Tag Archive: Ron DeSantis

CNN is hosting Donald Trump, and people are freaking out

CNN covering 2019 Democratic Presidential debate

This week, CNN announced that it will host Donald Trump for a “town hall” event on May 10 in New Hampshire. This is a format that CNN likes to use with presidential candidates, and is essentially a one-on-one conversation with a CNN anchor or correspondent, on stage in front of an audience (some of whom get to ask questions as well), and televised live. Sometimes CNN interviews several candidates, one after the other, at the same event, and other times they hold a shorter event with just one candidate.

A number of Democrats, however, are reacting very badly to CNN’s announcement regarding the Donald Trump town hall. For example, in perusing various websites and social media platforms, statements and comments like these can be seen:

CNN is so desperate to boost its ratings, it will provide more free publicity for Trump.

Sure, have fascist insurrectionist town hall meetings air on cable news as if he hasn’t just been indicted and have 14 other investigations taking place in to his criminal activity, is just run of the mill normal. Nothing to be alarmed about, just another day in America.

It’s preposterous that CNN would invite someone to hold a purely political event who is currently being probed for his efforts to steal an election and stage a violent coup against the government of the United States.

Ron DeSantis is crashing: does that help or hurt Democrats?

Ron DeSantis (center), riding higher in 2021

Florida Governor and would-be 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has had a very bad week. First, on Monday, DeSantis continued his war against The Walt Disney Company, threatening to build a state prison or competing theme park next to Walt Disney World. Thus far, DeSantis has been on the losing end of his fight against the very well-lawyered Disney, which began when the gay-friendly Disney criticized DeSantis’ new “Don’t Say Gay” law. And this latest statement by DeSantis seems petty, as well as possibly unconstitutional.

Then, on Tuesday, DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Republican members of Congress for his all-but-announced presidential campaign. But instead, three Florida Congressmen took the opportunity to endorse DeSantis’ main rival, Donald Trump. Moreover, in one especially embarrassing instance, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas literally walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced that he is endorsing Trump for President.

Given that DeSantis and Trump are the two clear front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination (with Trump ahead and gaining in the polls), there is little doubt that DeSantis’ troubles benefit Trump. Indeed, Trump piled on DeSantis on Tuesday by attacking his incompetence in the Disney matter, writing, with either typical name-calling or a typical Trump spelling mistake, “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

The question is, do these DeSantis failures help or hurt the Democrats for the 2024 presidential election?

Latest twist in the Disney-DeSantis Florida saga

Will the Mouse outlast the Governor in Florida?

If you follow LGBTQ issues, presidential election politics and/or Florida stories, you will know that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is having an unusual feud with The Walt Disney Company. The feud started when DeSantis, who is running Florida like a fascist dictator, signed the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” law, which restricts freedom of speech and education in Florida schools. After initially saying nothing, and under pressure as a supposedly LGBTQ-friendly company, Disney belatedly spoke out against the law. That led to a series of Disney-bashing actions by DeSantis, culminating in his state takeover of Disney’s self-governing zone (which contains Walt Disney World) near Orlando. So much for the Republican myth of “smaller government.”

Now, however, Disney has struck back, or at least thumbed its nose, at DeSantis. Specifically, WDW News Today reported this week that Disney plans to host “[t]he annual Out and Equal Workplace Summit, which boasts itself as the ‘largest LGBTQ+ conference in the world,’  this year at Walt Disney World Resort.” No doubt this will make heads explode in the Florida Governor’s office.

Disney may have gained some confidence for its announcement given that its repeated price increases at Walt Disney World have not cut down on crowds, to the point where the park is now extending its hours to try to spread out those crowds. Thus, while we fully expect a new round of tit-for-tat retaliation by Governor DeSantis, it may well be that Disney maintains the upper hand in the state of Florida.

Photo by Blake Handley, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/2a7Dm7

Florida and the myth of Republican “smaller government”

Republican idea of smaller government

At least since the days of Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has tried to brand itself as the party of “smaller government.” Sometimes they add “and lower taxes.” Indeed, Republican anti-tax activist and Reagan ally Grover Norquist once famously stated that:

I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Presumably, such an identification tests well among GOP faithful, including today’s MAGA base, who sadly vote against their own self-interests based on race-baiting and other cultural hot-buttons such as abortion and guns. As an initial matter, however, plenty of polls indicate that most Americans don’t want small government. Rather, they like a full-size, robust “good government,” as we like to call it. That includes, for example, Social Security, Medicare, good highways, public schools, the U.S. Postal Service, a competent FEMA to assist with major emergencies such as hurricanes, universal background checks for gun sales, and more. Likewise, most Americans oppose federal government shutdowns, and correctly blame Republicans when they occur.

But even if most Americans wanted smaller government, the Republican myth that they are the ones who deliver that is false. A perfect case in point is Florida, which is almost entirely Republican-run under Governor (and likely 2024 GOP presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis, along with a state Senate that is 70 percent Republican and a state House that is similarly 71 percent GOP. In Florida, far from the Republican myth of “smaller government,” the GOP state government is huge and extremely intrusive. Here are some examples:

Trump-DeSantis 2024 battle: dream scenario for Democrats?

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Donald Trump has already announced that he is running for president in the 2024 elections. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seems hot on Trump’s heels, scheduling trips to early primary states Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire, and otherwise looking like he will announce his presidential candidacy any day now. The possibility of a messy primary battle between them (and announced candidate Nimrata Randhawa a/k/a Nikki Haley, as well as other likely candidates, such as Mike Pence and Richard Pompeo) has some in the political press salivating over the potential for big ratings and readership. Democrats should also celebrate the possibility of a destructive Republican primary campaign.

As we’ve mentioned many times, the Republican Party is in a state of civil war. Sometimes the war is more hidden, and and other times it spills out into the open. In this case, Trump and DeSantis might have a few ideological differences, as can be expected. However, both Trump and DeSantis specialize in a fascist, dictatorial approach. For example, while Trump was in the White House, his press conferences were full of attacks on the (non-right wing) press. And in the ultimate wannabe dictator move, when Trump lost the 2020 election, he concocted the “Big Lie” that the election was stolen from him, and incited an insurrection against the U.S. Capitol to stop and reverse the counting of electoral votes that would certify Joe Biden as president.

Stunned silence on Fox “News” after January 6 hearing: will they ditch Trump?

Will GOP jettison a damaged Donald Trump?

Day 6 of the hearings yesterday by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol consisted of one bombshell after another. The Committee’s witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide to former Donald Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, came to the hearing with stunning revelations to share. Among Hutchinson’s revelations:

–When Trump learned in December 2020 that the Department of Justice had not found evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election that would nullify Joe Biden‘s victory (i.e., Trump’s “Big Lie”), Trump became so angry that he threw his porcelain plate full of lunch at the White House dining room wall, leaving ketchup dripping down the wall. On other occasions, an angry Trump either threw dishes or “flipp[ed] the table cloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor and likely break or go everywhere.”

–Trump and other top administration officials knew about the risk of violence on January 6 days beforehand, but did nothing to stop it.

–Indeed, on January 6, Trump was upset that the Ellipse in front of the White House, where he was to speak, was not full enough for a flattering photo op. Trump was told the reason was that many of the rioters were armed with AR-15 rifles and other weapons and did not want to go through the metal detectors and have such weapons confiscated, instead choosing to march directly to the Capitol with their weapons. Upon hearing this, Trump wanted to have the metal detectors taken away and to let the armed insurrectionists onto the Ellipse, saying “they’re not here to hurt me.”

–When told that the rioters were chanting “Hang Mike Pence” and that Trump should take action to try to quell the violence (such as telling the protesters to leave the Capitol), Trump refused, saying “Mike deserves it” (for not stopping the Congressional count of Electoral Votes as Trump wished) and that the rioters were “not doing anything wrong.”

–Trump attacked his own Secret Service detail leader and tried to grab the steering wheel of the Presidential limousine when told he would not be taken to the Capitol after speaking on January 6.

When Tuesday’s hearing ended, this was the reaction by the panel at Fox “News”:

A tale of two headlines

Mickey Mouse, caught in another controversy

On Monday, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a controversial bill dubbed “Don’t Say ‘Gay.'” The bill earned this moniker because, according to the Tampa Bay Times, “it prohibits instruction related to gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and potentially restricts such instruction for older kids.” During the discussion leading up to the bill’s passage, many workers at The Walt Disney Company, a huge presence in Florida with its Walt Disney World theme park and nearby hotels, a shopping mall and other properties, protested Disney’s lack of opposition to the bill, even to the point of walking off the job. Disney has a reputation as a LBGTQ-friendly company, both as to its many employees and to customers, including so-called “Gay Days” at its theme parks. These employees were quite upset, therefore, when Disney did not officially oppose the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as it was being drafted and discussed.

In Florida, “freedom” means “free to be dumb”

Latest Florida postcard

Republicans have a strange and cynical view of “freedom,” that word they use so often. For them, it means opposing anything a Democratic official does, no matter how helpful. Case in point: the 2009 “Tea Party” protests against President Barack Obama‘s proposed Affordable Care Act, wherein Republican base voters, many of them who desperately needed but could not afford health insurance, took orders from rich insured Republicans and protested against something very beneficial to them.

One of the most vivid demonstrations of this Republican “free dumb” attitude today is the GOP-run state of Florida, where residents take many unnecessary risks and make many poor decisions, apparently in the name of “freedom.” This includes, for example, motorcycle riders wearing tank tops, shorts, flip-flops, and no helmet or protective gear, because such riders over the age of 21 can choose whether to wear or helmet or purchase insurance — they don’t need both. Similarly, Florida automobile drivers regularly can be seen pulling off roads into emergency lanes and grass medians to do casual things like make phone calls and send texts (don’t worry, they do that while driving too), wait for flights to land, or even go fishing by the side of the road. It is, sadly, no coincidence that the terms “Floriduh,” “Floridiot,” and bizarre news stories under the category “Florida Man” proliferate in the media.

But perhaps the best example of Florida “free dumb” is its response to the COVID pandemic. As we have noted previously, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken the almost insane position of fighting against COVID protections, such as vaccination or mask mandates. DeSantis has even taken to fining counties, school districts and other entities for establishing such mandates. Not surprisingly, Florida has been at or near the top among U.S. states in COVID cases (total and per capita) and deaths for many months as a result. In one Florida school district alone (Polk County), 17 employees have died of Coronavirus just since the beginning of this school year.

In ironic twist, Republicans lose Big Business over COVID

Norwegian Cruise Line, fighting Republican COVID inaction

Last week, we reported that, by standing in the way of COVID vaccinations and precautions even as the delta variant ravages the U.S. population, Republicans are increasingly “out of touch with the current reality, and way behind the curve of events.” At the time, there was a small but growing number of big corporations and organizations (e.g. Walmart, Target, Tyson Foods, McDonald’s) that were ignoring Republican anti-safety ideology to some degree and taking precautions of their own, such as vaccination and masking requirements. Now, the list of such companies is growing rapidly, and includes, for example, Google, Facebook, United Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. Other companies, such as Delta Airlines, require the Coronavirus vaccine for new employees, and formally encourage vaccination for existing workers. At this point, therefore, an increasing percentage of U.S. workers is under some kind of COVID mandate from their employers, again in contrast to the unhealthy rhetoric from the GOP. It is also reasonable to think that many small businesses look to these larger companies for guidance, and will soon, if they do not already, require similar protections for their employees.

Republicans are losing the COVID war

Oregon National Guard soldier receiving COVID vaccine

On Monday, President Joe Biden‘s White House COVID-19 Data Director, Dr. Cyrus Shapar, reported that the United States had reached a long-sought milestone in vaccinations:

Perhaps not surprisingly, however, red states have been of little or no help in reaching this COVID vaccination milestone:

Nevertheless, despite the efforts of many Republicans, including those on Fox “News,” to raise doubts about and opposition to COVID vaccines and other precautions such as mask-wearing, things are starting to change. If these Republicans are waging a very sick war that keeps COVID alive and kills many Americans, it appears they are losing allies.