Categories
Elections GOP Polls

Ron DeSantis’ Political Future Looks More Uncertain Than Ever

There was a time not so long ago when Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis was seen by many in the GOP as a rising star who might even have a chance at one day becoming president of the United States.

But those days are long gone. DeSantis has repeatedly mishandled the COVID pandemic in his state, causing his support among senior citizens (a key voting block in the Sunshine State) to wane right as he’s gearing up to seek a second term in office next year.

And now more bad news has arrived for DeSantis in the form of a poll from St. Pete Polls which shows him running dead even with the likely Democratic nominee, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.

According to the poll — which was commissioned by Florida Politics — DeSantis looks vulnerable:

“The poll found the incumbent Republican Governor and the potential Democratic challenger both taking about 45% of the vote. A close look shows DeSantis winning 45.2% to Fried’s 44.6%, a difference far smaller than the survey’s 2.2% margin of error.

“The poll finds DeSantis holding 76% Republican support, while Fried has less than 72% among Democrats, showing the incumbent performing better with his own base. But 46% of independents favor Fried, compared to 42% who prefer DeSantis.”

In a closely divided state like Florida, independent voters are the key to winning, and they favor Fried, which is very bad news for DeSantis, who has also been an ardent and vocal supporter of failed, one-term former President Donald Trump. Trump is not seen positively in much of the country, especially among independent voters or the elderly. That raises a larger question: With Trump now calling Florida his home and holed up at Mar-a-Lago, could DeSantis’ connections to the former president be politically detrimental to him as he seeks reelection?

If Fried does indeed announce a run for governor and become the Democratic nominee, she would be a formidable opponent for DeSantis, whose popularity is falling.

Even though the 2022 election is still over a year and a half away, polls are clearly showing that DeSantis can be beaten. And given his own propensity for making the wrong decision no matter the issue, his popularity will likely continue to decrease.

Florida may be on the verge of turning blue. That’s very bad news for the entire Republican Party.

 

Categories
Gun Crime Gun Nuts U.S. Senate WTF?!

Ted Cruz’s Solution To The Mass Shooting Problem: Imprison The Mentally Ill

Now that the problem of mass shootings and gun violence are back on the front page as a result of what transpired in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday, the debate has begun once again on the issue of sensible gun control.

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, there was a great deal of talk about possibly banning assault weapons such as the one used by the Boulder shooter, strengthening background checks for gun buyers, and other reforms that have sadly been discussed thousands of times before whenever innocent people are slain by a weapon of mass murder.

But something Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said during the hearing was especially chilling, not only because it suggested just how deeply in debt Cruz is to the gun lobby, but also because it called for putting people with mental illness into prison if they are caught with a gun.

Specifically, Cruz remarked:

“The senator from Connecticut knows that is false, and he knows that’s false, because Sen. [Chuck] Grassley and I together introduced legislation … targeted at violent criminals, targeted at felons, targeted at fugitives, targeted at those with serious mental disease to stop them from getting firearms and put them in prison when they try to illegally buy guns.”

So now mental illness will be a crime instead of a disease? On antidepressants? You can buy a gun, but you’ll be sent to prison if you do under Cruz’s deeply flawed logic.

Also, Cruz’s comments completely ignore the real problem that exists in this country: There’s too many damn guns! Does anyone actually believe that more guns is the answer to the problem of gun violence? That’s absurd! It makes no damn sense whatsoever. But it does allow Cruz and his GOP colleagues to continually suck on the teat of big gunmakers who are only too happy to buy U.S. senators if that’s what it takes for them to remain in business. Apparently, money trumps human life when it comes to Cruz and his ilk.

If Republicans cannot rationally discuss the gun problem in this country, maybe it’s time we make them the permanent minority party.

 

Categories
GOP History Racism

Mitch McConnell Gets Taken To The Woodshed For Trying To Paper Over The GOP’s Racist History

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) thought he’d try and rewrite the history of his party on Tuesday, but he immediately got smacked down by the facts about the GOP which are written in bigotry and hatred.

During a debate on whether or not to eliminate the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, McConnell said the procedure — through which one senator can bring all business in the upper chamber to a screeching halt — had not been used in the past (by Republicans) to delay passage of civil rights legislation in the 1950s:

“It has no racial history at all. None. There’s no dispute among historians about that.”

That’s a lie, and McConnell said it knowing damn well it was a lie.

History shows that the longest filibuster ever held in the Senate was made by the blatantly racist GOP Sen. Strom Thurmond in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957, speaking continuously for 24 hours and 15 minutes to prevent black Americans from having the same rights as whites.

Steven S. Smith, a political scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, explained the use of the filibuster by Republicans during the bad old days:

“The histories of the filibuster, civil and voting rights, and race in America are intertwined.”

How racist is the history of the Senate filibuster? It was once used to block anti-lynching bills. That is the shameful past of the procedure McConnell tried to paper over.

Fortunately, however, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance of Alabama was quick to counter McConnell, noting:

When he started getting criticism, McConnell’s office tried to walk back what he’d said:

For those who aren’t familiar with the full history of the Republican Party, it was once the Party of Lincoln. But then Richard Nixon was elected, followed by Ronald Reagan (who railed against “welfare queens” in a blatant attack on African-American women), and later was the party of choice for Donald Trump, who called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and suggested that anyone who dared to protest was a hoodlum or an “animal.” The GOP has become the party of bigotry and racial hatred. And the filibuster is part of that legacy, despite what McConnell or any other revisionist historian tries to assert.

How can you tell when someone is a racist? When they deny their own past, their support of bigots, and their cozy relationship with neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and white separatists.

Nice try, Mitch, but you’re just as full of shit as ever. And you’re also a terrible liar.

Categories
Social Media

Cardi B Outrages Conservatives By Posting Lewd Photos Of Melania Trump On Twitter

Perhaps you heard about how deeply upset some right-wingers were with a performance by Cardi B when she performed the song “WAP” at an awards show in a manner that some found objectionable, even though it was well within the parameters of what’s allowed on television.

However, rather than turn the channel and mind their own business, people such as Candace Owens took to social media and began whining as if someone had just plunged hot daggers into their eyes and then danced in celebration. Owens posted this:

And that, according to The Independent, is where things got really interesting:

“Naked photos of Melania Trump published on Twitter by Cardi B during a clash over her Grammys performance don’t violate the company’s terms of service, according to a company spokesperson.

“The rapper posted a full-frontal nude photo of the former first lady as her clash with conservative commentator Candace Owens spilt over from Fox News onto Twitter.

“A spokesperson for Twitter told The Independent that while the company has a non-consensual nudity policy that would see an account immediately suspended, images previously published with the person’s consent would not be against those rules.”

In response, Cardi B wrote this:

No! Candy, men treat women on how a woman allows a man to treat them.I mean look at Melania she was a porn star however she didn’t allowed Trump to treat her as so or shame her for her passed and made her into a First Lady & the mother of his child

I don’t know why candy is so bothered by WAP.I was just inspired by our former First Lady ?. Anyways congrats on your new show I hope you speak more about WAP I need it to reach a new Audience to go 6x platinum. Any exposure will help .Love you candy 

Here’s a sample of the photos Cardi B posted:

https://twitter.com/iamcardib/status/1371970277152727040?s=20

Melania Trump once worked as a nude model. That’s just a fact. And yet you don’t hear conservatives raising holy hell about that, do you? But when a grown woman (who also happens to be African-American) dares to dance or perform in a suggestive way, suddenly a different standard applies.

It’s hard to know which to be more upset about, the hypocrisy or the blatant racism. Conservatives specialize in both.

 

Categories
Justice Department Supreme Court U.S. Senate

Justice Department May Reopen Investigation Into Alleged Misconduct By Brett Kavanaugh

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is demanding that the Justice Department and FBI reopen their investigation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, The Guardian reports:

“The FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been ‘fake.’

“Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor who serves on the judiciary committee, is calling on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate ‘proper oversight’ by the Senate into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.

“The supreme court justice was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford and faced several other allegations of misconduct following Ford’s harrowing testimony of an alleged assault when she and Kavanaugh were in high school.”

Whitehouse’s allegations about the FBI investigation of Kavanaugh drew immediate reaction on social media, where many suggested the justice needs to be examined for all of his prior behavior:

https://twitter.com/everyone_blue/status/1371845863505588233?s=20

https://twitter.com/dambaras/status/1371845591978938376?s=20

If Kavanaugh truly has nothing to hide, he should welcome Sen. Whitehouse’s call for a real FBI investigation. But he won’t.