The Republican field swells but the 45th president’s commanding lead holds. Like Jeb Bush – another Florida governor and defeated Trump rival – Ron DeSantis has demonstrated himself inadequate to the task. By the numbers, DeSantis trails Trump nationally and in the Sunshine state. DeSantis was born there. Trump only recently moved there. To be the man you gotta beat the man, and right now DeSantis is going nowhere fast.
I don’t think he’ll do it – the campaign from that deep state has been too much in my opinion. But if he does, well, that’s democracy and we’re all in favour of that, right?
Well, I’d like to see Trump win. His deeming the Houthis to be terrorists and thus depriving them of their subsidy from the US taxpayer was an excellent idea.
If he gives the Saudis that sort of support, they may be able to negotiate their way out of the idiotic Yemen war.
This Kennedy fellow, whose dad the FBI had killed sounds quite a sensible chap.
All way too early to tell for DeSantis. The good thing about him is that, like Trump, he knows who his enemies are, but unlike Trump, he thinks before he acts. A Tweet is not enough, you need to be able to pull the rug from under your enemies, and that requires administrative nous as well as rhetoric
Not really, Ottokring. We’re all in the grip of a “longtime deadly addiction to coal and oil” apparently, and Atomkraft Nein Danke. To be fair on the chap, he’s one of the least batshit-insane Democrats right now, but that’s a pretty low bar.
DeSantis has only just started his campaign and has a $200 million ‘war chest’. A bit too soon to rule DeSantis out.
And we all know how reliable opinion polls are.
Sam
oh dear, didn’t realise that he was an eco freak too. Pity.
I don’t know why de Santis wants to take on Trump. Surely he’d just do better to sit out this one? Assuming Biden stands (a big assumption admittedly, but the Dems don’t seem to have another plan other than to prop him up for another 4 year term) then Biden v Trump II – The Reckoning™ can only result in the second term of either candidate. So 2028 will be an open field on both sides. De Santis can spend 4 years keeping his head down during a Trump presidency, or throwing rocks at a Biden one. Taking on Trump now for the Rep candidacy can significantly weaken his position for 2028 if he loses.
His uncle, Ted Kennedy, was a strong opponent of nuclear power. There was a great bumper sticker that read: “More people died at Chappaquiddick than at Three Mile Island”.
I’m wondering if he’s aiming for being Trump’s VP this time. There’s a case for having Trump bring in his supporter base, and DeSantis being a bit more palatable to the never-Trumpers.
The benefit for DeSantis being that success this time round and no major fuckups as VP makes him the one to beat for 2028.
He could be “doing a Regan”, challenge in 1976, win in 1980.
@ Ottokring
Only in “The X files” alternate universe (and JFK was his uncle, not father). The FBI was pro-Democrat. RFK was murdered by an Arab for his allegedly pro-Israel stance, an essential requisite for any Democrat reliant upon financial support from the solidly Democrat US (especially, but not just NY) Jewish community.
The idea that anyone right-wing would want to murder JFK and replace him with LBJ is ludicrous to anyone my age or older who was alive and watching at the time. JFK had recently humiliated Russia, he was to the right of “SuperMac”, the UK Conservative PM (one reason they got on so well – or, at least, appeared to do so in public: IMHO they very probably genuinely did, but I cannot know that) was that agreement gave each protection from the UK left-of-centre/US right-of-centre policy critics. LBJ was significantly left of JFK as well as being corrupt.
I thought the reason JFK got topped was a given. He & RFK backed the Bay of Pigs & then left the invasion out on a limb. There were a lot of people had a lot invested in that.
I don’t really approve of democracy, I tolerate it.
If I vote for a candidate, it’s because I want him to win. When he doesn’t it’s because some brain dead drongo managed to pull the wool over the eyes of more people, who are obviously imbeciles while I am an intellectual and political giant.
I tolerate democracy because a) I hope there’ll be a next time and b) I expect that in the event of my candidate winning I’m likely to be disappointed anyway.
We may be in favour of democracy, but the US presidential election is not very democratic. In 2000, Al Gore got half a million votes more than George W. Bush, yet was not elected. In 2016 it was even worse as Hilary Clinton got over two and a half million votes more than Donald Trump but was not elected.
And that’s before you take into account the hugely corrupting effects of primary elections and all the other stuff that happens.
Charles, how many time do you “democracy” people need to be told: The US isn’t a democracy, it’s a constitutional Republic.
It was specifically designed to prevent majority default rule.
This is only a debare, because US leftists want to permanently win, by drowning the US with squatemalens
The votes counted in US elections cannot be taken as an indication of support.
Republicans don’t even try to take California. And Republicans in California often don’t vote, because their vote is wasted.
Yet there are more Republicans in California than there are in Texas.
Democrats would get a nasty surprise if the US went to a popular vote. Suddenly a Californian or New York Republican would be the most likely to win.
@ bis
Yeah! Such as Nikita Kruschev
We may be in favour of democracy, but the US presidential election is not very democratic. In 2000, Al Gore got half a million votes more than George W. Bush, yet was not elected. In 2016 it was even worse as Hilary Clinton got over two and a half million votes more than Donald Trump but was not elected.
In 2016, 4 million votes went to a Libertarian candidate. If you have a direct election, to prevent the result being determined by which third party candidates decide to run, you need (assuming no candidate gains a plurality) either transferable votes (a bit complicated for your average Yank) or a run-off between the top two (à la Française). In either case, Hills would have been soundly beaten.
Anyway, the time to complain about the electoral system is before you take part in it, not after you’ve lost. The Electoral College exists (as an anachronism) because it gives more say to smaller states – in a direct election, nobody would bother to campaign in N Dakota. Changing it would require a supermajority in Congress and the support of a majority of states – which is why it will never happen.
@Flubber – “Charles, how many time do you “democracy” people need to be told”
You’re addressing your complaint to the wrong person. I was commenting on the article where Tim said “But if he does, well, that’s democracy” and pointing out that it wasn’t democracy.