Frum: Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already?

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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.

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

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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

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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.”

Fascist Congresswoman to Introduce Resolution Declaring Anti-fascist Antifa a Terror Group

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The Hill: “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said on Sunday that she will be introducing a resolution to declare Antifa as a terrorist organization on Tuesday, after blaming the group for protests at a police training facility in Atlanta.

“’Antifa are domestic terrorists and I’m introducing my resolution to officially declare them a terrorist organization on Tuesday,’ she tweeted on Sunday.

“A progressive group called “Stop Cop City” has been protesting against the new training facility being built in the wooded parts of Atlanta since plans for it were announced, arguing it will promote the militarization of the police and may result in environmental concerns…

“Greene blamed the far-left organization Antifa for the incident on Twitter, though she did not offer any evidence that Antifa was behind the protests on Sunday.”