ONLINE NEWS AGGREGATOR, THE DRUDGE REPORT, went the way of Fox News when both abandoned their historic conservative roots and joined the Dark Side, when they began to promote the New World Order and the Uniparty. So it was no wonder when Drudge gushed, in big red letters on Tuesday morning, “Half of Republicans Didn’t Want Trump,” as it reported that 45th President Donald Trump ‘only’ secured 51% of Iowa’s caucus votes (20 delegates) with 99% counted. Except no one has ever attained that much in the past! Trump also won all counties, save one that went to Nikki Haley, also a first! The race was called after only about a half hour, which is probably also novel, if not wholly predictable! A landslide!
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second with 21% (8 delegates); former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley was third with 19% (7 delegates); and Vivek Ramaswamy was fourth with almost 8% (3 delegates.) The latter bowed out of the race almost immediately thereafter, presumably to save any good graces with Trump he may have left. Asa Hutchinson barely showed and also exited. The weather was bitterly and dangerously cold and snowy, so only about 14.4 of registered Republicans participated, much lower than expected. Also lower than expected were the audience numbers of those watching Trump’s uncharacteristically humble victory speech on TV. This is because most channels refuse to air the Don live at all for the dual reasons of not wanting to give him free publicity and fearing he might state something live they inaccurately deem to be mis- or disinformation, especially about who actually won the 2020 presidential election.
Drudge also milked all the suspense he could when it was declared in big black letters that there is a “dead heat” in New Hampshire, which holds its first-in-the-nation primary next Tuesday, sans Dems, who in a first have chosen to sit it out in protest of the Granite State’s ‘first’ status. New Hampshire holds an open primary, meaning that as long as a voter registers as such in time, he may vote in either party’s primary. An unenrolled voter (which last I checked, was about one-half of all NH voters) may pick the ballot he wants at his polling place without doing anything. Historically, this characteristic has been used not only by partisans to pick the best candidate, but in some cases, to instead select a weak candidate in the other party defensively. One should definitely expect extensive defense use of votes in 2024 given the (perplexing, IMO) controversy surrounding Trump. It’s all so un-suspenseful, ABC canceled the G.O.P. debate.
NH polls have generally shown Trump commanding +/- 47% of G.O.P. votes and 24% of undeclareds. (G.O.P. constitutes 68% total voting; undeclareds, 32%.) Christie, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy have polled without change or slowly lost support since 12/20/23 among likely G.O.P. voters. Haley has gradually climbed, tying with Trump at 40% as of 1/15/24. She thinks she can win NH and went there to campaign after Iowa. She has received enormous funding from power elites wanting the status quo—and/or a Democrat! DeSantis sees his path to victory via SC, but that’s dubious, given it is Haley’s home turf. There again, not all in SC loved her…
WEDNESDAY NIGHT was important for anyone undecided in Iowa’s G.O.P. primary caucus on 1/15/24. Major party candidates picked their poison in national exposure for sharing their positions on the many issues—some existential—facing the U.S. The final televised debate was hosted by CNN at Drake University and showcased only two of the candidates since, other than Donald Trump, they were the only ones who met the criteria in time to participate in the final pitch for votes.
The two were FL Gov. Ron De Santis and former SC Gov. Nikki Haley. (Trump instead made a solo appearance on a Fox News Town Hall with Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum where he presented himself, accurately IMO, as a wise, successful, and experienced leader who would have way too much to do than engage in ‘retribution,’ something the press has insisted is his motivation, at least in part, for running.)
Polling has shown a growing indifference to De Santis and, if you’re to believe the mainstream media (which I largely do not), a sudden increase in interest in Haley. In fact, the donor class has switched its allegiance from De Santis to Haley, ostensibly because of her Neocon positions, including her support for ‘forever wars’ and love of the military industrial complex. The questions the two were asked by the moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, were fairly astute and had the two battling each other rather than the putative nominee, 45th President Trump.
Haley smirked a lot, as she typically does, and spent a good amount of time calling De Santis a liar and referring her website, “desantislies.com.” A quick perusal of the site shows it to be more defensive than offensive, claiming (correctly) that De Santis has leveled certain criticisms about her that she claims (usually incorrectly) are untrue. For example, on the critical issue of illegal aliens and the border crisis, she claims De Santis accused her of supporting unlimited illegal immigration into the country, but “[t]here is no evidence of this claim,” adding somewhat unresponsively, “[o]n legal immigration, [I have] called for moving away from a quota system and moving toward a fairer, merit-based system. [I] also signed one of the toughest anti-illegal immigration laws in the country as governor.” [Emphasis added.]. In fact, there’s ample historical evidence of the claim she denies concerning what is perhaps the most pressing issue facing the nation today, including this particularly astonishing statement she made in 2015:
“[W]e are a country of immigrants. I am the proud daughter of Indian parents who reminded us every day how blessed we are to live in this country. They resent when people come here illegally. But let’s keep in mind, these people who are wanting to come here, they’re wanting to come for a better life too. They have kids too. They have a heart too, so we don’t need to be disrespectful. We don’t need to talk about them as criminals, they’re not. They’re families that want a better life and they’re desperate to get here.” [Emphasis added.]
Of course illegal aliens want better lives for themselves. All human beings do. One cannot blame them from taking advantage of Biden’s open borders for that reason, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t criminals. They are, under federal law as it exists today and yesterday, and hopefully as it will in the future. It is they who are “disrespecting” us by breaking our, yes, criminal laws.
When Haley wasn’t lying about De Santis’ lying, she was exuding sentiments of—Oh my goodness! Let me clutch my pearls (which she was wearing)! Let me fall to my fainting couch!—because De Santis didn’t let her get away with it and called her out on it. The longer the debate went on, the more desperate she became, especially when confronted with her own lies, like about the retirement age, Social Security, and Medicare. (CNN, of course, disagrees with my assessment.) Also: Recently, Haley embarrassed herself when she publicly failed to acknowledge that slavery was a cause of the Civil War.
Billionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t meet CNN’s criteria to appear with De Santis and Haley on the CNN set, but he held a live audience show on X, formerly Twitter, with podcaster Tim Pool @Timcast.com (here). Ramaswamy believes (and I agree) CNN’s requirements were a bit rigged to obtain this desired outcome, which they believed would best catapult Haley, the first, best, and only choice of MSM and the ‘Uniparty.’).
Of note, not having met the requirements to participate, former NJ Gov. Chris Christie suspended his campaign before the debate, refusing to endorse anyone. His poll numbers have been abysmal. Rumors he’d drop out have been floating for some time. Still, one would’ve expected, first, that he’d continue through IA and NH in case he got any delegates he could negotiate with for his political future. (He still can, but knowing he isn’t running will obviously affect his count.) Second, one might think he’d endorse someone because it would encourage his supporters to cast their ballots for that someone, denying Trump an opportunity to gain those votes, which, of course, was NeverTrumper Christie’s admittedly most pressing campaign goal.
A hint to as why Christie didn’t do either of these things might be gleaned from something he said when he was caught on a hot mic (maybe accidentally or likely intentionally) before his announcement. Speaking of Haley, he said to an unidentified voter, “She’s going to get smoked, and you and I both know it. She’s not up to this,” among other vague comments about De Santis.
Meanwhile, former First Lady Michelle Obama said she is “terrified” of Trump winning. One might think her coming out of the woodwork with that quotable statement is a setup for her to jump into the political fray and run for president herself if Biden were to be unwilling or unable to complete his reelection bid. She has never expressed or shown an interest in running, and, in fact, has denied any such intention, but it may be she’d take the job if it were handed to her and outsource the job to Barack, who is probably a daemonoperating in background, anyway.
IF THERE WERE A DEBATE and no watched, would it really be a debate? It’s a reasonable question for the fourth and final G.O.P. debate of 2023, held Wednesday night in Alabama, on something called NewsNation that most people have never even heard of. MSM being untrusted and unreliable means these start-ups have been emerging with regularity. Five candidates earned the honor of participating. Four showed up: Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, and former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie.
It was apparent from the outset that Haley was targeted, given her poll numbers and high net worth donors have skyrocketed. There is plenty to attack her on, too, such as her positions on ‘gender-affirming’ [health sick] care, opposition to anonymous free speech, taxation of/cuts to Social Security, or general neo-con views in foreign policy. At one point, Christie came to Haley’s rescue calling her a smart woman. Perhaps an alliance is brewing. (Christie isn’t polling well enough to justify remaining in the race, but he fancies himself as a kingmaker who might get a delegate or two that could be enough to nix Trump’s nomination.)
Perhaps another alliance is brewing with DeSantis and Ramaswamy. DeSantis listened to his answers carefully, seemingly interested in his ideas. Ramaswamy does have unique ideas even if he is a pompous orator. DeSantis presented extremely well, despite his reputation for not being a good debater. He was respectful of everyone, but firm in his convictions. Ramaswamy did well, even if his arrogance is off-putting. Christie came across as a bully; Haley, an opportunist.
While Christie bashed Trump at every opportunity, DeSantis wisely did not. “This is an angry, bitter man,” Christie bellowed, “who now wants to be back as president because he wants to exact retribution on anyone who has disagreed with him, anyone who has tried to hold him to account for his own conduct. He is unfit.” He accused his rivals of being afraid to offend Trump, not recognizing they largely agreed with him, but were really running as younger, or not legally-challenged, alternatives to Trump. Christie also accused Trump of not having the guts to show up, not realizing he didn’t have the brains to see why Trump, at least 20-30 points ahead of everyone in the polls, would demur.
A recap is here. The video of the debate is here. The G.O.P. Iowa caucus is on 1/15.
THIS EVENING, FOX NEWS’ SEAN HANNITY moderated Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) in a debate that had been agreed to some time ago when DeSantis’ poll numbers in the Republican presidential primary race were much better than they are today. At the time, it was also expected the imposter occupying the White House, Joey Biden, would be impeached, ousted, or ready to retire, a mere footnote in the 2024 campaign season, and that Newsom might be the new Big Guy taking his place.
I haven’t watched Hannity, or Fox (except Maria Bartiromo on Sunday morning), since early on Election Day of 2020 when the cable news channel prematurely and erroneously called the State of Arizona for Biden with only a tiny fraction of the vote counted. I didn’t miss much, it seems.
It wasn’t really a debate, but rather, a clearly one-sided G.O.P. presentation, albeit, a well-researched and accurate one. Newsom would have none of it, though, and talked over Sean and DeSantis, sometimes very loudly. His answers were unresponsive and irrelevant as he ignored the facts presented to him by Hannity that painted a tarnished picture of the Golden State. Many of his assertions were just plain untrue, except, perhaps, for his correction to DeSantis’ pronunciation of Kamala Harris’ first name. Newsom came across as the pompous ass he truly is, but credit where due: he agreed to appear on (gasp!) Fox.
DeSantis, for his part, came across as sane, reasoned, and prepared. He is not known to be a good debater (this was good practice), but he can do a pretty credible compare-and-contrast presentation, as he illustrated. He came with a show-and-tell package, which included, e.g., an actual map currently in use showing where the human shit on the streets in San Francisco is especially bad and a couple of actual books in current use in California schools that glorify homosexuality in age-inappropriate ways. He had to be a bit annoying by speaking fast and loud to be heard over Newsom’s constant interruptions. At the end, it sounded as though the two had agreed to continue the debate another 20 minutes, but during the commercials, they changed their minds. A news imbroglio ensued.
It appears over 5 million watched the fiasco. All the while, it was irrelevant to 2024, but maybe it is a glimpse into the future—2028.
TWITTER HAS OFFICIALLY changed its name and logo, so we have to now say fired Fox commentator Tucker Carlson interviewed 45th President Donald Trump on “X,” despite how stupid it sounds. It was prerecorded and began streaming five minutes before the first G.O.P. primary debate began on Fox News intentionally, to take away audience from, not only Fox, but the other Republican candidates, as well.
This is just the opening salvo for what promises to be a long election season, so it isn’t necessary to belabor what they all said on the issues. Suffice it to say, the debate, hosted by news anchors Bret Baier and Marsha McCallum, was pure mishegas. Most of the time, candidates were talking over each other and ignoring time limits previously agreed to. This meant, for example, Chris Christie yelled over Vivek Ramaswami. Christie comes across as a bully, anyway. He was booed when he badmouthed Trump, for example. Even Mike Pence forced people to listen to him whether they wanted to or not. He keeps insisting he had to do what he did on Jan. 6th, and that he did his duty per the Constitution and his God. Some of the nonsense evoked howls and laughter from the audience at the debate. Outside the debate forum, a sizable MAGA posse emerged wearing signature red baseball caps and waving Trump 2024 signs, not as a protest Trump wasn’t participating as much as simply showing support. Clearly Trump won the debate.
Meanwhile, in the interwebs, people tuned into “X” or a website carrying the Trump interview on “X,” to hear what the 45th president had to say. The interview only ran a fast 45 minutes, and Trump came across, as one would expect, presidential and dignified. He does better one-on-one, anyway. He pointed out his past accomplishments and Biden’s present failures. He called Biden the most corrupt and incompetent president the country has ever had, and he is surely correct. He said Biden was compromised and “in many ways, a Manchurian candidate,” based on the twice-produced thriller movie classic of the same name.
Trump has to be careful. Conditions of his release can be traps for the unwary. It could be one reason he’s waiting for Thursday to surrender to D.A. and Black Panther offspring from L.A., Fani Willis, on the bogus indictment against him. In typical Trump style, he’s scheduled to appear in Atlanta at 7:30 p.m.—primetime. Then he’ll start selling t-shirts with his mugshot on them by Friday to fundraise!
Trump’s latest campaign spotS are aimed at overly-zealous, borderline aggressive prosecutors trying to ensure he never runs for office, let alone, works out of the Oval Office again. Watch the “Rabid Wolves” ad here. Then there’s the grim “Nation in Decline” video, here. That’s called turning the poison into medicine, big time. He’ll also get some fresh photo ops when he turns himself in at Fulton County Jail over the Georgia bullshit on Thursday because authorities there are looking forward to taking his mugshot and humiliating him. (It will backfire.) BTW, Georgia D.A. Fani Willis may be facing some problems of her own. A state senator has called for a Special Session to review Willis’ actions against Trump and evaluate a possible impeachment of her. But I digress…The day before, on Wednesday, the 45th President will have an airing of a prerecorded exclusive interview with “Tucker on Twitter.” Tucker, of course, is Tucker Carlson, formerly of Fox News fame before being canned in April. Twitter, of course, is “X,” the new name owner and former C.E.O. Elon Musk christened the former Twitter last month. It’s a strange new world.
Trump has never been keen on participating in the first G.O.P. primary debate of the 2024 season, to be aired live on Fox News on Wednesday evening. In fact, he’s poised to skip them all. Why not? His poll numbers are stratospheric, with 55.8% support, so he has nothing to gain. But there are other considerations below the clouds and beneath the surface. For one thing, why would Trump want to give Fox News the ratings he will surely bring? This is the news network that prematurely called Arizona for Biden erroneously, setting this whole fiasco into motion. For another, why would Trump want to sign the G.O.P.’s Beat Biden Pledge and promise to support any Republican who wins the primary? Some of his supporters are actually looking for Trump to selectRFK, Jr., a Dem, as his veep! And Dems are gearing up for the possibility by ‘linking’ RFK, Jr. to Russia, Russia, Russia!
There is also a definite possibility Trump would violate his conditions of release by debating former Vice President Mike Pence. Trump’s conditions prohibit him from discussing the case with any potential witnesses, which Pence most surely is. Trump’s lawyers are also wisely urging him to keep mum on discussing voter fraud generally because it could compound his legal problems. Trump can’t be happy to follow the advice because so much of what has been alleged has no basis in fact and much of what has been concluded legally was never even adjudicated. But then there’s this: By not debating, Trump is handing an excuse to Biden for Biden to skip debates. I’d note there is a distinction to be made between skipping primary debates and not debating a presidential rival. Then there’s the distinction that since Biden is ‘protected,’ he has nothing to lose by debating, whereas Trump could land his ass in the pokey.
The real question isn’t how any of these candidates will do in the debate or how larger the Tucker on Twitter audience will be than Fox’s on Wednesday night. The question really is, what bad news from the Biden regime will be released then in order to cover it up?
FOX NEWS IS STILL HURTING after the departure of prime time star Tucker Carlson three months ago. It had been losing its conservative bona fides gradually since its premature call of Arizona for Biden in 2020. Its ratings have cratered; its stock, downgraded. On top of it all, Fox News is being sued by Ray Epps for defamation (which is another story altogether.) Carlson, though, is upbeat and busy as he plans his future career, and despite the fact Epps is suing him, too. (Law of agency is a beautiful thing, indeed!)
For one thing, Carlson hosted the first G.O.P. presidential primary forum in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday, hosted by The FAMiLY Leader and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze. It was a resounding success. Present at the Leadership Summit forum were Florida Gov. Ron De Santis; former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. President Trump was invited, but did not attend, having the Turning Point Conference in West Palm Beach on his agenda instead. There, he would rally rather than debate, the latter of which he sees no need to do at this point The format: every candidate had a one-on-one half-hour with Carlson. The format was elucidating. Here are highlights:
Carlson’s chat with De Santis comes as the Sunshine State’s anti-woke leader sheds a dozen or so campaign staffin the wake of disappointing poll numbers and declining donations. Still, he’s number two. But still 20+ points behind Trump… De Santis did well, as anyone who is second should. He said China was our biggest danger, including the increasing alliance between it and Russia. Ukraine and Russia have a border dispute, which is too remote for us to be so involved in, though he backtracked a bit from his earlier statements to that effect. He now concedes any European conflict can cause undesirable destabilization in the world.
De Santis thinks Dr. Fauci should have been fired, along with other bureaucrats whose interests seem to be in contravention of the voters’ wishes. As for Julian Assange, De Santis said that at the beginning, not the end, of his first term as president, he would solicit petitions from Americans and others aggrieved by the current regime for possible pardons or commutations, so he would consider Assange’s situation, and that of others, like Jan. 6th defendants, on a case by case basis. (De Santis was the only one Carlson asked about Assange.) Finally, De Santis said he would have a declassification party, and would declassify anything that didn’t have a national security interest to withhold from the American people.
Pence’s campaign is failing so badly, it has been thought he will not hit the donor threshold to of 40,000 to participate in the first debate. Reportedly, his campaign has raised only $1.2 million. (Cf. w/Trump’s $35 million or DeSantis’ $20 million.) Pence’s conversation with Carlson did not help his crusade at all: the Gateway Pundit called his performance a “crash and burn.” For example:, this interaction, which angered Pence—and gravely concerned donors—went viral on Twitter:
Carlson:You’re running for President. You are distressed that Ukrainians don’t have enough American tanks?! EVERY city in the U.S. has become much worse over the past three years…and it’s VISIBLE. Our economy has degraded…suicide rate has jumped…crime has exponentially increased and yet your concern is that the Ukrainians – country that most people can’t find on a map who’ve received tens of billions of US tax dollars don’t have enough tanks!…I think it’s a fair question to ask, where’s the concern for the United States?
Pence: That’s not my concern.
Pence was actually booed by some in the audience when he said, “I believe that it is in the interest of the United States of America to continue to give the Ukrainian military the resources that they need to repel the Russian invasion and restore their sovereignty.”
Pence is disloyal, as Trump complains, and heavy-handed, tone-deaf, and willfully blind. He told Carlson, “President Trump’s words that day were reckless. I believe whatever his intentions in that moment, it endangered me and my family and everyone that was at the Capitol that day. I believe we will hold him accountable for that, just as the law will hold everyone that engaged in acts of violence.”
At one point, Carson literally laughed in Pence’s face regarding why we don’t just get rid of voting machines, and was told, “We do everything in our power to restore public confidence in the one person one vote principle.”
(The following night, Carlson was the warm-up act for Trump at Turning Point. The crowd was delighted when he took the stage. He said he thought he may have ended Pence’s political career and the audience roared.)
Ramaswamy’s interview went well. He explained we are not a democracy, but rather, a republic, so kudos for that. Perhaps what was received the most favorably was his view on protecting our own borders and breaking up the China-Russia alliance by staying out of the conflict with Ukraine. His plan to end the war in Ukraine allows all sides to save face.
He has a plan to use executive orders to defund the F.B.I., which is probably what it will take. The audience appreciated his idea to use the Presidential Reorganization Act of 1977 (huh?) to clean house, or drain the swamp as Trump called it before he realized the full scale and scope of the problem. In essence, civil service doesn’t mean a president cannot implement mass layoffs, apparently, such as what Ramaswamy would do with the F.B.I., among other bloated agencies.
Ramaswamy said he opposed affirmative action and other divisive policies of Dems. All people should be judged by the content of their character, as articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as what Ramaswamy describes as a person’s contributions. He is for imposing strict liability in artificial intelligence matters to ensure the industry self-regulates wisely. One was left to suppose he also thinks that is appropriate for bio-tech, his own field, and its inexplicable exemption from double-blind studies that vaccines have had. Ramaswamy was prepared, sensible, and thoughtful in his answers, and should have a promising political career ahead of him if it’s what he really wants. A link to his video is here.
Haley’s one-on-one with Carlson was similarly revealing. Carlson couldn’t have been the only one surprised by her implication that Biden actually received 81 million votes in 2020. She hemmed and hawed, and squirmed and shifted in her seat, but never actually said the election was rigged. The exchange went like this:
Carlson: As a mechanical question….I don’t think anyone would say Joe Biden was a great candidate, didn’t campaign, and he was not a figure who commanded respect among Democrats – they made fun of him. No one in Washington said, ‘I want my kid to grow up and be Joe Biden’ and then at the end, he’s got 81 million votes – 15 million more than Barack Obama, so how did he do that?
She didn’t answer beyond her stump speech points about voter ID and mail-in ballots. So Carlson said, “So it sounds like you’re saying you don’t think [the 2020 election] was on the level.” She replied:
Haley: Do I think [mail-in ballots and irregularities] changed the results of the election? I mean, no! I think President Biden ended up winning the election!
She, too, wants to clean out agencies, and to make third-party providers show results to justify their expense. (She was silent on whether the same rule should apply to pols themselves.) As for so-called climate change, Haley is troubled by the double standards that make the U.S. do things expensive for its own businesses, but exempts China and India, where most offending acts occur. It’s false economy, since we end up with ‘dirty’ oil from Venezuela instead of producing oil ourselves.
Interestingly, Haley was the only one who made a big deal over the national debt and budget, something she blames the G.O.P. for neglecting. Nonetheless, she had no real answers to offer behind the accountability she had raised.Haley has previously indicated she wants Ukraine to join NATO, but for some reason, Carlson didn’t ask her about Ukraine or Russia, or even much about foreign policy.
Carlson was able to quickly expose Scott’s hawkishness with just one question on Russia. He prefaced:
Carlson: The total body count from Russia on the United States is right around zero. I don’t know anyone who’s been killed by Russia… I know people personally who have been killed by Mexico. The government of Mexico allows fentanyl to be made in its country and to come over our border…the Mexican government is party to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Americans, so why is Mexico less of a threat than Russia?
We should take the money earmarked for new agents and their guns and pay them instead to guard our border, he was told. Audit those coming in? Yes! (ha,ha.) Carlson then asked Scott if he wasn’t concerned about Biden’s decision to mobilize reserve troops, perhaps leading us to war with Russia. Scott replied:
Scott: America’s national vital interest is degrading the Russian military.
Scott erroneously called the situation in Ukraine a “genocide,” which—Praise the Lord!— it most assuredly is not. He believes Trump’s wall should be completed. We should use our military to secure our border rather than Ukraine’s. And since gun deaths are 55 percent suicides here in the U.S., we need to look at mental health as a major problem to solve. And all able bodied people should work.
Carlson took a jab at Asa Hutchinson regarding Covid ‘vaccines.’ He asked how many shots Hutchinson had had and how he felt about it. Hutchinson flipped the question, asked Carlson how many he had. “Zero,” Carlson replied. Hutchinson was stunned: after all, didn’t Fox require the jabs? Carlson continued his probe, asking Hutchinson why he has refused to to stop transgender surgeries on children. Rather astonishingly, Hutchinson claimed he had vetoed the bill in question because it didn’t allow ongoing treatment of minors who were already undergoing a sex change. That exchange went like this:
Hutchinson: Whenever you look at the bill I vetoed, there was not any grandfather clause in there. … I think, independently, I think of the parents, I think of the Constitution, and actually the court — if you read the decision of the federal judge that struck it down as unconstitutional — really sided with parents as well.
Carlson: But how is it treatment? How is it treatment? I guess that’s my question. If you have a child who says — who’s born a boy — ‘I want to become a girl.’ He hasn’t gone through puberty yet. He’s, say, 10. Is it treatment to prevent him from going through the natural processes of adolescence? (Here, the audience applauded.)
Carlson: And you can defend that alteration, that change, if you like. But there’s really no debate on whether or not it’s permanent. And so I think it’s fair to ask you in a calm, rational and, I very much hope, in a polite way, why you would support that.
A back-and-forth occurred where Hutchinson claimed he agreed that such surgeries should be up to parents and their children, but Carlson clarified he was wondering why he called it “treatment,” rather than an unnatural delaying of a child’s development. Hutchinson stood his ground, saying he vetoed the bill because there was no grandfathering provision. He seemed to distinguish between hormonal treatment versus surgery because the latter was permanent. (Not true, actually.)
Hutchinson would use military not at the border, but to show strength on the world stage. He didn’t seem to see a border crisis. He bragged about strong G.O.P. abortion laws, but not minor transgender surgeries. It was also hard to see how parental rights alone would take care of the ‘trans-kids’ problem. After all, the government does have a say, for instance, when parents abuse or neglect their kids.
Carlson did a good job probing the candidates. Meanwhile, he has planned his own media empire, with former White House advisor Neil Patel, using “Twitter as its backbone.” The two men are now trying to raise hundreds of millions to capitalize the enterprise. They are college pals and in 2010, partnered to create the Daily Caller news site that Patel still controls. The Twitter connection is out of fear of being censored on other platforms. Carlson has already posted a series of episodes, resulting in hundreds of millions of views.
Carlson has live-streamed with British comedian cum political commentator, Russell Brand, on the latter’s podcast, “Stay Free,” talking about his exit from Fox and plans for the future, including his “Tucker on Twitter” series, which he is apparently doing for no pay. “I don’t work for Elon,” Carlson said of the platform’s newish mega-billionaire owner and former C.E.O.
It would appear Carlson intends to ignore the cease-and-desist letter he received from Fox. His contract with his former employer is exclusive through Dec. of 2024. This should be truly fascinating to watch unfold. I may have to watch it on Twitter!
A full replay of Carlson’s interviews with the G.O.P. candidates is here.
FLORIDA GOV. RON DeSANTIS hasn’t been getting the traction many believed he would in his floundering campaign for president, but he’s still adored by many (though certainly not all) in the Sunshine State. He fights the swamp-dwellers, and when he gets knocked down, he gets back up and tries again.
DeSantis is, like other G.O.P. governors, for example, facing a major problem (read: expense) with illegal aliens. Florida enacted a law (SB1718), which he signed, effective July 1st, that enhances penalties aimed at aiding and abetting illegal migration. The number of illegal workers, especially in agriculture, landscaping, and construction is expected to diminish because it is now a third degree felony to use a fake ID, required for employment. Furthermore, businesses employing such illegals face harsher penalties for doing so. They could have their business licenses suspended altogether. And, if they employ over 25 workers, and don’t use “E-Verify” as required by federal law, the company may face daily fines.
Honestly, there is nothing earth-shattering here. It’s simply giving existing law some teeth. E-Verify, for instance, has been required for literally years now, so everyone ought to be in compliance, even though it’s a royal pain, especially for U.S. citizens.
Another series of bills DeSantis signed has also found support with other governors nationwide. It bans Chinese citizens from buying land in the state. Chinese are pouring through the border in droves. (Why?!) This is a country that we knowspies and deep levels of our government. That bill simply restricts land purchases to Chinese nationals unless they are also American citizens or permanent residents. Those with non-tourist visas would be limited to fewer than two acres which must be at least five miles away from military installations.
Other nationalities are affected, too, under certain circumstances, including Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Syrian, North Korean, and Venezuelans. Their limitation is only that the land must be at least ten miles away from military installations. (It’s not clear why they have a 10-mile limit when China, clearly the biggest concern, is only limited to five.)
Most countries, including China, have such restrictions.
Another law could be dubbed the Anti-Fauci Act, prohibits colleges and universities and their employees from accepting gifts in their professional capacities from a foreign college or university in foreign countries of concern. It actually ought to be reciprocal.
FLORIDA GOVERNOR RON DE SANTIS has been expected to announce his bid for the 2024 G.O.P. nomination for President of the United States for some time. What tipped people off was his signing a Florida law allowing him to run while maintaining his gubernatorial seat. Finally this week, it was learned he would make his intentions known on Wednesday night at, of all places, Twitter Spaces. (Who even knew Twitter had ‘Spaces?’) Twitter owner and C.E.O. Elon Musk would be there, but no live audience of supporters or rally. How odd…
At first, the announcement was rumored to happen at 4 p.m., but was later said to be at 6 or 7 p.m., or something like that. For anyone who didn’t know what Spaces was, they would have to figure out for themselves how to tune in to the event live themselves. I, for example, tried to watch on Newsmax. But there was no video. It seems Spaces is audio only, or at least the event was being presented as audio-only. But there was no audio, either. Yet somehow, it earned De Santis over $8 million.
I tuned in telsewhere, thinking it was a technical glitch at Newsmax, only to find a similar state of affairs at those even bothering to cover it. Flustered, Newsmax tried to fill in the interstitial audio void as Musk came through periodically, uttering a word or two before being silenced by the Twitter demons yet again. No one wanted to air the awful feedback or annoying Musak being piped in the cover the dead air. Being spurned, over at Fox, the Murdocks were livid. Oh the irony of Twitter here!
De Santis made his announcement that was eventually re-streamed about 20 minutes later, and took a few softball questions about, for instance, why he was running. (Transcript here.) He gave wholly predictable responses. It sounded as though he was reading preprepared answers. It rang flat and atonal. As an example, he said: “American decline is not inevitable — it is a choice. And we should choose a new direction — a path that will lead to American revitalization. I am running for president of the United States to lead our great American comeback.”
De Santis did not mention Donald Trump even once. Trump had gotten the governor over the finish line, barely, through his endorsement in Florida, to the eventual appreciation of almost all Sunshine Staters, and some felt it was disloyal of him to run against the 45th president, including me, though if you want loyalty in Washington, as the old saying goes, get a dog. Instead, De Santis, 44, has simply presented himself as a younger version of 76-year-old Trump who is more electable because he is less controversial. A Trump-Lite if you will. For his part, De Santis won reelection for governor six months ago by a whopping 19 percent, being generally loved by his constituency for his MAGA ways, and his performance during the pandemic (which wasn’t entirely MAGA, thankfully.) so clearly, he has earned respect on his own terms since Trump’s wise endorsement.
Musk later claimed technical problems were due to servers being unable to handle the strain of so many people trying to listen in, but that sounds rather dubious. Even if it were true, however, wouldn’t Musk, as a technically sophisticated owner of the company have been aware of the possibility beforehand to prevent it? This obvious question led some TV commentators, and probably Twitter users as well, to speculate that it was an intentional sabotage of De Santis’ campaign by Musk, but that sounds even more dubious. Staff, maybe, but Musk? No way. After all, it wasn’t any better a look for Twitter than for De Santis. Still, De Santis echoed Musk’s excuse, saying, “We had a huge audience. It was the biggest they ever had. It did break the Twitter space. We’re really excited about the enthusiasm.”
Some had a field day with the disastrous launch of the De Santis campaign. One of the better comments came from Mark Harris, a strategist for Haley’s super PAC, who said, “Failed soft launch? Check. Failed announcement? Double check. We look forward to Ron De Santis’ failed campaign.” Trump chided his rival, observing the superiority of his social media, Truth Social, to Twitter, which he has never returned to despite having been ‘re-platformed’.by Musk after his purchase.
As it now stands, Trump is hugely ahead in G.O.P. primary polls. He has roughly 50%; De Santis, half that, with the rest of them in single digits. Of course it’s still very early. And De Santis has his work cut out for him. He is not a good orator or quick witted. He is reportedly not warm and hasn’t cultivated a strong coalition. That Floridians love him isn’t dispositive that he will appeal nationally. Personally, I believe he would be an excellent president in 2028, after Trump, and want him to remain at the helm in Tallahassee in the meantime. He’s a smart and good guy.
At present, there are four other G.O.P. candidates beyond Trump and DeSantis: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (who owes her career to Trump even more than De Santis does) and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former V.P. Mike Pence and former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie are expected to announce soon, though there appears to be very little enthusiasm for either one of them. As for Musk, he doesn’t fear failure. He’ll recover. He hired a new C.E.O. for Twitter, anyway!
LATE ON THURSDAY, AROUND 5:30 EDT, news broke that, in fact, 45th President Donald Trump had been indicted in the Southern District of New York. The indictment is sealed, but is rumored to contain charges he paid ‘hush money’ to two different women, porn actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Of course, that’s not illegal, and the statute of limitations have run, but what’s an indictment between Trump-haters? D.A. Alvin Bragg won’t tell us; he slunk out of his office without comment this evening.
Trump is the first former U.S. president to face a criminal charge. He may be the first president to be under indictment, too. He was at Mar-a-Lago at the time.
Prosecutors Persecutors are looking to negotiate Trump’s surrender in New York, but meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron De Santis has, very wisely, made it crystal clear he will not extradite Trump or cooperate with New York in any way in this folly. If, or more likely when, Trump surrenders, he is expected to be handcuffed, fingerprinted, and mugshot. The prosecutors persecutors are expected to make use of photographs of Trump being cuffed, printed, and photographed for use in the Democrat campaign for president. Likewise, Trump is expected to use the same for his own campaign. (I’d wager Trump will get more mileage out of it.)
It is anticipated Trump will be arraigned next Wednesday (?). It will be a highly orchestrated event, with New York’s finest working in concert with the Secret Service to hopefully keep President Trump safe.
“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history. From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement. You remember it just like I do: Russia, Russia, Russia; the Mueller Hoax; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; Impeachment Hoax 1; Impeachment Hoax 2; the illegal and unconstitutional Mar-a-Lago raid; and now this.
“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference.
“Never before in our Nation’s history has this been done. The Democrats have cheated countless times over the decades, including spying on my campaign, but weaponizing our justice system to punish a political opponent, who just so happens to be a President of the United States and by far the leading Republican candidate for President, has never happened before. Ever
“Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who was hand-picked and funded by George Soros, is a disgrace. Rather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, he’s doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on. This is how Bragg spends his time!
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
sua sponte 