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DeSantis descending?

4/20/2023

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.

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A national trial separation?

4/11/2023

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A week or so ago, Cong. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Crazytown) called for a national divorce between the country’s red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states. Truth is, it feels like we’re going through a trial separation already.

For example:

Tennessee Republicans expelled two young Black Democratic state legislators from the chamber because the pair protested on the floor and used a bullhorn to support protestors outside who were calling for the legislature to pass gun control measures after the killing of three nine-year-old’s and three adults at a Memphis school days before. The Republicans did it, basically, because they could. A 60-ish White woman who joined the pair in the protest was not expelled (Republicans said she never used the bullhorn).
The most recent (at least as of my posting this blog) mass shooting was in Louisville, Kentucky, where a young man wielding a just legally purchased AR-15. At an emotion-filled press briefing at noontime today Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer at University of Louisville Health, said he was “weary” of the gun injuries and death he’s seen and that his hospital needed do nothing different to handle this week’s shooting because they handle so many shooting victims every day. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenfield called on the Kentucky legislature to allow the state’s cities to deal with gun violence on their own.
A Texas federal judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, ruled that an abortion pill, approved two decades ago by the Federal Drug Administration after a vigorous study, and in safe use since then, suspended that approval citing rhetoric used by the Pro-Life community and not basing his decision on the science. The judge has worked for First Liberty Institute, a Christian conservative legal group and while there he submitted an amicus brief for a Supreme Court case about a Washington law mandating pharmacies to provide contraceptives. The pro-lifers shopped for that judge because they knew how he’d rule. Judgement not by facts and science but by beliefs and fiat.
In Florida, the legislature is passing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda – actually what some say will be his presidential campaign’s platform - to, among other things, ban gender studies at the college level, limit the use of transgender pronouns in K-12 schools, and extend a ban on teaching about gender and sexuality from third up to eighth grade. The majority Republican legislature also passed a bill that bans trans student athletes from playing in the sport of the gender and legalizes genital inspection when someone has determined an athlete’s gender is in question. And DeSantis signed a bill that, as of July 1, permits residents to carry concealed guns without a permit. There’s more, but let’s leave it there for now.

All these things are about authoritarian control and U.S. politics. What’s good in Florida for DeSantis, for example, likely could help him in Republican primaries for the presidential nomination and sink him in a general election. It’s hard to see him dancing to a middle-of-the-road position in a general election after all the things he’s doing to, uh, for Florida.

Dr. Smith said it best (and I’m sure you’ll see him featured prominently on the news today) when he said he is “weary” from the gun-related injuries he’s had to handle. Louisville’s was the 146th mass shooting this year, already. We haven’t even reached the middle of April.

The Republican Party, and some Democrats, fealty to the gun lobby is past its expiration date. The country wants action on guns. It has wanted it for a very long time. Soon it will show up more in election results.

Same with abortion. Many top legal minds are saying that Texas ruling will be overturned (but with some hesitation because of the makeup of the Supreme Court of the United States). The abortion pill has been used by hundreds of thousands of women, since it was approved by the Federal Drug Administration yet the judge said it is a danger to women.

The country, by a good majority, supports abortion rights. We witnessed some of that effect in last year’s mid-term election when the GOP failed to gain much of a majority in the U.S. House.
Many news outlets used the phrase “civil war” to describe Cong. Green’s call for a “national divorce.” An incendiary phrase.

Still, pay attention to what’s going on around the country, not just in Washington. Red-state governors are feeling emboldened to call for and support no further limits on guns, to end the choice that women had for 50 years when it comes to abortion, and to limit voting rights. Blue-state governors are buying the abortion pill to stockpile it while the court cases continue and trying to protect against guns and protect voting rights.

That’s all happening right now.

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DeSantis descending?

A national trial separation?

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