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I suspect he will win the GOP nomination. I don't think Trump can do it, despite his very vocal supporters. I don't think he can pull in the numbers. But this guy probably will:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M81-GM0mTc4

Be very afraid. He has made it clear that he doesn't favor free speech (e.g. his latest proposal for bloggers to have to register if they want to criticize him...even Gingrich thinks that's nuts: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/06/ne...).

onepoorguy: I suspect he will win the GOP nomination. I don't think Trump can do it...

Unless he has a heart attack or stroke and dies, I expect Trump to be the 2024 republican nominee. He will never relax his stranglehold on the republican party.

Among the current crop of potential candidates, only Chris Christie has dared criticize Trump by name, and Christie has a zero percent chance of winning the nomination. Haley, Pence, Pompeo, and Scott have shied away from criticizing Trump. None of them has a shot at the nomination either. Larry Hogan has dropped out (not that he had a shot to begin with), everyone hates Ted Cruz and he'll have to defend his Senate seat in 2024, and while Youngkin fooled Virginians he'll have a hard time doing that a second time. Kristi Noem? Nope, republicans won't support a woman at the top of the ticket. Asa Hutchinson? Hhhmmm, he has taken a few shots at Trump but he's so insignificant Trump hasn't felt the need to destroy him. Yet. Will Hurd is as dull as dishwater. Fist Pumping Running Man Josh Hawley? Umm. Then there's Sununu, a guy who doesn't come across as totally batchit crazy but, in the republican party is that a plus or a minus?

And what will Liz Cheney do? She's made it her mission to block Trump from a second term. Does she run just to stand on a debate stage with him get him to lose his mind?

So that leaves your choice, DeSantis. Had DeSantis been smarter, he'd have pledged his loyalty and positioned himself for the VP slot under Trump, then hoped to take the reins in 2028... assuming Trump hadn't turned the American presidency into a dictatorship and anointed himself King for life.

Of course, perhaps that was Plan A for DeSantis and was quickly abandoned after he saw that Trump was happy to encourage his cult to -- what was it they chanted? -- oh, right, "Hang Mike Pence."

Story going around on FoxNews is that Trump will select Keri Lake as his running mate.

The jokes will write themselves.

I think there is too much lining up against trump for him to succeed this time. The Koch Brothers have announced they will be funding a candidate that is NOT trump. The rest of the candidates I have heard mention the importance of dropping out early to whoever is leading in the polls when we get close to the primary elections. I have no idea who will get the nomination, and I think anybody who does is just guessing. I have heard that past poll leaders this early in the game almost never end up being the nominee.

While it appears nobody is going to war with Trump, That is more choosing not to play his game, but to play a different game. I think it is a matter of depriving trump of his oxygen. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

The interesting words I heard today were something like, "Trump is the past; the GOP needs to move forward"...
Alan

Freely admit I'm guessing. But Trump-supported candidates did an average of 5% worse than other candidates (pulling that figure from memory, but it's close). Trump has a troupe of hard-core supporters, but unless there are too many candidates (like in 2016) that then split the vote, IMHO, Trump will lose. If he only has one or two opponents, instead of 9, he'll fail.

I read an article (NYT, I think) that DeSantis isn't engaging Trump. Trump is starting to attack him, and trying to come up with a derogatory nickname, and meanwhile DeSantis is running his own campaign. Not taking the bait. Not playing Trump's game.

I would be very surprised if Trump is the nominee in 2024. I hope he is, because any Dem (e.g. Biden) will mop the floor with him. Too many people will show up to vote against Trump, no matter how they feel about Biden. DeSantis? He may not generate that visceral a reaction, and Biden could be in trouble.

I think there is too much lining up against trump for him to succeed this time. The Koch Brothers have announced they will be funding a candidate that is NOT trump. The rest of the candidates I have heard mention the importance of dropping out early to whoever is leading in the polls when we get close to the primary elections. I have no idea who will get the nomination, and I think anybody who does is just guessing. I have heard that past poll leaders this early in the game almost never end up being the nominee.

Trump has the one thing that all the Koch money in the world can't buy: adoration of a significant segment who will not consider another candidate.

Recall that the primary contests, as now structured, run to the extremes, and Trump owns that part of the spectrum. Even someone more extreme (DeSantis, for example) can't outmaneuver the strong lock hold that Trump has on his acolytes. A centrist can't win because of the structure of the primaries. Someone even more radical can't win because they can't peel off enough Trump votes to be meaningful.

So long as this is a contest of more than a couple candidates (there are already two, with DeSantis sure to announce, and perhaps Kari Lake in a bid to run for Vice President) Trump wins with a plurality. Yes, sometimes elections do funny things and this prediction could fail, but absent swarms of black swans, I expect Trump to be the nominee. Again. And hopefully, for the last time.

I suspect he will win the GOP nomination. I don't think Trump can do it, despite his very vocal supporters. I don't think he can pull in the numbers. But this guy probably will:

Doesn't matter who runs against Biden. With Biden's horrific record of destroying America,
even an unknown Joe Blow down the street would win.

With Biden's horrific record of destroying America, even an unknown Joe Blow down the street would win.
I think this is a distorted view based on your conservative bias news sources.

That said, the GOP concern appears to be knowing Trump will lose against Biden, when it should be an easy GOP win if they have a "decent" candidate.

Doesn't matter who runs against Biden. With Biden's horrific record of destroying America,
even an unknown Joe Blow down the street would win.

I'm not from the USA but I must say this is a very surprising comment. I follow US politics but I don't know the details so I probably won't be able to respond but anyway, could you give a few examples of destruction caused by Biden?

'Doesn't matter who runs against Biden. With Biden's horrific record of destroying America, even an unknown Joe Blow down the street would win.'

This is an echo chamber viewpoint. Trump has a lock on 35-40% of republicans. This mostly white and over 55 constituency is shrinking by about 2% of the electorate with each election cycle.

Another 15-20 million ethnically ambiguous and gender confused youth will be turning out for the first time only to be confronted with a Republican Party that says things that don't jive with their experience of the world. When republicans speak, gen z lift their heads and say 'okay boomer' and return to their phones.

In 2020, Biden beat Trump by over 40 points among gen z voters. The hearing of young people is better than 'the olds' (as our son calls us), and they are not receptive to the hateful dog whistling of many republican hopefuls.

I think this is a distorted view based on your conservative bias news sources.

That said, the GOP concern appears to be knowing Trump will lose against Biden, when it should be an easy GOP win if they have a "decent" candidate.


I don't need any bias conservative news source telling me what Biden has/is doing to destroy America. Heck, even CNN, NBC and other left wing sources including dem politicians are beginning to echo the same. They all see the crime waves across America, the drugs, human trafficking, the homeless, the mounting of billions of taxpayer monies being paid out for illegal aliens, cartel gangs setting up their own turfs across America, etc etc etc.
All happening under Biden.

If Trump is the front runner he will wipe out Biden. American voters were fed hoax after hoax by the democrats, the Steele Dossier, Trump a Russian Agent, Lab leak a right wing conspiracy, Hunter's laptop was Russian disinformation, the Trump's phone call with Zelensky baloney, Trump encouraged the J6 uprising, Border patrol on horseback whipping migrants.
The dem hoax list goes on and on. American voters now know better.

When American voters go to the polls come 2024 they will remember the peace and prosperity we had with Trump and the Biden/dem lies to discredit the Trump successes.

Whoever ends up being the Republican candidate for President, there will be no doubt who will win....it won't be Biden.

It is interesting that when gas prices go up, they blame Biden, but when they come back down they are silent.
When overall inflation is high they blame Biden, but when it comes back down they are silent.

Nostalgia seems to keep some from remembering all the violence that happened during the Trump administration.

I think you underestimate the younger generation. Trump has activated the younger voters, and they will turn out in droves to vote against almost any republican. The republican policies and messaging around increasing discrimination will drive these younger voters to the polls.
Alan

This is an echo chamber viewpoint. Trump has a lock on 35-40% of republicans.


I have a morbid fascination with the comments on Fox News website comments.

There are those who truly drank deeply of the orange koolaid. We can see a couple of those on this Atheist page.

But.. there's an increasing number of Fox posters who agree that if Trump is the R nominee, R will lose.
They see DeSantis/(Haley?) as their best shot at putting another R in the Oval Office.

The schism in the Fox cult is growing.

As I said, Trump-supported candidates last fall underperformed. His endorsement doesn't carry as much weight. People are turning away from him. DeSantis I think reflects where the party is now. As long as they don't have too many candidates in the primaries, I don't see how he can lose.

But, as I said, I hope Trump takes it. Because anyone the Dems put up against him will probably win. People showed up in droves to vote against Trump, and they'll likely do it again. Biden by himself can't generate enough excitement, but Trump will generate genuine terror.

Trump will generate genuine terror.

President "I am your retribution" Trump has a familiar ring to it. Black shirt or brown? He envied Bolsonaro, Duterte, Xi, Putin style strongman authoritarianism.
That authoritarian approach appeals to the orange cult that is evangelically willing to 'eradicate' certain segments of the US population, aka scapegoating.
Being one generation removed from a Viennese anti-Nazi street fighting family, the similarity to the process of shunning and legislating against specific segments of society is concerning.
It wasn't just Jews from my families neighborhood that were first shunned, then legislated against, then killed. Everybody on this board knows well how the Hitler and his thugs were welcomed, with open arms, into Austria. A shameful blot on Austria and now, the US.

There have been a few prominent republicans who have gone on record saying they will not vote for Trump. They didn't go so far as to say they will vote Dem, but perhaps either stay away or vote Libertarian. While it seems most agree Trump will get his base of 30%->40% of republicans, beyond that it is slim pickings.
It all comes down to the cooperation between the Trump primary contenders to preselect a Trump opponent before they divide up the anti Trump voters.
Alan

Be very afraid. He has made it clear that he doesn't favor free speech (e.g. his latest proposal for bloggers to have to register if they want to criticize him...even Gingrich thinks that's nuts: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/06/ne...).
*****

Indeed, people who want bloggers to register, Facebook to be fact check arbiter, and who want demand cable networks and radio hosts be subjected to "fairness doctrines" - --

......are to be feared.

In the case of the nationally un-tested but rightful flavor of the month from Florida that secretly the Establishment will prefer over Trump -- what is fueling his power rise?

*That he wants to strip away an Affordable Care Act that MILLIONS of his citizens use and depend on? Did that get him popular?

OR.....

Conceit, snobbery and cultural extremism? Did he harness that for his political rise?

Some love to fixate on the individual "Trump!!!' "Palin!!!!" "AOC!!!!" "Pelosi!!". "Bush!!!!"

In the case of the current red hat movement - the day the cool kids figure out that this is not the CAUSE of the problem - but rather, a SYMTOM of the problem -- things might move forward.

Until then, America's 3rd world traits, continue to grow in size and scope.

Or better yet, heap scorn on individuals - let their fundraising coffers grow the next morning. Endear them to their base.

World War 3 continues to be concocted....and post-constitution America will not come from the latest flavor du jour, it will come from the very people pretending to defend the rule of law.

Oh the times they are a changing......

In the case of the nationally un-tested but rightful flavor of the month from Florida that secretly the Establishment will prefer over Trump -- what is fueling his power rise?

It appears to be (from what I can tell) a combination of saying what (some) people want to hear, and putting on a tough-guy persona (or maybe he really is a tough bully?). That appeals to roughly half the population. Plus he's governor of a state that allows him to enact some of his lunacy, so "he gets stuff done".

Just a guess. Don't live in FL, but the fact that I've heard of him (since I couldn't name 5 state governors if you held a gun to my head...I can name mine reliably), he's definitely on the rise.

Yes, Trump was a symptom of a bigger problem.

LurkerMom: I don't need any bias [sic] conservative news source telling me what Biden has/is doing to destroy America. Heck, even CNN, NBC and other left wing sources including dem politicians are beginning to echo the same. They all see the crime waves across America, the drugs, human trafficking, the homeless, the mounting of billions of taxpayer monies being paid out for illegal aliens, cartel gangs setting up their own turfs across America, etc etc etc.
All happening under Biden.

Well, let's examine the data.

Annual government surveys from the Bureau of Justice Statistics show no recent increase in the U.S. violent crime rate. In 2021, the most recent year with available data, there were 16.5 violent crimes for every 1,000 Americans ages 12 and older. That was statistically unchanged from the year before, below pre-pandemic levels and far below the rates recorded in the 1990s, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey.

So, in Biden's first year in office, violent crime was "statistically unchanged" from Trump's final year in office.

Drug-involved overdose deaths have been rising since 1999. In 2019, there were 70,630 deaths. In 2020, 91,799. That's an increase of 23%. In 2021 there were 106,699 deaths, an increase of 13%. So the rate of increase, which has been rising for decades, declined by 10%.

I had planned to go through your list one by one but since you don't support your claims with data or links, to do so would be the very definition of wasting my time, but I will suggest you need to find different news sources. I am genuinely curious, though, to learn which "left wing sources including dem politicians" are saying that Biden is destroying America.


https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/10/31/v...

https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statis...

They all see the crime waves across America, the drugs, human trafficking, the homeless, the mounting of billions of taxpayer monies being paid out for illegal aliens, cartel gangs setting up their own turfs across America, etc etc etc.
All happening under Biden.

Except it isn't true. As the other poster mentioned, the various statistics/metrics are little changed from the last year of Trump. Biden's first year was rough, but things have been steadily improving ever since, and are now on-par (or better) than Trump's last year.

So I would speculate that you are getting your info from conservative-bias sources like Tucker Carlson and FOX.

It is interesting that when gas prices go up, they blame Biden, but when they come back down they are silent.
When overall inflation is high they blame Biden, but when it comes back down they are silent.

Gas prices may have gone down some under Biden, but when Trump left Office the national medium price of gasoline was $2.38 a gallon. Approximately a dollar less than the gas price under Biden today.

A reason why gas prices came down was Biden raided the Strategic Petroleum Reserve....
'Facing political pressure over the high gas prices around the country, the White House announced Tuesday that the federal government would release 50 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a coordinated move with other major countries. The US release is its largest on record.'

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statement...

Also,
snip
'Today, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Ranking Member Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) are continuing oversight of the Biden Administration's sale of U.S. oil reserves to Unipec America, a company operated by the Chinese Communist Party, and raising concerns that U.S. oil could be used by China to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To ensure the Biden Administration is properly managing the sale of critical assets, the lawmakers are once again calling on Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Jennifer Granholm to provide an immediate briefing and all documents and communications related to the SPR

https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-mace-bid...

Nostalgia seems to keep some from remembering all the violence that happened during the Trump administration.

snip
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Anarchist/left wing violent extremism, often referred to in United States government parlance with the catch-all term 'anarchist violent extremism' (AVE), has a long-standing history in the U.S. The political climate in recent years has intensified focus, interest, and controversy surrounding the activities of specific left-wing extremist currents. Despite this, there is a dearth of quality, impartial, and non-partisan research on these groups and the individual violent extremists
associated with them.
This paper attempts to situate AVE within the broader landscape of domestic violent extremist (DVE) threats facing the U.S. and chart the evolution of violent plots with a nexus to AVEs. A recent Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) joint report that reviewed significant domestic terrorism incidents in the U.S. between 2015 and 2019 found that AVEs were among the extremist groups 'presenting the greatest threats of violence.'1 Reviewing these incidents and charting the potential for future escalation of AVE- related attacks, this paper highlights three trends:

Violence committed by AVEs in this period was largely locally organized, event- driven, and/or opportunistic. However, individual AVEs inspired by the movement and its ideologies also planned mass-casualty terrorist attacks, predominantly against law enforcement, private property, and those they associate with opposing violent extremist groups.'

https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191...

The left wing violence continued during the Trump years as President.
I cannot remember ANY president putting up with such hate and nonsense ever.

'Timeline of protests against Donald Trump'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_protests...

Except it isn't true. As the other poster mentioned, the various statistics/metrics are little changed from the last year of Trump. Biden's first year was rough, but things have been steadily improving ever since, and are now on-par (or better) than Trump's last year.

All I can say is LOL.

I have to laugh at you and others bringing up FOX or other conservative news outlets
for a rebuttal. You would hear/see the news your left wing outlets do not report to save
Biden's backside.

Perhaps you all should stop watching CNN.
They've been lying to the American people since the Gulf War.

Be very afraid. He has made it clear that he doesn't favor free speech (e.g. his latest proposal for bloggers to have to register if they want to criticize him...even Gingrich thinks that's nuts: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/06/ne...).

Did you not read the link you provided?

snip
'The bill was introduced by Jason Brodeur. It states: 'If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register' with the appropriate state office.'

Gov Ron DeSantis is not responsible for the bill introduced by Brodeur. Perhaps DeSantis
is not in favor of bill either.

LurkerMom: A reason why gas prices came down was Biden raided the Strategic Petroleum Reserve....

Raided? Biden released crude from the Strategic Oil Reserve and, as you note, brought down the price of gasoline. At the same time, he banked $4 billion for the United States Treasury.

The U.S. has scored a $4 billion windfall on sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).

Emergency releases from the SPR are set to end this month as the Biden administration has sought to ease the price of gasoline for consumers. Over the release period, the administration sold 180 million barrels of crude at an average price of $96.25 per barrel, well above the current price of about $74 per barrel. For now, that translates into an almost $4 billion gain.

Brilliant, right?


LurkerMom: The left wing violence continued during the Trump years as President.
I cannot remember ANY president putting up with such hate and nonsense ever.

Do you even bother to read your links?

For example, from your link:

By certain metrics, such as human casualties and frequency of attacks, the violence committed by AVE actors in the past decade pales in comparison to other categories of violent extremists.

Also from your link:

This confirms that AVE-related significant terrorism incidents during this timeframe were relatively infrequent, especially in comparison to other DVE categories. Overall, AVE violence appeared to be less lethal than other groups. None of the seven AVE-related incidents resulted in deaths...

That's seven incidents between 2015 and 2019.

Sheesh. Now do Jan. 6.

NewEchota: 'Sheesh. Now do Jan. 6.'

LOL, yep, the truth is coming out what really happened J6 now that the tapes
have been released.

LurkerMom: LOL, yep, the truth is coming out what really happened J6 now that the tapes have been released.


You're trolling now, right?

Tucker Carlson? The guy who thinks his viewers are morons, who wrote "I hate Trump passionately," and who described the Trump presidency this way:

"We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn't an upside to Trump."

P. T. Barnum was right but let's close our conversation with this famous cinematic observation, paraphrased: "LurkerMom, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye."

Perhaps you all should stop watching CNN.

Apparently you forgot that I don't watch CNN. Or any other "cable news". Though if you check CNN's rating (for accuracy and political leaning) that another poster provided last week, you'll see it is roughly center with reasonable accuracy scores.

I listed some of my sources for you. You seemed at least interested at the time. The poster in this thread linked to PEW and one or two other sources for stats and data. Data is good, too. Crime is down substantially over my lifetime. No one POTUS or one party can take credit for that. It just is how society is evolving. Circumstances cause blips, but the overall trend is down. It could be argued that right-wing hate crimes went up because of Trump. It certainly correlates. But I haven't seen an exhaustive study saying it is definite. The pandemic also caused a spike, from what I've read. But the data appears to show it is returning to the trend.

I could go on about oil prices, inflation, etc. None of them are as simple as "POTUS did it". There are always macro factors at work.

I will say that Biden is doing a much better job internationally. Trump was idiotic in this arena. Biden has been reaffirming our support for our allies, making in-roads to the Philippines to curb China's expansionism, supporting Ukraine (with the help of Congress, since they control the purse-strings), etc. The USA is a much more respected, and prominent, actor on the world stage since Biden took over. I may not like all of Biden's policies, but so far I'm supportive of his foreign agenda. We need NATO, we need allies.

Fair enough. In fact, this came across my feed today.

https://www.businessinsider.com/desantis-doesnt-su...

He doesn't say he won't sign it if it gets to his desk, but he says he hasn't supported it.

If he's smart (and, politically, he is smart), he would veto that bill. It would take away something he could be bludgeoned with. But he did restrict access to the Florida capitol to approved groups. As albaby said a week or so ago, he doesn't have to support things contrary to his agenda. But it's a sneaky way to suppress speech. As I recall, it probably is legal. But it is underhanded, and sends the message that dissent is not appreciated.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/20...

If he wins the nomination, Biden will have a problem. He's a lot smarter than Trump, but has the same intolerant attitudes (e.g. African studies, women's studies, etc). Trump got almost nothing done, even when he had a "R" congress. DeSantis knows how to get stuff done, whether we like it or not.

commonone: "LurkerMom, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye."

Shrug'Guess Tucker has the left by the oo.
The dem J6 and two RINOs was a lopsided committee with no opposing voice to counter the lies and edited tapes..
There was no cross-examination of witnesses.
Tucker is showing the unedited parts of the j6 tapes that tells a whole different story.
Besides, the American people had little interest in the televised hearings, a total waste of taxpayer money.

'I will say that Biden is doing a much better job internationally. Trump was idiotic in this arena'

Sorry, instead of coming up with a number of links I saw this article that will give some opinions I share of Biden's job internationally. The article is not easy on Trump either.

Biden's Foreign Policy dilemmas
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/1/20/biden...

snip
'After a strong start that included rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organization, both of which Trump abandoned, President Joe Biden has been, in a word, disappointing.

Over the past year, Joe Biden has talked like Barack Obama but walked like Donald Trump on foreign policy. But as he lacks the eloquence and bullishness of his predecessors, the president has fallen flat through and through.'

'Trump got almost nothing done'

https://www.maciverinstitute.com/2021/01/on-policy...

And then came along the pandemic....

I had planned to go through your list one by one but

Good choice lest you become a sucker for the tactic Steve Bannon calls "flooding the zone with sh!t


"Brandolini's law, also known as the bullshit asymmetry principle, is an internet adage that emphasizes the effort of debunking misinformation, in comparison to the relative ease of creating it in the first place. It states that "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it." [1] [2]"

I agree with some of the commentary in that op-ed piece (UNESCO, Saudi). Others I disagree with. I think they are dead-wrong on Ukraine (i.e. the US and Europe are pretty much on the same page in terms of supporting Ukraine). We held joint exercises with (I think) Latvia and/or Lithuania just last year, much to Putin's annoyance. Could we support Ukraine more? Absolutely. And we should. But we definitely aren't leaving them twisting in the wind. That Europe doesn't want to rely on Washington makes sense...this is in their backyard. If you watch all the Perun videos, you know that the Ukrainians are training on western equipment now that such is arriving from the US, Poland, Germany...pretty much all of NATO.

The French submarine deal my be related to the announcement that Australia will be buying Virginia-class boats from us. Unfortunate, but governments do meddle in that sort of thing all the time.

About UNESCO, apparently we've had a bit of a rocky relationship with them. I don't know what the deal is at the moment. https://www.unesco.org/en/countries/us#:~:text=The....

Meanwhile, relations with the Philippines are growing stronger since Trump and Duterte have left. I always thought it was a mistake for them to throw us out, and Duterte trying to cozy-up with China. Apparently they are realizing that, too. https://www.npr.org/2023/02/02/1153727888/the-us-p...

Now you see why I sometimes read al-Jazeera. They are pro-democracy, and call us out on our hypocrisy all the time. The US hasn't ever really had a good policy towards the middle east, which al-Jazeera is quick to point out all the deficiencies and hypocrisies.

(e.g. his latest proposal for bloggers to have to register if they want to criticize him...even Gingrich thinks that's nuts: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/06/ne...).

As always, media reports about the contents of a bill are typically inaccurate.

Not that this is a great bill, mind you. But what it says is that individuals who are paid for writing blog posts about a state officer, registration and disclosure is required.

The problem that this bill is aimed at has nothing to do with the Governor. We've started to see a particularly nasty technique in state rep elections, where you have dark money hiring someone to create and populate an anonymous attack blog against their opponent - which pieces then get circulated around via social media. The idea is that these blogs are functionally the equivalent of paid political advertisements, but without any expenditure reporting or disclosure that would be required if they were super-pacs.

The really ironic thing is that this bill is taking the progressive side of the argument. Normally, it's progressives who are advocating for disclosure when funds (especially dark money) are being collected and spent on election efforts.

Now then - I am not defending the bill. It is terribly drafted, and certainly unconstitutional. I doubt it went through legal review before being filed. But then again, it's only the third day of the legislative session - the time when every legislator gets to file their six bills. 90% of which will never go anywhere, and are just there so they can say that they introduced a bill to address X problem. Because de Santis is in the national news, the national (and international) press is paying attention to these bills that normally would just be ignored as irrelevant because they're not going to pass.

Link to the bill:

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1316/Bi...

They all see the crime waves across America, the drugs, human trafficking, the homeless, the mounting of billions of taxpayer monies being paid out for illegal aliens, cartel gangs setting up their own turfs across America, etc etc etc.
All happening under Biden.

Pernicious problems. But Biden's fault?

Trump only made things worse.

They all see the crime waves across America, the drugs, human trafficking, the homeless, the mounting of billions of taxpayer monies being paid out for illegal aliens, cartel gangs setting up their own turfs across America, etc etc etc.
All happening under Biden.

Pernicious problems. But Biden's fault?

Trump only made things worse.
***

Now Democrats are making those things worse.

After all just because someone is in the Oval - it's their fault. It's good we're using the Bush Trump standard now.

Ok, I'm game.

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