57 Comments

This commenter wants to emphasize TC's strong message:

__'Remember: Trump is a Trumpist; DeSantis is a full-on fascist'

__'He (Trump) planned in 2020 to decapitate the Federal Executive Service with ‘Schedule F”, a category that would allow him to appoint who he wanted at will, to serve at his pleasure. He will do it in 2025.'

__'This would destroy the U.S. Government as completely as anything done by Hitler in Germany.'

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The scariest thing in the world would be a version of Trump that is somewhat competent. DeSantis could such a creature.

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Penfist, DeSantis would be a version of himself. The two, perhaps, equally vicious and self-interested, they couldn’t be more different in terms of strategy, planning and intelligence.

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Follow the money. Small contributors may not figure in this battle.

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He actually gets a ton of small contributions. He's raised $150 million so far since he left office most from small donations.

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I was thinking about the BIG MONEY DeSantis is liable to get. The Ultras would much prefer Ron to Don, don't you think?

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DeSantis also does very well with small donations, which is why he has so comfortably taken on Disney and other corporations. The R's now are more and more anti-corporate as corporations do "woke" things they don't like.

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I know some of them, sort of like tithing to them

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I've been thinking about 2 things ssince Trump announced his 2024 bid for the White House. 1. He's cut

off a lot of his funding, so who will be financing him? 2. DeSantis. If we

we thought Trump was a danger to

our democracy, keep this man as far away from Washington as we can. Talk about a clear and present

danger!

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Omarosa commented to media that "he needs to come clean about his health." I have no idea what she is inferring, but the incessant sniffing and incoherent ranting might be indicative of something going on. I am hoping that as he goes to war with himself during these next months, there will be a mighty implosion. And also hoping that while reporters have to keep an eye on him, they won't give him free publicity.

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I keep hoping for "the fatal chizzbugga."

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Can felons run for President? *gets the popcorn*

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Surprisingly, the answer is yes. The constitution only requires one be the proper age and a native-born citizen. Another of those "assumptions" now making an "Ass of U and Me" by the founders, who never thought someone like that would consider running for the office because they would be immediately rejected by all the righteous citizenry.

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So Trump may not be able to vote in Florida but he can run for President…sigh

Jimmy Fallon had the best “headline”…

“The first presidential campaign to be kicked off from an active crime scene.”

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That is a good line.

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What a punch line

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👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋 👋

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I knew about the native born requirement (because I am an immigrant to the USA) but I am somewhat surprised that a felon is eligible to hold high office. Most felons in the USA have a hard time even getting employment. Weird country I adopted.

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As I said, there were a lot of assumptions by the Founders that only "honorable" and "decent" people would become involved/would be granted leadership by the voters. A strange blindness on their part, since they were all familiar with the other sorts.

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So many many issues that really were unaddressed (or unknown) when the Constitution & Bill of Rights were created - gun control, for one & abortion, rights for women & "other minorities" & the list goes on. I really feel there needs to be some common sense used in dealing with these issues TODAY! The SC (conservatives) appear to have gotten just a tad bit carried away by their own opinions - just a bit.

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Ya think? :-)

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When you say just a bit I hope you mean utterly out of control. When a party forms a cult around an orange, animated pile of garbage that can say words but not form a coherent sentence, I worry for the coming generations.

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I was being "just a bit" sarcastic! But yes, I worry too.

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That is a strange blindness. Hucksters and con men have been peddling things to gullible Americans since before America existed.

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So true! The term "cracker" originates from "cracking trader" a good description of that sort down South.

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thing is, the guys in that very hot room(s) were pretty much all men of some accomplishment (or they wouldn't have been there) and it must have seemed like they weren't the kinds of guys who'd dispute election results, etc. they should have known it wasn't always gonna be like that.

and there's also the fact that most of what we know about the Convention came from Madison who's known to have tweaked his story a little as time passed.

and btw, I've always thought that Madison was kind of an Aspie. a genius but not someone who had much interest in mastering stuff that didn't interest him. like, say, being the life of the party, but from that point of view, he'd married well. I THINK I'm remembering this correctly.

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That's an interesting analysis.

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We all tweak our stories a little as time passes! It's an in-built feature of the human brain to fog memories as time passes.

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Yes...read "Fantasyland; How America Went Haywire, a 500 year History" by Kurt Andersen. A sweeping look at the history of wackadoodle dreamers, delusional nuts, gold fever crazies, grifters, hucksters and fervent religiousity of various self-declared prophets and preachers who all contributed to this nutcase country. Thankfully, some strains of pragmatism and common sense survived into these times....

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Oh, I have read it. And listened to the audiobook version. It contains the bones of dozens of essays I am planning to write.

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I read it when it came out. excellent book and a very breezy read as well. I'd actually forgotten about it, so thanks for reminding us.

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Weird country I was born in, sadly, but it has had it’s moments. Like Churchill said “…Americans will always do the right thing only after they have tried everything else.”

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Actually, yes. There's absolutely nothing in the Constitution forbidding the election of a felon. I doubt the framers even thought twice about such a (back then) remote possibility.

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I'm with you! Something tells he won't get that far! His base isn't strong enough to stick with him. The sound of one hand clapping comes to mind.

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One hopes you are right, but best to plan for the worst so when it doesn't happen, we can celebrate.

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always my strategy, even if I always second guess myself by thinking stuff like "yeah, but is that REALLY the worst?"

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I have been disappointed and gobsmacked more times than I can count. Cults are devoted as history has confirmed. Propaganda has exacerbated the danger in recent years.

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another excellent and completely necessary piece. I was getting a little nervous that you were preparing to count DeSantis as somehow the more-acceptable-than-TFF option. but you came through and read DeSantis exactly the way I do. the thing is, his negative charisma issue, along with his much-documented thin skin well might cause him to self-destruct in some way that he won't be able to come back from it. yes, that's wishful thinking, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's not true. but I guess we'll see.

and since we're talking about TFF for the millionth time, I want to make another very minor point: I heard TFF's new nickname for DeSantis and I very clearly noted (and I haven't checked to see if I'm right because it's not really that important) that he called him "DeSantimonious," not "DeSanctimonious." I remember being pleased that he'd once again demonstrated his stupidity. but I maintain that there is absolutely no way in the world he knew the word "sanctimonious."

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I suspect you are right about T's spelling ability.

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A single heart icon is not enough for your post, Mr. Levine! 💙💙💙💙💙

Applause and 100% agreement on all points!

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wow....thanks so much!

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TC thinking that DeSantis is more acceptable, hahahaha. Never crossed my mind

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So, marginalize "trumpist Trump" while, at the same time, blocking "fascist DeSantis". ..some heavy lifting ahead.

We could sure use a "Deus ex machina" !

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Indeed.

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Well, we DO know & there is no such "pressure" existing that would cause/make him conform to OUR Democratic government - that was made obvious for far too many past years. He sure is an absolute danger BUT there's far too many that have learned how to do it "better".

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Just amplifying my own fear that the legacy press will see DeSantis as the “reasonable” alternative to Trump.

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Couldn’t agree more with every syllable

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Oooo. I love a good pointer.

Thank you.

🗽

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Way to lay it on the line TC. Now we'll see who crosses it.

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