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Desantis is a POS and needs his own thread


Gil Bang

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59 minutes ago, Horn Dog said:

Just in time for hurricane season!

So DeSantis fucked with the biggest company in the state, and now his fuckery is going to screw over developers, who have plenty of deep pockets and just want to get their projects done and none of them give an actual shit about whether the guy wielding the hammer or nail gun is here legally or not.

Jason Bateman Cotton GIF

There was a reason why for many years, Rick Perry's largest donor was a developer, and why Perry, etc., pushed guest worker programs at various times.

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Wall Street has decided Meatball Ron is a low-T sack of shit: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/08/wall-street-desantis-reelection-00093736

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Wall Street is firmly in the Never Trump camp. Finding a Republican who can make “never” happen is another question.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had been seen as the top pick to lock down the support of financial titans who have already pumped millions into his state campaigns.

But as he stumbles through gaffes over everything from his personal demeanor and stance on Ukraine to his snacking habits, Wall Street donors are keeping the door open to his competitors, according to more than a dozen bankers, attorneys and political consultants interviewed for this story.

“People will change horses,” said Dave Carney, a veteran Republican strategist for both former Bush presidents. “You may get really excited about somebody and then all of a sudden realize, ‘Eh, not really my cup of tea.’”

Where Wall Street puts its money matters because financial industry executives are among the biggest donors in presidential elections. And while bankers and asset managers generally favor lower taxes and lighter-touch regulation, they also value stability and experience — and they spread their money around to candidates of both parties, meaning they’re very much in play in each cycle.

On paper, that should give DeSantis an advantage. People close to Wall Street donors said his national profile and powerhouse fundraising operation that has included support from hedge fund titans like Ken Griffin and Jeff Yass had positioned him as most able to survive a primary with former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis’ gubernatorial reelection campaign is still loaded with cash, giving him big advantages over possible competitors. But many now say he no longer seems so formidable — at least on Wall Street.

His escalation of a feud with the Walt Disney Co. over its opposition to what critics called the “don’t say gay” law has made for a rocky rollout to an expected presidential campaign announcement in the coming weeks. On April 26, the company announced it was suing DeSantis, saying he violated its First Amendment rights — which will force him to do battle with one of his state’s largest employers in federal court.

It was “‘wait and see,’ and this is why,” said an adviser to one top GOP donor in New York, who like others interviewed for this story was granted anonymity to avoid alienating candidates. “We’re not the only ones who are happy with our decision to wait and see.”

With Trump surging in the polls following his indictment on criminal charges stemming from alleged hush money payments, one executive at a New York bank said confidence in DeSantis’s ability to win is flagging.

“DeSantis is certainly a better option than Trump at this point,” the executive said. “But he’s a really weak option.”

The executive said many are growing resigned to the possibility of a general election rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden.

“What we probably wind up with is a choice between a guy who is very old and wants to raise our taxes and reregulate everything, and a guy who could be running from prison,” the executive said.

In the meantime, any hesitation about DeSantis’s viability could be good news for Republicans who have tried to carve out space as business-friendly alternatives to Trump. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott — another South Carolina Republican who has launched an exploratory committee — have started lining their war chests with checks from major investors, according to campaign filings released in April.

During the first quarter, Haley raised about $8.3 million across her campaign, joint fundraising committee and leadership PAC. Scott, the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, raised $1.6 million and had $21.9 million on hand through his Senate committee, according to POLITICO’s analysis of his FEC filings. Those funds can easily be transferred to a presidential committee should he formally announce.

Scott is a fixture in New York, turning up for meetings at various big banks, and is beginning to draw backers at firms like Goldman Sachs. Bankers say they appreciate both his personal narrative — rising from humble beginnings — and his positive message about the power of American capitalism.

Still, Scott and Haley’s fundraising totals remain modest compared to those of DeSantis-aligned groups — one state-level committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, has more than $85 million on hand.

For many Republicans on Wall Street, “there’s a lot of concern about whether Trump will consolidate support in the polls,” said Ken Spain, a partner at Narrative Strategies who advises investment firms. “Then the concern becomes: Does that freeze money in the investor class? Do people sit on the sidelines if they think the chance of defeating Trump in a primary is diminishing?”

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who leads the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills this week that the Trump campaign’s tactics over the next two months will be “well-organized, calculated, surgical.”

“This reminds me a lot of ’16 where everybody’s trying to figure out alternatives to Trump,” he said.

Those dynamics won’t make things any easier for DeSantis, who’s been catching flak over everything from the Disney fracas — a “self-inflicted wound,” one financial industry power broker said — to his arms-length relationship with key donors and GOP allies in Florida.

“I call my donors. I call my supporters. And that’s been an issue that people have complained about with him,” said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican who has flirted with a 2024 bid.

But Scott, Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and other potential GOP nominees face their own challenges. While DeSantis has shown he can win big in a swing state, other nominees have won in Republican strongholds. Many also lack national name recognition that would put them within striking distance of Trump or DeSantis.

“Scott is pretty fantastic, and if he can perform the way I think he can he has a real chance,” said one senior banker who is trying to organize support for him. “But it’s obviously a big hill to climb.”

DeSantis allies are taking comfort in the difficulties other candidates could have in breaking through. While there’s “some hesitancy from the Wall Street Journal class,” the Florida governor’s resources should be enough to sustain any surge from non-Trump competitors, said Jason Thomas, a Republican strategist who runs a pro-DeSantis Super PAC.

Even though DeSantis has shown a willingness to wage public battles against big businesses — hardly typical of what Thomas labeled a Country Club Republican platform — Thomas said he expects financial services donors to “eventually come home when DeSantis recaptures his first-place position in the nomination process or is the nominee.”

The first executive at the large New York bank said Wall Street would love a candidate like former House Speaker Paul Ryan “or a younger Mitt Romney.”

But they acknowledged that Trump would likely obliterate any candidate from the increasingly small centrist segment of the GOP.

“We all saw what happened to Jeb Bush, who everybody up here loved,” the executive said of Wall Street donors who flocked to the former Florida governor’s 2016 campaign. “He got crushed and crushed quickly, and that would just happen again.”

DeSantis could face another problem even if he does win substantial financial industry backing: Executives say they worry that raising money or donating to his campaign would give Trump the chance to brandish him as a Wall Street lackey.

“We know everyone hates us and that nobody running for president wants to be seen as the ‘Wall Street candidate,’” the first executive said. “So you’ll probably see a lot of people just sitting this one out.”

 

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51 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Traveling Meatball …,

 

He wouldn't take a test or show proof. Which leads me to believe he was vaccinated but doesn't want to admit it.

Jesus what a piece of shit. He's really committed to the mouth breathers dying of COVID gimmick while he himself takes precautions.

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2 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

he stumbles through gaffes over everything from his personal demeanor and stance on Ukraine to his snacking habits,

 

lofuckingl

 

OMFG! Just perfect. Has there ever been a better moniker given than Meatball Ron? Fuck you Trump, but props on that one. JFC

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Would be fucking hilarious if Ron managed to fucking crater Florida's agricultural and construction industries.  I'm doubtful, but would be fucking hilarious to watch him continue to drive his political career straight into the ground.  He's going to have to get an excavator to help dig that hole he can't climb out of (then again, the hole would only have to be maybe 5 foot tops for him not to be able to climb out of).

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39 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Would be fucking hilarious if Ron managed to fucking crater Florida's agricultural and construction industries.  I'm doubtful, but would be fucking hilarious to watch him continue to drive his political career straight into the ground.  He's going to have to get an excavator to help dig that hole he can't climb out of (then again, the hole would only have to be maybe 5 foot tops for him not to be able to climb out of).

Aren’t most Cubans idiots who would still vote R no matter what?

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RE: taking on Disney.

Bob Iger was on Disney's earnings call yesterday, and he was questioned on the mess.  His answer was long and pretty pointed, and yeah, the DeSantis crowd will ignore it, but he fired a shot:

 

Quote

“Regarding Florida I have got a few things I want to say about that,” Iger declared on the record during the call. “First of all, I think the case that we filed last month made our position and the facts very clear and that is really that this is about one thing and one thing only—and that is retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation. And we believe that in us taking that position we are merely exercising our right to free speech.” 

 

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“Also, this is not about special privileges or a level playing field or Disney in any way using its leverage around the state of Florida. But since there’s been a lot said about special districts and the arrangement that we have, I want to set the record straight on that too. There are about 2,000 special districts in Florida. Most are established to foster investor development, where we were one of them. He basically made it easier for us—and others, by the way—to do business in Florida, and we built a business that employs, as we said before, over 75,000 people, and attracts tens of millions of people to the state. So while it is easy to say that the Reedy Creek Special District that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us, it is misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida. And we are also not the only company operating a special district. I mentioned 2,000—the Daytona Speedway, it has one. So do the Villages, which is a permanent retirement community, and there are countless others.”

 

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“So if the goal is leveling the playing field in the uniform application of the law or government oversight of special districts, [that] needs to occur or be applied to all special districts. There’s also a false narrative that we have been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this. But in fact we are the largest taxpayer in Central Florida. We pay more taxes, specifically more real estate taxes, as a result of that special district. And we all know there was no concerted effort to do anything to dismantle what was once called Reedy Creek Special District until we spoke out [against DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQIA+] legislation. So this is plainly a matter of retaliation while the rest of the Florida special districts continue operating basically as they were.”

 

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 “I think it’s also important for us to say our primary goal has always been to be able to continue to do exactly what we have been doing there, which is investing in Florida. We are proud of the tourism industry that we created and we want to continue delivering the best possible experience for guests going forward,” Iger concluded. “We never wanted—and we certainly never expected—to be in the position of having to defend our business interests in federal court, particularly having such a terrific relationship with the state as we have had for more than 50 years. We employ thousands of people and, by the way, we pay them above the minimum wage, substantially above the minimum wage, dictated by the state of Florida. We also provide them with great benefits and free education. So, I’m going to finish what is obviously kind of a long answer by asking one question: does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes—or not?”

 

 

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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On 5/10/2023 at 2:38 AM, atomheartbevo said:

Would be fucking hilarious if Ron managed to fucking crater Florida's agricultural and construction industries.  I'm doubtful, but would be fucking hilarious to watch him continue to drive his political career straight into the ground.  He's going to have to get an excavator to help dig that hole he can't climb out of (then again, the hole would only have to be maybe 5 foot tops for him not to be able to climb out of).

More than ten years ago there was a proto-Desantis Alabama state senator who went gunning for the illegals with cruel shit like disconnecting water lines. Dude walked around with a dead gopher toupee, and always said stupid stuff, and by stupid I mean, stupid even for Alabama.

He got what he wanted and a bunch of tomatoes rotted in the fields, while farmers with no social skills struggled to connect to a few local Americans who had no tolerance for a day without air-conditioning.

Gopher-head peaked in politics, became a talk radio host, allegedly. We have local tomatoes again.

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37 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

Didn't this motherfucker serve in the military? Does he think all that shit he was taught was woke bullshit? Jesus Christ what a clown

He was a lawyer in the military.  A reporter asked about his service at Guantanamo and how he interacted with the detainees. He flew into a rage about the question.

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9 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Wasn’t he supposed to have announced his presidency run by now? I’m starting to think that he isn’t going to run. And not by choice but that he would be hurting his 2028 chances by doing so.

He probably sees the #s and won’t, he is probably eyeing the Florida senate seat to keep his name in the next race.

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9 minutes ago, Gengs1 said:

He probably sees the #s and won’t, he is probably eyeing the Florida senate seat to keep his name in the next race.

That, and the attacks from Trump have stung pretty hard.  And he's not doing well in the fight with Disney, and there's a good chance they not only win their case, but embarrass the shit out of him (and Trump will happily pile on him).

His best option would be another office to keep his name out there.  He's still in second place to Trump though, and it's possible he thinks Trump will get taken down with the legal/civil stuff over the 9 months or so.

Plus, having to wait 5 years though is a long time in politics - another Republican darling who fights The Woke Deep State could come along and steal the spotlight.

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6 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

 

This is fine.

“Following publication of this article, Alex Lanfranconi, the education department’s director of communications, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the state has ‘many textbooks and other approved instructional materials that support our efforts to make sure our students never forget about the horrific annihilation of Jews by Nazi Germany.’”

And a little later...

”DeSantis has advanced Holocaust education while also enabling parents to effectively remove Holocaust literature they don’t like from school libraries. Florida requires Holocaust education in grades K-12, and in 2020, DeSantis signed a law requiring public schools to certify that they teach about the Holocaust. But a law passed last year allows parents to challenge instructional materials and books in public school libraries, and parents in the state have filed challenges that have led to the temporary or permanent removal of Holocaust literature on the grounds that they are inappropriate for children.”

Nice loophole he’s got there.

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On 5/9/2023 at 1:30 AM, tx 3 putt said:

Traveling Meatball …

image.gif.c0f88c08da1e622974c6f1eeb93ab4e7.gif

 

On 5/10/2023 at 1:11 AM, tx 3 putt said:

 

Who was it on the DACA thread saying immigrants were outcompeting American citizens for jobs? Let’s see who steps up 

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2 hours ago, HenryJames said:

 

I much prefer Patrick Bateman's platform:

Well, we have to end apartheid for one.
And slow down the nuclear arms race, stop terrorism and world hunger.
We have to provide food and shelter for the homeless, and oppose racial discrimination and promote civil rights, while also promoting equal rights for women.
We have to encourage a return to traditional moral values.
Most importantly, we have to promote general social concern, and less materialism in young people.

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