Thank god. If Trump is forced out of the race from being in jail, DeSantis was the next leader, and at this point I really don't know which one of them is worse.
this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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Trump is worse, hands down. Trump demonstrated willingness to subvert democracy, DeSantis seems to actually care about working within the system. Maybe that means DeSantis will have more success getting policy passed, but he's less likely to become a dictator.
I highly disagree. The dude has made life for those he dislikes miserable in Florida. It has been so bad that multiple organizations have issued state of emergencies for trans people, from local trans organizations all the way up to the Human Rights Campaign. Trump is fucking horrible, Desantis is not a sliver better.
His policies consist solely of demonizing minorities and instilling facism as much as possible, I encourage you to read more about it.
Trump attacked our electoral process in order to overturn a democratic election. He lost the electoral and popular vote, and refused to acknowledge it.
DeSantis signed some stupid bills, probably mostly to get his name out for a shot at a national election. He denounced the violence on Jan 6, but he played the political game by refusing to call it an insurrection. If Trump is convicted of insurrection/sedition, that looks bad for all Republicans, so it's the right political play. If you look at his career as governor, it's clear he's playing the political game to get his name known (going so far as to endorse Trump relatively early), but he just doesn't have that energy to show he would try anything close to what Trump tried in 2020.
So while DeSantis' policies generally suck, I don't think he's going to try to subvert democracy, he'll try to work within the system like any other politician to get the positions he wants. So no, I don't see DeSantis as a fascist, he's just a social conservative. Trump, on the other hand, has shown fascist tendencies due to his massive narcissism. It's personal for Trump, for DeSantis, it's a job.
Desantis is a goddamn psychopath dude. Trump is obviously not someone that should have any type of power but Desantis is literally no better. His policies are fucking insane, his personal ideology is fucking insane, the voters he encourages and the culture wars he wages are fucking insane. It's not "just a job", it's the opportunity of power, something he seizes as much as possible. He is absolutely a fucking dictator if he gets the chance.
He came to my college campus a couple months ago, he kicked off his q and a with a prayer asking god to kill trans people. I'm not even saying that as a euphemism, the motherfucker literally said "and we ask you to stop the prevalence of transgenders by force if you need to" during that opening prayer.
Fucking insanity.
prayer asking god to kill trans people
Is there any journalistic corroboration for that? This sounds like something a political opponent would jump at, yet I can't find anything similar online.
What I can point to is Trump literally trying to subvert our democratic processes by overturning the election results.
So on the one hand, I have proof of an attempt to stay in power, and on the other I have someone with gross policies that seems to play by political rules. I'm much more worried about Trump than DeSantis.
So what serious contenders are there still for the primaries?
And is Trump still considered a serious contender when there are entire states who definitely won’t have him on the final ballot?
It's basically Nikki Haley vs Trump at this point. New Hampshire may be Haley's best bet when it comes to beating Trump in any one state at this point. Polls had shown Trump being anywhere between 10-20 points ahead, although that was before desantis dropped out. If she can win there it'll help her in other states down the line as people will see her as a more viable primary candidate.
If Haley can't build up some momentum and win a few states, it may not matter if Trump is disqualified from being on a few state ballots. He wouldn't need them to win the primary and most of those states are almost certainly going to Biden either way, so it wouldn't have much impact on the general.
And is Trump still considered a serious contender when there are entire states who definitely won’t have him on the final ballot?
He's the only serious contender. sigh
Those states, and counting, are forced to keep him on the ballot by the Supreme Court.
It is beyond bizarre to me that we are discussing another election with Trump in it.