying to take Trump off the ballot, ignoring our immigration laws by allowing an open border, etc.

    They will play the abortion card as much as possible.

    They will “fortify ” the election. That’s where the GOP needs to put a huge effort – money and people into the blue precincts of swing states. If Trump or any other GOP candidate is to have a chance, it must be done.

    We Republicans must unite and support whoever wins the nomination. United we have a chance.

28. Cheney is from Wyoming not Colorado.

    That’s why his appalling daughter Liz ran from there.

    It remains to be seen what the uniparty members of the Republican party do now.

    Resign enmass? Jump onto the Trump train?

    Resolve to shovel sand into the gears of a MAGA administration?

29. I see Trump has said he’ll stop that stupid “DeSanctimonious” stuff and says he’s “honored” to have DeSantis’s endorsement. I’m going to vote for Trump in the general election, but … bleah.

30. DeSantis is not Uniparty, but as a career politician he is predisposed to attempt to persuade those unpersuadables, instead of defying them as Trump did on immigration and trade. And since he has had a supportive legislature to work with as governor, his ability to override that predisposition in the face of a legislature and bureaucracy bitterly clinging to the status quo is uncertain … though his actions regarding Disney and Martha’s Vineyard shows promise in this regard.

    That being said … if he was the nominee, I would vote for him – and he is spot-on about Haley. She is not to be trusted.

    But at this time, he has a potentially more significant role to play in his two remaining years as governor – to lead the way in Making Federalism Great Again and, with other states of like mind such as TX, SD, MO and others, rip authority away from DC and dare that they “come and take it” back, over the top of the Constitution.

    As the opportunity arises, encourage him to do just that – but I don’t think it will take much encouragement from us.

    Normal order is not going to clean up the mess of our governance – confrontation, dissention, defiance, disruption of the DC status quo is the way out.

31. Desantis did not have a chance. I get the feeling he was a cycle too soon. He can rack up more legislative wins and go a again, hopefully learning lessons from his first campaign.

    The sheer insane, by all means effort to harpoon the Orange Whale made anyone on the repubs side running against said whale superfluous.

32. Resolve to shovel sand into the gears of a MAGA administration?

    That is indicative of a lack of respect for our rights, that might earn them the label of TWANLOC.

33. Dear Neo:
    I am so sorry to hear about this resignation–I know how you felt about him. I did not agree with you then–but, I do now. After that resignation speech I can see what a smart man he is and I am encouraged to see his next work, be it as VP, or Sec of State, or just completing his governorship.
    I think he was smart enough to understand that the next four years will be real terror in this country–no matter who is President, of course, it will be much worse if Trump wins. I have supported Trump since 2016 and will continue to do so, but this coming presidency is carrying the great weight of 5 million illegals camping in our country. The next president will have to deal with Mexico and the drug cartels that various members of this government have supported. Those people will not quietly go back to Mexico because Trump wins. The chaos we can expect if he does win will destroy this country. We are of course best served if Trump does win, but it will be physically painful at every level. I think DeSantis sees that and probably knows more about the drug cartels than we can imagine. I think he would be a great Secretary of State, but don’t expect him to jump in for the next four years. My prayer now is that he sits out this round and comes in with his great strengths intact in 2028.
    But, then again it would be wonderful to have him standing in the wings as VP. Even if no one “gets to Trump” and he survives he will need someone like De Santis on his six. That would make me feel best.

    We watched a good movie last night “The Good Shepherd” about Cuba, Castro, the Bay of Pigs, the Russians and the beginning of the CIA. It was a good reminder of those times that DH and I experienced as young adults. The best scene is the one where the American head of intelligence talks to the Russian head after the Bay of Pigs and the Russian Missile standoff. He says it’s ok for the Russians to go home because Cuba has already fallen into a Socialist/Communist ideology. The Russians had won Cuba without really having to get physical. That may be where we are at here now. Good show to see for a reminder.

    Finally thoughts for today. We have very, very, very little snowpack in the northern Rocky Mountains. The potential for a real water crisis is clearly visible. After all, this is exactly the area over which that Canadian “weather” balloon passed over America. In 2011 here in the valley, we had an easy 4 – 5 ft of snow. This week will rain with high temperatures reaching nearly 40 degrees–no more snow for another week. Right now we only have about 4 INCHES on the ground, I expect that to be gone by the end of next week. Rain destroys snowpack and snowpack is how we keep the southern states watered in the summer–Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, So. California. Is there a nice level of snow to ski on in parts of this state–yes. Is it nearly the same levels we are accustomed to–absolutely not! Us locals are really worried now, but the media is trying to ignore the issue. Mostly reporting the ski resorts are open and that one little avalanche as if it was big snow.

34. Jester Naybor

    Good luck with the last paragraph.

35. I’d initially liked Nikki Haley, but I have been taking criticisms of Haley, voiced here and elsewhere, very, *very* seriously.

    First, a quotation:

    “It is permitted in time of grave danger to walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge.”
    — Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Yalta

    Second,

    I never really “took to” Trump, but barring the unexpected, he’s what we’ve got for 2024.

    Third,

    Which right-of-center candidate might add the most votes to a Trump-Someone ticket in 2024, and in which states that might plausibly be considered swing states?

    We are in a time of very great danger. I think Nikki Haley *has* to be seriously considered as a running mate for Trump.

    Fire away . . .

36. Richard Cook

    Trump already did that once, 2017-2020 and the world didn’t explode as a result … we enjoyed the closest thing to Morning in America since Reagan presided over the last sunrise there.

    Had the GOP Congress backed him up, at least some of it couldn’t have been reversed by Biden.

    Many of us for too long have believed we can remedy our societal dysfunctions through the regular order of our existing institutions … when they are as irreversibly corrupted as S.H.I.E.L.D. was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and require the exposure and disruption that Nick Fury was so reluctant to support in that narrative.

    Before you can renovate a structure to restore its health, the disruption of demolishing the rotten parts is often necessary. Don’t necessarily have to EXIT the structure and take it all down, but some disruption – with its attendant noise, dust, and sweat – must be pursued to resolve the problem.

    We are inclined to be “Nice” People who abhor noise, dust, and sweat in our environment, and as a result have let the rot progress to maintain the status quo … to the point that we are close to becoming just another EU-like social technocracy, where the term “unalienable right” – which supersedes even a majority vote, to be restricted only when one’s behavior becomes a clear, present and significant threat to the unalienable rights of others – has lost its meaning in favor of the “common good” as defined by an elite few.

    Time to not be so “nice”, for our rights – and the well-being of the entire nation; perhaps even the world – are at stake.

37. And then there was one, Haley is already toast, just hasn’t admitted it.

    What will Concerned Conservative and DCL (Bertie) say? ‘Dogs and cats living together,’ I imagine.

    November is a long time from now; inverse dog years.

38. Jester:

    I wish I could believe what you write. Right now I think there are way too many organizations that have a vested interest in seeing this country fail, and not enough by far of people willing to even get involved in countering what is going on, or, even think in that manner. What you are describing is flat out not going to happen. I’m fairly old. I never thought that people would swallow what they have swallowed. But they did. Sucks to be us.

39. Richard, I’m not saying that it will be easy. But it must be done if we are going to have a nation left when we depart this mortal coil (I’m no spring chicken myself).

    The roots of the problem are as deep as our first days in school, when we are told to “be nice” and “trust whatever Teacher says”, instead of Teacher educating us as to WHY we can trust him/her. This has extended to Flounderian levels of trust of the elite few on the basis of surface appearances – credentials, position, cultural popularity, presentation skill – because we are led to believe we are not “qualified” to question them with common sense.

    We have embraced the confession that Reagan warned us about … that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can ourselves, and have become the blinded, led by the blind who can’t tell us apart from a statistic yet believe they Know Better™.

    All that being said … with two governors going Alinsky Rule Four on sanctuary cities so much so that their mayors and governors are squealing like stuck pigs, one of them taking border enforcement into his state’s hands … the skepticism we now see over the panic-demic, the transgender invasion of our ladies’ rooms and competitions, and the actual value of collegiate education … there are signs that some of us can rise to the occasion.

    As was attributed to Churchill – Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.

    And that’s the rub: these days, it takes an existential challenge to get people to override the “experts” and act on their own common sense. Challenges like stopping hijackers and shoe bombers on airliners, or taking the road you were told not to take instead of following directions right into an inferno as we saw in Maui.

40. M. J. R.

    Haley is the poster lady for the DC status quo that is killing us. She is just as likely to add to the danger, as to mitigate it.

    Placing her as VP would be like placing Alexander Vindman as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs … both Know Better™ than the President what this nation needs, based upon their intellectual inbreeding as career operatives in government.

    My vote for her would be driven by the same motivation that led me to vote for Trump in 2016: she would have to be the least-worst option left; I expected Trump to be more like her, but he was still better than the Pantsuit Palpatine. Fortunately, he turned out to be quite a bit better than I expected.

41. Jester

    I do not believe what you are talking about will happen on any scale. I think the die has been cast and we are simply running out the clock. To me, at least the evidence points in that direction. We shall see.

42. Jester Naybor certainly had an interesting, if somewhat far fetched, take on DeSantis’s tenure in Florida. Trump talks a good fight; but did not win many. Or at least he had no lasting effect on what really counted–dismantling the Deep State. When DeSantis took the reins in Florida it was no longer a Red State. He changed it. DeSantis won his fights.

    Anne, I wonder how many people will realize too late what they ignored for so long. DeSantis has not changed. He was always smart; he was always effective; and he was always a fighter. Sadly, his face is just not suited to compete in the circus act that the American electorate seems to expect. I think his personality is fine if one pays attention. I hearken back to the Nixon vs JFK TV images.

    Neo, I commented to my soul mate earlier this evening that I would love to see DeSantis as AG. I am gratified that I think like you on this point at least. I would also love to see Mike Pompeo back as Sec of State. And Winston Churchill as SecDef. (I considered, but rejected, Genghis Khan) I suppose the last one is bit of a reach; but perhaps no more so than the other two.
    As the Captain is wont to say: “make sure your seat belts are snug, turbulence ahead.”

43. Judging by Liz Cheney’s bio nether she nor her father spent many nights residing in Wyoming.

    From Wikipedia
    Elizabeth Lynne Cheney was born on July 28, 1966,[26] in Madison, Wisconsin, making her a member of Generation X.[27] She is the elder of two daughters of former vice president Dick Cheney and former Second Lady Lynne Cheney (née Vincent). At the time of her birth, her parents were studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her younger sister, Mary Cheney, was also born in Madison. Cheney attended part of sixth and seventh grade in Casper, Wyoming, while her father campaigned for Congress. The family divided its time between Casper and Washington, D.C., in the 1970s through the 1980s, following her father’s election to Congress.[28] In 1984 Cheney graduated from McLean High School in suburban Washington, D.C., where she was a cheerleader. She received her BA from Colorado College, her mother’s alma mater, where she wrote a senior thesis entitled “The Evolution of Presidential War Powers.”[2] She received her JD from the University of Chicago Law School in 1996. While there, she also took courses in Middle Eastern history at the Oriental Institute.[29]

44. Jester Naybor (11:00 pm) said: “Haley is the poster lady for the DC status quo that is killing us. She is just as likely to add to the danger, as to mitigate it.”

    Fair enough. I hear you. But:

    I’m concerned about the Biden-Harris (or the opposing whomever-whomever) ticket, which will drive us even farther leftward. That (Democrat) combination has us *accelerating* ever leftward.

    Let us posit that Trump is unable to serve, for what ever reason (probably death, including via assassination).

    If Haley “is just as likely to add to the danger, as to mitigate it,” then we’d at least have a 50-50 shot at mitigating the danger. With Democrat-Democrat at the helm, 50-50 is no more; it is 0-100 *guaranteed*.

    But first, we have to overcome the margin of (electoral) fraud. That’s where my earlier post comes into play. What Trump running mate would afford us the best shot at even entertaining a chance of 0-100 becoming 50-50?

    As I wrote earlier, “I have been taking criticisms of Haley . . . very, *very* seriously.”

    And as FDR remarked, “It is permitted in time of grave danger to walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge.” I do not think Haley is even the, or “a”, devil. But we have to position ourselves to at least have a fighting chance.

    Given what’s happened / happening to USA, a reversal will not happen all at once, or even within a presidential administration, or even within a decade or more. The entrenched order is *far* too deep and wide. Consider what we’re up against.

    We have to change the acceleration to a deceleration, then to a halt to the madness, and then to progress in a sane direction.

    I myself hold out almost no hope. But for there to be any hope at all, we have to be grounded in reality as to what can reasonably be accomplished and as to what is the most practical way to begin — fully taking into account that first, we have to overcome the margin of fraud. But I'm going around in a circle at this point.

    Jester Naybor, thank you for the response.

45. I believe that the Demorat and Republicon parties have an agreed upon outcome for the 2024 elections. The Demorats will finally get their female president and she will be a Republicon.

    Easy peasy for those who think themselves intellectual leaders

46. This is a real shame. He would be more likely to win than Trump. He would also make a better President. That he has come out for Trump shows the mark of the man. Gracious in defeat. But as is pointed out above he doesn’t have Trumps ability in the dark arts of political communication.

    As for the Bertie Wooster joke it is gleefully accepted. Old Bertie is a national hero here. A deeply moral character who always tries to do the right thing, however ineptly, but usually comes out on top as he has the sense to listen to his trusted adviser Jeeves.

47. Anne said, “…snowpack is how we keep the southern states watered in the summer–Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, So. California.” True, and the snowpack was enormous last year. Of course, the profligate greenies down in California decided some time ago that it would be better for “the environment” to allow all that snowmelt to drain off into the Pacific instead of holding some behind dams against the “dry” years, so I feel little concern for their plight. VDH has been quite eloquent on that issue (and everything else upon which he comments). We need to remember that all the states you mention are naturally semi-arid, and without artificial water retention infrastructure, they will simply continue to be so.

48. DCL (Bertie):

    Yes Bertie always comes out right, cloth-headed dummy that he is, because Jeeves is always in the shadows sorting things out.

    Bertie’s Aunts always asked what Jeeves thought or had in mind. It’s one thing to have a good heart and another to have a brain.

49. DeSantis 2028! I thought this in 2022, and was hoping he wouldn’t even try vs Trump, because he becomes a bit of a loser.

    I like him as a man, as a governor, as a politician with good policy … but he’s boring. He needs to be a better communicator. He has a few years to get better, and be an even more successful governor.

    He should lead Republicans in accepting, promoting, a clearly defined Diversity & Inclusion, to require including at least 30% Republicans and 30% Democrats in every org receiving govt money, or advertising as being Diverse. So colleges and NGOs with tax breaks would be looking at that.

50. Neo,

    I suggest you read The Last Refuge site.

    You’ll get an education regarding DeSantis. He’s an insider

51. I liked DeSantis a lot. He definately had the policy and governing chops, but (fatally) lacked charisma and political skill. Frankly, I thought he was better than W. on that front, but W. had an appeal that I still don’t really understand. We really need someone with DeSantis’ courage and policy/governing chops combined with the political skill of a Reagan, Clinton, or Obama. (Don’t shoot the messenger. I despise just about everything that Clinton and Obama stood for, but both men were generational political talents.)

    Anyway, to answer om’s question, I will not be voting for Trump again. Nominating Trump is kind of like catching a ride home with a drunk driver. He may be going in the same general direction that you want to go, but the risks are too high. (If you thought January 6th was great for the nation and the political right, just wait until you see J6 2.0. And that’s the case even if you believe that J6 was a deep state set up. Trump was dumb enough to walk right into it in 2020. Does anything Trump has done in the past four years suggest that he is going to be able to help himself the next time? And you better believe that there will be a next time.)

    I agree with neo that Trump has a chance to win in November, and I did not think that even two or three months ago. I still think that he will most likely lose, thereby wasting what might be the best chance of retaking the White House that the GOP is going to have for some time.

    What a depressing time.

52. Well, Bauxite, of course you have the right to vote as you choose. I have always voted for the candidate who would be likely to support more of the policies I approve of, or against the candidate I think will be the most damaging to the country. If it’s Trump v. Biden, there’s no question in my mind that Trump policies would trend in the right direction and that Biden would continue to be disastrous.

    My main worry, other than the obvious vote-rigging and outright fraud, is that some crazed leftist is going to assassinate Trump.

53. MJR nice changes note, from acceleration to deceleration to changing directions.

    Yet aircraft carriers don’t slow down so much, they just start turning, with the direction slowly changing, changing… from S to SSW to SW to WSW to W to WNW to NW to NNW to N. But this is only two dimensional* . It applies to illegal immigration which even Dems are admitting now that it’s a problem. And to DEI. And to abortion, maybe especially abortion.

    There’s direction change sentiment progress even without Trump, but far better changes with any Republican.

    More important, but less newsworthy/ comment inducing, is the most powerful third of US govt, Congress. Republicans should be uniting on getting far more seats in Congress, and more Senators. We should be doing more of promoting Senate candidates like having names in more swing state areas. We, me too (& hint hint maybe Neo? So her loyal readers can be grateful for excellent work while continuing to be lazy but verbose commenters?) should be encouraging more local action.
    I’m not even sure if my CA state will be having a Senate race, so I should look at the primary stuff I just got in my email.
    Do you other commenters know about senate races in your state? (A third won’t have one).

    Finally, all Reps should also now claim 2020 was clearly stolen. The FBI knew H. Biden’s laptop was his, with evidence of Biden corruption, and illegally lied about it, and illegally censored the Truth.
    It was not Free and Fair, like so many dishonest Dems claim, and America needs honest elections and an honest FBI.

54. Judging by Liz Cheney’s bio nether she nor her father spent many nights residing in Wyoming.
    ==
    Richard Cheney was a palpable resident of Wyoming from 1955 to 1965, bar a period of about 14 months. Lynne Vincent Cheney grew up there, and was a palpable resident from 1941 to 1965 bar about 28 months for school. She and her husband decamped to Madison, Wisconsin in 1965, where both would attend graduate school. He abandoned his graduate program and landed a position as a congressional aide in 1968, with the family moving to Washington. Lynne turned her dissertation in some time later. Their older daughter was born in Madison in July 1966; their younger was born around Washington in 1969.
    ==
    The elder Cheneys had a notional residency in Wyoming from 1977 to 1993. I assume the daughters visited with their father during his six election campaigns (1978 et seq) and when he was working the room when Congress was not in session. As far as I can discern, the only period of time during which the daughters might have been year-round residents would have been 1977 and 1978. There’s a ducky house in Casper that their father once rented or owned. Built ca. 1925, stone facade, modest front lawn, single-story, two bedrooms. It’s a great house for an elderly couple whose children and grandchildren visit in shifts. I’m going to wager the daughters each preferred having her own bedroom back home in NoVa.
    ==
    Liz Cheney and her husband (Philip Perry) own a vacation property in a village in Teton County, Wyoming. Her parents have a lodge in the same village. Teton County is the only county in Wyoming which votes Democratic, in large measure because it’s shot through with the 2d homes of glam people who generally live elsewhere. All four of them and Liz Cheney’s eldest daughter register to vote there.
    ==
    Philip Perry is a partner in a Washington BigLaw firm. Yes, the firm has a ‘government relations’ practice. Perry has alternated back and forth between such firms and patronage positions in the federal government (his firm income increasing with each turn of the revolving door, no doubt). He is The Swamp personified.
    ==
    Richard Cheney had little history of private sector employment prior to 1995. Then he’s hired to run Halliburton. Well, he’d been Secretary of Defense and Halliburton gets a lot of government contracts. He has an eight-digit net worth due to his time at Halliburton. More Swamp.
    ==
    It’s amazing Wyoming voters ever accepted her. Her first foray into electoral politics was an attempt to bounce Mike Enzi out of office. Enzi, unlike Cheney, was an actual Wyoming resident for 40-odd years ‘ere being elected to Congress (and returned there when he left Congress). Her objection to him: he was in her way.
    ==
    Liz has an uncle in Casper (age 81) and a cousin who lives in Cody with her family; that’s all the family she has there.

55. Trump won’t accept a VP who might distract attention away from himself.

56. Trump could afford a new residence in a different state.

    I am considering going back to perusing the website which Mark Levin suggested should be called “The Conservative Sh!thouse”.

57. CC™ finally admits what he’s been up to in his pursuit of The Great Orange Whale, he’d rather have the Brandon junta, or any Democrat.

    Reasons.

58. DeSantis is the pre-eminent leader in American politics.

    From now till November, it’s the Trump/Biden follies. Vulgarity versus Senility. Some mind is better than no mind.

59. Steve @ 7:20am,

    One of the greatest, manmade environmental disasters extant in the U.S. is the amount of people living in the southern California desert. There are millions more residents there than the region can naturally support. Tens of millions.

    And environmentalists focus on darter snails and owls.

60. Trump could afford a new residence in a different state.
    ==
    Last I checked, he had four residences: one in New York City, one in Florida, one in New Jersey, and one in Upstate New York. Were I Trump, I would be wary of having a formal domicile in any blue zone.
    ==
    You’ll notice the Obamas do not live in red zones. They want to be places where the prosecutor is on their side.

61. Oldflyer at 11:43pm wrote anything I would write, only better.

    Huge, huge miss for the GOP and our nation.

    If DJT’s sole concern was the welfare of our nation he, DJT, would have not run and backed Desantis. I don’t know if a President Desantis could get us on the right track, but he is a much stronger horse with a much better, political track record than DJT, especially DJT in 2024.

62. Tom Grey @8:22am,

    Have you seen what Desantis has done regarding DEI in the state of Florida and the Florida University system? He’s years ahead of you.

63. Haley is the poster lady for the DC status quo that is killing us.
    ==
    She was born in South Carolina in 1972 and has lived there continuously since, bar two years in New York running the UN mission. Same deal with her husband, who has lived in South Carolina since 1974 (bar two years across the border in North Carolina for school and what time he spent in Manhattan).

64. DeSantis’ presidential campaign reminds one of why he nearly lost to a crack-smoking Democrat on the down-low in 2018. Had Rick Scott, a Republican, not been the governor at the time, the three big blue counties in Southern Florida would have kept counting new votes until Gillum won that race.

65. A deeply moral character who always tries to do the right thing, however ineptly, but usually comes out on top as he has the sense to listen to his trusted adviser Jeeves.
    ==
    What happened to the lot of you? The Johnson-Truss-Sunak ministries have had ample margin to do these right things:
    ==
    reducing the annual issuance of settler’s visas to about 85,000,
    ==
    requiring that anyone over the age of 14 seeking such a visa first pass a proficiency test in English (written and oral),
    ==
    informing aspirants from problem countries that we do not issue settler’s visas to single adults from countries such as theirs unless they can prove they’re from a cultural minority in their country of origin.
    ==
    placing any illegal alien detected in detention immediately, and keeping them there until their case is resolved and until they’ve served a sentence of incarceration for being in the country illegally, after which they are deported and debarred from entry for a term of years,
    ==
    placing applicants for refugee status (and their dependents) in detention pending the resolution of their cases,
    ==
    requiring any applicant for refugee status explain satisfactorily why they are applying in Britain and not in a country proximate to their country of origin (and there are only two satisfactory answers to that question),
    ==
    ending the issuance of work visas of any kind,
    ==
    ending the practice of granting bail to aliens accused of committing crimes, end the practice of granting parole to aliens convicted of crimes, suspending the right of domicile of any alien convicted of a crime and deporting such aliens as soon as they are released from detention,
    ==
    requiring aliens in Britain accumulate work credit through wage and salaried labor (of amounts which vary from program to program) before they are eligible for subsidized services, cash, vouchers, and insurance from government agencies and corporations,
    ==
    limiting naturalization to those who have spent the majority of their natural life as lawful and palpable residents of Britain, and insisting that they renounce their previous citizenship ‘ere they receive British citizenship (citizens of countries which recognize the King as King excepted),
    ==
    ending restrictions on freedom of speech and publication bar the conventional exceptions (enforcement of defamation judgments, contempt of court, disorderly conduct in public places, harassment of particular persons via stalking behavior, criminal solicitation, fraud, misappropriation of confidential information, invading public offices, school discipline of minors, worksite discipline of public employees on the job or speaking with reference to their work in a public forum, trafficking in pornography).
    ==
    repealing anti-discrimination law bar in select circumstances (services provided by public agencies and government corporations, services provided by natural monopolies, medical services, a selection of services provided travelers, employment in public agencies, employment in government corporations, employment in natural monopolies, and conduct in workplaces which maps to common crimes like extortion and harassment),
    ==
    cleaning the diversicrats out of government ministries, and repealing the statutory legislation which allowed them to enter.
    ==
    eliminating ‘disparate impact’ standards in assessing unlawful discrimination.
    ==
    sanctioning police officers and regulatory inspectors who enforce the law in a sectarian manner.
    ==
    Have they done even one of the things on this list?

66. My guess is that DeSantis will not accept any position in a Trump administration. Trump consistently made terrible appointments (Sessions, Tillerson, Kelly, Barr, etc) and then proceeded to rip them up one side and down the other when they didn’t do exactly what he wanted and when he wanted it done. Pence was a good example. He even bad-mouthed Kayleigh McEnany and Kim Reynolds for God’s sake! (Fauci was OK though.LOL) So who would want to work for such an erratic, unfocused, unstable man?
    I will reluctantly and futilely vote for him a 3rd time but I don’t think he’ll make it. Biden is getting more Roomba-like daily and the Dems will find someone else at the last minute. Too bad. Biden is the only one Trump can beat. He has made so many unforced errors and has made so many enemies (even within his own party) that I foresee what has been called “Trump fatigue”. He’s made his bed, now…… Human nature being what it is, how many of those people he carelessly bashed will support him with the same energy and sincerity that they normally would have? Even if it is a subconscious action (or non-action)?

67. Jeeves and other members of The Gannymede Club haven’t worked for Bertie (or any Berties) since Margret Thatcher.

    It’s been all Bertie since then.

68. Tom Grey, I read your comment as saying you vote in California. Goodness, yes, there is a Senate seat open, to replace Dianne Feinstein. The placeholder in office until January 2025 isn’t running. I urge you to vote in the jungle primary, where currently former Dodger Steve Garvey is running second, as a Republican, to the horrible Adam Schiff.

69. Tom Grey (9:19 am) said:

    “MJR nice changes note, from acceleration to deceleration to changing directions.

    “Yet aircraft carriers don’t slow down so much, they just start turning, with the direction slowly changing, changing . . . .”

    Tom Grey, I cheerfully accept your point. Now, let’s get going on the turning!

70. Someone here asked that we make information available regarding the congressional candidates in our states.

    Here goes in MT. Senator John Tester(D) has won three senatorial elections so far and is up again this year. During the last campaign Trump came after him like a war tank, but Tester won and Trump lost his campaign against him. Here is a piece describing what happened:
    https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/politics/jon-tester-montana/index.html

    In 2024 Tester is running for senate again. This would make him a four-term Democratic senator. Interesting to see the importance that the Democratic party places on this election–unlimited funding:

    https://helenair.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/tester-senate-federal-campaign-donations-democrats-jon-reelection-donor-millions/article_8907bc5a-ae41-11ee-9e55-d31336cfa854.html

    He has recently opposed Chinese owning ag land which makes him very popular here.
    https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3248309/senator-jon-tester-calls-ban-chinese-land-purchases-after-billionaire-chen-tianqiao-becomes-one-us
    However, he was found to have been a co-signer of a Biden bill to protect schools from guns which banned teaching hunting and gun management in high schools. When caught Tester had to come around in support of hunter training in schools, whew–he missed that one! You can look up more information about Jon Tester-the D candidate again in 2024.

    You might like to see who the R party is offering in opposition. Tim Sheehy.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ScveOJBlII

    Here is what the Dems have to say about the R candidate:
    https://www.montanademocrats.org/news/new-reporting-sheehy-forgot-to-mention-the-family-money-in-his-self-made-success-story

    or this one:
    https://dailymontanan.com/2023/11/14/theres-a-whole-lot-more-montana-better-know-about-sheehy/

    The Shady Sheehy video can be seen here:
    https://host2.adimpact.com/admo/viewer/36ffda2b-a32a-4a7d-84b5-e8363d3a96e6
    just wait for the first little ad to run through to the Sheehy video.

    Senator Tester barely won the last time around, but the Democrats are putting so much into the “Shady Sheehy” ad campaign so early that it will be hard to beat Tester this time.
    —————-
    Our two congressmen are both Republicans and Ryan Zinke is the one the Dems hate the most. They are coming for him again this year in a big way–he is facing the same female opponent. Boy, is she a piece of work–read here:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Tranel

    OK show us your state’s ridiculousness!

71. Kate – I also vote for the candidate who would be likely to support better policies and against the candidates who would be the most damaging.

    I think the difference between us is that I rate the potential damage of a second Trump administration differently than you. The man called for suspending the Constitution, and then basically tried to do it with the crackpot Eastman theory. Then he said that his VP deserved to be hung for not going along with it. A person who abuses power in that manner should not be entrusted with power again.

72. Some entertaining comments but none of them distract from the core issue – Trump is a dud.
    Without the’ lawfare’ and his media ability he would be struggling for the nomination. As it stands he just might beat Biden but given his latest bizarre appearance it seems unlikely he will make November. Then a presentable, ‘moderate’ candidate will wipe the floor with Trump’. Who will presumably cry ‘theft’ at the top of his voice.
    Let’s face it he isn’t very good at losing in spite of all the practice he has had and is about to get. Should have kept it in his pants and avoided his Spode act 😉

73. DCL, that assumes that a presentable, “moderate” Democrat is available to run in Biden’s place. That sort of Democrat is in very thin supply these days.

74. Some entertaining comments but none of them distract from the core issue – Trump is a dud.
    ==
    When you understand what the term ‘issue’ means, get back to us.

75. @Kate True. Of course their other option may be a Democrat version of Trump – in which case there will be trouble.

76. @ Art Deco – the issue is winning the election with a competent President, not a dud like Trump

77. DCL (Bertie):

    Up your game sir! CC™ will not accept “dud” as a fitting descriptor of The Great Orange Whale, root of all evil, bane of existence, a danger to all that is good and right in Creation.

    Sir, you must rise to this existential threat! (Ask Jeeves for some punchy prose.)

78. How about DeSantis for Attorney General?

    Nice thought, but no. DeSantis is executive material with demonstrated ability and experience, and would be wasted and perhaps damaged in endless political jousting of current DC party warfare. He’ll do fine as Governor of Florida until 2028.

79. DeSantis’s term as governor ends in late 2026. He cannot run again.

80. DCL, the Democrats have acted in decidedly undemocratic ways to prevent the nomination of their version of Trump, i.e., Bernie Sanders, twice (2016, 2020), and this time around have spiked RFK Jr. and Dean Phillips.

81. @ Art Deco – the issue is winning the election with a competent President, not a dud like Trump
    ==
    You’ve not been paying attention.

82. Then a presentable, ‘moderate’ candidate will wipe the floor with Trump’.
    ==
    Such a candidate exists only in your imagination.
    ==
    Democratic voters demonstrated in 2019-20 that they have no interest in capable businessmen (Bloomberg, Delaney, Yang), in men with executive experience in both private business and government (Hickenlooper), or in men with a demonstrated appeal to red state electorates (Bullock). The five candidates who did interest them were a one time prosecutor with a history of abusing subordinates, a law professor who manipulated hiring and promotion committees by pretending to aboriginal ancestry when she had none and whose executive experience consisted of one year running a sketchy federal agency, an unremarkable small city mayor under whose tenure the homicide rate increased (and who has demonstrated since what many suspected: he’s a hollow man), and a more capable small city mayor and member of Congress whose selling point has been his Trotskyist sympathies. The one they nominated is a career politician who sits atop a family which is a stew of corruption and depravity and he’s sliding into dementia to boot. Democratic voters aren’t picky about candidates. If anything, they pick the worst just to flip the bird at the rest of the country.

83. DCL (Bertie):

    In 2016 I made comments here about candidate Donald J Trump being akin to Roderick Spode (Lord Sidcup) as did Roger Kimbal (pj media). I did not vote for President Trump in 2016.

    However, it turned out that I was wrong in my assessment, based on what President Trump actually did, versus what he continues to be accused of. Look up “Fool me once shame on me, …..”

    Since 2016 it is manifestly obvious who the totalitarians are in this country (Democrats and the left). Not The Great Orange Whale.

    CC™ and NeverTrumpers can’t face their errors. They may not actually be what they claim to be?

84. I am pulled in two directions:

    (1) I want the chance, however remote, of Trump winning a second term next November as big F*** You to the people destroying the country I was born in and reside in;

    (2) It would probably be a longer run advantage to have DeSantis or Haley run next November and still lose the election just to get the f***ing point through some the commenters thick skulls in this thread that we aren’t voting our way out of this given the demographics and the malignant spread of mail-in-vote fraud.

85. Yancey Ward,

    Regarding #1, whether the Republicans win or the Democrats win I think the “big F*** You” will be headed the citizens’ way.

    Hopefully we can see some strong, new movements outside of the two party system that gain traction. Vivek will likely start something going. Jordan Peterson and others had their first ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship) conference last year. Moms for Liberty. Gays against Groomers. The Mises Caucus of the Libertarians is getting smart and strategic. I still have hope there is a way to peacefully reduce the power of the Federal government. I have no doubt this is what a majority of Americans want, but there are so many entrenched institutions that make a lot of money off the status quo; including media that does better the more we argue and fight. The George Floyd riots did a lot of damage to a lot of people and destroyed the economy of part of Minneapolis and other cities, but it was great for ratings and sold a lot of My Pillows, gold, guns and whatever is advertised on MSNBC.

86. Yancey Ward, to my mind lumping DeSantis and Haley together as just the same is in error. Haley would be more of the same old same old. DeSantis, not. But the issue is moot at this point. Given a choice between Trump and Haley I am emphatically for Trump.

87. Raheem Kassam offers his take on where the DeSantis campaign went wrong, understandable at 1.5 time:

    https://raheemkassam.substack.com/p/in-memoriam-ron-desantisnever-back?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

88. due in no small part to contributions from Democrat and Republican NeverTrumpers.
    ==
    You should be able to identify the Republican NeverTrumpers. It’s never been a popular tendency. It’s a Capitol Hill / K-Street tendency.

89. Kate:

    I agree, Yancey Ward missed the boat on number 2.

    DeSantis has a better record as a conservative than President Trump and has endorsed President Trump. Did Yancey miss those elephants in his room?

    Haley, not so much, better than some Republicans, but not in the same league as Trump or DeSantis.

90. My local R party broke into two distinct groups this past summer. One group calls the other group Rinos and the other group call the other group “Birchers”. How far down the road to preparing for the incoming storm do you think we will get?

    What people really need to see is how the DemoRATS use our universities to win elections. It’s not just letting the out-of-state kids vote twice–on campus and at their out-of-state home. That is simple stuff.
    It’s the ethnographic studies in rural communities. It’s the Dept of Agriculture at one of our universities starting a “women in ranching program”. This is not just to help women manage their business–no, this is to help them take control with university help of whatever city council they have going in their area. Then there is the part when the faculty come out and do an “ethnographic” study. How much land do you own–who will get it when you die? Those kinds of questions–what the hell do you think they are doing with that info? Oh, and don’t forget that the woman who ran against Zinke last time and lost was immediately rewarded by Biden with a government job here. The media has buried that information.

    If you really want to do something to help clean up this coming election, research every candidate for their relationship with your local university. Follow the money!

91. I am not lumping DeSantis in with Haley- my point, which seems to have been missed, is that it won’t matter who the Republicans nominate- the Democrats will win the election. They will win the election even if there is a recession this Summer. They hold a large natural edge in the electoral college and when they need it, they can produce literally millions of fraudulent mail-in-ballots in key cities.

    All I was trying to point out is that a lot of people need to get it into the skulls, via some method, that voting no longer matters, at least not for President and soon not even for the House or Senate.

92. Yancey wrote:
    “All I was trying to point out is that a lot of people need to get it into the skulls, via some method, that voting no longer matters, …”
    Do you have a suggestion to counter this problem??
    Or did I miss something?
    I’m very serious.

93. You will need to be ready to fight and shed blood, Marlene. It is that or prepare to bend the knee.

94. Yancey Ward:

    You can put your own skull in your own dark place.

95. Thanks Anne, great example. I found out about Garvey and will be voting for him in the primary, and hopefully in November as well.
    Actual local politics with names and histories—so much more work than spouting my opinion in a comment or blog or X.

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