Year: 2023
Christie: Trump’s ‘Bravado’ Is ‘Baloney’
“He’s going to have to be mugshotted, fingerprinted and he’s going to face a criminal trial in Manhattan, and he’s not going to be able to avoid it. You can’t make that a good day under any circumstances.”
Former Gov. Chris Christie told ABC News the “bravado” displayed by Donald Trump after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury is “baloney.”
Why Republican Interest in DeSantis is Falling
“You can insert your guess here as to why DeSantis has slumped so badly. His evasions and reversals on the Russian war in Ukraine? Trump’s hits on the governor’s votes against retirement benefits, culminating in a seven-figure anti-DeSantis ad campaign by a pro-Trump super PAC? Some X factor of personality or charisma—or the lack thereof? Or are observers looking in the wrong direction? Maybe it was not DeSantis who deflated, but Trump who rose—boosted by advance news of his imminent indictment. … Whatever the reason, Republican interest in the DeSantis brand of Diet Trump has dwindled.”
— David Frum
Half of States Don’t Require a Permit to Carry a Gun
25
New York Times: “In Kentucky, Ohio, Nebraska, Texas and Virginia, Republicans have pushed this year to limit gun-free zones, remove background checks and roll back red-flag laws that seek to remove firearms from those who are a danger to themselves or others. Missouri last year enacted a measure that made it illegal for local law enforcement to cooperate with federal authorities in many gun investigations …. In 25 states, no permits are required to carry a handgun — nine more than in 2020.”
Record 56% of Americans Say Local Crime Is Up
56%
Gallup: “Americans are more likely now than at any time over the past five decades to say there is more crime in their local area than there was a year ago. … The 56% of U.S. adults who report an increase in crime where they live marks a five-percentage-point uptick since last year and is the highest by two points in Gallup’s trend dating back to 1972.”
Fox News CEO: Fact-Checking Trump Is ‘Bad for Business’
“This has to stop now. This is bad for business and there is a lack of understanding what is happening in these shows. The audience is furious and we are just feeding them material. Bad for business.”
— Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott in an email to Meade Cooper, executive vice president of prime time programming, regarding correspondent Eric Shawn fact-checking then-President Donald Trump’s lies after the 2020 election, reports CNN.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Ain’t Done Much for Floridians
TIME magazine has an insightful piece on how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ focus on culture wars has obscured his terrible record on accomplishing much of anything positive for the residents of his state. The essay is written by William Kleinknecht, a political journalist and author of “States of Neglect: How Red-State Leaders Have Failed Their Citizens and Undermined America.”
Here’s an excerpt from “No One Is Talking About What Ron DeSantis Has Actually Done to Florida”:
Even a cursory dip into the statistics of social and economic well-being reveals that Florida falls short in almost any measure that matters to the lives of its citizens. More than four years into the DeSantis governorship, Florida continues to languish toward the bottom of state rankings assessing the quality of health care, school funding, long-term elder care, and other areas key to a successful society.
Florida may be the place where “woke goes to die”—as DeSantis is fond of saying—but it is also where teachers’ salaries are among the lowest in the nation, unemployment benefits are stingier than in any other state, and wage theft flourishes with little interference from the DeSantis administration. In 2021, DeSantis campaigned against a successful ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage, which had been stuck at $8.65 an hour. Under DeSantis’s watch, the Sunshine State has not exactly been a workers’ paradise.
