I agree with your column. One thing that has bugged me about Nikki Haley's campaign is it feels like she's running to be vice president. Look at how she punted on going after Trump over the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit on Face the Nation. It's so frustrating watching these people flail about.
At a guess it’s partly because the Carroll lawsuit has been ignored by the general public and mainly because Republican voters view it as a partisan witch hunt.
I don’t think anyone will beat Trump, period. I fully expect him to be the nominee no matter who else is in the race. It amazes me that he has this hold on people and people can overlook all of this. Why is he held to a different standard? Why do his people love him? Why are politicians so afraid of him? These are questions that leave me dumbfounded. I am utterly disgusted with it all.
I think you could make the argument that the rules have been at least bent, if not outright broken, by the establishment in an effort to get Trump. The NY legislature extended the statute of limitations with regards to Caroll’s claim of battery in a transparent attempt to nail him. The charges from Bragg have been decried even by some left leaning commenters as weak. What, for example, is the second crime Trump must have committed in order to elevate the misdemeanor charge of falsifying business records to a felony? Literally no one knows because the prosecution refuses to disclose that.
In the face of what looks like massive bias why should anybody trust the charges against Trump?
I don’t understand why anyone would give a dime to DeSantis, Haley, Pence or any of these candidates who are not even running campaigns against Trump. How do people justify to themselves wasting that money? The only person running that I’ve heard criticizing Trump is Hutchinson and he’s subterranean in the polls.
The only strategy I can see here is that they’re all hoping that Jack Smith puts Trump behind bars and makes him ineligible for the presidency because of the Constitutional stipulation against serving in government if you’ve taken part in an insurrection. They want the Trump cult members to remember that they never badmouthed Dear Leader.
Nobody, DeSantis or anybody else, is going to beat Trump. He will get the Republican nomination. He has turned the Republican Party into a fascist party. Trump had normalized lying, greed, hatred, an indecency in nearly half the country’s citizens. And Democrats are putting up a competent, decent, but slightly feeble old man against him. I shudder to think how this is going to turn out.
"He is a street fighter. He will poke you in the eye. He will kick you in the groin. He will smash a chair over your head. He will do whatever it takes to win."
Who could have ever imagined or thought that such a description like yours above would ever apply to a real Presidential candidate in the United States of America? This is rather the portrait of the open characteristics of some of the vile autocrats who have dominated the political and public governance space in many African countries, with serial, disastrous outcomes. That a candidate for political office in America would be best known - and scandalously supported by a substantial number of US citizens - for (and in the apparent face of) such uncouth public conduct, speaks volumes to the sunken depths of US politics, which finally came to light in 2015.
Watching from outside the US, it is apparent that Trump's emergence emboldened the wannabe autocrats within the US political culture to crawl out of their shells. Trump is their champion now. He has emboldened a vile and toxic style of politics, even as co-travelllers now bare their ugly fangs without any compunction whatsoever.
What a shame. What a spectacle. How the mighty USA has fallen so cheaply to the sleaze and propaganda and lies of its own homegrown conman.
DeSantis is really just a wimp. Never, NEVER going to do what it takes to try to take down Trump, who’s just a bully. As you know, standing up to a bully is the only effective course of action.
The irony, of course, is that DeSantis is ALSO a bully, only he picks on students, minorities, LGBTQ people, and others that let him punch down. When he tries to punch up -- as he's tried against Disney -- it's obvious he's totally out of his league.
>Trump has been convicted of paying hush money to a porn star to cover up a relationship they had
Hi Chris. Not to be THAT GUY, but I believe you mean indicted
YUP. My mistake. Fixed!
Technically he’s charged with falsifying business records about the payment in furtherance of some as yet unspecified second crime.
I agree with your column. One thing that has bugged me about Nikki Haley's campaign is it feels like she's running to be vice president. Look at how she punted on going after Trump over the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit on Face the Nation. It's so frustrating watching these people flail about.
At a guess it’s partly because the Carroll lawsuit has been ignored by the general public and mainly because Republican voters view it as a partisan witch hunt.
I don’t think anyone will beat Trump, period. I fully expect him to be the nominee no matter who else is in the race. It amazes me that he has this hold on people and people can overlook all of this. Why is he held to a different standard? Why do his people love him? Why are politicians so afraid of him? These are questions that leave me dumbfounded. I am utterly disgusted with it all.
Right there with you on all of your points.
I think you could make the argument that the rules have been at least bent, if not outright broken, by the establishment in an effort to get Trump. The NY legislature extended the statute of limitations with regards to Caroll’s claim of battery in a transparent attempt to nail him. The charges from Bragg have been decried even by some left leaning commenters as weak. What, for example, is the second crime Trump must have committed in order to elevate the misdemeanor charge of falsifying business records to a felony? Literally no one knows because the prosecution refuses to disclose that.
In the face of what looks like massive bias why should anybody trust the charges against Trump?
I'm still holding out hope for Nikki 🤞
I don’t understand why anyone would give a dime to DeSantis, Haley, Pence or any of these candidates who are not even running campaigns against Trump. How do people justify to themselves wasting that money? The only person running that I’ve heard criticizing Trump is Hutchinson and he’s subterranean in the polls.
The only strategy I can see here is that they’re all hoping that Jack Smith puts Trump behind bars and makes him ineligible for the presidency because of the Constitutional stipulation against serving in government if you’ve taken part in an insurrection. They want the Trump cult members to remember that they never badmouthed Dear Leader.
Nobody, DeSantis or anybody else, is going to beat Trump. He will get the Republican nomination. He has turned the Republican Party into a fascist party. Trump had normalized lying, greed, hatred, an indecency in nearly half the country’s citizens. And Democrats are putting up a competent, decent, but slightly feeble old man against him. I shudder to think how this is going to turn out.
You wrote:
"He is a street fighter. He will poke you in the eye. He will kick you in the groin. He will smash a chair over your head. He will do whatever it takes to win."
Who could have ever imagined or thought that such a description like yours above would ever apply to a real Presidential candidate in the United States of America? This is rather the portrait of the open characteristics of some of the vile autocrats who have dominated the political and public governance space in many African countries, with serial, disastrous outcomes. That a candidate for political office in America would be best known - and scandalously supported by a substantial number of US citizens - for (and in the apparent face of) such uncouth public conduct, speaks volumes to the sunken depths of US politics, which finally came to light in 2015.
Watching from outside the US, it is apparent that Trump's emergence emboldened the wannabe autocrats within the US political culture to crawl out of their shells. Trump is their champion now. He has emboldened a vile and toxic style of politics, even as co-travelllers now bare their ugly fangs without any compunction whatsoever.
What a shame. What a spectacle. How the mighty USA has fallen so cheaply to the sleaze and propaganda and lies of its own homegrown conman.
I so agree with this!
DeSantis is really just a wimp. Never, NEVER going to do what it takes to try to take down Trump, who’s just a bully. As you know, standing up to a bully is the only effective course of action.
The irony, of course, is that DeSantis is ALSO a bully, only he picks on students, minorities, LGBTQ people, and others that let him punch down. When he tries to punch up -- as he's tried against Disney -- it's obvious he's totally out of his league.
Absolutely spot on!!!
I was going to post the same. Bullies punch down. It is their secret power.
I saw a link, or what looked like a link, to Joyce Vance’s substack on Twitter but she didn’t tweet it. Is the restriction limited to the author?