Old Mar-A-Lago Man Yells At Cloud
Golly:
DeSantis should just keep quiet and let this petulant man-child destroy himself. This is the worst of Trump: an inverse proportion between ego and maturity. Or ego and tact. Or ego and courage. Or ego and just about any good quality you expect in a man of stature.
See, this is why a meaningful number of people who aren't liberal, and who aren't Never Trumpers, just can't bring themselves to vote for the man. I know this is old news, but damn, his bitter attacks on DeSantis, a proven winner who can govern (and can govern without all the stupid drama), are a fresh reminder of just how crazy Donald Trump is. And yet, if he's the 2024 nominee, I'll probably vote for him, in the same way I would vote for the unfit Herschel Walker in Georgia, because some of what the Democrats stand for is simply evil. Not just mistaken, but evil. Even someone as decadent and hapless as Donald Trump is not as bad for America as the race-dividers, baby-aborters, and child-transitioners.
But I hope I don't have to make that choice again. I hope I don't have to put on my car the bumper sticker, "Vote For The Douchebag, It's Important". I'm 55, and the first presidential election I voted in was 1988 (I was a lib then, and voted Dukakis, the first and the last Democratic presidential candidate I voted for, except for Wendell Berry as a 2008 write-in). Ever since then, with the exception of Pat Buchanan in the GOP primaries, every Republican I've voted for in a presidential race got my vote because he wasn't a Democrat. Seems to me like Ron DeSantis 2024 would be the first Republican presidential candidate I voted for positively -- that is, because I liked him, not because he wasn't a Dem.
I've been wondering how DeSantis is going to get past Trump in the primaries. I'm now starting to think that Trump is going to take care of that problem by destroying himself in his rage.
By the way, if you're not a Simpsons fan from way back, you might not get the joke in the image above. Here's where it comes from:
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UPDATE: Holy cow, look at this new thing from Trump:
"Sounds Chinese"? Er, wow. This is just amazing to watch. Why the hell attack Youngkin? The crazy, it burns.
This I don't get. Of course you wouldn't vote for a Democrat. But if the Republican cannot clear the bar of acceptability (and a guy who coerces mistresses into getting abortions should not be able to clear that bar for anyone sincerely pro-Life) then how can you vote for that candidate either? Vote for a minor party candidate, or for no one (and too bad we don't "None of the above" as an option) . I've done exactly that, in a congressional race where the Democrat was a crook an the Republican a loon-- I voted for a guy I had known in high school running as an independent. Voting for anyone with an "R: (or a "D") beside their name is how we get the mess we're in, and candidates like Donald Trump.
I really don't understand the distinction Rod is drawing here between "Never Trumpers" and "people who aren't liberal [but] just can't bring themselves to vote for the man." I'm not liberal, except in the classical sense; I'm pro-2nd Amendment, low taxes, low spending, want to see a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine, trans-skeptical, against affirmative action, etc., which is enough to exile me from the modern liberal camp. But I would never vote for Trump.* Am I a Never Trumper?
I do recognize that establishment Republican policy is a dead end, particularly its disastrously mismanaged foreign wars and acceptance of economic stagnation for the working class so long as the investor classes see growth. If Trump is the cure for this, though, then he's worse than the disease. Is a Never Trumper someone who not only rejects Trump, but adheres blindly to the failed Republican policies that gave rise to him?
* OK, I would vote for Trump over Richard Spencer or Tommy Curry. But not over anyone who could conceivably be nominated.