• Home
  • Blog
  • Contact
The Screaming Moderate

You asked for it (well, no you didn't but,) the Oys! and Yos!

9/25/2023

0 Comments

 
Been a while since the Oy! Yo! Committee has met but meet they did recently. The results, nearly all Oys!:
 
Oy! To the pollsters. Polls show majorities think President Biden is too old to seek reelection. He is. And/but he is going to be the candidate and his opponent is likely to be former President Donald Trump. Trump? Biden? People who think Biden’s too old will certainly vote for him over Trump. Thus, these early polls, as always, mean zilch, nada, zip. Speaking of his age, he does have a vice president, Kamala Harris, who has been getting great experience because Biden has kept her closely involved. Trust me, we can do far worse than Vice President Harris.

Oy! To Republican House members. Well, at least the Freedom Caucus, that small minority that seems to be in control of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Picture a group of people standing a circle with guns in their hands, shooting at their kneecaps. That’s the Republican caucus when it comes to the budget. Just days remain before the government runs out of money (that would be Sept. 30) which means federal employees out of work and other essential services stopped cold, hurting the taxpayers they were elected to represent. Over what? The government does spend too much but this isn’t the way to cut it back. Plus the spending that created the huge deficits were run up by both parties over the years.

Yo! To AG Garland. Attorney General Merrick Garland took on Republicans in the House the other day in a hearing that they focused on alleged Department of Justice bias against conservatives and other matters. Garland is a former judge and who would be on the Supreme Court now if not for the team of former President Donald Trump and  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Garland showed his emotions (anger) just once when he was attacked for his department allegedly being anti-Catholic. The GOP hit a sensitive  and understandable nerve because Garland lost family in the Holocaust.  “The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd,” Garland said. (I used to attend hearings with my then-boss Commerce Secretary Mac Baldrige. After one hearing, during which he took arrows from Democrats over an issue I can’t remember, I asked how he could sit there, take it and be so calm. He told me, “It’s politics. They attack me, get quoted and that’s all they want from a hearing.” Some things never change. That hearing was over 40 years ago. The only difference is now the politicians count the clicks and “likes”)

Oy! To Cong. Paul Gosar (R-Gonzo)  for his comments about soon-to-be former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. Among other things, Gosar said,  in a tax-dollar paid newsletter that, “In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.” Gosar, who reportedly sought a presidential pardon (though he hasn’t been charged to this day) for promoting former President Trump’s lies about a rigged 2020 election, also promised to launch an investigation into “the effort to attempt a coup between traitor Gen. Mark Milley and [then-House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi.” That’s based on, well, nothing. He also was the first House member to be censured in a decade in 2021 after he tweeted an anime clip of himself murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Oy! To the insults to couture. This is an Oy! shared by twice-indicted Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez’ (NJ) wife and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.  The Committee tries not to pick on what are really such trivial matters and cheap shots…but…Mrs. Menendez, who also has been indicted in the bribery indictment with her husband; well, while voting for this Oy! The Committee chose not to include the details  of such a cheap shot but if you’ve seen the pictures of her as the media  have reported the story, you’ll understand. Schumer gets it for changing the Senate floor dress code to, well, anything anyone wants to wear. The Committee unanimously aid that dress codes never appealed to its members but the decorum of the U.S. Senate does. This partly to accommodate Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) who likes to wear shorts and a hoodie.

So far, no Oys! about former President Trump but the committee felt awkward not including him…so…

Oy! To former President Trump for turning against just about everyone who worked in senior jobs in his Administration for his appointments to people in senior jobs in his administration. Trump has said he likes a person to look like the job (think his first secretary of state, Rex Tillerman). The Committee decided that even a narcissist like Trump must have never looked in the mirror.
0 Comments

When is a conspiracy theory not a theory?

9/12/2023

0 Comments

 
We are witnessing the creation of a new conspiracy theory that, if true, is a clear and present danger to our democracy.

First, the theory goes, the ex-president of the United States who swore on a Bible and in front of the world that he would protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, last year suggested the “suspension” of that U.S. Constitution so he could be declared the winner of an election he lost. (Not to mention there is no way to suspend the Constitution to accomplish such a goal but why ruin a good theory?)

That same ex-president, who was impeached twice,  has now been indicted in four cases brought separately by federal and state prosecutors.

He is poisoning jury pools by claiming that the current President of the United States “ordered” his indictment in those four different jurisdictions, some with state and some with federal officials prosecuting the cases. None of whom a President has  authority over.

One of those cases is in Georgia, which is led by a Republican governor who exposed the ex-president’s nefarious attempts to overthrow the election in Georgia.

The ex-president wants the country to believe that all of these prosecutions are a complicated and nearly impossible-to-carry-out political strategy aimed at keeping him out of the Oval Office, rather than a legal reality that there is more than sufficient evidence to file charges against him and for him to be tried by juries of regular citizens. Just as he was indicted by grand juries of men and women who showed no partisan prejudice, from whatever political persuasion they were or weren’t.

There also was the bipartisan Congressional committee that investigated the former president’s efforts to overturn the people’s will in the last presidential election. And, to back that up, that committee showcased only members of the ex-president’s party to make their case. Many of those men and women were people the ex-president himself thought enough of to appoint to serve in his Administration.

There’s more to this part of the conspiracy theory but let’s leave it at that, for now.

Another piece of the conspiracy theory is that the Speaker of the House, a member of the same party as the ex-president, ordered a Congressional investigation into the current president for high crimes and misdemeanors that, so far, have no evidence – none -- to back them up. And members of the Speaker's own party    are saying publicly they have seen no such evidence nor do they see an investigation as necessary.

The Speaker, the conspiracy theory goes, doesn’t really believe the president has committed any impeachable or even illegal activities but he is under pressure from a tiny minority of his own party who parrot whatever the ex-president claims. Why are they putting that pressure on the Speaker?  Because they have ludicrous policy goals, most not supported by a majority of Americans, including banning all abortions for any reason, cutting federal spending to the point that the government cannot provide the types of assistance the government is supposed to provide to cutting Social Security, eliminating a few of the federal departments and agencies, and more.

They also have power over the Speaker because, among many promises he made to win the Speaker-ship, one was that any single member of Congress, for any reason, could move to remove the Speaker from his office and get a vote on it. In other words,the  job he has coveted since being elected to the House is at risk.

So the ex-president's soldiers are trying to crumble the country underneath while the ex-president’s clear intentions is to do away with the Constitution and become a dictator in the best experiment in democracy that has ever existed and probably ever will.

All that, and more, makes up the conspiracy theory circulating in some circles.

But, wait, … is it a conspiracy theory or is it really happening?
0 Comments

The official allegations against Trump are mounting

8/15/2023

0 Comments

 
Four indictments in four months. Enough, Donald John Trump says, to win him the presidential election.

Interestingly, so far the indictments have only helped him in the race to be the 2024 Republican candidate. There seems nothing that affects adversely his standing with his base.

If you read the indictments, it boggles your mind that anyone can believe he should be the Republican candidate let alone be elected or serve again as president.

The latest and broadest indictment, in Georgia, presents some differences from the others:

  • It’s a state indictment so if convicted and if elected, Trump cannot pardon himself. Presidents have no authority over such a state action.
  • It charges Trump and 18 others, accusing them of racketeering and conspiracy  to commit a crime.
  • It will be televised, thus, among other things, interesting to see how Trump handles himself in front of a judge when his freedom is at stake. Can he resist his seemingly uncontrollable urges in a court of law?
  • It opens the door for a multitude of people – those charged and those, so far, not charged – to “flip” on him with the prosecutors.
  • It may just offer Trump the opportunity to achieve what seemed a lifelong goal: to be a mob boss.

I say that last point only partly in jest. Trump has performed as a mob boss on many levels – publicly calling anyone who doesn’t support him 100 percent a bum, liar and worse. Even cabinet members and a vice president that he chose and praised when he did.

Indeed, the mafia’s motto is “omerta” an extreme form of loyalty in the face of authority.

No matter what he is charged with there seems a chunk of voters who back him without hesitation and with great enthusiasm (less than a majority of the Republican Party but enough to win him the nomination especially with too many candidates against him who can split up the anti-Trump vote).

One also should note that from the Congressional investigation into Jan. 6 through Georgia’s indictment yesterday, all of the damaging testimony is from Republicans. This is not a Democratic plot, despite what Trump supporters have been brainwashed to believe.

On top of that, show me an elected Republican at almost any level in law enforcement who would take on  Trump.

Interestingly, there is nothing that prohibits a convicted felon from running or serving as president. Ironically, if convicted as a felon Trump would lose his right to vote, but would not lose his  ability to serve as president. Imagine.

Which case comes first also can play a role. That New York indictment involving his paying off a porn star for her silence about an alleged affair is considered the weakest and the one that has the smallest effect on Trump politically.  Probably helps him, as he says. Hate to see that case go first, it just doesn't measure up to the effort to overthrow our government.

The federal indictment of Trump, the one brought by special counsel Jack Smith, is a significant indictment, that is narrowly targeted, at this stage, only at Trump. Seemingly, that is so the focus is totally on what Trump allegedly did wrong, unconfused by other issues or defendants.

This new Georgia indictment goes the furthest in terms of numbers of men and women indicted,  the conspiracy charge and naming it a violation of RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. In Georgia that law was adopted in 1980 and makes it a crime to participate in, acquire or maintain control of an “enterprise” through a “pattern of racketeering activity” or to conspire to do so.

It’s important to note that even if that scheme is unsuccessful, it is still a crime.

There is a very long way to resolving those cases and, of course, to decide who will be the GOP’s 2024 presidential candidate.

Trump still maintains a stranglehold over nearly every elected federal senator and House member. If they began to back away from Trump, how might that affect him? Well, we likely will never know because not one has demonstrated even a hint of breaking with Trump.

As Franklin Roosevelt once said: “Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”  
0 Comments

Another Trump indictment, the biggest one

8/2/2023

0 Comments

 
 No prosecutor worth his salt would indict a former President of the United States without believing/knowing he could win the case in court,

And Special Prosecutor Jack Smith is salt and pepper.

Put yourself in his place: You are instructed by the Attorney  General to investigate the January 6 insurrection and to follow the law wherever it leads. Thus, Smith begins his indictment with the simple statement:

“The defendant Donald J. Trump was the 45th President of the United States and a candidate for reelection in 2020. The defendant lost the 2020 presidential election.”

Simple statement. Written so anyone reading it would understand. He then goes and lays out about 45 pages of the facts and accusations against, at the moment, the sole defendant in the case, Donald J. Trump.

If you ever read an indictment, read this one. It is the most important indictment in U.S. history. Here’s a link: https://www.scribd.com/document/662462402/Trump-Indictment

In talking to a lawyer, I learned a key question in a trial will be what Trump’s state of mind was at the time(s) he was (and still is) lying about the outcome of the 2020 election. No one, I was told, can testify to his state of mind except the defendant himself. But, there is testimony about things Trump said that likely will be let into evidence.

To me, the most telling was when Trump was reading a classified document to a few people in his office, post-his presidency. He told the gathering it was classified so they shouldn't mention it to anyone. He also said at the meeting - for which there is an audio tape - “As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t.”

That may be a key bit of evidence in the trial. He knew he was no longer president and still was denying his loss.

According to the indictment, there was a Jan. 1, 2021, meeting between Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence. Trump still was trying to convince Pence to send the votes back to the states when he was chairing the session for the Senate to count the electoral votes. Pence said he did not have the authority to do that. Trump responded, "you're too honest." Implying he, Trump, was not.

 Seems not a bad piece of evidence either.

Also, as you read the indictment, pay attention to who is being cited as sources for the facts – all are or were appointments made by Donald Trump to his Administration, which he once said would only have “the best people.” The part of that thought he did not say out loud was, until they aren’t doing what I tell them anymore. Then they become, Trump always says, dishonest people, Republicans In Name Only (RINOs)/

Trump's lawyers are already signaling Trump’s defense: He only was doing what he was advised by lawyers (not true) and he really did think (and still does think) that he won the election. Among the people who told him there was no widespread fraud in the election were his former Attorneys General, his former intelligence officials, and the man Trump appointed to oversee elections. Also there were those various state-level officials he tried to strong arm into doing his bidding who said there was no fraud sufficient to change the election in their state.

One of his lawyers has already sent a message that they will seek a change of venue from Washington, D.C., which voted overwhelmingly for Biden, to West Virginia, which  overwhelmingly voted for Trump.

They didn’t complain when Smith filed his fist indictment against Trump in Trump-friendly Florida, where the jury pool is more likely to produce at least one juror who is a Trump supporter and who Trump will expect to vote him not guilty.

As many of you, I’ve served on juries. One, in Washington, D.C., where the defendant, if I remember correctly, was charged with attempted murder. I took  seriously the instruction that the prosecution must prove their case “beyond a reasonable doubt”. No prejudice, just did the prosecution prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

It took me into the second day of deliberations to go from a “not sure” to a “guilty” because I took the reasonable doubt issue quite seriously. But my fellow jurors convinced me (and others who had been “not guilty” jurors) to see that the reasonable doubt didn’t really exist. And that a preponderance of the evidence said the defendant was guilty, as the jury ultimately voted.

Also, those six un-indicted co-conspirators, still may flip. I for the life of me can't believe anyone would lie to keep someone else out of jail while putting themself behind bars.

One of the six is Rudy Giuliani, a former prosecutor himself who has already been on  "TV" (one of the right-wing channels) claiming Trump's innocence. But when it's his backside that may be going to jail, he may sing a different tune. The truth.

Another, thought to be co-conspirator three, is Sidney Powell. Her crazy election fraud theories even Trump said he thought were crazy. According to Jan. 6 committee testimony,  Trump muted his speaker phone and said, "this does sound crazy, doesn't it?"
 
Call me naïve (you’ll be the first) but I do think when people take an oath, whether they are being sworn in as a federal employee or as a juror, the vast majority of them take that oath seriously. If not, our court system cannot exist.

I mentioned this is most important indictment in our history and the biggest vote on our democracy that may be held since our founding fathers voted. If Trump is found not guilty in this trial, our country will be forever changed to the negative.

Not because Trump will be re-elected but down the road another “Trump” will be, and the battle will get much more difficult.

0 Comments

The time has come today, and other rants

7/10/2023

8 Comments

 
 Many years ago, I was a newspaper reporter. Deadlines were important. You met your deadline, you did your job. You didn’t make your deadline, well, you didn’t do your job.

That may be why I notice more (and probably are more sensitive to) people being late, which seems to have become the norm in recent years.

How? Well, you invite someone for dinner at 6 and they arrive at 6:30. Or, you have a doctor appointment at 3, and you’re not called in to see the doc until an hour later. OK, that one I cut a break because docs are under so much pressure to make money these days, they need to devote time to help a patient with their issue and they give me the same “extra” time if I need it.

Still, would it hurt those office workers supporting the docs to come out occasionally and say, “I’m sorry, the doctor is running late but will be with you soon (if it is going to be soon).” Even that nicety would go a long way to relieve my angst in not knowing what the heck is going on.

If you watch cable news regularly and they say the President will speak at 3 and then doesn’t show up until 5. That bugs me. And while I’m at it, when did cable news anchors begin to say things like “this just happened,” when it really happened hours before? Or, say the President will be speaking soon, when he’s already an hour tardy?

OK, one more, when did news anchors start to say things like “CBS just learned…” or “CNN just learned” when I read it in the Washington Post hours before? Then again, maybe they didn't get to read the Post until "just" now.

Time doesn't matter anymore, unless it’s a deadline for you to pay a bill.

Rant over

OK, rant isn’t over but this doesn’t have to do with being on time.
How about that Cong. Marjorie Taylor Greene? She of the potty mouth, non-facts, crazy-lady ilk? She apparently was just thrown out of the radically radical Freedom Caucus. That’s the one that requires believing in conspiracy theories, fantasies and spewing hatred toward various groups before being eligible for membership. That’s the one group Marjorie (pardon this pun) is Taylor-made for. But, she made apparently the only transgression that gets you tossed outta that group when she insulted, inserting a filthy word for a woman, co-Freedom Caucus member Lauren Boebert on the House floor.

Last rant:

Former President Donald Trump has been impeached twice, indicted twice and lost in court to a woman who alleged he tried to rape her and defame her.  Still, Trump went out right after he lost that case and – defamed her again! There seem to be a couple more indictments on the way and Trump uses them to pilfer money from his rank-and-file supporters who think they’re giving to elect him again but actually he uses a lot of the money to pay for his lawyers – if he actually pays them and when he can find attorneys to represent him.

Trump acts like a thug from the Mafia who, during his career to this point, attacks his “enemies,” gaslights his supporters and lies like the rest of us eat potato chips.

Why is he like a Mafia boss? He uses intimidation and threats to silence critics; his willingness to use violence or the threat of violence to achieve his goals; his need to surround himself with loyal followers who will do whatever he says; his use of secrecy and deception to avoid scrutiny; his willingness to break the law to get ahead.

Can’t he just go away?  

I know it’s not in him to go away, but one can dream of the day he’s not dominating the Republican Party and driving it 180 degrees in the opposite direction of what its decades of values and beliefs have been.

Oh yeah and while we’re at it, what’s with this Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama who has put a hold on all military promotions. Right now, he’s holding up about 250. These are senior-level officers, flag officers - generals and admirals, by and large.

Why is he doing this? He objects to the defense policy that took hold after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Under the policy, the Defense Department pays for travel for a service member to get an elective abortion if one is not available where they are stationed.

The President has nominated a new chairman of the Joint Chiefs, whose appointment will fall under the hold, as does the appointment of the commandant of the Marine Corps which is pending.

Remember when the GOP supported the military and tried not to interfere with it doing its job?

Oh, and Tuberville apparently is also unhappy because the Secretary of Defense has called him only once to resolve the issue.  This is what passes for grown-up leadership in the Senate.

Rant(s) over (for now).
8 Comments

A former President indicted

6/9/2023

0 Comments

 
Donald Trump on being indicted: “I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States.”

Me either.

Throughout the various investigations of Mr. Trump’s behavior, from paying hush money to a porn star to trying to overturn a fair and free election, I’ve had this bug that it would look horrible to the rest of the world if America appeared to be putting political enemies behind bars, taking away our moral authority.

Squaring that with “no one is above the law” was difficult. And I never could square it.

The truth is that no one is above the law here and if someone is convicted of a crime, they do the punishment.

Trump’s reaction to his indictment yesterday was not shocking:
  • He ordered a satellite truck to feed out his supporters and himself to the world.
  • He cut a poorly produced video (amazingly poorly produced by the man considered the best at manipulating the media and his supporters and his staging).
  • Less than an hour after he announced his own indictment, he sent out a fund-raising letter.
Nothing has changed. He’s still the arrogant, narcissistic, deluded soul he always has been.

I know his supporters believe there is a “deep state” that has it in for him. And I know those supporters believe that a president can control what the Justice Department does.  You think they would have seen that even when Trump was president and tried to order his Justice Department to take down his enemies, they wouldn’t do it. Why? Because there was no evidence for his allegations. Some of the evidence for Trump’s indictment played out in full view of the public.

Yet, here we are.

The special prosecutor cut off various potential Trump appeals when he set the case for Florida trial, where Trump has a better chance of finding a jury pool that doesn’t hate him. That should say something about the Justice Department’s approach to this most serious case.

It’s a case that, as has been pointed out, is ironic because Trump tried to tar his 2016 opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with mishandling classified documents and pledging that would never happen if he were president.

One more lie.

Trump tries to equate his case with those of his former vice president Mike Pence and President Biden.  Those cases, though, are far from the same as his. Neither Pence nor Biden tried to withhold classified documents from their rightful owner – the government. When they were discovered, they were turned over and there's no evidence either knew they had them. Pence’s case was closed. Biden’s is still being investigated.

Trump broadcast loud and clear that he had them and they were "mine."

Two of Trump’s opponents for the 2024 presidential nomination jumped to his defense, before even pretending they’d read the facts of the indictment, which hasn't yet be unsealed.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “The weaponization of federal law enforcement represents a mortal threat to a free society.” That’s not what’s happening but if it were, it’s not unlike DeSantis’ weaponizing his state government against LGBTQIA folks or women (from whom he has taken away control of their bodies) or children (as he rewrites the history of the country and stops any discussion of gender in classrooms).

Vivek Ramaswamy: “It would be much easier for me to win this election if Trump weren’t in the race, but I stand for principles over politics.” He said if elected he would pardon Trump on his first day in office. That’s without seeing the indictment or the facts of why Trump is being charged. That’s without even the start of a trial to determine the facts. Those are his principles apparently.

Both go beyond “no one is above the law” and arrived at “I don’t need the facts. He’s innocent.”

And they want to be President of the United States and swear allegiance to the Constitution.

They are setting themselves up to use Trump as their role model.

Most in Trump’s position in the past cut a deal to avoid jail time. But Trump won't ever admit he did anything wrong.
 
I almost wish the trial would be televised. But then the Master Manipulator would turn it in a circus.

As he did the presidency.
 
 
 
 

0 Comments

McCarthy's big baby steps

5/31/2023

0 Comments

 
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has never been a favorite of mine though of all the options to be elected Speaker, I thought he was the best one. Of the options, he was the least ideologically crazy.

Being President of the United States or Speaker of the House can, for most, be a growing experience. The responsibilities of the job tend to slap you in the face when you are stepping into them.

McCarthy, thanks to the importance and ramifications of failure on the debt limit increase, is having a huge growth spurt. He’s not only winning on doing the right and only thing to do (raise the limit) but he may be growing out of the extreme leverage his right wing caucus laid on him with their deal to simplify the way to get rid of a Speaker.

Not only does it appear that McCarthy will prevail on the compromise he made with President Biden, the Freedom Caucus overnight began calming itself over its knee-jerk plan to hold a vote to rid them of  McCarthy because of what it sees as his betrayal of “conservative” principles.

It’s clear that McCarthy seems to have the votes and support on his side (not overwhelmingly). That’s not something his skeptics (me included) thought would happen. His clear craven need for the power of being Speaker, for the moment anyway, seems to have transformed into a craven, no-choice but to support the debt limit increase.

He also apparently will not lose his job over this issue, which was one of the key levers of power the rightest-wing Republicans were threatening yesterday.

It also should be a lesson that he can lead rather than follow.

That doesn’t mean he’s there yet, but he’s taking more than baby steps so far.
0 Comments

15 minutes I’ll never get back

5/11/2023

0 Comments

 


I watched the forum with former President Trump for 15 minutes before I turned it off. My wife and I returned to our behavior when Trump was on TV before: yelling at the screen, calling out his lies and BS.

I did read stories about his performance.
  • He again said the 2020 election was rigged
  • He took credit for putting on the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, but wouldn’t take a precise position himself on abortion
  • Called Jan. 6 a “beautiful day.” That’s the day men convicted of seditious conspiracy led a storming of the Capitol, resulting in a few deaths, many injuries of police, and hundreds of arrests
  • Clearly said he would pardon at least most of those who attacked the Capitol if he is elected president
  • Claimed he did not try to get the Georgia 2020 election results reversed, even though he’s caught on tape saying that.
  • Attacked a victim of sexual abuse, displaying the same behavior toward that woman that a jury convicted him of this week and assessed a total of $5 million in damages to her.
And more.

But why bother? He is never going to change. Never.

Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan in a 1980 debate with President Jimmy Carter who had just run through a series of things, some wrong, about Reagan's positions on health care:

"There he goes again."

And then I went to read a book.

0 Comments

DeSantis runs right to get ready for presidential run

5/9/2023

1 Comment

 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered at the moment the strongest opponent for the Republican presidential nomination against former President Donald Trump, has about completed his agenda in the state of Florida – an agenda most consider establishing his platform and crowning achievements to position him for his presidential run.

DeSantis is new to presidential politics but not new to politics. He has passed a right-wing agenda in Florida that is hard to square with what a majority of the country prefers. While his agenda will be very tantalizing to Republican primary voters, most pundits question how it will play favorably with a general election audience.

Among the items that DeSantis passed in Florida:

A six-week abortion ban. This goes far beyond the 15-week ban that the state enacted just a year ago. Six weeks is earlier than many women know they are pregnant. Even with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the woman, this ban makes Florida one of the most anti-abortion states in the country.

Extension of the death penalty. Florida is now the state with the lowest threshold for the death penalty. DeSantis signed a law allowing juries to recommend capital punishment with an 8-4 vote rather than a unanimous vote. He also signed a law making child rapists eligible for the death penalty, flying in the face of a Supreme Court ruling.

Gender identity, pronouns. This is an expansion of DeSantis’ “don’t say gay” law. It bans teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity, through the 8th grade. Teaching those areas is likely not in any school curriculum but it puts teachers in the position of questioning even answering student questions in a general way. This and other laws passed that affect teaching makes it difficult for teachers to even touch upon certain subjects, a regression of teaching openness that has existed for years. Teachers are left with a no-win choice: risking breaking the law or being true teachers, as they trained for.

Concealed Carry. Florida residents now may carry guns without a permit. This in the same state that had been moving toward gun safety measures after the murder of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Fla., just five years ago.

Election changes. In the especially self-serving category, another bill changes Florida law and allows DeSantis to run for president without resigning as governor. Job security to the max.

Not only is DeSantis establishing a platform that restricts rights, he secretly has been using agents form his Department of Law Enforcement to enforce his agenda.

The unit was established to protect the governor and investigate major crimes. Recently, though, they were enlisted in laying the groundwork for a politically charged operation, ordered by DeSantis, to fly border-crossers from San Antonio (yes, the city in Texas, not Florida) to Martha’s Vineyard (yes, the one in Massachusetts, not in Florida).

Florida also has passed a bill that bans transgender people form using many bathrooms and changing areas that match their gender identity on penalty of criminal trespass charges.

This all on top of banning books, banning certain high school musicals from being performed and more.

That, briefly, makes up DeSantis’ agenda for his presidential campaign. Often, GOP candidates will take right-wing positions to secure votes in a primary and then back off them when it comes to the general election. How DeSantis backs off these positions, though, boggles the mind.

When taken as a whole, DeSantis is creating in Florida an environment that bans books, stymies teachers ability to teach, pushes one culture on everyone, takes away women’s rights, takes away LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more) rights, frees citizens to carry a concealed weapon without a permit or certification they are capable to, etc. etc. and so forth.

DeSantis vs Trump. Quite a choice: a dictator-wannabe who uses the system to control people and limit their rights under the Constitution and a dictator-wannabe who ignores the Constitution to control people.

And people wonder why an 80-year-old president might be the preferred choice?

1 Comment

DeSantis descending?

4/20/2023

0 Comments

 
Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to be learning what it is to be even an “almost” candidate for President.

His poll numbers are falling; immediately after meeting with GOP congressmen in Washington, another Florida House member endorsed Trump. DeSantis had asked folks to hold off endorsements until he’s in the race. And it’s not a good look when elected Republicans from your own state endorse your opponent.
 
A few of the other challenges DeSantis has at the moment:
  • Donald Trump
  • Key items in the agenda he is passing through his legislature are opposed by a majority  of Americans (abortion, gun control, iron hand over teachers, among others).

Anything, of course, can happen before the primary season begins but for the guy who was predicted to knock off Trump for the nomination, DeSantis isn’t looking too good.

And, that’s against a guy who is the first ex-president to be indicted and arrested;  this month is facing a civil trial in which he’s accused of rape; and who just saw Fox, which was a key reason  his message got out, settled (lost) a defamation suit over its on-air personalities repeating Trump’s lies about a fixed election.

DeSantis, who is trying his hardest to make “woke” a word that will carry him to the White House, in recent weeks widened his war on the First Amendment, spoke of his desire to weaken libel laws and would make it easier to sue media outlets for defamation.

Last year, he pushed through a series of bills that banned teaching critical race theory and blocked discussions of gender preferences in his state (the “Don’t Say Gay” bill).  His moves have led schools across the state to pull hundreds of books off library shelves out of fear that teachers and librarians could face prosecution.

Among his other claims to fame, he has shepherded legislation:
  • Passing a wide-ranging tort reform bill that makes it harder and more expensive to sue insurance companies and businesses. Even Donald Trump labeled it a “bailout.”
  • Allowing permitless carry, meaning you can carry a concealed weapon in the state without a permit or training.
  • After signing into law a 12-week ban on abortion, he upped the ante and signed another bill prohibiting abortion after just six weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions. This is before many women even know they are pregnant. He signed this bill at night and released it had happened after 11 p.m. (Not exactly wanting credit, I guess.)
  • His Republican-led senate is considering a house bill that would require every K-12 school to have a policy saying it’s “false” to ascribe to anyone a pronoun that does not correspond with their birth sex, even in cases where the parents are fine with it.
  • And his weird war with Disney World continues. Other states are saying they’d be happy to host Disney if they want to move the thousands of jobs to their state. This one seems an unforced error that DeSantis keeps making.

DeSantis’ strategy so far has been to not take on Trump directly. Of course, DeSantis isn’t a candidate yet and that may or not be smart. It definitely allows Trump’s campaign to define DeSantis to primary voters that the governor wants to take away from Trump.

And, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former close advisor to Trump, is making noises about not only getting into the primary battle, but promising he will take on Trump directly, something it seems few Republicans are willing to attempt for fear of the Trump bloc of voters in the GOP.

Of course, it’s too early in the nomination battle to make any fact-based predictions, but it’s generally agreed that DeSantis is demonstrating he is not yet ready for prime time.

Nationally, more than 60 percent of voters favor abortion rights and a clear majority support gun reform, two issues that DeSantis is way out front on. 

Unclear how he walks that back for a general election.

0 Comments
<<Previous

    RSS Feed

     
    Follow @bjaycooper

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

powered by bjaycooper.com