If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
I have been at least a luke-warm supporter of Donald Trump for years. Heck, there are over 200 posts there, mostly talking up his virtues. Go, read, if you don't believe me.
But I am no longer comfortable posting about how Donald Trump would make a good President, because I do not any longer think that he would.
The Donald has come out against Ron DeSantis, not that this is surprising - after all, they are opponents for the Republican nomination. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the dishonest way that this opposition has come out:
Donald Trump's people attacked Ron DeSantis for (a) not slavishly following The Donald's massively damaging lockdown recommendations and then for (b) being entirely correct in doing so.
Let me be clear: Ron DeSantis saved Florida's economy by ignoring advice from Donald Trump's administration. I was here. I saw this. I had just moved here from The Democratic People's Socialist Republic of Maryland and know people whose lives were destroyed by the Covid lockdowns imposed by a Republican Governor there. So where are the "Trump War Room" objections to the Covid-19 lockdowns from (Republican) Governor Larry Hogan?
[crickets]
Go ahead. Amaze me.
[I'm waiting]
Yeah, that's what I thought. Someone who was all up The Donald's butt is a-OK, but someone who did something positive for his State (even though it went against your flunky's advice) is the Worst Thing Ever. Quite frankly, I'd have more respect for this if (a) their advice was worth a plug nickel and (b) if your flunkies weren't trying to undermine you at ever step and if (c) you had had a damn clue about (b).
You didn't, and still don't seem to. Quite frankly, this is the biggest knock against you - you brought your enemies into your inner circle, and you won't recognize allies if they don't kiss your butt.
To The Donald (as if he'd pay attention); We thought you were on our side. We trusted you. Like Bluto in Annimal House, wef**ked up. And now we see that someone who actually earned that trust is in your cross-hairs.
And so while I think you accomplished a lot in your first term, I don't think you are earning a second one. Your ego is too big to allow someone actually accomplished to join you in the Oval Office. And so, adieu. Good luck, because you're going to need it.
You are in an election. You are facing adversity. Remember that Adversity does not build character, it reveals it. You are revealing more than you should like. Stop doing that, or keep losing supporters.
Sorry, you've lost a supporter here. Don't come calling after the nomination. You're not Presidential material.
Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Jeb! supports DeSantis. THAT tells me all I need to know.
ReplyDeleteTo not support Trump is to support election fraud.
ReplyDeleteDeSantis has actually worked to control voter fraud unlike all the "others" ... so the always trumpers will still ignore that detail and spin bullshit. No , I'm not a DeSantis guy. Just sick of spun up bullshit and lies by any of them
ReplyDeleteTrump seems to have gone off the rails. I know it is a campaign, but what he's saying about DeSantis is just insane and not productive at all. I too am from Florida, and Trump's painting of DeSantis is the sort of hysterical BS you expect from MSNBC, not a primary competitor. No need for the ad hominin attacks. DeSantis has been a good Governor -- talk about policies and how to start rolling back election fraud instead.
ReplyDeleteI agree. There are better candidates out there. Younger, less divisive, more likely to win and actually get things done.
ReplyDeleteIf it comes down to Trump v Biden I guess it will be a lesser of two weavils situation, but both parties could do much better.
Tacitus
+1
DeleteI'm on the fence about Trump - and will probably remain on the fence until the primary.
ReplyDeleteTrump attacks friends. We know this. He does it all the time. Heck, he just attacked McEnany. Her "crime"? Mis-reporting the results of a poll. She was an excellent press secretary and made mincemeat out of reporters at press briefings. Always prepared. But Trump didn't like a minor misreport of a poll so he attacks her? Dumb.
DeSantis has done good things for Florida and says most of the right things. But if reports are correct, he has adopted RINOs and "swamp creatures" as supporters - and that really bothers me. Will he surrender some of his plans just to get their support?
So, I'm on the fence and I'll wait to see what happens. The Republican primary will be very interesting indeed.
i think you're allowed to criticize an opponent, but you better be truthful about it. and look in the mirror first. strike one and two. but when he comes out with petty insults toward kailey mac enaney who did such great work for him, well strike three asshat. i'm not sold on desantis either, but trump needs to grow up.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, Trump attacks anyone who doesn't kowtow to him. But some of his criticism seems deranged. To say Mario Cuomo did a better job of managing New York's Covid response than DeSantis did is crazy. Personally, I think Trump's going along with the "experts" on Covid cost him the election; but we'll never know.
ReplyDeleteI also think Trump's age cuts against him. He is the same age Biden was in 2020 and every time he says something bizarre now, people will start to wonder if he is beginning to slip like Joe.
Lastly, I don't think most Republicans want a return to the "All Drama - All The Time Trump Show." DeSantis has shown that as much or more can be accomplished without the 24/7/365 hysteria.
Sorry for the long snip but it fits well:
ReplyDeleteDiogenes of Sinope (l. c. 404-323 BCE) was a Greek Cynic philosopher best known for holding a lantern (or candle) to the faces of the citizens of Athens claiming he was searching for an honest man. He rejected the concept of "manners" as a lie and advocated complete truthfulness at all times and under any circumstance.
He was most likely a student of the philosopher Antisthenes (l. 445-365 BCE, who studied with Socrates) and, in the words of Plato (allegedly), was “A Socrates gone mad.” He was driven into exile from his native city of Sinope for defacing currency (though some sources say it was his father who committed the crime and Diogenes simply followed him into exile). He made a home for himself in Athens in the agora, living in a rain barrel and surviving off gifts from admirers, foraging, and begging.
Diogenes famous "search for an honest man" was his way of exposing the hypocrisy and sham of polite societal conventions. By holding a literal light up to people's faces in broad daylight, he forced them to recognize their participation in practices that prevented them from living truthfully.
Honestly does NOT PAY today. Ask any Lawyer what the "Honest Truth" in court will cost you.
So, we set up our Preferred Leaders" to a level of behavior that will DESTROY them in the fetid Swamp our District of Criminals has become?
A massive MEP, Solar Flare or social-economic collapse seems the only way to clean up the lawfare, propaganda and abuse of the laws by ur current crop of "Leaders.
Pity like rats THEY have bolt holes (taxpayer paid) but We the People like all of history proves gets the beatings.
I've got to agree with our host, albeit reluctantly so. I was a very big Trump supporter. He's always been a bit quick to show his ass, but in the past few weeks his ego has dictated his efforts, not his sense of right and wrong. We don't need to stir half the country to vote against someone again. We need them to vote FOR someone. And Good God, can we please have a president who isn't a crabby ancient now? AARP isn't supposed to be this powerful.
ReplyDeleteTrump f*cked up by the numbers utterly with COVID, true, and some people I don't like seem to like DeSantis, also true. But let's be realistic- milquetoast country club nobodys like anyone more than they like Trump. It says nothing about their supporters OR Trump. I mean Jeb? He means less to the Republican party of 2023 than Spiro Agnew.
DeSantis has both the ability to gather allies AND stand on his own, which Trump lacked. I mean, Trump had Lindsey Graham, whose response to everything is to send soldiers to die for his ideas, but even the Zodiac Killer himself, Ted Cruz, who knows a thing or two about back stabbing, was made uncomfortable by Trump's ego's role in diplomacy.
Florida has shown exactly that. We still have Democrats in FL, and they can occasionally be arsed to do productive things. They're like E. coli. Necessary but best kept where they can be useful, 'cus it's awful when they get where they shouldn't be. So it goes. Washington certainly is the rectum of America, the democrats have to be lived with, or you get what we had with Trump- some showy victories that only last until Jan 7 after the next election.
With Desantis, I'm hopeful there will be some legacy changes, or at least a chance of them.
I am nonplussed by Trump's recent antics, but it's way too early to do anything but watch and wait.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I keep in mind that whatever else befalls, Deep State delenda est and Democrat Party delenda est. Everything else pales before those two objectives.
I agree with you. And, I don't think Trump has a snowball's chance in Saudi Arabia in August of getting reelected. To many people see him in a negative light. So far, DeSantis is the one Republican I would vote for.
ReplyDeleteAlways thought Trump was a total jerk, but it seemed he might get things done/changed. Held my nose and voted for him. Spent the entire time wondering ... Did it again. THIS time I need to breathe. NOT going to hold my nose again. I simply don't trust him and he's getting worse every week.
ReplyDeleteDeSantis isn't ready for national yet in my opinion. Besides, I'm not sure how much I trust him, either. Partial bill of goods on the Disney kerfuffle (what did he REALLY accomplish with the taxes, land/control, etc.?) and we found out AFTER the move of illegals from TX that he didn't have the authority so Tallahassee changed the laws to make it legal. I do like most of what he has done, but I keep wondering what's behind the curtain. Think I smell a RINO in his office.
As a Canadian sticking his long nose into your American affairs I can respect that BP. Your opposition to him is based entirely on fact. I think I’d disagree with you though.
ReplyDeleteWashington politics is a whole different sewer or swamp than Florida politics are. I’m not so sure DeSantis will make that jump well. The Establishment is obviously in DeSantis’s corner… which as the boys note…tells you everything you need to know. But I could be wrong. None of us, Canadians or Americans, are going to voat our way out of anything.
@Tacitus,
ReplyDelete"better younger candidates out there..."
B.S. Penalty flag thrown.
The media is pimping DeSantis. To weaken Trump.
Dubbya and Jeb are pro-DeSantis.
The anti-Trumpers now are mostly the same ones who didn't want him in the first place.
Making the same arguments.
You want a saint, or a perfect candidate? The picture of that skeleton waiting on a park bench for "The Perfect Man" comes to mind.
When you show me a guy who fights the media at their own game, and wins, who fills stadiums with supporters, and who sends the media into shrieking fits of apoplexy at the mention of his name, or the mere wearing of his hat, and we can talk.
If you're not just going to knuckle under to tyranny every day henceforth, your choices in 2024 are Trump, or open civil warfare.
You may get both anyways.
And that's assuming TPTB will ever let elections matter ever again.
Which is in evidence exactly nowhere in the U.S.
When all 50 states require photo ID, a thumbprint with indelible ink, and in-person voting on election day only, you'll have elections again.
Anything else is the 2020 election fraud, stamping on your face, forever.
Wait, it gets better. From the Not Ready For Prime Time DeSantis Campaign HQ:
ReplyDeletehttp://daviddrakesplace.blogspot.com/2023/06/desantis-rapid-response-director-wants.html
There's a reason Trump came out of left field and wiped 17 other dwarves off the political map.
I'm not really enthused about either of them. Trump did several good things that were helpful, but his stupid comments on the vaccine, Red Flag gun laws, and pardoning some criminal filth are black marks. Trump should have listened to Bannon instead of traitorous Israel first son in law. Whites got totally ignored by Trump, though some of his policies were no doubt helpful from a way less bad perspective.
ReplyDeleteDeSantis, while an effective governor, has these funny neo-con connections. I wished Abbot would had done half of what DeSantis did.
A black mark against both is shilling for Israel, a traitorous and worthless ally. I don't give a damn about Israel!
If voting could change anything it would be illegal.
ReplyDelete