Ramaswamy appears to be on the verge of dropping out. He's suspended all ad spending.

People around DeSantis are reportedly planning on trying to convince him to drop out as well.

... with a "big surprise, doing it differently" thingy. But yeah, he's lost momentum, people have seen through his schtick and have found him wanting.


I think DeSantis will wait to see the results from the early primaries first.

I really don't know if he is wrong about TV ads. The importance of television ads does sort of seem two decades ago thinking. Still, you have to be spending some money on keeping your name in front of voters. I know he has completely given himself to in-person campaigning in Iowa, and that might work there. He is rolling the dice on a surprise result in Iowa to propel him forward. Of course all of it is a waste of time since Trump is probably going to beat the field soundly.

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He was spending hundreds of thousands a week on TV and now he's out of money. He's going to have to go back to the drawing board for a new way to scam people out of their money.

Maybe he can bring in George Santos as a consultant.

Maine boots Trump off their primary ballot

It's good that Colorado and Maine are pushing the issue. From what I've read, the odds are in favor of Trump but I do think SCOTUS should rule on this (and quickly) and make an formal decision.

It'd be fascinating to hear their internal discussions, rationales etc.

He hasn't been convicted of insurrection or rebellion, so he's fine according to SCOTUS. That's my guess.

I just saw a Nikki Haley attack ad from DeSantis here in Washington.

During the Iowa game? I think I heard a presidential ad during the game which makes sense given the audience.

That does make sense now.

It's still strange to see the 2nd place guy attacking the person in 3rd place.

When the only chance in hell they both have is the guy in first can’t run any more, it would make perfect sense?

The real question would be whether it’s a pure Hail Mary or if there’s actually something they are looking at that means they believe maybe Trump might not be able to be the candidate.

O’BRIEN, TRUMP DISCUSS TEAMSTER ISSUES AHEAD OF RANK-AND-FILE ROUNDTABLE

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien met privately with President Donald Trump on Wednesday for an in-depth and productive discussion on worker issues most important to the Teamsters Union.

The… pic.twitter.com/LL6dWqJKF6

— Teamsters (@Teamsters) January 4, 2024

How many town halls is Ron DeSantis going to do? I am not watching but it is headlined on CNN.com. I feel like I am aware of DeSantis doing like 6-7 of these in that three months or so on both Fox and CNN. Are all the candidates doing tons of individual town halls in lieu of debates?

Yeah, let’s do this.

I guess Trump is at war with magnets now? He claims magnets don't work when they get wet.

I mean, there's this too:

Trump on The Civil War: I’m so attracted to seeing it. There was something that could’ve been negotiated… Abraham Lincoln, if he negotiated it, we wouldn’t know who Lincoln was. He wouldn’t have been the Abraham Lincoln. But that would’ve been ok. pic.twitter.com/RbmnXCvypI

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 6, 2024

The way he talks about how attractive the civil war is you'd think he wants to grab it by the pussy.

Btw, he's like a child that learns something and wants to go out and tell everyone. Explaining to people that in the 1800s when you got shot you'd likely either lose the limb or die makes sense to him because he just learned it and he doesn't have the self awareness to realize that it's common knowledge to anyone that made it past elementary school.

So true. I remember when he discovered the phrase “priming the pump” (in regards to the economy) back in 2016 or 2017 and he couldn’t get enough of saying it and then explaining what it means. I think, at one point, he even tried to claim being the first person to say it. Of course, sadly, this level of discourse is on level for an upsetting level of Americans nowadays.

I know it's a rhetorical question, but how can anybody with an IQ over 70 support this guy, he is a fucking idiot, attracting others just as stupid.

It's largely not about IQ. He opposes the right people and has the correct letter in front of his name on the ballot. That is enough for the lions share of Americans to support a candidate.

He "tells it like it is." To people who just hate anyone different, having a politician who "isn't afraid" to say the quiet things out loud is refreshing. They don't care about facts. They care that he voice how they feel.

I think it is that he is so unbelievably unethical, entitled, and selfish, that he literally has more illegal and immoral things going on at any one time than most any other person could have in 100 lifetimes. And, when he has to face any accountability or consequences, he whines about it and makes it seem like he is being picked on.

Like he legit has almost 100 charges against him, his family (he and Jared, blatantly) clearly have profited from their positions, he slept with a porn star while his wife was pregnant, friends with Epstein, buried his ex-wife/mother of his children at his golf course for a tax break, and those are before you get into unproven accusations. I think most of his people believe that there is no way one person can be that awful, so he must be targeted by the media/Dems/Rhinos/elite and, “if they’d do it to him, they’ll do it to us, too.”

He hurts the right people.

For a guy that tells it like it is they spend a lot of time telling us what he really meant.

Chris Cristie is going to announce he is dropping out at 5 pm today. He isn't endorsing anyone yet.

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Won't matter really but could help Haley a bit in New Hampshire.

Just curious if anybody watched the Haley / DeSantis debate and thoughts on it. On line the consensus seems to be that Haley came out the better of the two.

I didn't, but I had heard her supporters where pretty disappointed in her performance.

I didn't but I heard neither of them really went after Trump, which is insane. To have any chance, especially in NH, you have to get those Christie voters.

In reality it doesn't matter, but acting like he barely exists is insane to me. I guess they both have done the calculation that their best bet is Trump not being on the ticket and picking up MAGA.

Election season has begun. Rooting for Haley for 2nd and then pulling off an upset in NH (?).

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-ne...-24/index.html

I'm rooting for something even more improbable - sanity.

Seriously

I think that's called "trout".

If elections are going to happen (and it will), then it comes down to what's the best of the bad choices ... both in the Democratic and GOP primaries, and then the Presidential election.

Unless you join the 35-40% of citizens that don't vote.

And as always, the "both sides" implied in your "best of the bad choices" is ridiculous to me, personally. When the Democratic Party is tsken hostage by the crazies, call me. Until then, the simple answer is that we can overcome 4 years of bad policies (if that's what you believe), but we can't overcome 4 years of dismantling our democracy. Which the GOP is openly talking about doing.

Hmmm... 35% capital gains tax rate or wholesale firing of government staff, releasing convicted 1/6 criminals, giving Ukraine to Putin and back to cozying up to authoritarians across the world, and everything else that the orange shitstain wants for his personal gain. But hey, as long as I'm a white, male, upperclass Christian, I'll be on the "winning" team!

You read too much into my post.

I'm simply stating that many GOP voters are going to vote for Trump even if he wasn't their first choice because the worse choice is Joe. Many in the party are going to vote for Haley-DeSantis-Ramaswamy because Trump is too extreme for them.

Similarly, many Democratic voters will do the same.

And this is rinse-and-repeat for all election cycles. There's nothing new about voting for "best of bad choices".

That's not what is happening, though, because if it was, there'd be some semblance of a consensus on which candidate is the best choice given that this goes well behind the typical "rinse and repeat" of policy choices and personality. This is not an election where "On balance, I'm more in favor of business interests and free markets, so I'm sticking with the GOP" talking points make any sense.

Painting this as a typical election cycle is exactly the problem. One candidate is telling people he is going to prosecute his political enemies (without articulating a legal basis for doing so) and even suggesting executions. But yeah, Joe is much worse.

I'll disagree here. I certainly don't see this as a marker of "best of bad choices" happening (or not). IMO the marker is opinion polls and how many people complain about it. And since election season has just begun, more to come here.

I think what you are saying is this election cycle is much worse, more important etc. than others. It's not the normal voting for "best of bad choices".

If so, I don't disagree.

Arguably, 2016 was worse than 2024. But both revolve around the same person, so same difference.

I always rank candidates, by who I think will do the best job of leading the country, with no regard for party as all. And sadly DeSantis is closer to Biden now, than 3 months ago, but it is still Biden if Haley does not pull off a hail Mary.

This time around
1-Haley
.
.
.
.
.
.Big drop off
2-Biden
3-Desantis
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.Huge drop off
4-Trump

Every poll has Trump winning the primaries. And that is what probably will happen. But if he loses some early races, I am somewhat fascinated to see how it will play out. His supporters, we know, will not accept those results. And he will, we know, encourage them on to cheat and use violence to thwart the will of the electorate.
How does the rest of the GOP react to that when he is using violence against them instead of against Americans as a whole?

I am "anyone but Trump", so my default is Joe.

But if Haley somehow wins the nomination, I'd seriously consider her vs Joe.


Agree, it'd be fascinating how that all plays out.

Exit polls have 2/3 of GOPers saying Biden didn't win.

Haley would likely walk over Biden right now. Of course the election is months away and how much damage Trump would do if he wasn't on the ballot is an open question.

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No shock. Trump called the winner as soon as the first numbers come in.

Ironically I'd take Biden over that treacherous bitch

I really would like to meet one of these unicorn GOPers who would vote for anyone other than Trump. I know people who said they would vote for DeSantis but those people would only do so if DeSantis was not on the ballot. Those people are few and far between. They are also the only ones willing to consider the election occurring if Trump is not on the ballot. Obviously, these people exists

DeSantis finishing second really kills the fantasy that Haley would be a real challenge to Trump after New Hampshire.

dola

And Vivek never had a chance with these people no matter to what lengths he was willing to degrade himself.

Iowa voter on Ramaswamy: "I’m not being prejudiced, guys, but I don’t like his name. I don’t like where he came from. After 9/11, I still harbor a lot of hard feelings."

On #TheFocusGroup, @SarahLongwell25 previews the caucuses with the great Ann Selzer. https://t.co/MzEbzI8CAb

— Will Saletan (wsaletan on Threads) (@saletan) January 15, 2024

Find some of the Kemp-truebelievers in Georgia, probably some amongst those.

Damnable fools basically.

I think he just wanted his name out there and maybe a cabinet position. Guessing he gets the latter.