Category Governor Ron DeSantis

Apr 11 2023

Team DeSantis Focused on Creating Astroturf Attendance for 2024 Campaign Rallies


Posted originally on the CTH on April 10, 2023 | Sundance

As team Ron DeSantis prepares for the national launch of a 2024 presidential bid, one of the campaign’s primary areas of concern is the need to create optics representing support and momentum.

As noted by comments delivered to the Washington Post by DeSantis PAC organizers:

[…] DeSantis allies are acutely aware of Trump’s still-strong influence and appeal in the Republican Party. A senior member of Never Back Down has said the group will be heavily involved in building crowds for DeSantis, in part because of Trump’s fixation on crowd size and the expectation that a front-runner candidate draws big audiences, according to a person familiar with the comments.

“If you’re DeSantis, you have to desperately avoid the small room with Jeb Bush asking attendees to please clap,” the person said, referencing a viral moment from Bush’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016. (read more)

The last several weeks have been very rough for team DeSantis as noted by Politico:

[…] On the same day Trump was indicted in an alleged hush money scheme, the Florida governor was posing with puppies at a pet adoption event as his aides instructed reporters to leave.

“This is deja vu all over again,” said Terry Sullivan, who ran Marco Rubio’s 2016 campaign for president. “Trump dominates media coverage, making it impossible for his competitors to get any coverage or forward traction.”

The Republican presidential primary was always expected to revolve around Trump. But post-indictment, as Republicans rally to his defense — including, crucially, conservative talkers on Fox News — Trump’s opponents are confronting an even more damaging dynamic in race: Their inability to break through at all.

“It feels like fucking 2016,” said a Republican strategist who supports DeSantis and was granted anonymity to speak freely about the dynamics of the race. “Is there anything that can suck up as much political oxygen in the American political landscape as Trump? I don’t think so.” (read more)

FLORIDA – Former president Donald Trump is now leading Florida governor Ron DeSantis in a hypothetical 2024 head-to-head matchup among likely Republican voters in the Sunshine State, according to a new poll from Victory Insights.

The survey shows Trump winning support from 46.6 percent of likely voters, while DeSantis notched support from 31.8 percent of voters. Another 21.6 percent of likely voters said they are undecided. The results mean Trump has enjoyed a 25.7 point swing in his favor since Victory Insights conducted a similar poll in November, when Trump formally announced his campaign and DeSantis was riding high from a landslide reelection win. At the time, polling showed DeSantis with a 10.9-point lead over Trump in Florida.

“Five months later, things have changed substantially,” Victory Insights senior pollster Ben Galbraith said in a statement. “Several other candidates have announced their candidacies, and Trump has been indicted and arrested in a highly politicized move by the Manhattan DA. DeSantis still hasn’t officially announced his candidacy, but his messaging, book tour, and PAC activity certainly point to a presidential run in the coming months.” (more)

Apr 6 2023

Entirely Apropos – Team DeSantis Promote 2024 Endorsement from Thomas Massie that Massie Himself Doesn’t Promote – Because He’s Positioning to Replace the AWOL Mitch McConnell


Posted originally on the CTH on April 5, 2023 | Sundance 

Sometimes the apropos of the thing is just too much fun to notice.  Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is missing in action ever since his slip and fall/concussion a few weeks ago (insert shades of prior HRC issues here).  The conspicuous absence of media questioning his continued absence is a little odd for a DC that loves to notice such things.

Meanwhile, sniffing the possibility of enhanced career aspirations amid the political winds of incapable McConnell, Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, sees Ron DeSantis as a vector to electoral elevation.  Except, there’s a funny thing.

While Erin Perrine of Team DeSantis is quick to promote the endorsement for her managed Florida governor, a review of Representative Massie’s Twitter rapid-fire messaging doesn’t show the endorsement.   Thirsty DeSantis, with slipping polls, contrasts against a teeth-clenched Massie with political aspirations….  We laugh, because it’s, well, perfect!

Meanwhile, moments ago, in other contextual sunlight, Fox News human cabbage patch doll Bret Baier, leads off the GOPe/Murdoch Fox News narrative engineering with the 6:00pm promotion of Glenn Youngkin. LOLOL… These cats are just too transparently funny.

Am I being a little hard on the “conservative leader” Thomas Massie, probably. But the reason is really breaking the cycle of insufferable battered conservative abuse.

Massie was an attendee at the Four Seasons DeSantis three-day donor retreat last month in Palm Beach.  [See tweet from event] Apparently the allure of the Sea Island billionaire funding mechanism can permeate fiscal senses. I digress…

Additionally, Massie likes to rail against government spending, even recently using his opposition to the 2020 Paycheck Protection Program, as an example of his conservative bona-fides.

Now, it is true the urgently rushed PPP program was abused by some 10% of the employers who used it as a tool to defraud the U.S. government amid the urgent spending during the COVID-19 lockdowns and crisis.

However, 90% of the PPP program went directly to honest and earnest small businesses who were shut down and needed a lifeline to help their employees.

When President Trump and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin realized that employees of small businesses were going to get crushed by the lockdowns, most of which were determined in scale, scope and duration by the states, they knew something rapid and urgent was needed to support those employees. Big corporations could take the hit, but small businesses were extremely exposed. The Paycheck Protection Program was the way to help ‘Main Street’.

The PPP program was targeted directly to banks, small banks, local banks and credit unions that support the small businesses. In a brilliant bit of administrative red-tape cutting, Trump and Mnuchin used the FDIC program to backstop the banks and give the banks the ability to lend to the small businesses without risk.

Small businesses were able to go to their local bank and get an immediate infusion of cash to keep their payrolls afloat, while the FDIC program was used as a mechanism to send the funds to the banks. Tens of millions of American employees of small businesses benefited from the continuation of their paychecks during the lockdowns. Without that PPP program, millions of lower to middle-income workers would have no paycheck.

Yes, there was fraud and abuse by lying, scheming and conniving business owners who took advantage of the PPP program for their own financial gains. However, that doesn’t mean the PPP program didn’t protect and support tens of millions of people.

High-horse Thomas Massie would have allowed those people who live paycheck-to-paycheck and are employed by small businesses to be crushed without income. Thankfully, Trump and Mnuchin, together with support from congress – avoided that catastrophic outcome. The quick thinking about how to cut through the bureaucracy was a net benefit.

So yeah, Massie and his principles that would have allowed people to go hungry, can go spit.

Apr 2 2023

Trump v DeSantis


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Apr 1, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: I thought you were supporting DeSantis. Are you switching to Trump?

SH

ANSWER: This is not about Trump even as an individual. A lot of people hate him for being arrogant. Put personal issues aside. If we are civilized, we do not condemn a person because we do not like him. All of that is absurd. True, I was asked to meet with Trump to talk him out of running in 2024. They wanted me to meet with DeSantis and the story was he was a better “administrator.” My reply was that I preferred that DeSantis stay right here for they would eat him for lunch in DC.

Even Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr has criticized the indictment, calling it a “disgrace” and a “political hit job.” Barr was certainly no Trump fan.

True, I did not think Trump would win in 2024. There were just too many people who drank the cool-aid to get rid of him so they could do precisely what they are doing right now – climate and war. I am speaking objectively here and NOT in a political endorsement capacity. The headlines going into 2024 will now be all about Trump. Will that drown out any other potential candidates? These are the serious questions we must deal with. Some Democrats think this will guarantee their win in 2024 even if it is Biden again.

As for all the people who hate Trump and are too blind to look at this objectively, Bragg has crossed the line. This will open the door for Republican prosecutors to do the same to Democrats. This can easily collapse into political civil war at the highest levels. That will only contribute to Socrates’ forecast that the USA will probably not exist as soon as 2028.

This has NOTHING to do with Trump as a person. Open your eyes! This was a VERY dangerous move and it made no sense. All of these charges and investigations about Trump are insane. They will never change the minds of those in both camps. They are preaching to the choir as they say. The Democrats behind all of this should have left Trump alone. He would have faded into the sunset. Constantly attacking him has been also part of the Democratic strategy to tear down the Republic Party as a whole.

What I do not like is what our computer is projecting. All of this leads to just political chaos. Some believe this is a diversion created by the Neocons so they can instigate World War III while people are focused on Trump. All my sources now confirm they have brought their agenda forward for war.

So while you focus your hatred on Trump, they are coming for everything that has been on the Neocon wish list for decades. The arrays are NOT my personal opinion. That is just irrelevant. I have never been able to beat Socrates. The Arrays will be the Arrays whether or not we like the outcome. Also, Socrates has already projected the 2024 election before this absurdity.

DON’T FORGET – the 2024 Election Will Not Be NORMAL!

Apr 2 2023

REMINDER: The Foundation of DeSantis 2024 Is Built on a Ridiculous Lie


Posted originally on the CTH on April 1, 2023 | Sundance 

I had completely forgotten about this, until someone reminded me today. It is worth revisiting.

If you have followed the management and branding efforts of the team around Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the protestations today by campaign official and registered foreign agent Christina Pushaw are quite bizarre.

The Daily Beast wrote an article [SEE HERE] about how Ms. Pushaw organized an astroturf campaign of support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which included the recruitment of several conservative influencers.  The substance of the article is generally well known.

In late 2021, early 2022, Ms. Pushaw invited a group of “influencers” to spend time with Governor DeSantis.  It’s not a debatable event. Factually, the collective group took gleeful pictures of their first visit on January 6, 2022, and continued to post frequent pictures on their social media of events throughout last year.  The group went to the reelection celebration and inauguration of DeSantis earlier this month.

However, for some odd reason, likely more concerned about people realizing the ‘organized‘ nature of the creation, in a bizarre turn of events, Ms. Christina Pushaw is now denying she ever organized the assembly and stating that without any documentary evidence, saying she organized the group is just a conspiracy theory. [Tweet Link]

If Ms. Pushaw is to be believed, the random group of Florida conservative “influencers” just happened to show up at the Governor’s office on January 6, 2022, without any invitation, organization or coordination on her part.

Even lacking the invitation details, hanging your defense on the absence of a paper trail under these circumstances seems like a very odd position to take.

Why does the DeSantis team fear sunlight on the origin of how this outreach and subsequent meetings took place?  Very odd.

I sincerely doubt this group just randomly showed up at Ron DeSantis’ office, on January 6, 2022, without an invitation or organizing.

The same group then continued meeting throughout the year….

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Nothing about their recruitment, continued meet-ups and aggressive promotion of Ron DeSantis for the GOP nomination in 2024, would be that interesting or even noteworthy if Ms. Christina Pushaw didn’t paint them all into a box by denying she ever organized their first assembly.

And there’s the rub…  Why is Christina Pushaw denying that she first organized them on behalf of the political aspirations of her boss, Ron DeSantis?

The only logical reason to make such an outlandish and transparently false claim, is if that original assembly was intended as seed material to use the “influencers” for another purpose, like a 2024 presidential bid.  Yet, Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced a 2024 presidential bid…. so that issue is a nonstarter, unless that announcement is eventually going to come forth.

If Ron DeSantis is going to announce his candidacy for the GOP nomination, then suddenly all these background moves look like proactive steps on behalf of the management team.  The January 6, 2022 meeting would then infer the presidential aspirations as far back as December 2021.

In combination with the $200+ million in Wall Street money assembled by DeSantis, perhaps that 2024 plan is the risk necessitating the absurd denial.

[Daily Beast Article Here]

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They all just randomly showed up to hang out with DeSantis.  Yep, that’s the story and Pushaw is sticking to it.

For those interested, central planning and organization is the difference between “organic support” and “astroturf.”

Slava Ukraine!

Apr 1 2023

Team DeSantis Expand Astroturf Operations – Hire Team Cruz and Team Youngkin, Immediately Begin Fake Push Polls


Posted originally on the CTH on March 31, 2023 | Sundance 

Everything about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is shallow fakery and manipulative astroturf.

The term “astroturf” is given whenever a political operation attempts to generate the illusion of support where little to no support exists.   Astroturf politics is pure fabrication and highlights the smallness of the candidate for whom the astroturf operation is conducted.

In republican national politics we saw astroturf operations around Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz in 2016, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the same individual’s surface again as hired by Team DeSantis to create his 2024 astroturf campaign.  Yesterday’s trip by the meatball to Georgia was pure astroturf, complete with free DeSantis ’24 swag, t-shirts, and various freebies in order to support the artificial optics of the campaign [see video at end].

With the support of Jeb Bush and Karl Rove, team Meatball has hired former Cruz and Youngkin campaign officials to help generate and enhance his illusion.  They even hired people skilled in manufactured polling [WPA intel] to create false data for media to promote. This action comes on the heels of the meatball’s instructions to state senate allies for them to change Florida law, thus permitting him to run without resigning.

WASHINGTON – […] The upper ranks of Never Back Down, a group founded by former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli, will include top strategists to Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign, a top adviser to Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 Virginia gubernatorial campaign and senior communications aides involved in former president Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential run, according to a person familiar with the plans, who, like others in this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private arrangements.

The sheer firepower of the senior team suggests that Never Back Down — which will be able to accept donations of unlimited value and transfers from DeSantis’s state political committee — will have a more expansive role in the 2024 campaign than past presidential super PACs, which have traditionally focused almost exclusively on television and digital advertising.

[…] Phil Cox, a senior adviser to the 2022 DeSantis reelection campaign who has been a point of contact for Republicans hoping to support a White House bid, will serve as a senior adviser to Never Back Down, the person familiar with the plans said. He will work with Axiom Strategies President Jeff Roe, the architect of the 2016 Cruz campaign and the 2021 Youngkin campaign, whose role with the group was disclosed last week.

Kristin Davison, an Axiom consultant who has worked as a top adviser to Youngkin, will join the group as chief operating officer, working with Chris Jankowski — a Virginia strategist who has worked with Cox — who has taken the title of chief executive.

[…] Chris Wilson, a Republican pollster at WPA Intelligence, will lead the data efforts for Never Back Down. He worked on Youngkin’s gubernatorial campaign, and served as director of research, analytics and digital strategy for the 2016 Cruz presidential campaign.

David Polyansky, Axiom’s chief strategy officer, will also join Never Back Down as a senior adviser. He previously worked as a senior adviser to the 2016 GOP presidential campaign of former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, as top adviser to the Cruz presidential campaign and as a Senate chief of staff to Cruz.

[…] On Monday, Matt Wolking, a deputy communications director for Trump’s 2020 campaign who works at Axiom, announced on Twitter that he was joining the group. (read more)

Right on cue, today Meatball spox Matt Wolking starts promoting a Meatball WPA Intelligence poll for NBC to promote.

The coordinated astroturf effort is extremely visible, and makes the meatball look smaller than a spaghetti-o.

Next up is an exceptional video explanation by Randy of what happened in Georgia yesterday.

Everything noted in the ‘on-the-ground’ video in Georgia is describing pure astroturf.

If Casey DeSantis had any shame or humility, she would be embarrassed for her Meatball.  However, as Casey takes counsel from Cindy McCain while shopping for tiaras and drapes, the general optics are that Mrs. Meatball is one of the biggest pushers of the 2024 enterprise.

Mar 31 2023

Bad Timing – Today Florida Senate Schedules “Resign to Run” Legislative Change to Support Ron DeSantis 2024 Announcement


Posted originally on the CTH on March 30, 2023 | Sundance

Timing is everything, and the timing here is simultaneously transparent and inappropriate.

Today the Florida Senate scheduled a change via committee vote of the “Resign to Run” law for next Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 2:00pm.   The intent of the change is almost certainly to permit Governor Ron DeSantis to formally announce his 2024 candidacy without having to resign his job as governor.

Source Links: [FL Senate 7050 Legislative Bill]   – [ Bill pdf Here]

Irony: Florida law change scheduled today, same date as Trump indictment announced. Florida law change committee vote scheduled Tuesday 4/4/23, same date as Trump traveling to Manhattan for his arraignment.

Mar 31 2023

Bunker Boy Gets a Redo


Posted originally on the CTH on March 30, 2023 | Sundance 

Before entering his latibulate phase, Bunker Boy Ron DeSantis transmits his political redo:

(Source)

A couple of notes.  First, notice how the statement is an assembly of every point Bunker Boy was previously criticized for not making (good job Karl).  Second, notice the account he used this time (good job Pushaw).   Lastly, SAY HIS NAME!

It was not part of their blood,
It came to them very late,
With long arrears to make good,
When the Saxon began to hate.

They were not easily moved,
They were icy — willing to wait,
Till every count should be proved,
Ere the Saxon began to hate.

Their voices were even and low.
Their eyes were level and straight.
There was neither sign nor show
When the Saxon began to hate.

It was not preached to the crowd.
It was not taught by the state.
No man spoke it aloud
When the Saxon began to hate.

It was not suddenly bred.
It will not swiftly abate.
Through the chilled years ahead,
When Time shall count from the date
That the Saxon began to hate.

~ Rudyard Kipling

Mar 31 2023

Team DeSantis Say They Have Been Hoodwinked by Disney Inc. as Orlando Board Changed Covenants Before New Officials Appointed


Posted originally on the CTH on March 30, 2023 | Sundance 

Apparently, the Florida takeover of the Walt Disney Co. Reedy Creek special development zone has run into a snag.  As normally happens in such events, within the battle of wits the government will always lose; that’s ultimately why they need guns.

Days before the five DeSantis appointees showed up to take control of Walt Disney World zoning board in Orange County, the former board held a public hearing to codify pre-existing rules and covenants extending for “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of the declaration.”  Essentially, the new board is moot, except for deciding on roadways and bridges.

As a result, a long and protracted legal battle is now anticipated, which will likely cost Florida taxpayers millions in lawyer fees as the appointees of the board try and challenge the construct put into place prior to their arrival.   Either that, or the board will be reduced to a weekly meeting for coffee and donuts as they discuss things of minor relevance to the district.

FLORIDA – […] Ahead of an expected state takeover, the Walt Disney Co. quietly pushed through the pact and restrictive covenants that would tie the hands of future board members for decades, according to a legal presentation by the district’s lawyers on Wednesday.

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s new Board of Supervisors voted to bring in outside legal firepower to examine the agreement, including a conservative Washington, D.C., law firm that has defended several of DeSantis’ culture war priorities.

“We’re going to have to deal with it and correct it,” board member Brian Aungst Jr. said. “It’s a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern.”

Disney defended its actions.

“All agreements signed between Disney and the district were appropriate and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” an unsigned company statement read. (read more)

Meanwhile…  The economic priorities of the residents of Florida linger unattended.  Working class Floridians being absolutely crushed with massive inflation and unavoidable increases in the cost of living.  Ultimately, perhaps this is a telling forecast of what might happen on a national scale if RdS ever gained higher office.

Today Florida’s Zelenskyy is visiting a Georgia gun store to promote his new book.

(Politico) – […] There’s a trip to Pennsylvania and Long Island this weekend followed by a reported visit to Tennessee early next week. DeSantis is scheduled to be at Hillsdale College in Michigan — yes, the same institution the governor wants New College to emulate — for a panel discussion, reception and dinner on April 6.

The middle of April includes stops in Ohio and crucial early primary state New Hampshire. And the end of the month is coming into focus as well: DeSantis is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Utah Republican Party convention on April 22. Puck reports that DeSantis will be in Austin, Texas, that same evening for a reception and dinner hosted by Jon Lonsdale and his wife Taylor. The report says that business and political contacts of Lonsdale, an investor and co-founder of Palantir, are expected to attend.

Then, DeSantis will head to Jerusalem, Israel, for just his second trip abroad since becoming governor in 2019. Amid the recent turmoil in the country, DeSantis will talk about the importance of the U.S.-Israeli relationship during a April 27 speech at the Jerusalem Post and Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem. (link)

Mar 25 2023

President Trump Talks to Newsmax About Ron DeSantis and Election 2024


President Trump called in for an interview with “Rob Schmitt Tonight” on Newmax discussing the potential (politically-motivated) indictment by Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg, the 2024 campaign, thoughts on Ron DeSantis and the failing administration of Joe Biden.  Here’s the segment {direct Rumble Link} about Ron DeSantis with the full interview below.  WATCH:

Posted originally on the CTH on March 25, 2023 | Sundance | 101 Comments

Mar 24 2023

Full Piers Morgan Interview With 2024 Candidate Ron DeSantis – Video


Posted originally on the CTH on March 24, 2023 | Sundance

If I did not know the background of Ron DeSantis; if I did not have an exhaustive research library on the activity behind Ron DeSantis; if I was not aware of how the professional Republican establishment creates the ‘illusion of choice’; I would watch this interview with a generally good sense about Ron DeSantis.

However, unfortunately for the professionally Republican political class, we do know how they operate, and we are able to see the strings on the marionettes.  So, when the selected and managed product of their three-year strategic plan says about fundraising, “I deal better with regular people,” we are able to call it as nonsense with accurate data to highlight the lie.

94% of all Ron DeSantis’ money comes from Wall Street, hedge fund managers, billionaires and multinational corporations.  Only 6% comes from small donors, or what you might describe as “regular people.” {LINK}  Additionally, you don’t spend 3-days with billionaire donors at Four Seasons donor retreat in Palm Beach, followed shortly by 3-days at a Club for Growth donor retreat in Miami, and then get to claim you “deal better with regular people.”  This is just a lie.

There are parts of this interview that many readers here will agree with.  There are also many parts of this interview that readers might take exception to.  But the entirety of the hour long, mostly softball, Rupert Murdoch organized interview, is based on three years of carefully managed constructs.  WATCH

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