Month: March 2023

Ron DeSantis Hates People

Pensito Editors

Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis

The Daily Beast: “At any given fundraiser or VIP room where he’s present, Ron DeSantis is usually easy to find—in the corner, keeping to himself.

“Despite having a job that entails exchanging small talk and pleasantries on a daily basis, the Florida governor tends to brush off those obligations and struggles with basic social skills, according to a source close to DeSantis, several of his former staffers, and other GOP operatives who have worked with him and his team.

“As DeSantis gears up for a potential White House run in 2024, his aloof public persona is being thought of by his rivals—namely, former President Donald Trump—as his Achilles heel in the retail politics-heavy early primary states.

“And even though he hasn’t announced a bid yet, DeSantis’ apparent desire to test the waters of a presidential campaign—while barely dipping a toe into the aspects he recoils from—is already being put to the test.”

Frum: Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already?

Pensito Editors

From former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum at The Atlantic:

DeSantis will be a candidate of the Republican base, for the Republican base. Like Trump, he delights in displaying his lack of regard for everyone else. Trump, however, is driven by his psychopathologies and cannot emotionally cope with disagreement. DeSantis is a rational actor and is following what somebody has convinced him is a sound strategy. It looks like this:

1. Woo the Fox audience and win the Republican nomination.
2. ??
3. Become president.

Written out like that, you can see the missing piece. DeSantis is surely intelligent and disciplined enough to see it too. But the programming installed in him prevents him from acting on what he sees. His approach to winning the nomination will put the general election beyond his grasp. He must hope that some external catastrophe will defeat his Democratic opponent for him—a recession, maybe—because DeSantis is choosing a path that cannot get him to his goal.

Rubio Distances Himself from DeSantis’ Ukraine Remarks

Buck Banks

“I don’t know what he’s trying to do or what the goal is. Obviously, he doesn’t deal with foreign policy every day as Governor. So I’m not sure. I can’t speak to that. I can’t compare that to something else he did or said over the last few years because he doesn’t deal with it every day.”

— Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, distancing himself from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ apparent flip-flop on the war in Ukraine, on the Hugh Hewitt radio show.

House GOP to Target 37 Dem Seats in 2024

Buck Banks

37

“The National Republican Congressional Committee is plotting a sprawling battlefield in 2024, naming 37 Democrat-held House districts to its initial list of targets,” Axios reports. “It’s an ambitious strategy in a presidential year, when House results are often closely correlated with top-of-the-ticket margins. The last three presidential elections — all close by historical standards — saw flips of six to 14 seats in the House.”

Tennessee’s Anti-Drag Hysteria Started in a Rural Town 90 Miles West of Memphis

Pensito Editors
2022 Pride Parade in Jackson, Tenn.
2022 Pride Parade in Jackson, Tenn.

Tennessee Lookout: “In fall of 2022, nearly a dozen political and religious leaders met with Pride festival organizers in a back room of Jackson City Hall in West Tennessee. The shared goal? Hash out a deal over a drag show.

“Jackson’s third annual LGBTQ Pride festival was scheduled for the following month, and unlike the previous years, the event had grown beyond the usual music and games. Organizers had put together enough money for a 10-person drag performance.

“Jackson is a town of 70,000 in Madison County, Tennessee, located about halfway between Nashville and Memphis on Interstate 40. The county reliably leans Republican, while the city is more split, going 50/50 in the 2020 Presidential election.

“The city hall meeting was a dramatic affair, with Pride organizers storming out after a conservative pastor likened men dressing up in women’s clothing to blackface, but negotiations continued. Afterward, state lawmaker Chris Todd sued the city to stop the event. When that was only partially successful, he spearheaded the effort to create one of the nation’s first restrictions on drag performances.”

MAGA Billionaire Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund Withdrew Its Deposits from Silicon Valley Bank Before It Shut Down

Pensito Editors

Business Insider: “Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund had no cash left in Silicon Valley Bank by Thursday as it began to unravel, Bloomberg reported.

“A source told Bloomberg the PayPal cofounder’s fund had moved to close its exposure to the failing bank after running into problems using SVB’s services.

“The venture capital group had been engaging in a ‘capital call’ — where it asked investment partners to send funds to invest in a company — by transferring funds to its Silicon Valley Bank account. However, the funds didn’t immediately go through as expected.

“Following the withdrawals, the fund no longer had any exposure to SVB as of Thursday morning, the unnamed source told Bloomberg. It wasn’t clear whether the transfers happened on that day, or earlier.”

Is Biden Even Electable?

Buck Banks

80%

“The irony of all this ceaseless chatter about Trump’s electability is this: 80 percent of adult Americans would prefer that President Biden not seek re-election. Eighty percent. That is a staggering statistic. And there’s more: Roughly 60% of Democrats would prefer the party nominate someone other than Biden next year. … If 80% of the nation and 60% of Democrats prefer that Biden not seek re-election, a case could be made that Biden is unelectable.”

— John Ellis