The Contagion of War


Armstrong Economics Blog/Civil Unrest Re-Posted Apr 23, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: You have suggested that we will end up at war with China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran simultaneously. How does Socrates conclude such an event that perhaps never happened in the past?

ER

ANSWER: Your assumption that such a thing has never happened is not correct. Periods of war of this nature unfold like a contagion of the flu. The English Civil War (1642-1652) which ended with the beheading of the King in 1649 was instigated using religion as the rallying cry.

In France, there was also an uprising that dramatically interrupted monarchy in 1648 by the uprising of a series of challenges to the absolutism of the King that came to be known collectively as the Fronde.  The Fronde (1648-1653) plunged France into civil disorder.  The king was even driven from his capital as several provinces revolted. This was a revolution demanding a right to participate in government. When the Fronde ended, the king was restored to absolute royal authority.

Of course, the Fronde may not have changed the French system of government, but it set the stage for the final French Revolution. Nevertheless, the American Revolution then spread with that spirit to overthrow monarchy becoming the France Revolution in 1789.

Throughout history, if we correlate the civil uprisings and forget about the claimed cause, we will see an amazing correlation. Throughout Europe, there was the communist revolution that spread to all the countries in 1848. When you allow the computer to correlate the world, what pops up is that the same Communist Revolution spread to Spanish Latin America, with Revolutions that appeared in New Granada that led to the fall of the government there.

Looking closer, you will see in Brazil there was the Praieira Revolt between 1848-1852. You also see the Mexican-American War, which was also in part inspired by the Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836).

If we look closely, we will see that 1848 was a”world revolution” for revolutions broke out almost simultaneously in fifty countries from Europe down to Brazil. This era created resentments that lingered beyond domestic revolution and international war just as the reparation payments demanded by the French following WWI led to the rise of Hitler and WWII. The Revolutions of 1848 set the stage for the period that continued into 1880, marking a bloody century with 177 different conflicts.

Even the American Civil War ended slavery and became a contagion that spread to Russia and inspired the 1861 termination of serfdom in Russia.

Socrates has correlated everything. I am sad to report that we are looking at a global uprising. This time, it will be our pretend democracies that are no different than authoritarian monarchies that meet their demise post-2032.

Dual Justice – IRS and FBI Finished Hunter Biden Investigation More Than a Year Ago…


April 22, 2023 | Sundance 

The context for the IRS whistleblower case of political interference in the Hunter Biden investigation gains a significant amount of context with this new revelation. According to NBC reporting the FBI investigation of Hunter Biden concluded a year ago, and the IRS investigation “completed more than a year ago.”

If the IRS and FBI completed their investigation, then where are the charges?   Now the ‘whistleblower claims’ start to make sense.

(Via NBC) – Federal prosecutors have considered charging Hunter Biden with three tax crimes and a charge related to a gun purchase, said two sources familiar with the matter.

The possible charges are two misdemeanor counts for failure to file taxes, a single felony count of tax evasion related to a business expense for one year of taxes, and the gun charge, also a potential felony.

Two senior law enforcement sources told NBC News about “growing frustration” inside the FBI because investigators finished the bulk of their work on the case about a year ago. A senior law enforcement source said the IRS finished its investigation more than a year ago.

The Washington Post previously reported that federal investigators believed they had gathered enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase.

The decision on which charges to file, if any, will be made by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and retained by the Biden administration to continue the Hunter Biden investigation. There are no indications a final decision has been made, said the two sources familiar with the matter.

The IRS Criminal Investigation division, the Justice Department, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware and attorneys for Hunter Biden declined to comment. (more)

According to the prior developments in the IRS whistleblower reporting, the “senior U.S. justice department official” who is interfering and lying under oath to congress is U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland is the unnamed official whose sworn testimony before Congress is being challenged in a bombshell letter from an IRS whistleblower’s attorney that also alleges a coverup in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation, The Post has learned. (more)

The issue stems from Garland testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss would be able to investigate the Hunter Biden issues without interference from the DOJ, and that Weiss would be able to prosecute any crimes that may have occurred outside his Delaware jurisdiction.  As the story is evolving, Main Justice is not following the process as outlined by Garland, and the DOJ is actively involved in approvals or non-approvals of the investigative process.

The whistleblower’s attorney, Mark Lytle, appeared on Fox News with Brett Baier to outline the issues at stake in the matter and why congressional approval is needed before the IRS whistleblower can give specific evidence and testimony to the committees with jurisdiction.  WATCH:

Knowing what we know about how Main Justice is being operated in the era of Joe Biden, I would not be surprised to discover that Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco is actually the main character in this DOJ manipulation.  AG Garland may be the front man giving what amounts to false testimony, but it is likely Lisa Monaco pulling the strings behind Garland that are making his congressional statements false.

A Decade After the Media Shifted Their Objective and Began Framing the Transparently Innocent


Posted originally on the CTH on April 22, 2023

CTH Admin Stella reminded me of an article written in May of 2013 when CTH was urgently, desperately, trying to awaken people to follow events to their logical conclusion as they were unfolding.  Events we chose to challenge.

At the time in 2013 George Zimmerman was under attack; then came Ferguson (Darren Wilson -vs- Mike Brown); then Baltimore Maryland (Freddie Gray -vs- Baltimore Six); but the natural alignment… the purpose of the events… was a leftist probe into weaponized narrative engineering in order to advance completely false and fabricated stories.

U.S. corporate media were testing how far they could control the outlook of Americans.

The shift in attack direction from media at the time was alarming.

No longer was U.S. corporate media content trying to excuse the transparently guilty from accountability; starting in 2012 the new-era corporate MSM attack angle was to falsely accuse the transparently innocent.

Read that again, because it was a profound difference, an inflection point.

Leftists in politics and media were probing their ability to engineer entirely false positions of guilt and establish fraudulent assertions of fact to support the framing of the transparently innocent.

This was new because media were now targeting the innocent.  In many ways what happened in 2016 and 2017, the dynamic of the Trump-Russia fabrication, was an outcome of these tests they ran in 2012 and 2013.

In 2013 CTH was trying to warn; to tell the story of where this was going to end up.  The clarion call has a similar resonance today, albeit with an increased urgency.

2013 – A Paradigm Shift is needed, urgently. It cannot be provided to you; you must develop it within your own mind – and you’d better do it quick; or you will lose.  (* Disclaimer – This post is a collaboration of thoughts from both Sharon and Sundance. Sharon has the keen insightful bits, and Sundance reflects the indignation – any curse words are Sundance’s – because Miss Sharon don’t cuss, ever.)

If you are a regular reader of this site you are generally a person who engages in intellectual discussion on daily events and more than likely a root cause thinker. This means you are able to grasp events at their cause and not at their consequence.

However, for some reason, even those who understand big picture dynamics are still comfortable sticking their heads in the sand about “motive”. Most people are still clinging to actual beliefs around a principle of ‘rule of law’ that applies to National Leadership.

You’d better change that thinking quickly – or you’ll be asking ‘what happened’ far too late.

There seems to be a willful blindness on the part of the American people, a chosen refusal to acknowledge the implications of the unAmerican and unConstititional behaviors, actions and outcomes we are being served on a daily basis.

It can no longer be presumed to be a matter of “I can’t see what’s happening” because a whole lot of normal Americans really are clean and articulate.

I can’t see it” just doesn’t cut it.

Bullsh!t! You can see it, you are just choosing to reconcile the irreconcilable because it is more comforting to ignore the truth of it. You are scared:

    • You are scared of being labeled
    • You are scared of being belittled
    • You are scared of being Alinsky’d.
    • You are scared of being targeted.
    • You are scared because you have never been here before.
    • You are scared of being right.

Just be honest. Avoidance has become your survival mechanism.

It’s more along the lines of “I see what’s happening, but it’s scary and complicated and confusing, and if I admit that I see it, I will become responsible in a way that I am not if I keep pretending I can’t see it or hear it or maybe I don’t understand it.”

Our Republic has become Kitty Genovese screaming in the darkness, being assaulted repeatedly and viciously, while onlookers sitting in the darkness startle onto their feet–some trying to reach for phones or light switches while others try to hush them, accusing them of exaggerated reactions.

The screams reach some homes where the residents look nervously and silently at one another, really hoping that someone else will call the cops, because obviously something really bad is happening out there.

Now, like then, you, like those people in New York, look around and say well someone is going to do something about this usurpation of power and unconstitutional action. So you pull the comfy blankies of historical public leadership reference over your head, cover your ears, block out the sights and the sounds, and do nothing.

You don’t even accept the fact a woman, Lady Liberty, our republic, is being repeatedly stabbed, carved up and her flesh torn from her body. She is bleeding on your grass and her bloody hand prints are on your trees and sidewalks. You know it, yet you lie there.

Doing what? Really? If not you,….. WHO? Who is “them”?

Remember the visual illusions on big cards, (Rorschach tests) just black and white splotches that required you to “stare just right”– and when you did, you could see the ink-drawn cow in a snow drift? That’s the one we grew up with–yours might have had palm trees in it or something else. But you stared hard, knowing that eventually you would see a clear picture —ah! There it is! For just a minute, but you saw it there–for just a minute.

How many are sitting in the midst of this implosion still believing that if they stare hard enough at the national mess they will still see a Constitutional government and a Representative Republic?

Well, stare as long as you want. The details of a Constitutional Representative Republic will no longer come into focus because it turns out that the Republic was apparently stitched together with dissolvable thread like the surgeons use.

Why don’t we dare say what is so? Are we a bit afraid that if we give up the willful blindness we will perhaps start screaming and not be able to stop? Do we think we have so little courage? Do we really believe that we have no resources to bring to the battle? Or nothing more to contribute to the turning of the battle?

There are patriots who some might say resemble one of those slightly mad orchestra conductors who keep yelling, “More trumpet! More TRUMPET!” Many of you are such slightly mad orchestra leaders. Don’t be alarmed by some of the strange looks you are getting these days.

What is the source of this passive willingness that accepts illegal activity behind phrases like “they wouldn’t do that….” when they obviously are doing it?

In 1974, Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She lay in a California closet in her wet and smell for days that turned into weeks. Finally, it made sense in what was left of her 19 year old mind to pick up an M-1 carbine and carry it into a bank to assist the SLA with an armed robbery. Passive willingness, no matter how troubled underneath, is a choice: there’s something that’s being purchased by the passivity –and something that’s being traded away for it. Transactions are happening.

Why do normal Americans get swept into accepting these somewhat silent transactions that result in their cooperation with those who care nothing for our Constitutional Republic? (Be sure of this–they really don’t mind if we disagree, if we vent, if we vote, even if we organize…as long as they get to keep doing what they are doing. They really don’t mind us. At all. Isn’t that obvious by now?)

But back to the question–why do the silent transactions happen? Perhaps because the alternative to passive willingness is active refusal–and there it is: the price tag for active refusal may actually be quite high–and will often be perceived of as just being too high–and besides that, is an unknown.

There’s a deep deception involved with survival instinct that prevents a true comparison from being made between what’s being gained and what’s being lost as judgments are made (often by default) in the midst of confusing and threatening events. Patty Hearst’s M-1 probably bought her a momentary sense of safety in her personal world gone crazy.

Those whose hold on power depends on deception are always able to find an audience of those willing to be deceived. Now, the audience of those willing to be deceived is a flexible group in terms of numbers and identities. Even those who have been in that audience for some time may one day walk away from it.  However, what is it that makes folks stay in that audience? What price are they afraid of paying? What deception are they unwilling to let go of?

While we use the word passive to describe this “willingness to continue in deception,” this is not an experience shaded in peaceful lavenders, mint greens and dappled sunlight. This is the deadly passivity of muscles that no longer fire; tiny electrical charges that no longer leap from one synapse to the next.

This is as passivity says: “I won’t begin resisting, because I know that once begun, I must continue. Rather than assert myself and perhaps fail (or get really scared), I will sustain myself where I am trapped. I will muffle my moans so as not to risk exposure and I will call it self-control. Winston Churchill would have called it cowardice but I will call it pragmatic caution.”

It’s desperately necessary for our survival that we become disillusioned–and quickly.

…It’s desperately necessary for our survival that we become disillusioned–and quickly!

Support CTH Here ]

Our ally right now is anyone who stands beside us.  Our enemy is anyone who doesn’t.

The new sons and daughters of the revolution are going to look completely different. The Green Dragon Tavern may be a church, a park, a picnic table or a tailgate. The assembly is not focused on the labels of the assembled.  This mission is the purpose. The fight is wherever it surfaces.

INTERVIEW – WORLD WAR 3 IS WHAT “THEY” WANT AND ARE ON TRACK TO GET IT


Armstrong Economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Apr 22, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

The Peoples President – Following GOP Speech, President Trump Stops for Pizza in Downtown Fort Myers Florida – Full Videos


Posted originally on the CTH on April 22, 2023 | Sundance 

President Trump was in Lee County Florida Friday night, speaking at the GOP dinner in downtown Fort Myers {RSBN Direct Rumble Link}.

After the speech, President Trump stopped into a local pizza shop, and the place erupted in fun and joy.  Yes, in Southwest Florida, this is deep red MAGA country!

Nobody, I mean no republican politician in our lifetime, has ever been this good at retail politics.  Pure authenticity, pure fun, pure joy.  The crowd loves President Trump and President Trump loves the people.  Good stuff.  WATCH:

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The full video of the GOP speech is below:

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Representatives Steube, Mills and Donalds Leave Fox News Hosts Crying on Air for Their Beloved DeSantis – Video


Posted originally on the CTH on April 21, 2023 | Sundance 

Oh, this is funny.  Rupert Murdoch’s little foot soldiers, Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino, hosted three Florida Republicans on their broadcast to explain why they support Donald Trump and not Ron DeSantis.  Fox News has big sad.

Congressional Republicans Greg Steube, Cory Mills and Byron Donalds all explain why President Donald Trump is the better choice in 2024.  Bill Hemmer pleads with them to evaluate how brilliant Ron DeSantis is, but Donalds, Mills and Steube brought the MAGA hammer.   Epic Video. WATCH:

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IRS Whistleblower Lawyer Outlines Issues with U.S. Govt and DOJ Interfering in Hunter Biden Investigation – Media Reporting Attorney General Merrick Garland Lied to Congress


Posted originally on the CTH on April 20, 2023 | Sundance

According to the latest developments in the IRS whistleblower reporting, the “senior U.S. justice department official” who is interfering and lying under oath to congress is U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland is the unnamed official whose sworn testimony before Congress is being challenged in a bombshell letter from an IRS whistleblower’s attorney that also alleges a coverup in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation, The Post has learned. (more)

The issue stems from Garland testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss would be able to investigate the Hunter Biden issues without interference from the DOJ, and that Weiss would be able to prosecute any crimes that may have occurred outside his Delaware jurisdiction.  As the story is evolving, Main Justice is not following the process as outlined by Garland, and the DOJ is actively involved in approvals or non-approvals of the investigative process.

The whistleblower’s attorney, Mark Lytle, appeared on Fox News with Brett Baier to outline the issues at stake in the matter and why congressional approval is needed before the IRS whistleblower can give specific evidence and testimony to the committees with jurisdiction.  WATCH:

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Knowing what we know about how Main Justice is being operated in the era of Joe Biden, I would not be surprised to discover that Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco is actually the main character in this DOJ manipulation.  AG Garland may be the front man giving what amounts to false testimony, but it is likely Lisa Monaco pulling the strings behind Garland that are making his congressional statements false.

New York Judge Tells Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg His Office Must Testify to Congress


Posted originally on the CTH on April 20, 2023 | Sundance

Political DA Alvin Bragg was smacked down pretty hard by a New York judge Wednesday, telling his office there is no legal mechanism to avoid accountability and testimony before congress.

The DA office took federal funds to prosecute Donald Trump, the DA office is interfering in a federal election, the DA office has openly stated their intentions are politically motivated, and therefore the DA office has no standing to try and avoid federal legislative scrutiny.

As Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil clarified to Bragg’s team, she has no standing to block a legislatively authorized congressional subpoena.

New York – […] “The sole question before the Court at this time is whether Bragg has a legal basis to quash a congressional subpoena that was issued with a valid legislative purpose.  He does not,” Vyskocil wrote in her decision Wednesday.

Bragg, a Democrat, has accused Jordan of pursuing the subpoena to score political points while supporting Trump, a Republican. Vyskocil said the dispute appeared political, but said that did not impact her decision.

“In our federalist system, elected state and federal actors sometimes engage in political dogfights,” Vyskocil wrote in her order, noting that Bragg is an elected official. “Bragg complains of political interference in the local DANY case, but Bragg does not operate outside of the political arena.”

“Jordan, in turn, has initiated a political response to what he and some of his constituents view as a manifest abuse of power and nakedly political prosecution, funded (in part) with federal money, that has the potential to interfere with the exercise of presidential duties and with an upcoming federal election,” Vyskocil wrote.  “The Court does not endorse either side’s agenda.”

The subpoena to Pomerantz demands his appearance before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. It is unclear if he will appear. A spokesperson for Bragg said Wednesday, “We respectfully disagree with the District Court’s decision and are seeking a stay pending appeal.”

Vyskocil denied Bragg’s request for a stay Wednesday night. (read more)

Two-Tiered Justice, IRS Supervisor Says Political Intervention Taking Place to Protect Hunter Biden – Requests Whistleblower Protection


Posted originally on the CTH on April 19, 2023 | Sundance 

An IRS supervisory special agent with information about intervention, mishandling and ‘political interference’ in the ongoing criminal probe into Hunter Biden is seeking whistleblower protections to share the information with Congress. Apparently, the deep state “theys” are protecting Hunter Biden and the IRS agent has had enough.

WALL STREET JOURNAL – WASHINGTON—An IRS supervisor has told lawmakers he has information that suggests the Biden administration is improperly handling the criminal investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and is seeking whistleblower protections, according to people familiar with the matter.

A letter sent to Congress on Tuesday says a career Internal Revenue Service criminal supervisory special agent has information that would contradict sworn testimony by a “senior political appointee.” The supervisor also has information about a “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case,” according to the letter.

The supervisor has details that show “preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject were not politically connected,” according to the letter. 

The letter says the supervisor has been overseeing an “ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject since early 2020,” which it doesn’t name. The investigation at issue is into the younger Mr. Biden, the people familiar with the matter said.  (read more)

The Bloom Is Off The Ruse – President Trump Gains Ten More Florida Republican Congressional Endorsements, DeSantis Has One – Rep Greg Steube Explains Why


Posted originally on the CTH on April 19, 2023 | Sundance 

Another three endorsements for President Trump today from the Florida congressional delegation, bringing the total so far to ten with more anticipated.  Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in Washington DC seeking support.  DeSantis is warmly greeted, but President Trump gets the endorsements.  What’s going on?

Republican Congressman Greg Steube gives an explanation below about the Ron DeSantis Floridians know, but nationally most do not.

DeSantis is an out-of-touch aloof persona, who generally projects himself as better than others.  In person he projects an arrogance and condescending personality trait also carried by his insta-selfie supporters and ‘influencers.’ It comes through the camera lens.  Everything constructed around DeSantis is fake, even the fake blue-collar handshakes that have to be photo-shopped to give a common man impression.

The donors are pouring in hundreds of millions to pay for the fake DeSantis constructs, Top Gov brand imaging and Madison Avenue illusions, but you cannot purchase authenticity, and you cannot rewrite the history of who DeSantis is.  Greg Steube explains:

[I]n a brief interview last night [Steube noted] that DeSantis has never once reached out to him during his five years in Congress nor replied to his multiple attempts to connect. He recalled a recent news conference dealing with damage from Hurricane Ian where the governor’s aides initially invited him to stand alongside DeSantis, only to tell him that he wouldn’t be part of the event when he showed up.

Trump, on the other hand, was the first person Steube remembers calling him in the ICU to wish him well after he was injured in a January tree-trimming accident. “To this day I have not heard from Gov. DeSantis,” he said.

Things suddenly changed last week, Steube said, as Trump started rolling out his Florida congressional backers. ”For the first time ever, I hear from DeSantis’s political person,” he said, referring to aide RYAN TYSON, who reportedly contacted other Florida Republicans about their endorsements.

For Steube, the outreach was too little, too late. And he continues to have sharp words for DeSantis, criticizing him for his robust political travel schedule amid a busy legislative session and just months after winning a new four-year term.  “Floridians want him focused on Florida,” he said, “which is the job they elected him to do.” (read the entire article)

Like I said last year, once people get to see Ron DeSantis up close, his disdain for people just jumps out at you.  He loves standing at the podium telling you what’s wrong with you, and what is brilliant about himself; however, he just doesn’t like people in an authentic or natural way you would expect from executive leadership.

The same disconnected snobbery applies to everyone his team has recruited.

Ken Cuccinelli and Jeff Roe are two of the biggest self-important jackasses in national politics. They don’t carry an ounce of humility or introspection.  They are always right, and the problem is it just takes too long for everyone to come around to admitting how great they are.  This is the character of DeSantis that flows through everyone he associates with.  Here’s an example from one of the ‘influencers” a few days ago.

This Twitter account is connected to both Representative Thomas Massie and DeSantis campaign official Christina Pushaw:

That tweet encapsulates the worldview of the average Ron DeSantis supporter in Florida.

This is why the overwhelming majority of the Florida Republican delegation, will not endorse him.  These outlooks are toxic and elitist.  Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis did not wear elbow length silk gloves at the noon-time inauguration day event accidentally.  Casey already went shopping with Cindy McCain and has her 2024 tiara picked out.

As I keep saying, there are not enough people who take Instagram pictures of their lunches to make Ron DeSantis a viable candidate. The polo club, cocktail party circuit of people who eat crustless triangle cucumber sandwiches and look down their noses at everyone else, is just not a large enough coalition to win DeSantis the nomination.  It means he will have more money; however, factually, the professional donor class is annoying with the level of self-righteousness and condescension they promote.

WASHINGTON DC – […] In yet another blow to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s not-yet-official presidential bid, two more Republican members of Congress from his own state are gearing to endorse Donald Trump for another term. Reps. Gus Bilirakis and Carlos Gimenez are each planning to announce their support for the former president this week, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell TIME.

Their pledges continue something of a downward spiral for DeSantis, who has been steadily losing ground in the endorsement battle for legislators from his own backyard. The development is even more noteworthy after his political team recently tried to stop the bleeding by asking Florida Republicans to refrain from endorsing Trump.

Bilirakis and Gimenez have also committed to be at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach on Thursday night, as the former President hosts members of the Florida delegation who have already endorsed him, including Reps. Matt Gaetz, Anna Paulina Luna, Cory Mills, and Greg Steube. It’s not clear yet whether Reps. Byron Donalds and John Rutherford, who have also endorsed Trump, will be at the gathering.

Neither Bilirakis nor Gimenez responded to requests for comment. Rep. Brian Mast, another Florida Republican, has also told associates he plans to formally back Trump in the coming days. And on Wednesday, Rep. Vern Buchanan officially thew his weight behind Trump. TIME reported last week that Buchanan was planning to endorse Trump in the coming days.

All of their endorsements will bring Trump’s tally of members of Congress from Florida to ten, whereas DeSantis has just one, Rep. Laurel Lee, who announced her support for the governor on Tuesday. Before winning her House seat last year, Lee served as DeSantis’s first Secretary of State. (read more)

Lance Gooden (R-TX) – “Today, after careful consideration and a positive meeting with Governor DeSantis, I have decided to endorse President @realDonaldTrump for 2024.”

Rolling Stone – […] “Over the past few years, the Florida governor has risen to Trump’s top internal rival without even declaring his candidacy. And part of that rise has been fueled by his pull with the GOP’s megadonor class, who prefer him to Trump because, while he brings a similar set of MAGAfied policies, he has not, to date, attempted a coup. That wellspring of financial support has been instrumental in fueling his rise, but the investments are predicated in large part on a belief that he can take down Donald.

That belief seems to be wavering, as the donor revolt has been brewing since at least last month. And it’s not just skittish donors like Richard Uihlein or Thomas Peterffy, who went public with his complaints last week. Several other top donors to DeSantis were livid about the governor referring to the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute,” with at least one major donor calling DeSantis to urge a walk-back, a source with knowledge of the outreach and another person briefed on it say. “My understanding is that the message was: ‘If we wanted a fucking MAGA candidate, we would donate to Donald Trump,’” the second source says.

[…] Those polling troubles may be giving some megadonors second thoughts. Sources familiar with Schlitz Brewing heir and shipping titan Richard Uihlein’s thinking told NBC News that the “brakes are pumped” with the megadonor’s DeSantis giving after the governor’s lackluster polling has given some “pause” about his viability.

Other conservatives have taken to predicting that DeSantis is potentially the second coming of Scott Walker, another Republican governor and conservative-media darling who many thought would be the favored candidate in a presidential primary — only to flame out before any ballots were cast. (read more)