Tag Archives: early voting

Jun 5 2023

BIG QUESTION and A BIG COVERUP – Durham Report Brings Sunlight on Detail Never Released by IG Michael Horowitz About FBI Targeting Trump


Posted originally on the CTH on June 4, 2023 

I’m going to go into the deep weeds on this story, because many people are missing a key facet.  The names behind the Trump targeting operation are included, along with citations for independent checks by House congressional investigators.

Inside the recently released report by John Durham [CITATION], the special counsel outlines how former FBI Director James Comey was intimately involved in the creation of the Carter Page FISA application.  Durham notes that Comey kept asking the DOJ National Security Division and FBI counterintelligence investigators, “Where’s the FISA, we need the FISA.”  However, John Durham never interviewed James Comey or Andrew McCabe.  The former FBI Director and Deputy refused to cooperate or give testimony to John Durham.  So, how did John Durham have details about the demands of Comey?

The answer is found in the footnotes.  Durham reviewed transcripts of interviews given by Andrew McCabe to the Office of the Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, who previously investigated FBI conduct in the origin of the Carter Page FISA.  Durham pulled quotes from that transcript. [Footnote #1207, page 199 – Durham Report]

♦QUESTION: If Andrew McCabe gave testimony to the OIG about the motives and impetus of FBI Director James Comey in pushing for the Carter Page FISA application, why did the OIG report never outline those transcribed interviews?  Why was the interview transcript never included in the 2019 OIG report?

[ NOTE to Congress.  Now that you know a transcribed interview of Andrew McCabe exists in the OIG office, request the transcription and release it to the public.]

Let me answer those questions without the customary pretending from the DC professional political class.  The short version is that OIG Michael Horowitz was trying to protect the DOJ and FBI. The longer version is a coverup that includes Rod Rosenstein, Bill Barr and yes, John Durham.  I will share that story below.

“Where’s the FISA?  We need the FISA?” ~ James Comey

The DOJ-NSD and FBI CoIntel needed to find a safe and legal way to spy on the Trump campaign. The 2016 FISA Title 1 surveillance of former FBI employee Carter Page became the fraudulent justification for that intent.

Because “FISA Title I” surveillance authority against a U.S. citizen is so serious (the U.S. government is essentially calling the target a spy), only a few people are authorized to even apply for such surveillance warrants.  One of the four people authorized to make such a Search Warrant request is the Asst. Attorney General as head of the National Security Division of the DOJ.

In September and October of 2016, at the same time the DOJ was putting the finishing touches on the FISA Court application to be used against Carter Page, Asst. Attorney General John P Carlin resigned as head of the DOJ-NSD. [CITATION] Did Carlin resign in protest or fear?

Here’s context:

Carter Page was used as a UCE (FBI undercover employee), responsible for the bust of a high-level Russian agent in 2013 – and remained a UCE – throughout the court case of Evgeny Buryakov, a Russian citizen who U.S. prosecutors say posed as a banker while participating in a Cold War-style spy ring. [CITATION]

Carter Page was an FBI undercover source for the FBI UP TO May of 2016.   How was it possible that on October 21st, 2016, Carter Page is put under a FISA Title 1 surveillance warrant as an alleged Russian agent?  Conclusion: Carter Page wasn’t a Russian agent. The DOJ National Security Division and the FBI Counterintelligence Division knew he wasn’t.

In order to manufacture the justification for the Carter Page FISA warrant, the DOJ-NSD and the FBI flat-out lied to the FISA Court.  Remember, IG Horowitz said there was no ‘Woods File’ in the Carter Page FISA application. Instead of the required section substantiating and citing all the claims in the application, the FBI used the Chris Steele Dossier.

However, as to the motive of John Carlin resigning before the application was completed and submitted, we look back to the March 2016 DOJ Press Release of the guilty pleading in the Evgeny Buryakov case as announced from the New York office:

…”Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and John P. Carlin, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, announced”…  (link)

DOJ-NSD head John Carlin obviously could not submit a FISA application against Carter Page, accusing him of being an “agent of a foreign government,” when just a few months earlier he used Carter Page as a witness and FBI UCE source in the case against Buryakov.

As James Comey is demanding that Andrew McCabe and his FBI counterintelligence agents get the FISA warrant, likely an ass covering necessity, the person responsible to get the warrant from the court, John Carlin, quits the DOJ.  Considering all the facets outlined above, this cannot be accidental.

Here’s where it gets SERIOUSLY sketchy.

The next in line person, who can fulfill the DOJ/FBI goal of getting the fraudulent application through the FISA court, is Mary McCord.  Put into the position as Acting Asst. Attorney General for the National Security Division, the job of submitting the FISA application now falls upon Mary McCord.

On October 21, 2016, When the FISA application was finally submitted, signed by DAG Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey, it was Mary McCord who did the actual process of filing the application and gaining the Title-1 surveillance warrant.

At the time the Carter Page application was filed (October 21, 2016), Mary McCord’s chief legal counsel inside the office was a DOJ-NSD lawyer named Michael Atkinson.  In his role as the legal counsel for the DOJ-NSD, it was Atkinson’s job to review and audit all FISA applications submitted from inside the DOJ.  Essentially, Atkinson was the DOJ internal compliance officer in charge of making sure all FISA applications were correctly assembled and documented.

Obviously, with the background and context of the entirely fraudulent Carter Page FISA application, a government surveillance warrant using a Clinton funded political opposition research file known as the Steele Dossier to support the warrant, both Mary McCord and Michael Atkinson would know they were directly involved in an intentional effort to weaponize the mechanisms of the justice department against a political candidate.

While James Comey and Sally Yates’ signatures were on the FISA application falsely vouching for it, the attestations of legal compliance fall upon DOJ-NSD head Mary McCord and her top legal advisor Michael Atkinson.  McCord and Atkinson are doing, in October of 2016, what former DOJ-NSD head John Carlin refused to do.

WATCH WHAT COMES NEXT: Mary McCord then resigns from her position in the DOJ, and Michael Atkinson is left, as lawyer for the DOJ-NSD, to become Inspector General of the Intelligence Community.

♦ The Impeachment Effort – Do you remember how the impeachment effort against President Donald Trump was created?  Do you remember Alexander Vindman, the claims about Ukraine; the statements of hearing from a CIA whistleblower about the content of a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy?

When the anonymous CIA whistleblower complaint was filed against President Trump for the issues of the Ukraine call with President Zelensky, the Intelligence Community Inspector General had to change the rules for the complaint to allow an anonymous submission.  Prior to this change, all intelligence whistleblowers had to put their name on the complaint.  It was this 2019 IGIC who changed the rules.

Who was the Intelligence Community Inspector General?  Michael Atkinson.

When ICIG Michael Atkinson turned over the newly authorized anonymous whistleblower complaint to the joint House Intelligence and Judiciary Committee (Schiff and Nadler chairs), who did Michael Atkinson give the complaint to?  Mary McCord.

Yes, after she left main justice, Mary McCord took the job of working for Chairman Jerry Nadler and Chairman Adam Schiff as the chief legal advisor inside the investigation that led to the construction of articles of impeachment.   As a consequence, Mary McCord received the newly permitted anonymous whistleblower complaint from her old office colleague Michael Atkinson.

Can you see how Atkinson and McCord are working together, both connected to the fraud behind the false FISA application used in the Trump-Russia narrative in 2016 and 2017, now both working together on a 2019 impeachment effort against President Trump holding an identical motive?  Can you see the stunning conflicts of interest and the coordination?

The weaponized FISA surveillance of the Trump administration doesn’t exist without Mary McCord and Michael Atkinson creating the surveillance mechanism.  The weaponized impeachment origin doesn’t exist without McCord – now in congress working for Nadler/Schiff – and Atkinson changing rules as CIA Inspector General, to create the baseline of a fraudulent whistleblower complaint.   Can you see it? 

But wait…. It gets worse.

♦ Chief Justice John Roberts – As if things could not possibly be more corrupt, now we have the construct of Atkinson and McCord forming the predicate for the impeachment effort.  To wit, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts now becomes the presiding judge over the impeachment trial of President Trump.

Mary McCord is married to a fellow traveler named Sheldon L.  Snook.

From 2014 though 2020, not coincidentally the timeline of the Trump targeting and administration in office, Mary McCord’s husband, Sheldon Snook, was the special assistant to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s counselor. [CITATION]

As noted by the Washington Post in discussing both McCord and Snook, “The counselor’s office advises the chief justice not only on the management and budget of the Supreme Court but also on his interactions with the executive and legislative branches, along with numerous other public roles in which Roberts serves.” [CITATION]

From 2014 through 2020, Sheldon Snook was responsible for running the office of the lawyer legally advising and counseling John Roberts.

Let me put this another way.  The most important guy in the judicial branch, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, has a lawyer to advise and construct the responsibilities of the SCOTUS chief judge, which includes the construct of the FISA court and appointment of judges therein.

As Chief Justice, John Roberts is in charge of everything to do with the FISA court.  The guy running the office of the lawyer doing the counseling of Roberts, is Mary McCord’s husband.

Mary McCord, knowingly and with specific intent, lied to the FISA court to support the FBI targeting of Trump.  Mary McCord’s husband runs the office which would intercept any communication from the FISA court to the Chief Justice if the FISC had any concerns about the false FBI application.  See the problem?

♦ SUMMARY – Now, we go back to where we came in.

Why did the Office of the Inspector General never publish the interview transcript about Andrew McCabe talking about how desperate FBI Director James Comey was to get a FISA warrant?

Why did John Durham never publish those same interview transcripts, but instead simply referenced the existence of the transcript in a footnote?

Follow these questions to their logical conclusion, and you will discover that all of the participants including Rod Rosenstein, Bill Barr, James Baker, Dana Boente, Michael Horowitz and John Durham are trying to protect bureaucrats, who did criminal acts, and preserve institutions from collapse that sunlight would create.

Sunlight…

… The best disinfectant.

I ain’t quitting.

Until we deal with this mess, it doesn’t matter who ‘we‘ try to make president.

Jun 5 2023

Details Surface of How Ron DeSantis Is Using a Registered Foreign Agent to Assemble His Online Influence Campaign


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

Former DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw came directly to the Florida Governor’s office after working in Ukraine on behalf of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  There is a clear commonality of interest in the actions of Pushaw both in Ukraine and in Florida.

Once the national DeSantis operation was fully constructed and funded, in August 2022 Pushaw left the governor’s office to assemble and coordinate the previously solicited social media influencers for the 2024 operation.

After organizing the operatives, Pushaw is now spearheading a U.S. online influence campaign.

In essence, a registered foreign agent is now working on the social media platform Twitter to construct disinformation on behalf of Ron DeSantis. Elon Musk is apparently a partner in the effort, as the details of the operation begin to surface.

Their intelligence community method is to use operatives within Twitter “community notes” to control any negative opinion of DeSantis.  If anything is identified that undermines the DeSantis operation, Pushaw triggers a specific account “@NoteNeeded” which contains embed operatives who swarm to her commands and affix labels to Tweets designated as harmful to the interests of the DeSantis regime.

The DeSantis election influence operation is similar to what the U.S. State Dept (Nuland) and USAID (S Power) do in foreign countries; only in this example, Ms. Pushaw is working to influence domestic U.S. politics through the social media platform Twitter.

The various accounts all carry the same alligator emoji as an identifying characteristic. Here’s an example of the operation at work, as well as an explanation from Twitter that just doesn’t reconcile with the claims.

SOURCE LINK 

Twitter claims the notes they affix to the targets identified by Ms. Pushaw are not triggered by complaints.  However, what exactly is Ms. Pushaw doing in the bottom example, if not complaining?  A heavy dose of pretending is needed to accept the premise of the Twitter platform.  MAGA does not pretend; there is no need.

The @NoteNeeded account, has gone private – restricting access as soon as the operation was identified.  This seems to be a rather odd move to make, considering the argument of the entire enterprise is based around truthfulness.  If the @NoteNeeded account has nothing to hide, then why take the account private permitting visibility only from the approved members.

It is obvious the Ron DeSantis ’24 operation originated on a principle of being fraudulent in purpose to the Florida voter in 2022.  The DeSantis operation was assembled, financed and planned long before the reelection effort of the Florida governor.  The visible indicators of the plan stretch as far back as 2020.

What we are seeing today is a billionaire funded scheme to promote Ron DeSantis, and part of that scheme involves deploying online activists, what they call “influencers”, as conscripts for the effort.  Ms. Pushaw, a registered foreign agent, is the leading organizer of this assembly.  The goal is to elevate the impression of Ron DeSantis and use weaponized platform rules to attack any voice that might rise in opposition to their agenda.

Obviously, as CTH represents the key account that predicted, publicized and then deconstructed the scheme of the Sea Island billionaire class on behalf of DeSantis, our Twitter account is one of the primary targets for the Pushaw operation.  I will admit to laughing at them hysterically, because quite frankly they are joyless idiots mired in a profound sense of self-importance, perpetual anger and blame-casting.  The entire DeSantis tribe trigger very easily.

All of that said, in this era where Big Government and Big Tech have merged to control information, block freedom of expression and thought, the intention of the DeSantis operation –which is based entirely on control– speaks rather loudly to what the DeSantis policy handlers would do if he were ever to reach federal office.

DeSantis has already grown the size and power of state government more than any FL governor before him. DeSantis has created all the tools for a weaponized state government as soon as Democrats take power.  While ignoring the essential economic needs of the state in order to create the optical legislation for a 2024 presidential run around anti-wokeism, the people behind DeSantis will walk away from Florida having created the state authoritarian boot that will sit upon our neck.

In a similar way that Republican George W. Bush expanded government with the Patriot Act, ultimately creating weapons like the Dept of Homeland Security, the TSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, so too has DeSantis created an internal system of State agencies that will be weaponized as soon as he retires and flees the state he compromised.  Be forewarned.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to the presidency of Ukraine as Ron DeSantis would seek to become by attaining the presidency of USA.   Both men are puppets for people really in charge behind them.

Jun 4 2023

Info Wars and Billionaire Motives – Elon Musk Uses Team DeSantis Twitter “Community Notes” to Undermine Trump


Posted originally on the CTH on June 3, 2023 | Sundance 

People often ask me why I seem to highlight datapoints and background events that do not trend to the media-driven narrative priority of the moment.  The answer is simple; everything is connected to the next thing that happens. If you do not outline the originating point, the accurate reference is missed when needed.

This approach is why I have focused significant research on Elon Musk’s financial situation with Twitter {GO DEEP}.

The issue of Twitter’s financial status speaks to the motives of Musk that later surface – like his relationship with Fox News billionaire Rupert Murdoch.  Once you see the connections, suddenly everything makes sense.  Musk and Murdoch have intersecting interests.

Elon Musk is in desperate need of revenue for his social media platform Twitter.  By his own admissions, Twitter is currently in the red on an annual basis between $1.5 to $4.0 billion; that may go as high as $5 billion, depending on what happens over the next six months.  Currently losing $100 million/mo, Musk is limited on how much he can pull from his other companies to support Twitter, and with $1.5 billion in debt service alone on the $12.5 billion borrowed for the Twitter purchase, Musk needs an income stream quickly.

Advertising revenue has dropped 50%. This is the motive for Musk to hire Linda Jaccarino, the former head of NBC Universal advertising, to bring urgently needed revenue to a platform currently considered too extreme for the DEI-minded corporate advertising executives.  Musk is also captive to contracts with Bezos’ Amazon (AWS) and Google cloud services for platform data processing support.  Those very expensive contracts – $1 billion and $2 billion respectively – do not expire until 2025.

In short, Musk needs revenue. For Twitter, this reality drives his decision-making.  Enter, Rupert Murdoch.

Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and Harper Collins book publishing.

Murdoch wants to control the outcome of the 2024 election and strongly supports Ron DeSantis on behalf of his Wall Street allies.

Murdoch financed DeSantis through the Harper Collins book deal, and Murdoch has turned his media outlets into advanced PR for the DeSantis campaign.

The Murdoch media approach includes lengthy and friendly broadcast Fox News appearances, interviews and pundit advocacy, while the print side spins favorable stories.  The Wall Street Journal and New York Post are doing the same.  It is a full-court press to support DeSantis on behalf of the interests of Murdoch et al.  Keep in mind, the RNC has given Fox News control over the kickoff GOP debate.

♦The Alliance of Interests – Elon Musk needs money; this is not in question.  Rupert Murdoch, supporting Ron DeSantis, wants control of the 2024 election outcome; also, this is not in question.  These two facets form the baseline of a common interest.

Elon Musk launches the DeSantis campaign via Twitter Spaces – not accidental.  Musk then uses his platform control mechanisms to amplify DeSantis and counteract the strong and visible platform support for Donald Trump.   What outlet pushes the narrative that flows from the operation?  Rupert Murdoch.

NEW YORK POST – Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign’s claims are already being hit with Twitter’s new “community notes,” which fact-check or offer context to dubious posts.  In May alone, Team Trump and their surrogates were slapped with community notes on at least seven occasions — and were often cited for posting flat-out lies.  (read more)

Christina Pushaw is a registered foreign agent working for the DeSantis campaign.

Ms. Pushaw went from working in Ukraine, for Volodymyr Zelenskyy, directly to working in Florida as Ron DeSantis’ press secretary.

Pushaw was the person who gathered the “influence operation” over the past two years on behalf of the DeSantis 2024 operation.  That operation was visible in 2022, denied in 2022, then finally admitted two weeks ago.

Now working for the DeSantis campaign, Christina Pushaw – a fellow traveler from the George Soros network and schooling – has organized the same type of influence campaign used in Ukraine to support Zelenskyy, only this time she is exploiting social media and specifically Twitter.  This is why she spent so much time recruiting ‘influencers’ in 2021 and 2022, and even tried to deny she was doing it.

Put it all together, and what you see is Rupert Murdoch as the financial lifeline (with a common interest) for Elon Musk who desperately needs money that does not and cannot come from his other businesses (Tesla, SpaceX etc.).

Murdoch, supporting DeSantis, also had a problem he was willing to remove on his Fox News network.   Musk needs content providers as he needs a way to increase his viewership and money.  Murdoch axes Tucker Carlson.  Where does Carlson surface?  Twitter!  [NOTE: Except now I think Carlson has caught on to the play.]

The Twitter platform has now evolved to become the influence operation for Team DeSantis- with groundwork seeded by Pushaw.  The throttling of pro-MAGA, and boosting of pro-Meatball, is now becoming increasingly obvious.

The Twitter ‘Community Notes’ issue is simply a very visible reflection of what people have been talking about for several weeks.  This is why it was loaded into the media cannon on Rupert’s platform, The New York Post.   Everything is connected to everything else, and once you see the strings on these marionettes you can never return to that moment in the performance when you did not see them.

Musk needs revenue; this is not in question.  The question is now, how urgently?

The alliance between Rupert Murdoch and Elon Musk isn’t a conspiracy or wild imagining, it is simply the logical outcome to a common interest.  Elon needs money, Rupert wants DeSantis and control of the 2024 election.  Everything else is a matter of mutually aligned support.

♦Last point – My long-standing suspicion is, the people who organized Ron DeSantis appear to have convinced the governor to run in 2024 by telling him that Lawfare was going to take down Donald Trump.  That’s why his handlers pushed the Florida governor into a bunker after the August 2022 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, and then relaunched the national campaign immediately thereafter. {Go Deep}

Ron DeSantis appears to have enrolled in their agenda under the assumption that he would NOT have to actually run against Donald Trump, but would instead be able to just pick up the MAGA base after Trump was removed from the 2024 campaign by Lawfare operations.  Pushed to accept this prediction by a wife desperate for her own sense of power, DeSantis appears to have believed the DC connected team that made these assurances.  Now both Ron, and to a lesser extent, Jill, are stuck hoping they are not wrong.

Rolling the dice on a bet against Donald Trump is never a good career strategy.  Factually, that approach has been proven bad-bad, ju-ju for anyone who tried.

Keep in mind, all the never-Trumpers and gleeful influencers who saw the dollar signs and joined on to DeSantis bandwagon, are hitched to the same outcome.

They are in a mutually assured destruction (MAD) situation.  If the Deep State and Lawfare doesn’t take out Donald Trump, their DeSantis operation goes over the edge into the bottomless pit of irrelevancy.

Thus, the DeSantis campaign, and everyone attached to the support thereof, will become increasingly desperate as Lawfare starts failing.

Jun 2 2023

The Bloom Is Off the Ruse – Post Launch Polling Shows DeSantis Losing Support, Not Gaining


Posted originally on the CTH on June 1, 2023 | Sundance | 304 Comments

A few people like us predicted that once people realized the 2022 reelection bid of Ron DeSantis was a con, there was a strong probability he would lose support. According to polling taken after his launch, that’s exactly what happened.

There are two different YouGov polls. One that shows opinion of the DeSantis launch [Economist – SEE HERE] and one that shows the results of the head-to-head Trump -v- DeSantis matchup [Yahoo – SEE HERE]. The bottom line is that DeSantis has lost ground with voters AFTER his launch.

WASHINGTON – Ron DeSantis was surely hoping for a bump from his presidential campaign launch last week. But a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows no sign of improvement.

In fact, the survey of 1,520 U.S. adults, which was conducted from May 25-30, suggests that the Florida governor may have actually lost ground against frontrunner and former President Donald Trump since officially entering the race for the 2024 GOP nomination during a glitchy Twitter Spaces event with the platform’s billionaire owner Elon Musk.

Among potential Republican primary voters — registered voters who identify as Republicans or GOP-leaning independents — Trump now leads the full field of seven declared candidates with 53%. That’s up from 48% in early May, before DeSantis threw his hat in the ring. And DeSantis now lags further behind than he did just a few weeks ago; his 25% is down from 28% in early May. (read more)

When asked how the DeSantis launch went, 48% said badly, 24% said well.  31% were not sure.

[Economist – YouGov pdf LINK]

FLORIDA – The Florida Governor’s glitch-filled kickoff on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk left a bad impression with 1,500 U.S. adult citizens surveyed by The Economist and You Gov between May 27 and May 31.  Just 7% of those surveyed said the opening went “very well,” with another 17% venturing that it went “somewhat well.”

Meanwhile, 24% said it went “somewhat badly,” with an additional 21% saying it went “very badly,” putting the whole event 21 points underwater. Another 31% of respondents were “not sure” how it went for the Governor. (read more) 

The situation is actually worse than described by the media. Candidate Ron DeSantis cannot hold a public event in the state of Florida, because most of the people who support him are the isolated group immediately around him, and the Selfie-My-Lunch crowd who are disconnected from the average life of a Floridian.

Have you ever heard of a presidential candidate launching a campaign and NOT holding a public event in his/her home state to do it?   Most people are overlooking the obvious.  His handlers cannot run the risk of a public event for their principal.  What does that tell you about the candidate?

Everything, and I do mean everything, about the Ron DeSantis 2024 campaign is manufactured, fake and phony – especially the claimed support that you see pushed by national media and the right-wing alt-media that are placing their bets to be paid by the massive financial mechanism behind the DeSantis management team.  Floridians can see through it, and the handlers were hoping the sunlight did not spread to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

In the state of Florida, support for Ron DeSantis 2024 is maybe in the 15 to 20% range (I’m being generous).  Beyond that, he is not liked at all.  I travel the state talking to blue collar ordinary people all the time; there is no grassroots support for the fraud that DeSantis has perpetrated on the state.  This announcement has left him naked to the realization of his character as a raw political opportunist.

We are now seeing the same negative results spread nationally.

One of the optimistic aspects to U.S. politics, especially in this era of institutional deceit, is the ability of the average person to detect fraud and a lack of authenticity.  It’s one of the reasons why I will never count out the ability of the American people to overcome severe institutional gaslighting.

At an intrinsic DNA level, the average American can sense when something is not right, something is amiss, something is sketchy.  Always trust your instincts, especially when dealing with the manufactured nonsense that flows from the constructs of the Sea Island billionaire class.

On another optimistic note, think about how much time, effort and money was put into this operation by the billionaire donors.   Many of them will now be asking, ‘what’s next’?

Jun 2 2023

Do you live in PA, MI, WI, NV, GA, VA, NJ, NY, WA or AZ?


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

REPOST BY REQUEST – In certain states, the RNC is committed to fighting today’s political battles with yesterday’s weapons. The RNC will not adapt, ever. For everyone else, the baseline reset is understood. If CTH had a small part in helping people to reset their reference points around modern electioneering, well, that’s a good thing.

The difference between “ballots” and “votes” is previously explained {SEE HERE} and absolutely critical to understand before moving forward.

Thankfully, a large percentage of conservatives, intellectually honest independents and even some GOPe donors, have read our research and are now starting to have the ‘votes‘ vs ‘ballots‘ conversation.  That understanding is critical, because any conversation that does not accurately identify and accept the problem is futile.

Having said that, do not think we are smarter than the RNC.  We are not.  The RNC knows exactly what not to do.  They are following instructions from the multinationals and Wall Street Sea Island donors.  Do not miss this point or you miss the ‘ah-ha‘ moment.

In 2022, the RNC club knew exactly what the DNC club were doing in their midterm “ballot submission assistance” program.  Yes, that’s exactly what “ballot harvesting” is called now.  “Ballot Harvesting” is illegal in many states, “Ballot Submission Assistance” is not.

Progressive political activists in the state of Arizona scrubbed the footprints of their ballot submission assistance programs.  Wait, Arizona(?) you say. Yes, Arizona a state where “ballot harvesting” is illegal, but email, fax, online and in person drop-off is possible.  Ballot submission assistance is essentially the same harvesting process but in a smaller and more individualized scale and it is perfectly legal in most states.

REFERENCE and CONTEXT is critical to understanding.

After Eric Holder left the Obama administration as Attorney General, he was hired by the State of California to defend against the Trump administration in early January 2017 (LINK).

Why?

When Eric Holder left the Obama administration, his firm was contracted by California during a process of linking the motor vehicle registration files to the Secretary of State voter registration system.  Holder was advising on part of a technology system being constructed to bridge the DMV and SoS offices.  You might know this as a “Motor/Voter” process.  However, former AG Eric Holder had a very specific function in the construction of this technology bridge.

The process of adding voters to the registration rolls when they receive or update their driver’s license was seen as an opportunity to expand the voter rolls.  Making the voter rolls as big as possible is the key to the utilization of mass mail-out balloting.  I will skip the part where California started giving illegal aliens drivers licenses for a moment – you can obviously see how that would play with motor/voter rolls – instead I am choosing just to focus on the specifics of the Holder aspect.

The DMV needed to connect to the SoS office.  This was simply a part of a tech system that needed to be built.  CTH has previously spoken with the lead engineer, a member of a very small technology group, who worked in the California information technology (IT) unit that was tasked with building the system that connected the DMV to the SOS. [NOTE: I invite the state of California to sue me, as they will likely claim what you are about to read is not true.]

In the process of connecting the two state networks together, there needed to be a “flag” – essentially a check box, where the applicant to the DMV would attest to being legally authorized to vote.  It is a positive affirmation, a check box, that says the Driver’s License holder affirms they are legally eligible to vote. That affirmation (the technical flag in the process), when affirmed, then transmits the information to the SoS office with the DL operator identity, and the California driver is automatically added to the SoS rolls and registered to vote.

During the time when Eric Holder was the legal counsel for the California Secretary of State, the technology team was constructing the internal data processing systems.

The lead engineer in the unit was instructed to code the data transfer in such a way that even if the “check box” was left unchecked, the registration data would transmit from the DMV to the SoS office.

Essentially, instead of only those who affirmed their legal eligibility by checking the box, everyone -including those who did not check the box- would get a DL and would automatically have their information transmitted to the SoS office.  Everyone who received a driver’s license or state issued id was automatically going to be registered to vote, regardless of their legally authorized status.   That request led the engineer to contact me.

I wrote about it, published the details, then the engineer freaked out, as he/she realized there was only a very limited number of people who could expose the issue.  He/She was worried about his/her safety and family and asked me to remove the article.  This background is how I know the details of who, what, when and why the California mass mailing ballot process was being constructed.

In the 2018 midterm elections, we all watched the outcome of that process surface in the weeks following election day.  As each day passed more and more California mail-in ballots were being counted and day-by-day Republicans, who won on election day 2018, watched their lead evaporate.

What happened in the California 2018 midterm election surrounding state-wide ballot distribution, collection (harvesting) and eventual presentation to the counting and tabulation facilities, was the BETA test for the 2020 covid-inspired national ballot mailing process.

The outcome we saw in the 2022 midterm ballot collection program was not just similar to the 2020 general election ballot collection program, it is a direct outcome of the refined BETA test from 2018.  Now, we have multiple states following the California mass distribution of ballots approach.  Washington state, California, Arizona, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey, Michigan; there’s a long list.

In many states mass mailing of ballots is now codified in election law.  Activist election lawyer Marc Elias came in, behind the construction by Eric Holder, with the legal arguments to support the ballot collection programs.

The Importance of Election Rolls – As you can see from the California initiation point (Motor/Voter), in order to most effectively use the mass distribution of ballots as an electioneering process, you first need a massive state secretary voter file in order to generate, then mail, the physical ballots.

Remember, votes require people – ballots require systems.

Any institutional system that can link people into the SoS system to generate a larger registration file for ballot distribution is a net positive.  The key point is not to generate voters, the key is to generate ballots – the more the better.  Mass printing of ballots is the origin of the electioneering process.

Any state or federal system that links a physical identity to the secretary of state voter rolls is good.  Any system, like the USPS postal change of address system, that would remove physical identities from the state voter rolls is not useful.  The goal is to maximize the number of systems that generate registration, that eventually generates ballots.

Beyond the Driver’s License issue, it’s everything.  Sign up for public assistance, get registered to vote.  Sign up for state benefits, get registered to vote. Sign up for a state id, get registered to vote. Sign up for state college, get registered to vote. Sign up for a grant, get registered to vote. Sign up for unemployment, get registered to vote. Sign up for any state system and get registered to vote.  Get married, change names, change addresses, etc, that’s how the voter rolls expand and that’s how the massive distribution of ballots is created.

The states then fight against anything, any effort, any process, that would purge voter rolls or fix incorrect voting rolls.  To use the new electioneering system, the system operators need ballots created, they no longer need votes.  They need ballots.

Downstream from this process, that’s where you find the “ballot submission assistance” programs.  This is where the local community networks, regional activist groups and widespread community organizers come into play.  Instead of advertising or the previous electioneering systems around candidate promotion and Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts, the majority of donations to the DNC are now used in the ballot assistance programs.

SIDEBAR – Now keep in mind, the origination of the ballots starts with expanded voter rolls.  The rolls contain the registry status of people, regardless of their accuracy or inaccuracy.

If you were going to hire a printing company to send out fancy wedding invitations, you would need to provide that third-party with the names, addresses and details of the invitation recipients, right?  Now, overlay ballots into a similar framework.  Do you remember the recent issue of Konnech (CEO Eugene Yu), an election technology company, indicted for transmitting the data files of every registered voter in Pennsylvania (and more) to China?

Inside that Konnech story is how the modern ballot creation issue connects to the activity of Eugene Yu.  Did pre-printed ballots arrive en-mass, in the U.S.A, as a result of the massive data files transmitted to China?   That might be a sticky-widget for quite a few interests.  Then again, what state just dropped the charges against Yu on the day after the midterm election?  Oh, California. I digress…

The RNC and DNC are Corporations. Please understand that both the RNC and DNC are not government entities.  They are each private corporations with their individual agenda, rules and memberships.  These are corporations that function more like private clubs.

When it comes to ballot collection, as a newly enhanced modern electioneering process, the RNC club isn’t incompetent or stupid, they knew what the DNC club was doing.

The RNC club operated in the 2022 midterm election to support (willful blindness) the DNC club effort.   Why?  Because the RNC club wants to remove the problems they have with the populist movement.   The issues are big.

The RNC Club wants, as billionaire donor Ken Griffin explained from his discussions with Ronna McDaniel, Ron DeSantis and Kevin McCarthy, to remove the populist elements within the Republican Party, vis-a-vis MAGA, and realign with the multinational corporations on Wall Street.  “He wants to improve the diversity of the GOP and blunt the vein of populism that has complicated the party’s relationship with the corporate world — two things he’s consulted with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy about.” (link)

As you can see, the issue of “votes” -vs- “ballots”, is not a singular issue for American voters.  We have a mixed bag of mutually aligned common enemies in this process.

Republican politicians will support any process, including mass mailout ballot distribution and collection, regardless of its corrupt status, that will eliminate what they define as the problem within their club.

Their problem has a face….

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RNC Agenda making sense now?

May 31 2023

DeSantis 106 – The Thoughts of Others


Posted originally on May 30, 2023 | Sundance 

One of the key aspects to noticing a controlled candidate is the speech, cadence and distinct linguistics used during prepared remarks.

When a candidate is authentic in delivery of advocacy points, their speech is a natural flow of thoughts and ideas they create in verbal delivery.  However, when a politician is delivering a speech constructed for them, using the thoughts of others, you will notice a cadence constructed around a series of soundbites that are strung together.

Ron DeSantis kicked-off his official Iowa campaign today literally reading prepared remarks that did not come from his own thought processes.  When delivering a speech from the thoughts of others, there is an emphasis on the reading of it; in the example we highlight today with DeSantis the reading is extreme.  You can see below.

This is not to say that speech writers are not useful, they are. Almost all politicians use speech writers to assist them in putting their thoughts into words to assist communication.  The key is to use the candidates’ thoughts. However, when the thoughts themselves are not from the candidate, there is a very different outcome in delivery.

This is what becomes very visible with Ron DeSantis.

As candidates, Dr. Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich wrote most of their speech scripts and delivered their own thoughts on points of policy and advocacy.  President Trump also communicates his own thoughts through speeches written from them.  When the thoughts are from the candidate, you will notice a tone of authenticity in the delivery. Speeches delivered by people like Tucker Carlson and Jordan Peterson also communicate with authenticity because the thoughts conveyed are their own.

Conversely, in traditional politics there are candidates who do not convey their own thoughts and end up reading speeches that are disjointed with emphasis misplaced, syllables in wrong context, and carrying an odd syntax and cadence.  The more disconnected from the thoughts of the reader, the odder the delivery.

The worst examples of reading other people’s thoughts to assist their own communication, come from Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg.  Governor Nikki Haley also struggles with this, and to a lesser extent so does Mike Pence and other well-known republicans.

Three of the more noticeable political figures, somewhere in the middle of the extremes was Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and George ‘Dubya’ Bush.  The best orator to transfer the thoughts of others into his own linguistic delivery was probably Barack Obama. One of the reasons for Obama’s success was due to his team all having the same ideological outlooks.  Obama delivered convincing words because his thoughts and the thoughts of his speech writers were in synergy.

The bottom line is that when a political operation is poll-testing, highly managed and heavily scripted, there is a noticeable lack of authenticity in the speeches of the candidate.  The reason is quite simple; the speeches are assembled from disconnected ‘talking points’ or ‘soundbites’ and then an effort is put toward sequencing them for candidate communication.

Once you notice the issue of reading the ‘thoughts of others‘ it is almost impossible not to see it when you watch the speech being delivered.  This issue is very clear today in the remarks from Ron DeSantis in Iowa.  Unbeknownst to most casual political observers, DeSantis has always been heavily influenced and managed by others throughout his career.  However, now it is starting to become more noticeable.

The venue is a mega-church in Des Moines.  Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds introduces Ron DeSantis to the church audience, and immediately the Florida governor starts reading the script.  Watch how much time he spends literally reading the words. WATCH for a minute and you will see:

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May 26 2023

DeSantis 102 – Floridians Are Furious – How to Have Fun with The Great Pretending Campaign of 2024


Posted originally May 25, 2023 | Sundance | 338 Comments

I openly predicted last year, when Ron DeSantis announced his candidacy, we would have the most fun in a presidential primary in history.  The last 24 hours have been absolutely hilarious.  If you are not having fun at the expense of the DeSantis billionaire funders, you are doing it wrong.

Candidate Ron DeSantis cannot even hold a public event in the state of Florida, because the only people who support him are the isolated group immediately around him and the Selfie-My-Lunch crowd who are disconnected from the average life of a Floridian.

Have you ever heard of a presidential candidate launching a campaign and NOT holding a public event in his/her home state to do it?   Most people are overlooking the obvious.  His handlers could not run the risk of a public event for their principal.  What does that tell you about the candidate?

Everything, and I do mean everything, about Ron DeSantis is manufactured, fake and phony – especially the claimed support that you see pushed by national media and the right-wing alt-media that are placing their bets to be paid by the massive financial mechanism behind the DeSantis management team.  Floridians can see through it, and the handlers are hoping the sunlight doesn’t spread to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

In the state of Florida, support for Ron DeSantis 2024 is maybe in the 15 to 20% range (I’m being generous).  Beyond that, he is not liked at all.  I travel the state talking to blue collar ordinary people all the time; there is no grassroots support for the fraud that DeSantis has perpetrated on the state.  This announcement has left him naked to the realization of his character as a raw political opportunist.

Once you realize all of this hype is manufactured and phony, you can have buckets of fun with it.  All of the DeSantis Republican supporters are predictable – like the Cruz Crew was in 2016.  Their arguments and policy points are as shallow, false and fake as their candidate.  Call them out.

Look at DeSantis’ history.  He was the lockdown beach closer during COVID-19, and he had people arrested for opening their businesses.  In 2021, long after President Trump was out of office, Ron DeSantis suspended the liquor licenses of non-compliant bars and restaurants.  Don’t let the Ukraine management team (Pushaw Inc.) attempt to rewrite it.

Ron DeSantis is the easiest candidate in the history of presidential candidates to deconstruct, because it’s all phony.

If you come across a Florida resident claiming to support Ron DeSantis, tell them to post “I LOVE RON DESANTIS” on their Facebook page, Instagram or social media, and watch what happens.  They won’t do it, because they don’t want to be ridiculed by their community network.  Yes, it really is that obvious and that bad.

If you listen to national media or alt-right CONservative media, those being paid for their participation and support of the fraud, you would think Ron DeSantis has a lot of support and following.  He doesn’t.  DeSantis is running away next week to campaign outside Florida because the sunlight down here is too hot.  His management team is trying to make a quick national impression because sooner or later people are going to realize the pretense.

(Bloomberg) — Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign sought to regain its footing Thursday by announcing a robust upcoming travel schedule to early-voting states a day after a glitch-filled launch. 

The Florida governor has multiple stops scheduled for next week in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as his campaign aims to build momentum to take on Donald Trump, currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination. 

[…] DeSantis has built-in advantages as he now officially gets under way, including a sizable amount of money left over from 2022 gubernatorial race that he can tap for his presidential bid, the backing of a well-organized super PAC and GOP donors who are eager for an alternative to Trump.

DeSantis and his team are trying to raise millions of dollars in the first 48 hours at a two-day donor meet-up at the Four Seasons in Miami. More than 100 fundraisers have congregated at the luxury resort for a campaign briefing, an afternoon of fundraising calls and a reception with the governor on Thursday evening. The DeSantis team hopes to raise $8 to $10 million, according to two sources briefed on the plans, with each individual contributing the maximum amount allowed of $3,300.

Next week, DeSantis travels to Iowa for two days followed by New Hampshire and South Carolina — the first three GOP primary voting states. He and his senior staff recently told donors that they view Iowa’s GOP caucus as one of his best chances to challenge Trump, since the team’s internal polling shows DeSantis with a favorability rating of two-to-one with evangelicals compared to Trump.  (read more) 

He’s got everything, except voters!

May 26 2023

DeSantis 101


Posted originally on the CTH on May 25, 2023 | Sundance 

Now that the people who created, managed and constructed the branding for Ron DeSantis have finally made the admission to push their puppet into the 2024 race, we should probably talk about what the person representing their quest is all about.

First, the obvious.  Notice how the managers will not allow Ron DeSantis to hold a public campaign event in Florida?   This is a tenuous time for them, and they cannot allow the optics of DeSantis being protested by Republicans in his home state to undermine their effort.  DeSantis must be shielded in order to protect their investment into his purpose.

Second, another seemingly obvious aspect that might need clarification.  Who is the DeSantis support system?  2024 candidate Ron DeSantis is the creation of two political groups who have merged in common effort.  The two former campaigns of Team Jeb Bush and Team Ted Cruz have merged into the 2024 alliance for Team Ron!

The Never Trump Republicans, who were team Jeb in 2016, have aligned with the 2016 Cruz Crew and created the 2024 Republicans Against Trump (RAT) assembly.

You will notice immediately all of the former Ted Cruz bigCON media groups have rebranded for 2024 as bigCON pro Ron.  The 2016 Cruz affiliated websites and alt-media groups are all now Ron DeSantis websites and media support groups.  This network includes the entire 2016 Cruz Crew, Dana Loesch, Mark Levin, Ken Cuccinelli, Jeff Roe, et al.  All of the former Ted Cruz supporting websites will now support Ron DeSantis.

The alliance between Team Jeb and Team Cruz gets interesting when you realize the scale of the Republican establishment effort to create this partnership in common cause. This partnership also creates some unusual outcomes and necessary changes of position.  Former staunch conservatives are now saying globalism isn’t so bad, and party unity is the key to conservative success.

People were confused ten months ago when I said the 2024 DeSantis coalition will be fully laughable once they start saying, “Hey, the bugs ain’t so bad.”  However, it’s the natural conclusion to this R.A.T. alliance.  Those who were hiding as CONservatives in order to retain their influence and affluence, are merging into the traditional big corporate Republican Party apparatus and reflecting an attitude that says elitism isn’t so bad after all.

Keep watching this, and you will notice the alliance is fundamentally created by their financial self-interest.  The traditional white wine spritzer crowd, and the take an Insta-selfie of my lunch crowd, are in full complimentary alliance.

Another dynamic that is really interesting to watch is to remember the GOPe establishment Republicans were the support system for the 2016 Trump-Russia nonsense.  In 2016, the professional Republicans joined with the leftist Democrats in their Never Trump effort to support Hillary Clinton.

Those Bush establishment Republicans are now in an alignment with the conservative pundits (Team Cruz, now Team Ron) who previously were attacking the fabrication of the Trump-Russia narrative.

This “Russiagate wasn’t so bad,” in combination with the “Bugs might not be too bad,” in combination with the “Big Tech ain’t so bad” Elon love, is buckets of funny.  They hate me for pointing it out.  Actually, they hate me for everything, but it’s fun to point out how easily the CONservatives compromise themselves for money.

At the end of the day, that’s what all of these alliances are about, MONEY!

They are all feeding from the same Sea Island billionaire and Wall Street donor trough, and there’s more money being thrown around in this 2024 election than ever before in the history of purchased politics.

Watch how the dynamic evolves, and you will start to see former CONservatives start aligning with digital identities, digital currencies and a host of other smaller dynamics they used to openly oppose as CONservatives.  Accepting the precepts of globalism is a natural outcome of accepting money from people who control these processes.

If you thought candidate Donald Trump made Republican masks drop before… lol… keep watching.  2024 will be exponentially more intense.  Now you will see just how shallow and spineless the “CONservative” pundits are.  These are shallow, spineless and very weak people; they also have notoriously thin skin and trigger super easy.  It’s fun to ridicule them, because they don’t like it.  Point out their hypocrisy and they go bananas on social media.

The Cruz Crew, joining with establishment Republicans in the Jeb coalition, shows you just how shallow the character always was behind the Cruz/DeSantis people.  In early 2017, we constantly reminded people never to trust a Cruzbot, because they will always stab principle in the back for money.  That said, we need to have a lot of fun with this over the next 16 months; you can trigger splodey’ heads on Twitter and social media much easier when their masks are forced to drop.

Keep all of this in mind.  If they supported Ted Cruz in 2016, they will now be supporting Ron DeSantis.  If they supported Jeb Bush in 2016, they will now be supporting Ron DeSantis.  This is the visible enemy, and they will try to use battered conservative strategies to stop you from pointing it out.   Claims of ‘party unity’ being important are coming from the people who formerly swore a blood oath that the Constitution was their moral compass. Just laugh, they hate it.

Last point, this 2024 roadmap for Ron DeSantis was created years ago.  It tracks back to late 2019 and forward into 2020.  By late 2020, the DeSantis 2024 campaign outline was fully underway, and everything from mid 2021 to now has been a series of intentionally manufactured events all building to this moment.

That’s their weakness, Ron DeSantis is built upon fraud, pretense and fabrication.  That’s also why they cannot let the optics of him publicly campaigning in Florida destroy all of their investments.   There are trillions at stake….

May 9 2023

DeSantis Owners Not Happy, Wall Street Worried That Too Much Woke Stuff Lessens the Value of Their Candidate to Defeat Trump and Retain Affluence


Posted originally on the CTH on May 8, 2023 | Sundance 

The reality was/is that both political corporations do the bidding of their financiers, Wall Street.  The battle against the UniParty is always a battle of Main Street -vs- Wall Street.

Wall St funds the acceptable candidates from either wing of the UniParty; the candidates best suited to maintain the status quo and keep the elite class in control of the economy and finance.  Donald J Trump is the only threat to their interests, so the Wall Street control group fund anyone who can remove the threat.

Against this backdrop the Wall Street billionaires and multinational corporations selected Ron DeSantis as their best hope, and they poured tens of millions into his various accounts to help construct the campaign against Trump.

However, the campaign strategy, the actual blueprint to defeat President Trump, isn’t working.

First, the astroturf and games of the pretending not to run has just worn people out.  The fakery that is the Ron DeSantis campaign is leading to people looking at the candidate in a new light.  Why the fraud, fakery, manufactured branding and so much emphasis on denying the obvious.  These are the tell-tale signs of a heavily controlled GOPe operation.  People now see through the smokescreen the DeSantis handlers created.

Second, the campaign is constructed around getting the base to love their candidate’s position on social issues.  The fight against Wokeism is a tool and technique to lift the candidate.  However, too much emphasis on the social stuff leaves the candidate narrowing their base of support.  Put the two issues together and the viability of DeSantis starts dropping.  The cherry on the fail-cake is the weak character of the wind-testing principal.  It’s all an illusion.

The donors from Wall Street now see the program isn’t working.

WASHINGTON –  Wall Street is firmly in the Never Trump camp. Finding a Republican who can make “never” happen is another question.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had been seen as the top pick to lock down the support of financial titans who have already pumped millions into his state campaigns.

But as he stumbles through gaffes over everything from his personal demeanor and stance on Ukraine to his snacking habits, Wall Street donors are keeping the door open to his competitors, according to more than a dozen bankers, attorneys and political consultants interviewed for this story.

Where Wall Street puts its money matters because financial industry executives are among the biggest donors in presidential elections. And while bankers and asset managers generally favor lower taxes and lighter-touch regulation, they also value stability and experience — and they spread their money around to candidates of both parties, meaning they’re very much in play in each cycle.

On paper, that should give DeSantis an advantage. People close to Wall Street donors said his national profile and powerhouse fundraising operation that has included support from hedge fund titans like Ken Griffin and Jeff Yass had positioned him as most able to survive a primary with former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis’ gubernatorial reelection campaign is still loaded with cash, giving him big advantages over possible competitors. But many now say he no longer seems so formidable — at least on Wall Street. (read more)

In the bigger picture, the issue for Wall Street is that people are starting to see the DC political construct is really just a Potemkin Village created to obscure the real nature of who is in power over government.  As more people awaken to the financial and economics of the issue, the multinational corporation, billionaire donors and agents they conscript as influencers no longer have the ability to sway voters.

Social issues are a tool to keep people focused on the puppet show.  However, once you see the strings on the marionettes, you can never go back to that moment in the performance when you did not see them.  Ultimately, this is the DeSantis problem, and it extends well beyond the Florida governor.

May 6 2023

Report, DeSantis Will Skip 2024 Exploratory Committee Phase and Enter Training Camp for Facial Expressions


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

Ever since we pointed out the branding and image consultants hired by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in April, 2022 as part of his national rebranding launch, we have faced some criticism from non-believers.  [Go Deep]   However, the truth has no agenda.  The reality of the situation exists regardless of our comfort level.

ABC News is now reporting that Ron DeSantis will skip the exploratory committee phase and go straight into full campaign mode.  However, the best part of the information provided from within the DeSantis operation is this, “the team has been paying close attention to how to help manage the governor’s facial reactions in the upcoming debate.”  Too funny.  Nothing screams authenticity quite like taking political lessons in controlling your facial expressions.

Everything about this DeSantis construct is astroturf, fake, manufactured and inauthentic. It’s the major Achilles heel they just cannot overcome.

(Via ABC) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is moving more aggressively toward making his 2024 presidential campaign official, with sources telling ABC News the governor’s team is leaning toward skipping the launch of an exploratory committee altogether and is instead expected to launch a full presidential campaign next month.

The decision to skip the exploratory committee comes as DeSantis caps off an aggressive legislative session that saw him push a hard-line conservative agenda and dive head-first into numerous culture wars, while facing increasing attacks from his likely opponent, former President Donald Trump.

Sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News the decision to skip the exploratory committee comes as the governor is itching to start making his argument to voters by touting his accomplishments and to start pushing back against Trump’s numerous attacks.

[…] Sources said earlier this week that Trump plans to skip one or both of the first two Republican primary debates. But those close to DeSantis emphasized that they are preparing for either scenario, and are skeptical that the pair would not ultimately face off on the debate stage.

Still, sources said the governor’s strategy heading into the debates will be more focused on introducing the governor on a national stage rather than getting into a sparring match with the former president. However, the team has been paying close attention to how to help manage the governor’s facial reactions in the upcoming debate, sources said. (read more)

It has always been this way…. Club branding is subtle on the image front, but very clear on the substantive messaging side. Social issues selected to maximize camp coalition and influence base.

Consistently present is political messaging where the Republican voter base can say “yes.” Keep the “yes” messaging at the forefront (social emphasis). Focus on values. Schools, kids, safety, woke pushback, media bias etc, keep the audiences nodding yes.  Ultimately, it’s a sales technique. Identify with the target to influence their decisions.

Issues around multinational & corporate economics, hard economic and trade issues, foreign policy, all these things must be avoided – except in general terms.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not to be challenged, not really.  Keep the message social and build the emotional connection. It is harder to break an emotional bond than a logical or cognitive bond.

These are the political techniques of Lee Atwater that still make up the bulk of the GOPe Club playbook.   The greatest skill of the professionally Republican is to present the illusion of choice in such a way as the voters do not see it.

Keep in mind, back in Washington DC both clubs are collaborating on the Trump removal program, because both clubs benefit.

Gotta work on those facial expressions Ron.