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Sure, why not? I’ve been saying this for awhile and I think it becomes truer every day. Despite the fact that he is an ex-president Trump’s path to the nomination is the same one he had in 2016: the anti-establishment outsider, especially in light of the party elites pushing Ron DeSantis. JV Last at the Bulwark takes a look at the lay of the land: I have some Deep Thoughts on Ron DeSantis for later this week, but I want to start by asking you to consider a parallel: Is he Scott Walker or George W. Bush? I don’t mean on the merits or as an ideological figure. I’m talking exclusively about DeSantis’s political position at this moment in the primary. Is he a rocket about to take off? Or is he the stalking horse for the entire spectrum of the Republican party / Conservatism Inc.—from the think tanks to the donors to the grifter class? The reason this question is interesting is because there’s evidence to support both views. Nate Cohn has done a deep dive on the data and concluded that DeSantis is definitely not Walker; but may not quite be W.

What the hell is this?  Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders are targeting so-called “woke banking” with newly proposed legislation that would aim to “stop companies from playing politics with Floridians’ money.” Environmental Social Governance (ESG) has become a popular GOP talking point in states like Texas and Florida. ESG investments were banned on the state level last year. On Monday, the governor announced new enhanced legislative proposals against them.DeSantis, legislative leaders roll out plan to prohibit ‘woke banking’ in Florida Supporters say ESG is a way for institutions to avoid investing in companies that back policies that could negatively impact the environment and the people who live in those communities. But critics like the governor and house speaker Paul Renner say ESG investing does more harm than good. “The biggest thing that ESG represents is a total hijacking of democracy,” Florida House Speaker Paul Renner said. The proposal also enhances protections against discrimination of customers for political religious or social beliefs and prohibits the use of social credit scores.

Trump has a new nickname for Ron DeSantis: Meatball Ron, which is a lot more like it. I’m not sure what it means but it sounds more insulting than Ron DeSanctimonious which is just a little bit too “elitist” for the cult. Meatball Ron is starting to take some incoming: As Gov. Ron DeSantis prepared for an election night party in downtown Tampa last year, city officials received a surprising — and politically sensitive — request. The Republican governor’s campaign wanted weapons banned from his victory celebration at the city-run Tampa Convention Center, a city official said in emails obtained by The Washington Post. And the campaign suggested that the city take responsibility for the firearms ban, the official said — not the governor, who has been a vocal supporter of gun rights. “DeSantis/his campaign will not tell their attendees they are not permitted to carry because of the political optics,” Chase Finch, the convention center’s safety and security manager, said in an Oct.

I mentioned this before but in case you missed it, this write up of the judicial assault on Social Security is worth reading: During his passionate and very focused 2023 State of the Union address on Tuesday night, February 7, President Joe Biden slammed Republicans for their efforts to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare. Biden was referring specifically to a proposal by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), who has called for dramatic changes to the way in which those programs are funded. Instead of perpetual funding, Scott has called for Social Security and Medicare to “sunset” in five years. The Florida senator’s exact words were: “In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.” But in an article published by Slate on February 9, journalist Mark Joseph Stern emphasizes that Republicans have a tool other than Congress for attacking Social Security and Medicare: the federal courts. Stern explains, “Recently, the 5th U.S.

Why Republicans dress like supervillains Our theater department staged a modernized version of The Drunkard when I was an undergrad. The temperance play has been around since the mid-19th century. We brought in a specialist from New York to choreograph every over-the-top gesture. Every movement of every character. Each had an entrance theme played on a tinny piano off-stage. The audience is invited to cheer the heroes and boo the villain. We sold bags of peanuts to either eat or throw at the bad guy. The whole point of the melodrama these days is high camp. Amanda Marcotte argues this morning (my take) that what we may be missing is that the right is staging a version of the show every single day. “Why do so many Republicans now dress like cartoon supervillains?” Salon’s headline asks. When Rep.

What are those things flying our friendly skies? Of course, Republicans want to shoot first and ask questions later. You know, like the Air Force general in Iron Man. U.S. fighters shot down another flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday at President Biden’s instructions (New York Times): An object first appeared over Montana on Saturday and then disappeared, leading officials to conclude that it was an anomaly. But the object reappeared on Sunday over Montana, then over Wisconsin and Michigan. The object, which was flying at 20,000 feet and posed a potential threat to civil aviation, had an octagonal structure with strings hanging off but had no discernible payload, U.S. officials said. An F-16 shot down the object over Lake Huron. National security officials on Sunday discounted the possibility that the objects shot down over the weekend might have extraterrestrial origins. However, Gen. Glen D.

Everything you need to know about the world’s elites annual get-together.

Toby Green and I have written an article about the highly disturbing (but underreported) phenomenon of excess deaths: in all Western countries, people are dying at much higher rates than the pre-pandemic average, and only a fraction of these deaths are attributable to Covid. More young people are dying today than during the pandemic. This is the …

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Now and then, even the most seasoned politician happens to slip up and accidently speak the truth. This is what occurred during a recent debate at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, when the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock openly stated that “we are fighting a war against Russia”. The German government was quick …

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I’ve got a new piece up over at UnHerd about the push — in the UK and elsewhere — towards central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The official explanations don’t add up, while the risks of giving governments and central banks such sweeping powers of surveillance and control are being seriously downplayed.