2024 GOP Presidential Race (15 Viewers)

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After Donald Trump sabotaged the 2022 midterm elections for Republicans by endorsing unelectable extremists, a comforting narrative took root among GOP elites. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis would offer a return to “normal” politics, continuing Trump’s aggressive, unapologetic defense of traditional American culture and values but without all that pesky authoritarianism. He would continue to wrap himself in an American flag, but he wouldn’t invite people to dinner who preferred wearing the Nazi one.

Many on the political left drew the opposite conclusion. DeSantis was the real threat, a smarter, more disciplined version of Trump. Whereas Trump believed in anyone or anything that believed in him, DeSantis was a dangerous ideologue. Trump would tweet like an autocrat; DeSantis would act like one.

Is DeSantis an authoritarian? The governor is the political equivalent of an overly greased weather vane, twisting to follow the winds within his party. In the post-Trump GOP, those winds are blowing in an authoritarian direction. Whether he’s an authoritarian at heart or just a cynical opportunist, what matters is how DeSantis behaves. And as governor, he has repeatedly used the powers of his office in authoritarian ways.

Several political words have taken on an expansive meaning in recent years, drifting from their intended use to serve as a linguistic cudgel against any opponent. On the right, many people have misused the word woke as a lazy shorthand to mean anything they classify as “bad cultural change.” A smaller group on the left has misused authoritarian to describe right-wing policies that are perhaps objectionable but nonetheless compatible with democracy.

Authoritarian, in the political-science sense of the word, usually refers to two broad kinds of political action within democracies such as the United States. The first is antidemocratic politics, where a politician attacks the institutions, principles, or rules of democracy. The second is personalized rule, in which the leader uses their power to target specific groups or individuals, persecuting their enemies while protecting their allies.

Wooden rather than magnetic, DeSantis doesn’t engage in the impulsive, stage-based showman authoritarianism of Donald Trump. His antidemocracy politics are calculated and disciplined. In Florida, he has engaged in legislative authoritarianism, replacing rule of law with rule by law. His playbook is now familiar to Floridians: He uses attention-grabbing stunts or changes formal policies to target individuals, groups, or companies he doesn’t like. Then he holds a press conference to tout his ability to take on all the people the Republican base loves to hate.

In functioning democracies, the law is a great equalizer—political allies and adversaries are treated the same. But in “the free state of Florida,” that’s not true. After DeSantis signed the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill, Disney denounced it. That’s part of democratic politics; citizens and companies are free to speak out against legislation without fear of retribution. But DeSantis retaliated forcefully, using his formal political power to punish a perceived political enemy. He signed a law revoking Disney’s control over a special district in the state.

DeSantis made clear that the legislation specifically targeted Disney because of its political speech. “You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California,” DeSantis said before signing the bill. “And you’re going to marshal your economic power to attack the parents of my state? We view that as a provocation, and we’re gonna fight back against that.” Lest anyone misread his intent, he also assured his supporters: “We have everything thought out … Don’t let anyone tell you that somehow Disney’s going to get a tax cut out of this. They’re going to pay more taxes as a result of it.” This was legislative authoritarianism in action.................

Of course not everything DeSantis does merits the authoritarian label. He has proposed that hospitals be required to collect data on patients’ immigration status. This, as critics argue, is likely to worsen public-health outcomes and put an undue burden on doctors and nurses to become Florida’s frontline immigration police. But it’s not authoritarian. It’s just a run-of-the-mill bad policy idea.

Sometimes, context determines whether a political action is authoritarian. Cracking down on voter fraud is certainly not authoritarian; it’s just enforcing the law. However, if the crackdown is supposed to undermine public confidence in democracy while targeting a specific group of people who are unpopular in your own party, then it may deserve the label.

What should we make of DeSantis’s high-profile task force to tackle voter fraud in Florida? Twenty-six cases of voter fraud have been verified in the state since 2016. In that time frame, voters have cast roughly 36 million ballots in general federal elections. That’s a nonexistent problem, but the Republican base, thanks to Trump’s lies about fraud, believes it’s widespread. DeSantis was likely trying to score political points while diminishing faith in the democratic process. Last summer, this stunt culminated in a Black man being arrested at gunpoint for illegal voting. (He had cast a ballot because he mistakenly believed that Florida’s restoration of felon voting rights applied to him. Similar cases have been dismissed when they reach the courts.)

In Florida’s public schools, DeSantis has sought to make book-banning easier. Again, governors have the legal right to sway educational policy, and doing so is not authoritarian. What’s worrying about DeSantis’s role in education is that he’s trying to muzzle classroom speech that differs from his worldview. House Bill 7, sometimes referred to as the Stop WOKE Act, prohibits educators from teaching students about systemic racism.

This has had the predictable effect of eroding freedom of expression in the classroom. One publisher even removed references to race in a textbook entry about Rosa Parks. Parks’s story became about stubbornness, not racism. “One day, she rode the bus,” the post–H.B. 7 text reads. “She was told to move to a different seat. She did not.” Why was she asked to move? For Florida’s students, that will remain a mystery........

if Trump bragging (on Sept 11th no less), that now he has the tallest buildings in NY, (which I'm pretty sure wasn't even true), this won't matter to anyone either

Trump states that he feels personally betrayed that DeSantis would consider running against him. Oh well
(I'll put the link below....but...)
I just wanted to point out that he doesn't seem to consider that maybe his current and ex wives also felt betrayed when HE CHEATED on THEM
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Tom Nichols is making a case on Twitter for everyone to register as a Republican in their states and vote for whoever is closest to Trump in the primary. If it’s DeSantis, so be it, just as long as Trump loses.

Thought being that Trump will never accept a loss in the primary and will run as an independent. Which would all but ensure a R defeat for the presidency.

I’m considering it. Voting for DeSantis in a primary would be nauseating, but Nichols makes the case that Trump is the devil we know. We know Trump will wreck the country for sure, without any doubt. I don’t think DeSantis is qualified to be president, but at least he’s not Trump is the line of thinking.

Of course in the general vote for the better candidate, which would not be either of these two.

MT15 said:

Tom Nichols is making a case on Twitter for everyone to register as a Republican in their states and vote for whoever is closest to Trump in the primary. If it’s DeSantis, so be it, just as long as Trump loses.

Thought being that Trump will never accept a loss in the primary and will run as an independent. Which would all but ensure a R defeat for the presidency.

I’m considering it. Voting for DeSantis in a primary would be nauseating, but Nichols makes the case that Trump is the devil we know. We know Trump will wreck the country for sure, without any doubt. I don’t think DeSantis is qualified to be president, but at least he’s not Trump is the line of thinking.

Of course in the general vote for the better candidate, which would not be either of these two.

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I will be doing it. I did it in 2016. We have open primaries here but you can only vote in one of them. I voted for Kasich in 2016 solely to register a vote against Trump in the GOP primary.

DeSantis “for everything” when it comes to being able to carry guns.

superchuck500 said:

I will be doing it. I did it in 2016. We have open primaries here but you can only vote in one of them. I voted for Kasich in 2016 solely to register a vote against Trump in the GOP primary.

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We have open primaries also. I have voted in the R primary before simply because a lot of local D races are either unopposed or no candidate. I could easily do this.

@MT15 ,
Here are GOP Senators denouncing Trump re. Jan. 6th
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SteveSBrickNJ said:

@MT15 ,
Here are GOP Senators denouncing Trump re. Jan. 6th
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GOP Senators Break With Trump Over 'Offensive' Jan. 6 Tribute At Texas Rally

"What happened on that day was as close to an attempted insurrection as we’ve seen in a very long time," Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said.

www.yahoo.com

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Thanks, but that was less than impressive, IMO. They’re guarding their words and saying he should focus on the future. I guess we have to take what we can get.

MT15 said:

Thanks, but that was less than impressive, IMO. They’re guarding their words and saying he should focus on the future. I guess we have to take what we can get.

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............and they are a little late to the dance too.
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These are at least good steps in the right direction.
Hopefully others will be encouraged to echo them or even up it a notch.

SteveSBrickNJ said:

............and they are a little late to the dance too.
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These are at least good steps in the right direction.
Hopefully others will be encouraged to echo them or even up it a notch.

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It's all half-assed lip service. All three of those senators- Cornyn, Graham, and Rounds- voted Not Guilty in the Jan 6 impeachment trial.

cuddlemonkey said:

It's all half-assed lip service. All three of those senators- Cornyn, Graham, and Rounds- voted Not Guilty in the Jan 6 impeachment trial.

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That is simply being gutless.

cuddlemonkey said:

It's all half-assed lip service. All three of those senators- Cornyn, Graham, and Rounds- voted Not Guilty in the Jan 6 impeachment trial.

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Yeah. One did say Jan 6 was “close” to an insurrection, which is close to correct, lol.

Yet another Republican condemning Trump.....
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I just skimmed this.
It certainly would/should be helpful to DeSantis to have staff that has Presidential Campaign experience.
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Optimus Prime said:

if Trump bragging (on Sept 11th no less), that now he has the tallest buildings in NY, (which I'm pretty sure wasn't even true), this won't matter to anyone either

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Totally dishonest tweet, but it's not surprising coming from the Lincoln Project which looked the other way on Co-Founder John Weaver who was a sexual predator.