Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended his campaign for president on Sunday, just two days before the New Hampshire primary election, and endorsed former President Donald J. Trump.
It marked a spectacular implosion for a candidate once seen as having the best chance to dethrone Mr. Trump as the Republican Party’s nominee in 2024.
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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I’ve always assumed the DeSantis and Ramaswamy votes would, ultimately, go to Trump. However, I’m still unsure where the Christie and Haley votes go. Do they go to Trump, or do they go thrid party or stay home. Time will tell.
However, I’m still unsure where the Christie and Haley votes go. Do they go to Trump, or do they go thrid party or stay home.
I am sure the majority of them will go to Trump once he’s the nominee. The question is whether the minority who don’t will be enough to impact the general election.
I think a lot of the effect of the non-MAGA Republican vote is baked in at this point. You should always be skeptical of polls taken during a primary that claim they won’t vote for a certain candidate in the general. Those types of polls have always overstated things, even before Trump, but in the Trump era in particular we’ve seen how easily people are able to rationalize their vote for a guy they acknowledge is unfit.
That’s not to say Trump has had no effect in pushing away Republican-leaning voters. Some left in 2016, some in 2020, and possibly the insurrection may have furthered it along. But I don’t think there’s going to be any sort of mass defections anytime soon. Even Democratic overperformance during 2022 and 2023, while a good sign in itself, only reinforced how stagnant and polarized the electorate really is, with gains only possible around the margins.
In the Trump – Haley/Pelosi thread I linked an NYT story about the campaign against DEI, which is largely organized through the Claremont Institute and funded by the chair of the Institute, who is apparently the largest donor to individual GOP campaigns. While looking at the above @Flat Earth Luddite: link I stumbled on an old story on the guy, Thomas Klingelstein. Claremont is a big player in DeUseless’ efforts to bring that old time religion to education in FL and Klingelstein has been a major donor to DeUseless.
If the country is turning rightward it’s because at least since Goldwater rich a-holes have been dumping tons of money into movement conservatism. Given the amounts of money, their failure to completely take over is a testament to the awfulness of their political ideas. But they’re still spending away.
The NY TImes reports DeSantis goof as: “DeSantis Appears to Misattribute a Quote to Churchill.” Not sure what they are trying to convey with their choice of words. “Appears to…” seems to suggest “maybe CHurchill was in a room by himself somewhere and might have said such a thing so we really can’t dismiss it out of hand,” but the International Churchill Society debunked the quote a few years ago:
“We base this on careful research in the canon of fifty million words by and about Churchill, including all of his books, articles, speeches and papers.”
Conservatives have a weird habit of citing fabricated quotes.
In the above pic, DeSantis looks as if he’s doing a buck and wing and singing “Give My Regards to Broadway.”
Now DeSantis can go back to
ruiningrunning Florida.Apparently not an adequate strong man.
The pic in The Guardian looks like a stand-up comedian whose joke bombed.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/21/ron-desantis-drops-out-presidential-race?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
Spitballing, but maybe he thinks it’ll give him some cred as kingmaker with Trump’s likely victory on Tuesday.
Still weak and pathetic.
My least omnipotent prediction ever: that when DeSatis dropped out he would endorse Trump
I’ve always assumed the DeSantis and Ramaswamy votes would, ultimately, go to Trump. However, I’m still unsure where the Christie and Haley votes go. Do they go to Trump, or do they go thrid party or stay home. Time will tell.
From my position in SW FL this is good news / bad news. It guarantees he won’t be prez. He’ll come back home and have more time to screw over FL.
@CSK: @CSK:
Not with his shoe lifts.
@EddieInCA:
I am sure the majority of them will go to Trump once he’s the nominee. The question is whether the minority who don’t will be enough to impact the general election.
I think a lot of the effect of the non-MAGA Republican vote is baked in at this point. You should always be skeptical of polls taken during a primary that claim they won’t vote for a certain candidate in the general. Those types of polls have always overstated things, even before Trump, but in the Trump era in particular we’ve seen how easily people are able to rationalize their vote for a guy they acknowledge is unfit.
That’s not to say Trump has had no effect in pushing away Republican-leaning voters. Some left in 2016, some in 2020, and possibly the insurrection may have furthered it along. But I don’t think there’s going to be any sort of mass defections anytime soon. Even Democratic overperformance during 2022 and 2023, while a good sign in itself, only reinforced how stagnant and polarized the electorate really is, with gains only possible around the margins.
In the Trump – Haley/Pelosi thread I linked an NYT story about the campaign against DEI, which is largely organized through the Claremont Institute and funded by the chair of the Institute, who is apparently the largest donor to individual GOP campaigns. While looking at the above @Flat Earth Luddite: link I stumbled on an old story on the guy, Thomas Klingelstein. Claremont is a big player in DeUseless’ efforts to bring that old time religion to education in FL and Klingelstein has been a major donor to DeUseless.
If the country is turning rightward it’s because at least since Goldwater rich a-holes have been dumping tons of money into movement conservatism. Given the amounts of money, their failure to completely take over is a testament to the awfulness of their political ideas. But they’re still spending away.
Too bad this is fantasy.
@CSK: It always looked like he’d just hit the last note on the ending guitar solo from Running on Empty to me. Or maybe he’s playing Air Guitar Hero.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Trump just described it as a “great honor” to receive DeSantis’s endorsement.
@CSK: I saw and heard this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AigHoHWktO0
I’m sorry Ron, but you can not terminate your campaign early. You must carry it to term.
lol
@Scott: Mandatory follow up link
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi2h1n
DeSantis closes out his campaign with a bogus Churchill quote.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/desantis-churchill-quote-b2482565.html
The NY TImes reports DeSantis goof as: “DeSantis Appears to Misattribute a Quote to Churchill.” Not sure what they are trying to convey with their choice of words. “Appears to…” seems to suggest “maybe CHurchill was in a room by himself somewhere and might have said such a thing so we really can’t dismiss it out of hand,” but the International Churchill Society debunked the quote a few years ago:
“We base this on careful research in the canon of fifty million words by and about Churchill, including all of his books, articles, speeches and papers.”
Conservatives have a weird habit of citing fabricated quotes.
https://fair.org/extra/the-rights-library-of-fake-quotes/
@Barry:
(((ding ding ding))) We have a winner.
By the way, you owe me a quart of grapefruit juice.
I laughed so hard that I gagged up some of my juice.
@gVOR10:
Heh. Florida is doing great. Sure you don’t live in CA?
@Jack:
By any measure unrelated to the economy or sinkholes, absolutely. Those People still don’t have coat hangers!