Thread: 2024 US Presidential election

Cornel West Announces Third-Party 2024 Presidential Bid


Progressive scholar Dr. Cornel West has entered the 2024 presidential race. He’ll be doing so as a member of the People’s Party, which was founded by a former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer. “Neither political party wants to tell the truth about Wall Street, about Ukraine, about the Pentagon, about Big Tech,” West said in his Monday announcement video, clarifying his choice to run outside of the two traditional parties. The clip emphasized West’s focus on issues like abortion rights, universal healthcare, climate change and living wages. “Do we have what it takes? We shall see,” he said. West will have to defy all odds to make a splash in this race—the People’s Party only has ballot access in Florida, Missouri and Virginia. Currently a professor of philosophy at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, West has also taught at Yale, Princeton and Harvard.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cornel...=home?ref=home

So De Sanctimonious's campaign is going to be doing the same pathetic dog whistling baldy orange cunto does.

FORT LIBERTY, N.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden traveled to the recently renamed Fort Liberty in North Carolina on Friday to sign an executive order that aims to bolster job opportunities for military and veteran spouses whose careers are often disrupted by their loved ones' deployments.Less than 100 miles away at the state’s Republican Party convention, GOP presidential contender, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, vowed to restore the former name of the base that until last week was called Fort Bragg in honor of a Confederate general, if voters elect him president.

“It’s an iconic name and iconic base, and we’re not gonna let political correctness run amok in North Carolina,” DeSantis said at the convention in Greensboro hours after Biden's speech and signing ceremony at Fort Liberty.

https://scnow.com/ap/business/as-biden-visits-renamed-n-c-military-base-desantis-slams-political-correctness-run-amok/article_483935b4-a87c-5ba1-8160-903d29d9e353.html

Republican Party releases requirements for presidential candidates hoping to make first 2024 primary debate

The RNC announced that the first debate will be held on August 23. The national party committee added in their release that "should enough candidates qualify to make it necessary, there will be a second debate on August 24."

To make the stage, candidates will have to reach 1% in three national polls, or 1% in two national polls and 1% in a poll conducted in one of the four early voting states in the GOP presidential nominating calendar – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.

The polls must be recognized by the RNC and must be conducted on or after July 1st, and at least 48 hours prior to the first debate.

To reach the debate state, candidates must also have 40,000 unique donors to their campaign committee (or exploratory committee), with "at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories."

The RNC says candidates must present their fundraising figures at least 48 hours prior to the first debate.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

Ron DeSantis slides in polls

Despite making substantial gains in the polls since last summer, at one point pulling within 13 points of Trump, DeSantis’ popularity among GOP voters has slumped while Trump is surging.

Since the start of April, DeSantis’ polling numbers have rapidly declined while the former president’s have jumped to their highest point in the last year.

Biden garners endorsement from leading environmental organizations

President Biden on Wednesday accepted the endorsement of major environmental organizations.

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, the Sierra Club, NextGen PAC and the Natural Resources Defense Council all endorsed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for reelection.

This is the first time the four groups have jointly issued a presidential endorsement, which took place during the League of Conservation Voters’s Capital Dinner.

In a written statement, the organizations said that this administration “has done far more to address the climate crisis and environmental injustice than any administration in our nation’s history.”

The organizations cited Biden’s rejoining of the Paris climate agreement and his goals of cutting U.S. pollution in half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, reaching 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035, getting to carbon neutrality by 2050 and delivering 40 percent of climate investment benefits to underserved communities.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

Top Broadway star likens Ron DeSantis to Klan grand wizard

Prominent Broadway actor Denée Benton likened Florida’s rightwing governor Ron DeSantis to a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard at Sunday night’s Tony awards ceremony, drawing applause and roars of approval from the audience.

Benton, known for her stage roles in Hamilton as well as Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, took aim at the Republican presidential hopeful and his policies attacking minority groups as she announced an award for theatrical excellence for a Florida high school teacher from the town of Plantation.

She said: “While I am certain that the current grand wizard, I’m sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state will be changing the name of this following town immediately, we were honored to present this award to the truly incredible and life-changing Jason Zembuch-Young, enhancing the lives of students at South Plantation high school in Plantation, Florida.”

There were gasps from some in the crowd, followed by laughter and lengthy applause.

Planned Parenthood, NARAL, EMILY’s List endorse Biden ahead of Dobbs anniversary

Three major reproductive rights groups — Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America and EMILY’s List — endorsed President Biden’s reelection bid on Friday, a day ahead of the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

The president and Vice President Harris are rallying with the three groups, along with the Democratic National Committee, on Friday in Washington, D.C., for the anniversary.

“There is so much at stake,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement announcing the endorsement. “We know, clear as day, that if anti-abortion politicians gain control of the White House, they will exploit their power toward their ultimate goal: a national abortion ban.”

The news come as most of the Republican presidential candidates have said they would support some type of federal law restricting when abortions would be legal.

“It’s as simple as this: Abortion matters to Americans,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said. “In elections since the Supreme Court took away our right to abortion, voters have mobilized in massive numbers to elect Democrats who will fight to restore it.”

“Americans know the extremist GOP stacked the courts to take away our freedoms, and they won’t forget it,” she added.

EMILY’s List, which is a group that backs female candidates who support abortion rights, called the Biden administration the most pro-choice administration in history.

“When the Dobbs decision ended a constitutional right for the first time in this country’s history, we were grateful to have leaders in the White House like President Biden and Vice President Harris, who have been vocal advocates for abortion rights across the government and across the country,” said EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

DeSantis signs Florida GOP's 6-week abortion ban into law

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill approved by the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

“This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they’re pregnant,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement issued after Thursday’s vote.

AFL-CIO backs Biden in early 2024 endorsement

The nation’s top union organization, the AFL-CIO, endorsed President Biden’s reelection campaign on Friday, a major win for the president as he works to shore up support from big labor for his 2024 White House bid.

The endorsement comes ahead of Biden rallying with union members on Saturday in Philadelphia. It is the earliest the AFL-CIO’s general board has ever voted to endorse in a presidential election, according to the union.

More than a dozen unions joined with the AFL-CIO to announce their endorsements for Biden on Friday.

“There’s absolutely no question that Joe Biden is the most pro-union president in our lifetimes,” AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler said in a statement. “From bringing manufacturing jobs home to America to protecting our pensions and making historic investments in infrastructure, clean energy and education, we’ve never seen a president work so tirelessly to rebuild our economy from the bottom up and middle out.”

The AFL-CIO also endorsed Biden for president in 2020, but in May of that year — roughly a year later in the election cycle than this latest endorsement.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

Ron DeSantis Suffers Huge Blow in His Battle With Disney

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has seen his favorability drop across the country as his nemesis, Disney, gets more popular.

DeSantis has been engaged in a feud with the corporate powerhouse ever since Disney spoke out against his "Don't Say Gay Bill" in 2022. The governor signed the bill, which bans the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in certain grades at Florida schools, into law.

DeSantis' popularity rating has fallen since November and almost half of Americans see him in an unfavorable light, according to a survey by polling organization Navigator.

Over the same period, Disney's favorability rating has remained high, with people siding with the corporation in its beef with DeSantis and nearly two in three Americans having a favorable view of the media giant.

Even worse news for DeSantis is that his favorability rating among Republicans has declined 19 points since November.

Is Barack Obama Ready To Reassert Himself?

After lying low to give Biden some space, the former president is reaching out to younger Democrats and offering advice.

As President Biden’s approval rating has languished this year, seemingly impervious to external events, a group of congressional Democrats have gotten a taste of the sort of younger, more charismatic presence some of them crave to lead their ticket next year.

Albeit a grayer version.

Former President Barack Obama has hosted a handful of informal, but lengthy private meetings with groups of next-generation House Democrats this spring, I’m told by multiple attendees. The initial session featured the chamber’s new trio of leaders, but he then held subsequent conversations with a range of lawmakers.

Included were progressive members, like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), as well as more moderate lawmakers, such as Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) and Haley Stevens (D-Mich.).

The gatherings were Obama’s idea, I’m told, and were designed for the now-61-year-old former president to keep current with his party’s rising stars, more than six years after he left office.

The sessions, which took place over cheese and crackers in Obama’s Washington office, are striking for a number of reasons.

For starters, he rarely took much of an interest in counseling lawmakers when he was president.

And while he reliably shows up on the stump each year for a number of Democrats, he’s hardly played the role of party power broker since leaving office. Podcasts, documentaries, his foundation and, yes, golf in Hawaii and on Martha’s Vineyard have taken precedence.

Further, there’s the Obama-Biden relationship, which was never the bromance it was made out to be and was soured by Obama effectively tapping Hillary Clinton as his would-be successor. The times Obama has appeared with Biden since the former vice-president became president have been marked by Obama overshadowing Biden.

Surely recognizing this, Obama’s advisers took care to alert the Biden West Wing about the conversations, I’m told. A senior White House official corroborated as much, and said they received feedback from the conversations, but wouldn’t detail what they were told. An Obama adviser declined to offer a comment.

Still, the former president is no doubt aware that convening multiple, extended interactions with House Democrats, even with innocent intentions, could irritate the White House and inflame his off and on rivalry with Biden. And that’s to say nothing of stoking the fever swamp right’s racially unsubtle view that Obama is, alternately, secretly running the Biden White House or plotting his former vice president’s ouster.

The former president was careful to avoid criticizing Biden with the lawmakers, only encouraging Democrats to be aggressive marketing their accomplishments. They should establish their own identity, he said, while allowing that the party’s fate in 2024 would be largely tied to Biden’s success.

One of the gatherings, though, included members who also worked in Obama’s administration and when the former president recalled having won Florida twice, one lawmaker interjected that he also won Ohio. (Biden, few in the room needed reminding, didn’t win either state in 2020.)

Multiple attendees of the conversations told me it was never fully clear to them why Obama wanted to gather. The meetings were described to me a mix of get-to-know-you chatter mixed with long-winded advice, talk of best practices and curiosity about what the lawmakers were hearing at home.

One Democratic perennial that arose: how to avoid coming off as elitist.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s move to drop the requirement requiring state workers to have a college degree was discussed, as was the effective blue-collar messaging of freshman Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state.

There were more pressing matters of concern raised, such as lagging turnout among Black men, but there was not an airing of grievances.

That’s perhaps because of the ideological mix present — Sherrill and AOC were at the same meeting, for example — and because some just don’t know Obama well enough to launch into a series of gripes about their own party.

Present for the larger gatherings, if largely mum while his members spoke, was House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who didn’t get to Congress until the start of Obama’s second term and is still forging a relationship with the former president.

For all of Obama’s one-president-at-a-time deference, one attendee complained to me that it was to the party’s detriment that Obama was so careful to avoid antagonizing Biden.

Pointing to the former president’s popularity and rhetorical gifts, this person said Obama could help Democrats by being more of a political presence and articulating the stakes, as he did memorably if momentarily in last year’s midterms. After all, Obama was willing to swallow his pride and, at crucial moments, turn to Bill Clinton for help, including in the 2012 campaign.

In fairness to Biden, he was happy to have Obama campaign for Democrats last year, even for candidates who had little appetite for the current president.

But looking back, it may have been easier for Obama to momentarily play the role of supplicant. After all, he had beaten Clinton’s wife in the 2008 primary and then revived her career by bringing her into his administration. Much the same as he did for his vice president.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

‘We are way behind’: Top DeSantis PAC official sounds alarm

A top spokesperson for Ron DeSantis’ super PAC is sounding a decidedly dour note on the Florida governor’s presidential prospects, saying his campaign is facing an “uphill battle” and is trailing badly in the key nominating states.

Steve Cortes, who previously supported Donald Trump, also heaped praise on the former president, calling him a “runaway frontrunner” and “maestro” of the debate.

“Right now in national polling we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” Cortes said in a Twitter spaces event that was recorded on Sunday night. “I believe in being blunt and honest. It’s an uphill battle but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner,”

Calling the DeSantis campaign the “clear underdog,” he added: “In the first four states which matter tremendously, polls are a lot tighter, we are still clearly down. We’re down double digits, we have work to do.”

Ocasio-Cortez backs Biden for reelection

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of the most vocal progressives on Capitol Hill, has backed President Biden’s reelection bid.

Ocasio-Cortez told the “Pod Save America” podcast Thursday she would support Biden, who faces two long-shot challengers in the 2024 Democratic primary.

“I believe, given that field, yes,” Ocasio-Cortez said when asked whether she would support the incumbent president in the next election.

“I think he’s done quite well, given the limitations that we have,” she added of Biden’s first three years in office. “I do think that there are ebbs and flows, as there are in any presidency.”

Two Democrats have launched 2024 bids against Biden — self-help author Marianne Williamson and prominent anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The president is polling well ahead of both candidates, and the Democratic National Committee has said it does not plan to hold any primary debates.

“There are areas that I think were quite strong,” Ocasio-Cortez said on the podcast while discussing the president’s record so far, noting “he came right out of the gate with the American Rescue Plan.”

“And of course, the Inflation Reduction Act was a massive step in terms of our climate agenda,” she continued. “But, you know, there are also areas that I think could have gone better. The president and I think the Democratic Party in general continues to struggle with immigration.”

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

DeSantis blames media for sagging poll numbers: ‘They’re going after me’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blamed members of media outlets for his sagging poll numbers that have him far behind former President Trump for the lead for the 2024 Republican nomination.

DeSantis said during an interview on Fox News on Thursday that “corporate media” are focusing on him because they do not want him to win the nomination.

“Well, I think if you look at the people like the corporate media, who are they going after?” he said. “Who do they not want to be the nominee? They’re going after me.”

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

“This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner” before being deleted. For now, you can still view it here.

• We Investigated the Deepest, Darkest Corners of the Internet to Understand Ron DeSantis’ Bizarre New Video

Over Fourth of July weekend, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign drew fire from across the political spectrum after it shared a bizarre, 1-minute-and-13-second video hyping the Florida governor’s hardline opposition to LGBTQ rights. The video, which was created by an anonymous account and shared on Twitter by the DeSantis campaign’s “rapid response” team, has been skewered by critics on both the left and the right for its homophobia and transphobia. But commentators also fixated on another element: It’s just plain weird, a video that is largely unintelligible to someone who hasn’t spent too many hours on the darker corners of the internet.

The clip, which was tweeted by DeSantis’ team with the message “To wrap up ‘Pride Month,’” opens by attacking former President Donald Trump for his past support of LGBTQ people, setting pictures of Trump shaking hands with Caitlyn Jenner and holding a pride flag against upbeat techno music. But 23 seconds in, the video takes a turn. The upbeat techno music is replaced by an ominous base tone. Clips of DeSantis fade in and out, intercut with a series of seemingly random images: DeSantis with red lightning bolts emerging from his eye sockets; a black-and-white photo of a chiseled bodybuilder; pictures of Hollywood anti-heroes. Headlines denouncing DeSantis’s “draconian” policies on LGBTQ issues flash across the screen, layered atop of clips of liberal talking heads criticizing DeSantis’ record. (On Friday afternoon, the clip disappeared from Twitter, replaced with the message, “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner” before being deleted. For now, you can still view it here.)

To the average voter, this rapid-fire mishmash of images might seem like a political fever dream. But the video fits squarely within an emergent strain of an online conservative subset that focuses on LGBTQ issues and masculinity. This discourse, which emerged from an obscure corner of the internet sometimes called the “manosphere,” relies on a heavily self-referential set of memes to convey its message, a message that is almost always drenched in irony. It can be hard to discern which images are supposed to be taken seriously and which are just designed to provoke outrage and troll the viewer. Yet beneath the irony lies a coherent — if deeply intolerant — argument: The embrace of LGBTQ people is part of a broader plot in society to destroy traditional masculinity.

For the most part, this irony-laden variety of homophobia remains a relatively fringe position on the online right. But its prominence in DeSantis’ latest campaign video suggests that it could be seeping into the conservative mainstream, and that might pay dividends among a group of Republican voters. “After all, [DeSantis’s backers] are seeking out the Trump voter,” said Daniel Adleman, an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric at the University of Toronto who was written about the overlap between pop-culture and far-right ideologies. “They are trying to demonstrate that DeSantis doesn’t just talk the talk, but he walks the walk — that Trump is all full of lip service, but that DeSantis is the one who makes good on quasi-Trumpian promises.”

To help piece it all together, here’s your definitive guide to the memes and images from DeSantis’ recent video. This might be the first time you’re encountering them, but it likely won’t be the last if you pay close attention on Twitter, Threads, or whatever social new social media platform launches next week.

Bodybuilders

“I’m going to leave aside the strangeness of trying to prove your manhood by putting up a video that splices images of you in between oiled-up, shirtless bodybuilders,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said last weekend when asked about DeSantis’ video — apparently referring to several shots of slick-looking male bodybuilders flexing their bulging muscles. But in certain corners of the online right where the popularity of bodybuilding is on the rise, it’s not strange at all. For one possible explanation of this trend, look no further than Tucker Carlson’s much-discussed documentary The End of Men, which advanced the argument that the destruction of men’s bodies through poor nutrition and poor exercise habits is part of a broader globalist plot to take over the world. Understood in this context, rebuilding a man’s physique isn’t just good for his health — it’s also a critical first step toward overthrowing the power of the corrupt global elite.

DeSantis has not revealed whether weightlifting is a major part of his recent weight-loss efforts, but on the campaign trail he has certainly has leaned into the anti-elite rhetoric that’s tied up with the bodybuilding fad.

Much more in the article

270 to win

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

• Murdochs Start to Sour on DeSantis: ‘They Can Smell a Loser

The conservative-media kingmakers' preferred candidate to knock off Donald Trump is not meeting expectations, and the family's patriarch is getting tired of waiting

LESS THAN TWO months into Ron DeSantis’ declared run for president, his most important backers in conservative media are already starting to lose faith.

Since the beginning of the Biden presidency, the powerful Murdoch family has favored the Florida governor in the 2024 presidential primary, largely due to a conviction that DeSantis would be a more electable, and less chaotic, evolution from Donald Trump. But in recent weeks, the Murdochs have grown increasingly displeased with the DeSantis campaign’s perceived stumbles, lackluster polling, and inability to swiftly dethrone Trump, multiple sources tell Rolling Stone. They have also seriously questioned whether the governor is capable of defeating Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch in particular has been voicing his doubts and frustrations in private discussions and calls, at times wondering if a DeSantis “comeback” is possible at this point. Murdoch is the longtime patriarch of the family that controls Fox News, the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other media properties that are highly influential among conservatives.

“[Rupert’s] understandable worry is that we may end up being stuck with Trump anyway,” a senior Fox source tells Rolling Stone. “And DeSantis is underperforming. Anybody can see that … [and the Murdochs], they’re seeing it, too.”

This reporting is based on conversations with two people who speak to the Murdochs, three well-placed sources at Fox, and three others briefed on the situation. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to divulge the contents of private discussions. Rupert Murdoch did not respond to messages seeking comment on this story. A spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign did not immediately respond to a comment request. A Fox representative declined to comment on Tuesday.

According to two of the sources, Murdoch has privately winced at DeSantis’ nonstop cultural-grievance strategy, arguing that it is being executed sloppily. In his repeated attempts to outflank the already hard-right Trump on the right, DeSantis and his team have waged an aggressive messaging operation to paint the Florida governor as a much more extreme culture warrior as compared with the former president — most recently via a bizarre, bigoted video lauding the governor for his anti-LGBTQ attacks. This strategy has for months attracted criticism from fellow Republicans for being unsavvy and “too online” to connect with the median voter.

“They are transactional and can smell a loser a mile away,” one Fox insider bluntly assesses, referring to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, and top Fox News executives.

Rupert Murdoch’s complaints lately have, three of the sources recount, centered on how he feels DeSantis often seems too awkward in his public presentation and in his attempts to connect with the American voter. Murdoch has also noted DeSantis 2024’s recent failures to chip away at Trump’s stubborn dominance in the polls, despite the pre-campaign-launch hype about how things would significantly change right after DeSantis’ declaration. After months of high-quality polling, the twice-indicted former president continues to consistently hold gaping leads on DeSantis, his top 2024 Republican rival.

Hints of the Murdoch clan’s displeasure with DeSantis have surfaced in News Corp.’s media properties over the past few weeks. Two sources familiar with the matter stress that this is “not by accident” and “not a coincidence.”

It’s also a marked shift for the Murdoch clan. Until recently, Fox News had been extremely friendly and safe territory for the Florida governor, with softball questions about his culture-war crusades and other matters. Since 2021, the network has been vital in building DeSantis’ national name ID among conservatives, heralding him as a fast-rising political star and touting him as the future of the Trumpified right.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

• Top donors, souring on DeSantis, start looking at Tim Scott

With Ron DeSantis stalling in the Republican presidential primary, some wealthy donors who’d hoped he could beat Donald Trump are now giving Tim Scott a serious look.

Billionaire businessman Ronald Lauder, the Estée Lauder makeup heir who supported Trump in 2020, recently flew to South Carolina to meet with Scott, the state’s junior senator and longshot presidential candidate, according to three people aware of the late June meeting.

The meeting comes amid widespread angst among wealthy GOP backers about the emerging 2024 field, and DeSantis’ bumpy start in particular. Many high-dollar donors in Trump’s native New York City have tired of the former president and worry about his general election chances. But they say their faith in the Florida governor has been shaken by early campaign missteps and his hardline positions on abortion, transgender rights and other culture-war issues. They fear time is running out for anyone else to break through.

Now, several donors are starting to more seriously mull backing Scott — a more traditional Republican alternative to the populist and combative Trump and DeSantis.

During their nearly hourlong discussion at a restaurant in Daniel Island, just outside Charleston, Lauder and Scott discussed what the senator sees as his path to victory. The two have spoken since their initial meeting, including in recent days, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Lauder, who declined to comment on the meeting, plans to get together with Scott again as he decides whether to cut him a check, one of the three people confirmed. He’s also interested in speaking with other candidates, the person said.

Lauder’s surveying of the field appears sparked by his souring on DeSantis. He had donated $200,000 to DeSantis’ initial gubernatorial run in 2018 and $10,000 to a super PAC supporting his reelection last year. And DeSantis visited him several months ago to pitch his candidacy, as POLITICO previously reported.

The cosmetics tycoon is not alone in the shift.

“A lot of donors that I’ve met are all curious and want to meet Tim and see what he’s about,” said Andy Sabin, a metal mogul and Republican contributor. “He’s the one guy running who’s got some personality and charisma. His delivery is terrific.”

Sabin was initially planning to support DeSantis’ White House bid but shifted allegiances to Scott during the spring. In an interview with POLITICO on Wednesday, Sabin said he is planning to host a fundraiser for Scott next month at his home in the Hamptons. He’s donated the maximum allowable amount to Scott’s campaign and said he intends to give to his super PAC.

Sabin applauded Scott’s personal responsiveness, saying the candidate texts back when he reaches out. Despite doing business in North Dakota and being contacted by Gov. Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign, Sabin said he is sticking with Scott. He cited an aggressive state law Burgum signed that bans nearly all abortions.

Scott has also supported abortion restrictions, saying he would sign “the most conservative” abortion bill that would reach his desk. But he has not explicitly stated his support for a national ban earlier than 15 weeks of pregnancy.

“No Republican, in my opinion, can win a national election unless they believe in at least a 15-week abortion window, because women vote,” Sabin said.

Other New York-based donors are also kicking the tires on Scott, according to three people based in the city who work closely with donors and were granted anonymity to freely discuss internal strategy. Two of those people are not affiliated with any candidate and one is partial to Trump.

“The major donors are still open and are still looking,” said one Republican who works closely with New York’s monied class. “They originally were with DeSantis. They’re looking for other options and Tim Scott right now is probably their top target.”

• Biden and DNC bring in $72M in second quarter

President Joe Biden, the Democratic National Committee and their joint fundraising committees raised a combined $72 million in the second quarter of the year, his campaign said Friday.

Biden also revealed that 394,000 donors contributed to him, the DNC and their committees. The entities together had a combined $77 million in cash on hand as of June 30, when the latest fundraising period ended.

“The Biden-Harris team dramatically outraised the announced totals from every GOP candidate running for president, including Donald Trump by more than 2:1 and Ron DeSantis by more than 3:1.”

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

• The great Ron DeSantis campaign train wreck

It was often said that when Bill Clinton walked into a room, each person thought he noticed them in particular. Clinton was the ultimate retail politician: he liked people and they knew it. When Ron DeSantis shows up, even those who want to support him feel that he harbours a special dislike for them. Being a black hole in terms of charisma is not automatically fatal to a candidate’s prospects. When your target is the diabolically charismatic Donald Trump, however, you are working at a big disadvantage.

The story of how DeSantis went from being the favourite, or near-favourite, Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential race to America’s most rapidly falling meteor in years, tells us a lot about the mindset of US conservatism. The Florida governor’s campaign began with every advantage. He had huge sums of money, name recognition, powerful backers and the sense that he was the only Republican capable of replacing Trump. Yet he has singularly failed to perform. One of his detractors memorably called this “electile dysfunction”.

In theory, the case for DeSantis was very good. Republicans would embrace Trumpism without Trump: in Florida’s youthful governor, they could have their war on woke before breakfast, lunch and dinner without the personality flaws of its namesake. DeSantis was Trump without the indictments and future jail sentences. He was Trump minus the drama. He would offer the kind of Trumpism that college graduates could vote for without apology.

It turns out there was a serious flaw: Maga voters cannot get enough of the Trump drama. The case against Trump in 2016 was that he was not electable. His base nevertheless recklessly voted for his nomination, then he went on to win. If part of the thrill of backing Trump is precisely because he is not electable — that he is unsafe and not respectable — it takes some brass to announce yourself as the electable version of Trump. It is now clear that the DeSantis hypothesis is a fatal misreading of what Maga wants.

Unfortunately for DeSantis, he is doubling down on his theory. I have seen some bad campaign advertisements in my time. But the latest DeSantis offering, which accuses Trump of being a friend of the LGBTQ community, takes first prize. The ad has to be watched a couple of times to digest its full awfulness. Plenty of things can be said about Trump. One of them is decidedly not that he is too woke. The ad’s message, spliced with the oddly homoerotic images of oiled body builders, is that DeSantis is the answer to America’s alleged crisis of masculinity. Running to the right of Trump is one thing. Doing so in this manner is surpassingly strange.

DeSantis is setting himself up to be the most promising also-ran of US politics. He would join an august list of diminished former hopefuls. The names Scott Walker, Howard Dean and Bill Bradley spring to mind. As the only candidate who could have ejected Trump yet failed, DeSantis would top that list.

Joe Biden begins filling out his lean 2024 presidential campaign team

President Joe Biden is growing his unusually small reelection campaign team, announcing Monday plans to add three new people to the payroll.

Former Rep. Cedric Richmond is joining as campaign co-chair. Former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford will serve as finance chair of Biden-Harris 2024 and DNC National Finance Chair Chris Korge will join as finance chair of the Biden Victory Fund, the larger of the president’s joint fundraising committees.

The Biden campaign has a run a bare-bones operations since the president announced his reelection bid in April, spending less than some Senate candidates and employing just four people: Campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez, principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks, spokesperson Kevin Munoz and general counsel Maury Riggan.

The announcement comes days after the campaign revealed its $72 million fundraising haul with the DNC in the second quarter. Though it’s less than the past two presidents raised during the same time in their reelection bids, Biden does have more cash on hand than former President Barack Obama did at this point in the cycle — in part because of the lean operation he’s running.

“Our campaign is off to a strong start, securing early endorsements and unified support from across the Biden-Harris coalition, and a historic quarter for our fundraising operation,” Chávez Rodríguez said in a statement. “Already, this team has shown its ability to think outside the box to raise money, and bring in supporters across the country for the President and Vice President. With this talented team at the helm, I’m confident our campaign will have the resources it needs to win again in 2024.”

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

• DeSantis campaign sheds staff amid cash crunch

Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is shedding staff as it navigates a cash crunch and looks to refocus resources on Iowa.

Fewer than 10 staffers were let go by the Florida governor’s campaign Thursday, according to a person familiar with the internal deliberations and granted anonymity to describe them. Each of the aides was involved in event planning, and some of them may soon wind up at an allied outside group. Never Back Down, the pro-DeSantis super PAC, has received resumes from staffers who’ve been let go, a person familiar with the group said.

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• DeSantis looks to reset campaign amid signs of weakness

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is signaling a pivot in his campaign strategy amid growing concerns over his viability against former President Trump.

In one of the clearest indications yet that his campaign has hit choppy waters, DeSantis’s team confirmed last week they were shedding employees. That news followed a string of disappointing polls and critical headlines for the Florida governor.

• What happens next? — A “confidential” memo obtained by NBC News last week detailed that DeSantis will roll out policy proposals in the weeks ahead, while at the same time he will engage more with the press because “earned media is the cake.” Yes, the Iowa caucuses are still months away, so there’s “time” to turn things around. But maybe the first sign of fixing the problem is acknowledging you have a problem.

(976) david chappelle about donald trump... - YouTube

Chapelle gets it

Biden announces his 2024 campaign headquarters

President Joe Biden will make his longtime residence of Wilmington, Del., the headquarters of his 2024 campaign, he announced Tuesday.

“My family’s values, my eternal optimism and my unwavering belief in the American middle class as our nation’s backbone comes from my home — from Delaware,” Biden said in a statement. “That’s why there is no better place for our reelection campaign to have its headquarters.”

It’s a departure from Biden’s choice of Philadelphia for his 2020 campaign headquarters. But because of the pandemic, Biden helmed a significant portion of that run from Wilmington as well.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

Christie pokes at DeSantis: ‘We don’t make our country better by continuing to rumormonger things’

If DeSantis, the governor of Florida, does believe there has been federal interference in his campaign — or he thinks there’s a reason there could be — he should make that public, Christie said.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked: “I want you to listen to what DeSantis said today.

He said it’s suggested it’s ‘possible’ that the FBI or DOJ — the Department of Justice — could interfere with his campaign… that was the gist — I’m paraphrasing — the gist of what he said. What do you make of that?”

“If Ron DeSantis is concerned that there’s something in his background that would lead to DOJ or the FBI to be looking at him, that’s probably something he should talk to us all about as he’s seeking the presidency,” said Christie, who is trying to carve a lane in the Republican primary as a vocal critic of former President Donald Trump.

“If there’s some investigative steps that he thinks would be appropriate that we don’t know about right now by the FBI or DOJ against him or members of his inner circle, then he should reveal that. Otherwise, stop speculating about this stuff.”

Originally Posted by S Landreth

“My family’s values

Has that man no advisers ?

The US becoming more isolationist can't harm it, it can't become more inbred, well unless it was NZ

edit

well unless it was NZ maoris

Ron Desanctimonious assembled a team to decry Kamala Harris' criticism of his attempts to distort African American history, especially slavery.

The picture speaks for itself.

• Poll shows Biden beating Trump, even if Manchin runs

A new poll shows President Biden beating former President Trump in a 2024 presidential matchup, even if Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) launches a third-party bid.

No Labels, a political group that has been pushing for a third-party bid, hosted an event Monday headlined by Manchin and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R), fueling speculation that the duo could appear as a bipartisan third-party ticket. The Monmouth poll released Thursday found if a Manchin-Huntsman ticket were to join the race as an alternative to Biden or Trump, only 2 percent of voters would definitely vote for the alternative, while 14 percent would probably vote for them.

Forty-four percent of voters would not vote for a Manchin-Huntsman ticket, and 31 percent said they probably would not. The poll noted the responses were not affected by whether Manchin or Huntsman was at the top of the ticket.

Biden’s support dropped from 47 percent to 37 percent and Trump’s dropped from 40 percent to 28 percent when a generic bipartisan ticket was offered as an alternative to Biden and Trump. When voters were asked about a potential Manchin-Huntsman ticket, Biden’s support dipped from 47 percent to 40 percent and Trump’s decreased from 40 to 34 percent.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

• Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign mistakes are catching up to him

Ron DeSantis is really bad at running for president

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can’t seem to catch a break, despite entering the 2024 GOP primary two months ago favored as the candidate most likely to topple former President Donald Trump.

In just the last week, DeSantis’s campaign finance reports have indicated that he’s blowing through cash. There have been staffing shake-ups. Even his big mainstream media debut on CNN Tuesday was overshadowed by Trump’s announcement that he could soon be indicted for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. DeSantis remains more than 30 percentage points behind Trump on average in the polls.

The timing of the CNN interview was an unforeseen misfortune, much like the technical problems that plagued DeSantis’s campaign announcement on Twitter Spaces. But some of what has gone wrong with his campaign stems from his own mistakes. The question is whether he can come back from his troubles given that it’s still early days in the 2024 campaign.

“A presidential campaign is a lot different than a gubernatorial campaign. And his staff is just not measuring up in the same way that he’s not measuring up,” said Mac Stipanovich, a former GOP strategist in Florida who endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. “His incompetence is compounded by his bad luck.”

• Most voters think DOJ indictments add drama, but will hurt Trump: poll

A majority of Americans, 57 percent, believe a new criminal indictment against former President Trump was served to add drama to the presidential election, according to a monthly Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released Friday.

However, an identical majority of respondents said an additional indictment would hurt Trump’s chances at a second term.

The poll comes as Trump was served a target letter Sunday by federal special counsel Jack Smith in his investigation in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol and the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election — sparking speculation that Smith may soon indict Trump again on additional charges.

The former president was indicted on 37 criminal counts related to Smith’s investigation of mishandling of classified documents in June. A New York state investigation also indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business documents in April.

The poll found that Americans are almost perfectly split on whether Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection and whether he committed a crime. However, about 57 percent of respondents said that prosecutors would have a “strong case” against Trump in any 2020 election trial.

The former president is also being investigated for election interference activities by a Georgia grand jury on state charges, which could result in charges.

Overall, 56 percent of respondents said Trump is likely to be acquitted of any charges brought against him. That number includes 80 percent of Republicans, 30 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of independents.

The survey polled 2,068 people between July 19-20, after Trump announced he received the target letter.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

• DeSantis Wants to Sue Bud Light’s Parent Company Over Effects of Boycott He Promoted

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called on his state’s Board of Administration to explore legal action against Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch (AB InBev), under the guise that a stock devaluation resulting from conservative boycotts against the brand is affecting Florida’s pension fund.

Earlier this year, conservatives had a full meltdown over a 45-second Instagram video touting a partnership between Bud Light and transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Kid Rock purchased cases to shoot in his backyard, country singer Travis Tritt said he’d removed Anheuser-Busch products from his tour’s hospitality rider, conservative influencers accused the beer company of lacing their product with estrogen. The hysteria resulted in widespread boycotts, and Anheuser-Busch’s stock value dropped 20 percent. It is worth knowing that while the company’s stock price is still lagging, the devaluation from the backlash does not even represent a year-to-date low.

But it seems like DeSantis didn’t stop to consider that his state’s pension fund was invested in Anheuser-Busch when he publicly promoted the boycott. In April, the governor told right-wing influencer Benny Johnson that he would not be drinking Bud Light again, and called the backlash to the brand “righteous”

On Thursday, DeSantis told Fox News that Anheuser-Busch had violated its “fiduciary duty” to shareholders when it partnered with Mulvaney. The governor said that the state had over $50 million invested in Anheuser-Busch and that the devaluation had hurt teachers and other pensioners. DeSantis hinted that his inquiry into Anheuser-Busch could lead to a “derivative lawsuit” against the company.

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Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Desantis is a crafty politician.

DeSantis cuts one-third of campaign staff amid effort to reset

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign laid off 38 staff members as the campaign seeks to revamp itself amid stagnant poll numbers in the GOP race.

Politico first reported Tuesday’s layoffs, which include the 10 event-planning positions whose cuts were announced weeks ago. The total number of staffers let go over the last few weeks — including these most recent cuts — amounts to about one-third of his staff.

DeSantis uninjured in car crash while heading to event: Campaign

Trump vows to run for president from prison if convicted and sentenced on criminal charges

Former President Donald Trump has vowed to continue his 2024 White House run even if he is convicted and sentenced on criminal charges.