US Politics, December 2022: "They're now the working class party, man."

I think that DeSantis's cushion might be that culture war shit, which he is really playing up

A lot of people in 2016 were also saying that Trump would be a lot more moderate than he was, and it wasn't totally unreasonable at that point, but DeSantis has an actual record that he can't hide from, he isn't fooling anyone.

Not many feathers left in that cushion, Dan, as the midterms proved.

Look, I'm just trying to keep ILE from scareporning over this guy.

:)

;)

A ridiculous amount of OTM in the last 10-15 posts

Honestly, on the most superficial grounds there's no way DeSantis will ever be president.

1) His speaking voice
2) His inability to stand or walk like a normal human
3) His inability to feign happiness or pleasure in front of cameras
4) He looks like Michael Dukakis after one semi-successful eyebrow-threading appointment

lol I sincerely hope that's how people see him

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeV7CkCXkAMEgzB?format=jpg&name=medium

and it wasn't totally unreasonable at that point, but DeSantis has an actual record that he can't hide from

2016 newcomer to public life, Donald J. Trump

He certainly presented himself as being more moderate on some issues than he turned out to be and there wasn't really a political record to contradict that. Doesn't make supporting him any more justifiable as he was clearly terrible, but this was definitely something a lot of people used to rationalize it. A
I don't think DeSantis can expect to get that benefit of a doubt.

Running against the GOP establishment/calling Bush a war criminal/etc. helped him with a crucial bloc of dumbasses.

credit where its due the running against the gop part was honestly pretty good

_and it wasn't totally unreasonable at that point, but DeSantis has an actual record that he can't hide from_

2016 newcomer to public life, Donald J. Trump

since he never held any political office they could project their hopes and fantasies onto him.

He encouraged this by making crazy promises, such as a replacement for the ACA that would be much better and much cheaper for everyone. And fabulous trade deals that would revitalize US manufacturing and bring back all the jobs that have been off-shored in the past three decades.

Yeah, friend’s partner wrote this, the weirdness is probably unpalatable https://newrepublic.com/article/169050/masters-vance-weird-right-republicans

― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Tuesday, December 13, 2022 7:49 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah I think this hits the nail on the head I think. Trump could get away with this because he was just an odd and unserious person. He got away with "I could shoot someone". He got away with mocking a handicapped person. He got away with "grab 'em by the pussy". This was because he was not a politician, he was Donald Trump. The dude from Celebrity Apprentice and three decades of tabloids. He was a pure reactionary: he never seemed like he had any real political beliefs at all. you could imagine him being talked into anything.

like I don't think political gravity just disappeared after 2016. I think it just never existed for a guy like *him*. pretty much all these weirdos lost in spite of generally favorable conditions. Roy Moore lost them a Senate seat in Alabama. Kari Lake lost the governorship that Ducey won by 15. I do think they'll find a way to rebound as they just have so much fucking money to burn but it's not immediately clear how

it's not immediately clear how

there's a section of the GOP, typified by Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), that desperately wants Trump to die asap, but who will never repudiate him publicly for as long as he lives.

I think he's still their most electable candidate right now! he's the only guy they got who can motivate the crazies while not turning off a ton of independents who still like him because he's entertaining and "sticks it to the media" or whatever. CNN used to air hours of footage of empty podiums that Trump was supposed to speak at "any minute now". can you imagine them doing anything like that for a guy like RON DESANTIS??

Trump didn’t have a political record!

he had a record of statements and actions tho

I'm not saying people weren't bamboozled in their own good faith, it's "not totally unreasonable" that I'm poking

massive xp
5) Unlike GWB, he's the last person on earth you'd want to have a beer with.

Probably a Mike's Hard Lemonade drinker

republicans in general are having the not guys youd want to have a beer with problem, not guys youd want to be in the same room as, not guys youd want to turn your back to

https://i.imgur.com/JSBKbCo.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/4WV1d3d/675d5a84998196ea91fffc1aabc7080c.jpg

xpost ^ A man who has studied many pictures of smiles and spent many hours practicing in the mirror. He's getting there. Baby steps.

And finally, Trump was, you gotta hand it to him, funny. DeSantis is a humorless fanatic.

The best line Trump ever came up with: during the primary, after Jeb! babbles about how Barbara is the kindest, sweetest mother he could've had, Trump hurls back, "Well, she should've run for president then."

A man who has studied many pictures of smiles and spent many hours practicing in the mirror. He's getting there. Baby steps.

In other words, what they call "Ted Cruz Energy".

you have to salute the effort. not easy for a man whose face is a grafted-on 1950s catcher's mitt

badly CGI de-aged Ewan McGregor, based on that last photo

um that's ET

lmao

And finally, Trump was, you gotta hand it to him, funny. DeSantis is a humorless fanatic.

― Lord Pickles (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, December 14, 2022 7:43 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

ya I think this is kind of a big deal too, the entire GOP is full of dumb assholes which is a broadly unappealing shtick unless you're at least kinda funny. that said man if you watch those 2015 GOP debates and compare them to Trump NOW holy hell has he fallen off

having lived through it I don't think Jesse Ventura's campaign for Minnesota governor is studied enough, there was just a certain weird energy about it (not that is was like Trump politically) but a certain "fuck it i hate all these stuffed shirts" energy that I felt during the first Trump campaign. Jesse wore out his welcome pretty quick as well.

he's not a fascist like Trump but I think his campaign in important in what became the Trump phenomenon. In fact, there's a clip of MN Attorney General Keith Ellison on a Sunday political chat show where he says "I don't know, there's something to this, I lived through Jesse and I think Trump is real" (I'm paraphrasing from memory)...then all the smug talking heads laugh out loud at him.

yeah classic tv moment

theres def something to being an iconoclastic non politician who is good at tv, not too many of those guys out there tho, like dr oz famous tv guy ended up just being a very bad at politics oblivious rich guy

imagine if the pittsburg big boy were good at tv they would elect him president right now

lol I read that too fast as pillsbury dough boy

like dr oz famous tv guy ended up just being a very bad at politics oblivious rich guy

'oblivious rich guy' was also Trump's shtick but he pulled it off because he was so aloof and irreverent in ways you can't be when you call yourself a doctor on TV. Oz mocking Fetterman's health landed with such a thud because he presented himself as a guy who was better than that. as a lot of people have noted the key to understanding all this lies in the world of professional wrestling. hence ums's post. I guess I could see Vince McMahon pulling it off.

Desantis/Sta-Puf Marshmallow Man 2024 xp

'oblivious rich guy' was also Trump's shtick

― frogbs, Wednesday, December 14, 2022 12:19 PM (twenty-three seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

gotta disagree trump is very tuned into the psychotic loser unconscious of the nation and studiously crafted his messaging to appeal to it, its been often observed that he used his rallies as focus groups

another way of reading Trump's media appeal is that he had the brash, punchy, obnoxious loudmouth style of an old-school New York City public figure, without really reading as a "New Yorker" to most Americans. plus he said "you're fired" on TV a lot. so he was well prepared to read as the KIND of "political outsider" people think they want --- someone who cuts through the bullshit, tells it like it is, etc. --- while delivering the ideology of white America's dumbass racist uncle from Florida.

he was famous and good at tv and he roasted the other gop candidates to their faces, then the dems ran a candidate who sucked and everyone hated

after that some other stuff happened lol

it was her turn

that time trump hooped up his throws of paper towels to hurricane victims is how i perceive all of his humor to like, every extent. xp

She didn't suck, she didn't stand a chance for what Trump pulled off thst night, which may not have even happened a day earlier or later and if Comey hadn't helped Trump.

Under those circumstances I don't think FDR would've beaten Trump.

it was her turn

more than that, HRC cannily used every angle to build a facade of inevitability and scare off prospective candidates very early in the race when her competitors should have been laying the groundwork for a national campaign. by the time Bernie exposed her weakness it was too late for a less-hated establishment candidate to get in.

Here we go again