Trump, Haley, DeSantis campaign in Iowa in the final days before the Republican caucuses

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley pushed across ice-cold Iowa on January 13 to find voters open to an alternative to former President Donald Trump with just two days before the State’s caucuses open the Republican primary calendar.

Mr. Trump, the heavy front-runner in the caucuses, opted for “tele-rallies” after cancelling larger in-person events due to a blizzard blanketing much of the State, but he remained confident as he looks for a big victory to blunt the potential rise of any rival.

Shortly after arriving in Des Moines, Mr. Trump held a livestreamed town hall-style event hosted by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, one of his top backers in Iowa. “It’s nasty out there,” he said, commenting on Iowa’s icy conditions. He confessed to some worry that weather could dampen turnout on Jan. 15, but said his supporters will “walk over glass” to support him.

Haley, DeSantis fight for second spot

Perhaps more important than the margin of Mr. Trump’s expected victory is whether either of his remaining top rivals can claim a clear second-place finish and gain momentum as the race moves forward to New Hampshire and other States.

The final Des Moines Register/NBC News poll before the caucuses found Mr. Trump maintaining a formidable lead, supported by nearly half of likely caucusgoers. Meanwhile, Ms. Haley and Mr. DeSantis garnered 20% and 16% support respectively.

Ms. Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor, and Mr. DeSantis, the Florida governor, remain locked in a close battle for second.

Mr. Trump is also viewed more favourably than the other top contenders by likely caucusgoers, at 69% compared with 58% for Mr. DeSantis and just 48% for Ms. Haley.

Mr. Trump’s modified schedule gave Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley a chance to see more voters across the state on Jan. 13. Mr. DeSantis, in particular, is under pressure in Iowa, given his campaign’s heavy bet on a strong finish in the caucuses.

Candidates make final pitch

“You’re going to pack so much more punch on Monday night than in any other election you’ll ever be able to participate in,” the Florida governor told about 60 voters at his first event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the western edge of the State.

A person takes a photo as Florida Gov. Ron Desantis speaks to a packed room on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Mr. DeSantis is hoping for more voters like Michael Durham, a former Trump supporter who plans to caucus for him on Monday night. “He’s just kind of no-nonsense,” said Mr. Durham, a 47-year-old from Council Bluffs. He praised Mr. DeSantis for opening Florida schools during the Covid-19 pandemic and challenging federal power. “He doesn’t make any apologies for the way he thinks.”

Other Iowans showed why Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley still have work to do in their respective final pushes.

Courtney Raines, a teacher, came to hear Ms. Haley on Jan. 13morning and planned to see Mr. DeSantis later in the day. “I’d like to know how she’s going to handle the border crisis and mitigate the racial divide,” said Ms. Raines, who expressed concern about divisions in American society.

Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the conservative Koch Brothers’ network, canvassed the state through the winter storm on Ms. Haley’s behalf.

Patti Parlee, a 65-year-old accountant from Urbandale, was among the Iowans visited at home on Jan. 13 by AFP. But Ms. Parlee said she is choosing between Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis and likely won’t decide until Jan. 15 night when she will hear the two candidates’ representatives make a pitch at her caucus site.

“That’s what the caucuses are all about is people get to speak for their candidates,” she said. “And we have to keep in mind: This isn’t the final election. It goes on from here.”

Ms. Parlee argued that Mr. DeSantis has not gotten fair treatment from political media, while Mr. Trump has not been treated fairly by prosecutors who have charged him in four separate criminal cases. She said she loved Mr. Trump’s policies during his administration, but thinks he sometimes acts like a “fifth-grader.”

“I almost want to vote DeSantis just to say yes, he should be getting more support than it seems like he is,” she said. “I almost want to vote Trump just to say: We know that all this bullcrap out there is bullcrap.”

In Des Moines, Mr. Trump hit out at Ms. Haley for “working with” the Koch network. Ms. Haley was measured in her criticisms of Mr. Trump, in an attempt to appeal to Republicans who favour the former president, moderate Republicans and independents.

Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Iowa City, Iowa.

Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, in Iowa City, Iowa.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Speaking in the liberal college town of Iowa City on Jan. 13, Ms. Haley drew enthusiastic applause when she hit her signature line aimed at raising doubts about Mr. Trump: “Chaos follows him. You know I’m right. We can’t defeat Democratic chaos with Republican chaos.”

It struck Julie Slinger, who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, but then for President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the 2020 general election. Mr. Trump is “a disaster waiting to happen. A time bomb,” the 57-year-old accountant said. “Even if you like Trump, he is going to be crippled by this mayhem swirling around him.”

Ms. Haley’s appearance in Iowa City, part of the State’s most Democratic county, highlights the wide net she is casting. Ms. Slinger entered the event undecided. She left committed to Ms. Haley.

Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley held back-to-back events a few miles apart in Davenport on Jan. 13 evening, making little mention of the other to their friendly crowds. They’ll both travel north to Dubuque on Jan. 14.

Mr. Trump is looking for as wide a margin of victory as possible in Iowa. His aides say the former president can become the presumptive nominee early in the primary calendar with comfortable victories that keep Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley from mounting a sustained threat. Alternately, his advisers have privately reminded reporters that no Republican presidential candidate has won a contested Iowa caucus by more than 12 points since Bob Dole in 1988.

Before Mr. Trump’s late arrival on Jan. 13, Kari Lake, the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate who is now running for Senate, paid a visit to the campaign’s Urbandale, Iowa, campaign headquarters, where dozens of volunteers were gathered making calls. “The Republican caucus that’s going to happen on Monday night is going to send a shockwave. We’re going to see such huge numbers,” said Ms. Lake, who grew up in Iowa.

Bad weather

After days of storm conditions, Monday’s weather is expected to be the coldest for any caucus day in history, with temperatures falling below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-17C) when Republicans are supposed to head to caucus sites.

Aides for multiple campaigns and longtime Iowa political observers have suggested the weather could sharply depress turnout. Republican caucus turnout peaked at more than 1,80,000 in 2016, Mr. Trump’s first campaign. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the caucuses narrowly that year. Mr. Trump’s campaign has put considerably more effort this time into building a caucus turnout structure.

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Can Donald Trump meet raising expectations heading into the Iowa caucuses?

When Donald Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans, his trajectory was something of a mystery. However, seven days before Iowa’s kick-off caucuses, his standing among the GOP faithful is hardly in doubt.

Voters, campaign operatives and even some of the candidates on the ground overwhelmingly agree that the Republican former President is the prohibitive favourite heading into the January 15 caucuses — whether they like it or not.

“Everybody sees the writing on the wall,” said Angela Roemerman, a 56-year-old Republican from Solon, Iowa, as she waited for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley to arrive for a weekend rally at Field Day Brewing Co. in North Liberty. “It’s a little depressing,” Ms. Roemerman said, as her order of tortilla chips arrived, lamenting “all the drama” surrounding Mr. Trump. “We don’t need another four years. But Mr. Trump’s going to win.”

Just beneath all the perceived certainty about Mr. Trump’s victory, however, lies serious risks for the front-runner. He continues to fuel sky-high expectations, despite questions about the strength of his voter-turnout operation and stormy weather forecasts that could dissuade supporters from showing up.

Few believe such issues will lead to a straight-up loss next week in Iowa, but in the complicated world of presidential politics, a win is not always a win. Should Mr. Trump fail to meet expectations with a resounding victory in Iowa, he would enter New Hampshire and South Carolina much more vulnerable.

Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continue to pour millions of dollars into Iowa advertising as they cross the State, backed by well-funded allies with robust get-out-the-vote operations, in a relentless effort to narrow Mr. Trump’s margin of victory.

At the same time, Mr. Trump’s team privately acknowledges that it has cut back on its door-knocking, get-out-the-vote operation heading into the final week. They insist they can ensure his loyalists show up on caucus day more effectively by relying on rallies, phone calls and a peer-to-peer text message programme. That’s even as allies of DeSantis and Haley push ahead with traditional get-out-the-vote plans at voters’ doorways.

Momentum was building for Haley, says New Hampshire Governor

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Ms. Haley and spent the weekend campaigning with her across Iowa, conceded that “it will be tough” to beat Mr. Trump in the State.

“There’s obviously a strong implication Trump’s gonna likely win the Iowa caucus,” Sununu told The Associated Press, even as he insisted momentum was building for Ms. Haley that will show up more clearly in New Hampshire’s Jan. 23 first-in-the-nation primary. “In New Hampshire, she clearly has a chance to do something no one thought was possible, which was to beat Trump in an early state.”

Aware of the risks, the former President’s team is scrambling to lower expectations for Iowa. In recent days, Mr. Trump’s advisers have been quick to remind reporters — at least privately — that no Republican presidential candidate has won a contested Iowa caucus by more than 12 points since Bob Dole in 1988.

The Trump campaign sees Dole’s margin as the floor for Mr. Trump’s victory, a senior adviser told The Associated Press, requesting anonymity to share internal discussions. The adviser described the mood of the campaign as confident but not comfortable, acknowledging questions about the strength of rival organisations and, as always, the weather, which could affect turnout if there is snow or extreme cold.

Impact of cold weather

Heavy snowfall, blowing and drifting snow and dangerous travel conditions are expected on Monday and Tuesday of this week to be followed by frigid temperatures that could drift below 0 degrees (-17 degrees Celcius) by caucus day.

The weather has already forced the Trump campaign to cancel multiple appearances by Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders and her father, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who had been scheduled to court Iowa voters on Mr. Trump’s behalf Monday.

Ever defiant, Mr. Trump projected confidence as he raced across the state for a series of “commit to caucus” rallies over the weekend before returning to his Florida estate. He’s scheduled to return to Iowa on Wednesday for a Fox News town hall.

At every stop over the weekend, he talked about his dominant standing in the polls. He’s also frequently invoked claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by voter fraud, a claim refuted by the courts and his own administration but one that fuelled a attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Still, weather is the more immediate concern heading into the final full week of campaigning in Iowa.

Mr. Trump told an audience of more than 2,000 in Clinton on Jan. 6 night that his aides told him he shouldn’t worry about cold weather, although his opponents probably should. “The other side will never vote, because they don’t have any enthusiasm,” Mr. Trump said. Stoking the crowd, he added, “We won’t lose one vote, because our people, they’re going to walk on glass.”

That’s not to say there’s no risk. “The biggest risk is you say, you know, ‘We’re winning by so much, darling, let’s stay home and watch television,’” he said the night before in Mason City. “And if enough people do that, it’s not going to be pretty.”

Trump leads, according to poll

Indeed, Mr. Trump has a loyal base of support but he’s also targeting a significant number of first-time caucus participants who don’t necessarily know where to go next Monday or how the complicated caucus process works. The events feature a series of speeches and votes that can span multiple hours, and in many cases, they’re not held at regular polling locations.

A Des Moines Register poll conducted in December found that 63% of likely first-time Republican caucus participants say Mr. Trump is their first choice. One of the first-time participants may be William Caspers, a 37-year-old farmer from Rockwell, Iowa. He said he had never attended a political event of any kind before Mr. Trump’s Mason City event on Jan. 5.

Trump’s campaign machinery

While he’s supporting Mr. Trump “100%” in 2024, he said he was only “pretty sure” he would caucus for him. “Where is it going to be? Where do I go? I’m kind of confused about that,” Mr. Caspers said. He noted that he was in the bathroom when a caucus explainer video played on the big screen at the front of the event hall. Several hundred other voters were still in line outline during the video. “So, the caucus is this Monday?” he asked an AP reporter, who clarified that it was Jan. 15.

Not far away, Jackie Garlock, of nearby Clear Lake, was wearing a white hat indicating her status as one of Mr. Trump’s “caucus captains.” The campaign has promoted its efforts to recruit and train hundreds of such captains, who will represent the campaign within a given precinct on Monday night.

Ms. Garlock said she only briefly attended one virtual training on Zoom, which she described as largely a pep rally. She also said that she’s not particularly good or experienced at political organising. But she’s not worried. “I have a lot of confidence,” she said of Mr. Trump’s chances next week as she scanned the crowded North Iowa Events Center. “I just look at the number of people who are here and I think, how can they all be wrong?”

Big money spent on attack advertisements

Meanwhile, Ms. Haley and Mr. DeSantis are spending money to attack each other on Iowa television, although Ms. Haley has had a decided spending advantage in the caucus’ final days. Overall, Ms. Haley and her allies are on pace to spend more than $15 million in Iowa television advertising this month alone; while DeSantis’ team is spending less than $5 million, according to an AP analysis of data from the media tracking firm AdImpact.

Virtually none of their attack advertisements are directed at Mr. Trump. That’s even as Ms. Haley’s primary super PAC is running multiple ads describing DeSantis as “a dumpster fire,” and one of Mr. DeSantis’ evolving group of super PACs recently launched an ad campaign calling Ms. Haley “Tricky Nikki.”

Mr. Trump and his allies are spending nearly $10 million this month in Iowa. And he’s shifted some of his attacks away from Mr. DeSantis and toward Ms. Haley. But he’s also investing in ads targeting Democratic President Joe Biden, his likely general election opponent.

Of all the candidates on the ground in Iowa this week, only DeSantis is predicting an outright victory over Mr. Trump. He moved his entire campaign leadership to the state in recent months and visited each of Iowa’s 99 counties.

“You’re going to see an earthquake on Jan. 15,” DeSantis told dozens of supporters at a downtown bar in Dubuque.

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Here’s How Much Ron DeSantis Is Worth

The Florida governor has spent much of his adult life railing against liberal elites. In 2023, he wrote a book about it — and it made him rich.

By Kyle Mullins, Forbes Staff


Even as his poll numbers stagnate and his political capital wanes, Ron DeSantis has seen one thing go right in 2023: His bank account balance keeps rising. Sitting at around $300,000 in 2021, a lucrative book deal made the Florida governor a millionaire by the end of last year. Today, he’s worth an estimated $1.5 million.

DeSantis has the simplest finances of anyone making a serious run at the presidency. He did not build a sprawling real estate empire (like Donald Trump), nor start a billion-dollar biotech company (like Vivek Ramaswamy), nor sit on corporate boards (like Nikki Haley), nor marry a Wall Street spouse (like Chris Christie), nor give a bunch of high-dollar speeches (like Mike Pence). DeSantis, the 45-year-old once seen as the heir apparent to a Trumpified Republican Party, owns just one equity holding: a recently purchased oil fund worth $15,000 to $50,000, according to his financial disclosure report. Outside of that, two small pensions and a big pile of cash, there’s nothing else. He resides in the Florida governor’s mansion and does not even own a house. On his most recent financial disclosure, he reported two cash accounts that Forbes estimates have roughly $1.4 million between them — most of it book income from the past two years.

He didn’t come from big money. Born to working-class parents from the Midwest, DeSantis spent most of his childhood in Dunedin, Florida, a Gulf Coast city minutes from Tampa Bay. His father installed Nielson television ratings devices, and his mother worked as a nurse. His Little League team represented the South at the Little League World Series in 1991.

DeSantis’ baseball chops took him all the way to Yale University in 1997. In the book that made him his money, titled “The Courage to be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival,” he says his cultural background made him stick out among the prep-school coastal elites. “I was geographically raised in Tampa Bay,” he writes, “but culturally my upbringing reflected the working-class communities in western Pennsylvania and northeast Ohio—from weekly church attendance to the expectation that one would earn his keep. This made me God-fearing, hard-working and America-loving.”

The future presidential candidate’s four years at Yale were defined, in his telling, by baseball, working various campus jobs and encounters with “unbridled leftism.” Evidently undeterred, DeSantis moved further north, earned a law degree from Harvard University in 2005, then — in a bold move for someone with sizable student loans — eschewed a Big Law job or judicial clerkship in favor of an officer’s commission and prosecutor position in the Navy. In 2006, he met his future wife, Casey, a Jacksonville-area reporter and television anchor, shortly before deploying to Iraq.

After returning to the States, DeSantis bought a $307,500 home near Jacksonville in 2009. He worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs to take out a $314,000 loan, enough to cover the entire purchase price. Ron married Casey at Disney World in 2010, left active-duty service and joined a Florida-based law firm that finally gave him a six-figure salary. He harbored political ambitions, though: His first book, “Dreams from Our Founding Fathers: First Principles in the Age of Obama,” didn’t make him much money, but it earned him some cachet among conservatives, which came in handy when he launched a run for Congress.

He won an east-coast seat in 2012 and the $174,000 salary that came with it, a major boost for someone who reported holding less than $20,000 in stock and cash just before taking office. DeSantis plowed the extra funds into a savings account and a second, $242,000 home in Palm Coast, Florida that he sold in 2018 for a small gain. His five years in Congress, combined with his military service, provided him a federal pension worth just over $50,000 today.

While in Washington, DeSantis hewed to the right-wing line: Per one measure, he was more conservative than 87% of Republicans in his final two years. Then he turned his sights on statewide office. He reportedly sucked up to Trump on Fox News and Air Force One, winning the president’s endorsement before even declaring a run for governor. In the primary, DeSantis emphasized his Trump ties, running an ad that showed the congressman “building a wall” with his kids and reading them the “Art of the Deal.” He won by a wide margin, then upset Democrat Andrew Gillum to become governor of America’s third-largest state, even as a blue wave crested nationwide.

The victory came with a pay cut: DeSantis’ new salary was 25% lower than his congressional one. Casey had left her reporting job in 2018. But they also had one fewer expense, housing. They ditched their Jacksonville-area home for $460,000 — paying off their mortgage and walking away with an estimated $150,000 — to take up residence in the governor’s mansion. At this point, they were worth less than $300,000.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and national fights over reopening, DeSantis grew his profile, picking culture war battles that kept him on television. He railed — and legislated — against mask and vaccine mandates, “woke” corporations and “critical race theory.” In his 2022 reelection race, he crushed former Florida governor Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points, winning yet more national attention.

The attention offered a business opportunity, which DeSantis seized. He authored a book that provided $1.25 million in 2022 and at least $725,000 in 2023. In “Courage to be Free,” the Yale and Harvard graduate blasts “elites” and the “ruling class,” calling the Democratic Party a “woke dumpster fire.” His net worth quintupled from $300,000 at the end of 2021 to an estimated $1.5 million today.

He also seized a political opportunity, declaring a run for the presidency in May. “Decline is a choice,” he said in an announcement video, promising to lead a “great American comeback.” But his poll numbers have slipped, as the baseball player from Dunedin struggles to gain any support in two debate performances while the criminally indicted real estate mogul from Queens runs away with the race without even showing up.

If DeSantis doesn’t catch up to Trump, he’ll at least be able to keep his job as governor of Florida—and perhaps write another book.

Dan Alexander and Kavya Gupta contributed reporting.

MORE FROM FORBES

MORE FROM FORBESHow Trump, Master Of Avoiding Paper Trails, Finally Got Caught With OneMORE FROM FORBESThis Surprising Obsession Drives Vivek Ramaswamy And His Presidential CampaignMORE FROM FORBESHere’s How Much Joe Biden Is WorthMORE FROM FORBESHow Nikki Haley Built An $8 Million Fortune (And Helped Bail Out Her Parents)MORE FROM FORBESHere’s How Much Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Is Worth

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Florida Schools Now Protecting Kids From Smut Like Sexy, Sexy ‘Paradise Lost’

In exactly the sort of development you’d expect in the midst of a moral panic and censorship campaign, we learn this week that one Florida school district isn’t limiting itself to removing modern-day smut like sex ed or books about gay penguins. The Orlando Sentinel reports that, thanks to a new state law that requires the removal of any school materials for review as soon as someone files a complaint, books like A Room With A View, Madame Bovary, and even John Milton’s 1667 biblical fanfiction epic Paradise Lost have been pulled from Orange County Public Schools, at least until media specialists can check to make sure they’re not porn. Hell, even Ayn Rand has been censored, instead of allowing high schoolers to find out for themselves what a terrible writer and human she was.

The story notes that several works that have regularly been used in classes are on the rejected list, like The Color Purple,Catch-22,Brave New World, and The Kite Runner. Naturally, the district has also removed both The Bluest Eye and Beloved by Toni Morrison, who can’t seem to help herself terrifying white parents with books that are entirely too much about Black women how dare she.

Previously

Virginia Mom Begs Voters Not To Let Toni Morrison Kill More White Children With Words

100 Year Old Lady At Florida School Board Better Patriot Than All Book Banners Put Together

Ask The Gay Penguins How ‘Limited’ Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law Is. YOU CAN’T THEY’RE BANNED

The district hasn’t yet finalized its lists of what books will be permanently banned or restricted to certain grade levels, and which will be allowed back into classrooms; the district’s “media specialists” are spending the whole summer reviewing every single book in classroom libraries to make sure children aren’t corrupted by mentions of sex, gay people, or Black people who don’t smile obligingly enough, we assume.


The Sentinel explains,

Some books rejected earlier this summer, among them “The Scarlet Letter” and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” have since been approved, according to the lists shared with the Orlando Sentinel by a district teacher and by an advocacy group that obtained a rejection list through a public records request. Other books have been approved but only for certain grades.

Four plays by William Shakespeare, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” are currently listed as approved for grades 10 through 12 only, as is Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the lists show.

Fans of The Simpsons will recall that Streetcar! is a musical spectacular featuring the sexy, muscular Ned Flanders and the cheery closing number, “You Can Always Depend on the Kindness of Strangers (A Stranger’s Just a Friend you Haven’t Met).”

Many books are being rejected — temporarily or permanently — because for some reason there’s mention of sex, which Great Literature never mentions but smut like Othello does. The explanation listed for many titles on the rejected list is simply “Depicts or describes sexual conduct (not allowed per HB 1069-2023,” which Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed as part of his presidential campaign. Pretty cruel to have a censorship law with 69 in it, if you ask us.

The new law makes book challenges easier and, if the concern is sexual content, requires the books to be removed from the shelves within five days and remain inaccessible to students while being reviewed. Republican lawmakers said they passed it to make sure pornography and books that depict sexual activity are kept from children.

Mind you, there’s really not any porn in schools, and the law includes an apparently useless clause noting that even works with nudity or boinking can only be considered pornographic if they lack “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.” Of course, once there’s a complaint, that has to be determined by the school media specialists.

The Sentinel spoke to a teacher who said, “The last thing I would have expected to be rejected is Milton,” what with Paradise Lost being a “cornerstone of Western Literature” and all that. Yr Wonkette hasn’t looked at it since comparative lit in grad school (Dante and Chaucer are way more fun), but yeah, there are indeed sex scenes in Paradise Lost, including Adam and Eve Doing It before the Fall (and unmarried at that, because there’s no sin in the Garden) and after. Hope you’re ready for some hot fuck action:

Handed they went; and eased the putting off
Those troublesome disguises which we wear,
Straight side by side were laid; nor turned, I ween,
Adam from his fair spouse, nor Eve the rites
Mysterious of connubial love refused

They was NAKED. Then after the Fall they screw again, only lustfully. Yeah, yeah, we know, you’ll be in your bower.

The ninth grade teacher said he believes the new laws imply that “I have horrible intentions for my students,” when he simply wants to get kids excited about reading and understanding literature, and isn’t that always the excuse they give when they’re peddling smut like Kurt Vonnegut and Alice Walker and Edgar Allen Poe?

“We are in this because we really care about the stuff that we teach and really care about the content we get to introduce our students to,” he said.

If the rejected list doesn’t change, he said, he will have to remove novels like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team and a Dream” from his classroom bookshelves as they are rejected for all grades, as well as “Crime and Punishment” and “In Cold Blood,” which are now rejected for 9th grade, which he teaches.

Yeah, that Dostoevsky, what a creep. Another teacher said she was “gobsmacked” to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream rejected, even temporarily, and was downright angry at the rejection of works she had used in advanced placement classes, like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, which like virtually all the books mentioned here has yet to be adapted into a porno.

She selects novels “to engage my students, to offer them literature that makes them think,” and some books meant to describe “the adolescent experience” contain sexual content. But they are not pornographic or inappropriate and it upset her to see them on the rejected list.

“It’s just so frustrating and disheartening,” she said.

You know, it’s almost as if writers think sex is an important aspect of human life and motivation, an essential part of literature, even. That’s what kids have to be protected from, for sure. Fahrenheit 451 had it right: Books just make people unhappy, so best we get rid of them.

[Orlando Sentinel / Image generated using DreamStudio AI and Photoshop]

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It’s The 2024 Republican Primary, And Everyone’s A Loser!

As we keep getting further and closer to the eventual Republican presidential primary debates, we have no shortage of Republicans jumping into the already cramped clown car. Let’s take a look at the three we saw this Sunday!

Bottom Of The Barrel

We begin with Donald Trump’s former loyal sycophant Vice President, “Hanging” Mike Pence, on Fox News Sunday.

Host Shannon Bream began by pointing out how Pence is unable to reach the base of Republican voters (on account of the whole wanted to murder him on January 6 thing) and that he’s still in single digits in the polls. So what “bold” strategy does Pence have to get elected?

PENCE: […] I authored the first legislation to defund Planned Parenthood that had ever been authored and passed in the House of Representatives. […]

Not sure pointing out you were first in line to snatch away women’s bodily autonomy is a winning strategy with independents there, Mikey.


Bream followed up by asking further about Pence’s theocratic stance on abortion, pointing out he wants a 15-week national abortion ban (so much for “states’ rights”). Bream then read a USA Today article showing polls pointing out Pence’s (and most of the GOP’s) abortion policies are actually very, very unpopular.

BREAM: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose […] a federal law banning abortion nationwide. By 80 percent to 14 percent, those surveyed opposed the idea, including 65 percent of Republicans and 83 percent of independents.” So how do you sell this to the American public that, according to these numbers, doesn’t want a national ban?

So how did Pence react when confronted with these statistical facts?

PENCE: This weekend we are celebrating a historic victory […] when one year ago, the Supreme Court of the United States sent Roe vs. Wade to the ash heap of history. […] I couldn’t be more proud of the some 20 states that have advanced protections for the unborn and support for women facing crisis pregnancy. […] As men and women step forward for office in the Republican Party all across the country, that we speak with clarity about a commitment to the sanctity of life. That we make it clear we’ll stand on principle, but we’ll also stand with compassion. […] That’s how we are gonna win hearts and minds. […] I also think it’s a winning issue.

It’s not. She just showed him that it’s not. These people are not good at taking in new information.

Pence also supported Sen. Tommy Tuberville holding military promotions hostage over abortion policy because religious fundamentalism outweighs whatever hollow pandering “support our military” slogan that Republicans blather out.

It’s clear that Pence is just gonna keep spewing the same canned, rehearsed garbage that ensured he was a horrible talk radio host, governor of Indiana and single-termvice president. All with Pence’s trademark disingenuous smirk someone mistakenly told him was “charming” rather than smugly condescending. It will be a genuine pleasure to watch Pence’s political career truly be sent to the “ash heap of history” once and for all.

Hail Mary

Meanwhile, over on ABC’s “This Week,” former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was continuing his Sisyphean attempt to win the Republican presidential nomination.

Host Jonathan Karl asked thorough questions regarding Russia’s almost coup, the continuing Ukraine conflict, and Christie’s differing view from Pence on abortion.

But we’re going to focus on Karl asking Christie about being booed in New Hampshire while speaking to GOP voters and criticizing Donald Trump. Karl, in light of this reception, asked if Christie thinks his message is resonating. Christie gave an answer that was very optimistic for himself.

CHRISTIE: Absolutely evidence it’s resonating, Jonathan. I’ve been in the race for less than three weeks and have already in third place in New Hampshire, only four points behind Ron DeSantis, who’s been in the race for a longer time and is supposed to be the co-front-runner. […]

Christie sure has high hopes.

But we don’t know if that’s as successful for Christie as he believes it is when Trump is beating everyone by more than 34 points and Christie’s “third place” is single digits. If anything, the latest New Hampshire poll reflects the ever-faster plummeting of DeSantis’s campaign.

After criticizing Trump’s latest incoherent speech, Christie gave a preview of what his general election strategy would be if he ever makes it that far.

CHRISTIE: This guy [Trump] lost in ’18. He lost the Senate and the White House in ’20. The House in ’18. He lost two more governorships and the Senate race in 2022. He is a three-time loser. We do not need our party to go to a fourth loss because Joe Biden, in my opinion, Jon, is an awful president. And we can’t afford to have him from age 82 to 86 in the White House or even worse have Kamala Harris assume the presidency. That’s the stakes here.

While we are here for any time people are reminded that Trump is a huge loser whose only real victory was getting elected in 2016, Christie’s critique of Biden is precisely why some in the GOP are freaking out about Trump being the nominee. They would love to run on Biden’s age, but Trump being the nominee takes that away due to his age.

Long Shot

We conclude with this week’s newest entry to the Republican presidential primary race: Former Texas Congressman Will Hurd.

Also appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Hurd gave an interview placing himself in the very crowded “moderate” lane. Since Wonkette has written many times about how much Will Hurd sucks previously, we’ll just summarize with this tweet from Tim Miller of The Bulwark regarding Florida Sen. Rick Scott possibly entering this race.

When your candidacy’s low standing is being used to measure how badly delusional someone else’s is, maybe you shouldn’t waste everyone’s time.

We’ll save our readers’ time by not wasting more of theirs.

Have a week.

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Donald Trump Support Slipping After Indictment, But MAGAs Still Love Their Saviour

A new poll from CNN and polling firm SSRS suggests that support for Donald Trump may be “softening” a little bit following his indictment and arrest on federal charges of mishandling top-secret documents, but that he remains the top choice for Republican primary voters, who have repeatedly shown their willingness to overlook a little light treason.

CNN says that while Trump is still leading the rest of the Republican primary field “by a large margin,”

the poll suggests that his support has declined, as have positive views of him among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Nearly a quarter now say they would not consider backing his candidacy under any circumstances. The survey also finds that those GOP-aligned voters not currently backing his 2024 bid have different views on his indictment and behavior than those in his corner.

Still, there’s little sign that Republican-aligned voters who aren’t backing Trump are consolidating behind any one of his rivals. Nor are they unified around wanting Trump out of the race entirely, or in feeling that his primary opponents ought to call him out for his alleged actions in this case.


Translation: Republican-ish folks not already on the MAGA bus aren’t sure they want to hop on, but they aren’t crazy about their other options and are currently standing around hoping maybe Ronald Reagan might be reanimated so they could get behind him before they end up going for Trump or staying home.

But those already on the crazy train are loving the ride and wouldn’t dream of going anywhere else, are you kidding? They’ll love Trump even more if he’s convicted, because that would just prove how much he scares the Deep State.

The poll shows that “47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters” pick Trump first among the announced primary candidates, which is down from 53 percent in May’s CNN poll. But none of the other Rs are anywhere close, either:

Support for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held steady at 26% in the latest poll, with former Vice President Mike Pence at 9%, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley at 5%, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott at 4%, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3% and the remaining candidates at 1% or less.

The other notable changes were a 10-point slide in Trump’s “favorability” rating among Pubs and Pub-leaning voters, from 77 percent in May to 67 percent in the new poll. There was also an uptick among Rs and R-leans (Arlenes?) who said they would never ever ever support him, no not ever (unless they change their minds) from 16 percent in May to 23 percent now. This is your cue to sing “What, never? No, never! What, never? Hardly ever!” from HMS Pinafore, and to wait to see where that number goes in the next few months. Trump’s overall favorability rating is at 33 percent, which is also where Joe Biden’s is, and if that isn’t enough to drive you to drinkin’, you’d best find yourself a Hot Rod Lincoln.

Also, for a brief chortle, CNN adds that

At the same time, there has been a similar increase in the share saying they would not back DeSantis under any circumstances (up 6 points to 21%), while the shares ruling out other top candidates have held roughly steady.

None of this necessarily means that Trump is any danger in the GOP primary anyway, since a “54% majority of Republican and Republican-leaning voters say that Trump’s conduct doesn’t matter much to them as they consider his candidacy,” because they think a president’s “effectiveness” is more important to them, although we suspect “effectiveness” in this case measures whether they believe Trump still hates the same people they hate.

For the most part, Rs and R-leaners would prefer other Republicans not make too big a fuss about Trump’s little boxes problem, unless it’s to yell at the DOJ and maybe whine about Hunter Biden:

Just 12% say that in responding to the indictment, other Republican candidates for the nomination should focus on publicly condemning Trump’s alleged actions in this case, with 42% saying candidates should do more to publicly condemn the government’s prosecution of Trump, and 45% that they shouldn’t take a stand either way. Even those who do not currently back Trump for the nomination mostly want to see other candidates remain quiet on the indictment (54% say so), with 21% calling for Trump’s rivals to condemn his actions and 25% saying they should condemn the prosecution.

Our analysis is that most Republicans and leaners agree that pollsters should move on to questions that aren’t about the indictment, because they have a vague sense that normies may have problems with it, the fools. Only 26 percent of the faithful and almost-faithful said Trump should drop out of the campaign, and another 16 percent added that well, OK, if he were convicted, he should drop out then. Otherwise, they’re apparently ready for Trump to report to jail and then pardon himself as soon as he’s sworn in, and then the Reaping of the Unfaithful can begin. (We really do expect future polls to ask whether Rs support him governing from prison when he wins, no not if, how dare you?)

Outside the Republican bubble, normal Americans seem to think a former president being accused of federal crimes is bad. Among all Americans, 59 percent say Trump should end his campaign; an additional 11 percent say he should drop out if convicted. That goes to a whopping 85 percent when Republicans and leaners are taken out of the survey. More numbers? Why not?

Most US adults, 55%, say that Trump acted illegally in the situation involving these classified documents, with 30% saying that he acted unethically but not illegally, and just 15% that he did nothing wrong. The partisan divide in views of Trump’s actions has widened since earlier this year. Compared with a January survey, more Democrats (up 10 points to 89%) and independents (up 7 points to 59%) now say they believe Trump acted illegally, but the share of Republicans who feel that way has dropped (down 7 points to 18%).

Oh, come and see the polarization, what a shame, etc.

There’s more, but we are disappointed that CNN and SSRS did not ask respondents if they thought their mental health would be significantly better if Trump had never been born, which seems like a gap in the data.

[CNN / CNN/SSRS poll (PDF file) / Image generated using Stable Diffusion AI 2.1 and tweaked in photoshoop. Thanks also to the gentleman we met at the crossroads at midnight who volunteered his help.]

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Trump and DeSantis jab at each other on campaign trail in first dueling appearances as 2024 candidates

Former President Donald Trump kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism of his chief rival Ron DeSantis on Thursday, jumping immediately on remarks by the Florida governor on the campaign trail to try to highlight his own strength as the leading GOP presidential candidate.

Trump, appearing in Iowa as DeSantis campaigned in New Hampshire, made a point of telling about 200 members of a conservative club gathered at a Des Moines-area restaurant that they could ask him questions — an offer that came not long after DeSantis snapped at an Associated Press reporter who asked him why he wasn’t taking questions from voters at his events.

“A lot of politicians don’t take questions. They give a speech,” Trump said to audience members, many of whom wore red “Make America Great Again” hats espousing his political movement.

Trump, throughout the day, also repeatedly pushed back against DeSantis’ argument that it will take two terms in the White House to implement an agenda — a veiled reference to Trump, who can only serve one additional term.

“Who the hell wants to wait eight years?” Trump said, claiming it would only take him six months to unwind President Joe Biden’s policies.

DeSantis, asked about the former president’s comment while leaving a voter event in Rochester on Thursday afternoon, noted that Trump had already had a chance to fix the nation’s problems in his first term in office. “Why didn’t he do it in his first four years?” he asked.

Their campaign appearances displayed an early tableau of the Republican primary that’s just getting underway: Trump hammering DeSantis and promising to use a return to the White House to quickly undo his successor’s work, while the governor limits his replies and direct critiques, pitching instead to nationalize his aggressive governing style.

Both men are portraying themselves as the stronger fighter for conservative causes and their party’s best chance to block Biden from reelection next year. Thursday was the first time both were on the campaign trail meeting with voters since DeSantis announced his candidacy for president last week.

At all four of his events in New Hampshire, DeSantis left the stage without inviting any questions from voters, which is typically expected of presidential candidates competing in the first-in-the-nation primary state. DeSantis also didn’t take any questions on stage from voters in Iowa during his time in the state earlier in the week.

While posing for pictures and shaking hands with voters after speaking at his first event in Laconia, DeSantis was asked by the AP reporter why he wasn’t taking questions from people in the audience.

“People are coming up to me, talking to me. What are you talking about? Are you blind?” he said. “Are you blind? People are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about.”

Alan Glassman, treasurer of the state GOP, attended the event and said he was disappointed that the Florida governor didn’t include a question-and-answer period. Glassman and his wife decided to skip any subsequent events of the day given that DeSantis wasn’t likely to take unscripted questions.

“This is New Hampshire. The reality here is the vast majority of political people here in New Hampshire, we do our due diligence. We want to know where these people stand. And a lot of that is hearing from them and then asking them questions,” Glassman said.

“I’m just hoping that next time the governor does show up here, he’ll actually be doing some more interaction with the people,” Glassman said.

In addition to his subtle jabs at Trump, DeSantis in New Hampshire turned his focus to Biden, criticizing him for championing a move to demote the early-voting state from its prominent role picking presidential candidates. He said the president was wrong to back a Democratic National Committee move to have New Hampshire hold its Democratic primary the same day as Nevada as part of a major shakeup meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical to the party’s base of support.

The Republican Party’s calendar is decided separately, but the Democrats’ changes have irked members of both parties in New Hampshire.

“I’m glad Republicans are holding the line and committed to New Hampshire,” DeSantis said.

Matt Johnson, a 55-year-old consultant from Windham, New Hampshire, who attended DeSantis’ third event of the day in Salem, said Trump and DeSantis present voters with a real choice but he liked that DeSantis “has proven he actually can get stuff done in government.”

Trump “talked a lot and he got some stuff done but he didn’t really get a lot of things done that he probably should have,” Johnson said. “As for the cult of personality thing, I’ve had enough of that.”

But Walter Kirsch, 64, of Warner, New Hampshire, said Republicans must realize that, despite being “gruff” at times, Trump will ultimately be the party’s nominee in 2024. Warner, who was among several dozen supporters waving Trump flags outside a DeSantis event Thursday evening in Manchester, said he hoped DeSantis “will think about what he’s doing and bow out of this and give it to the man who’s earned it.”

“Ron DeSantis has been doing an amazing job in Florida. He should stay there. I feel he may be destroying his political career,” Kirsch said.

Seeking to draw a contrast with DeSantis, Trump took questions from voters at all of his Thursday events, which included a breakfast meeting in Urbandale, a Trump team volunteer leadership training event outside Des Moines in Grimes and a private meeting with about 50 pastors at a Des Moines church, though the last event was closed to the media.

He later recorded a town hall with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity in the Des Moines suburb of Clive that aired Thursday evening, telling the host DeSantis had “had a very bad day today. He got very angry at the press.”

As Trump and DeSantis make their pitch to GOP voters, the Republican presidential field is shaping up to become even more crowded.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign June 6 in New Hampshire. The next day, both Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are expected to announce campaigns of their own.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur and “anti-woke” activist Vivek Ramaswamy are among the other candidates already in the race.

During the town hall, Trump called the ballooning field — which critics worry will split the anti-Trump vote — a “good thing” for his candidacy, but wondered why some long-shot candidates are bothering.

“What’s the purpose?” he asked. “I don’t understand what they’re doing.”

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Morning Digest | Ron DeSantis launches 2024 presidential bid to challenge Donald Trump; GDP growth may cross 7% in 2022-23: RBI Governor, and more

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.
| Photo Credit: ANI

2024 U.S. presidential campaign | Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launches bid to challenge Donald Trump

Florida Guv. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on May 24, stepping into a crowded Republican primary contest that will test both his national appeal as an outspoken cultural conservative and the GOP’s willingness to move on from former President Donald Trump.

‘Queen of rock ‘n’ roll’ Tina Turner dies at 83

Tina Turner, the American-born singer who left a hardscrabble farming community and abusive relationship to become one of the top recording artists of all time, died on May 24 at the age of 83.

NDA condemns Opposition boycott of new Parliament opening

In a statement signed by 13 political parties of the NDA, the alliance has condemned the decision by 19 Opposition parties to boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament building by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.

New Parliament building opening | How a letter to PMO set off a search for the  Sengol

A letter to the Prime Minister’s Office by noted danseuse Padma Subrahmanyam set off meticulous research into the Sengol, which would lead to the installation of the golden sceptre in the new Parliament building when it is inaugurated on May 28.

GDP growth may cross 7% in 2022-23: RBI Governor

India’s GDP growth in 2022-23 may well surpass the 7% estimate, while retail inflation is likely to go below the 4.7% mark this month, and gross non-performing assets in the banking system have likely dipped further in the January to March 2023 quarter, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Wednesday.

U.N.-recognised Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions keeps NHRC waiting over ‘political meddling’

For the second time in a decade, the U.N.-recognised Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) deferred the accreditation of the National Human Rights Commission, India (NHRC-India) citing objections like political interference in appointments, involving the police in probes into human rights violations, and poor cooperation with civil society.

ED conducts searches against foreign-registered online gaming companies in five States

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches against foreign-registered online gaming companies and websites at 25 locations in Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for suspected violations under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), involving about ₹4,000 crore.

Uttarakhand and Northeast to receive a Vande Bharat each

Uttarakhand and Northeast India will have their first Vande Bharat trains flagged off in the last week of May. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually flag off the Delhi to Dehradun Vande Bharat on May 25, and bookings for passengers will likely be accepted from May 29. 

Dahod mosque demolition | Gujarat High Court directs  status quo

The Gujarat High Court has directed local authorities in Dahod district to maintain  status quo on the land where the local municipality razed a decades-old Nagina mosque on May 20. 

India set to triple speed of fastest supercomputers

India is set to dramatically scale up its super-computing prowess and install an 18-petaflop system over the course of this year, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) Minister Kiren Rijiju said on May 24. Flops (floating point operations per second) are an indicator of computers processing speed and a petaflop refers to a 1,000 trillion flops. Processing power to such a degree greatly eases complex mathematical calculations required, for among other things, forecasting how the weather will be over the next few days all the way up to two-three months ahead.

G20 delegates tour Srinagar city in a bid to see ‘changed Kashmir situation’

From the famous Mughal Gardens to the popular Royal Spring Golf Course to the all-pedestrian Polo View Market in commercial hub Lal Chowk, the foreign delegates, who attended the third G20 tourism working group meeting in Srinagar, were allowed to have the flavour of the city on Wednesday, in a bid by the authorities to showcase the “changing ground situation” in Kashmir.

INSV Tarini returns to Goa after 188-day voyage

Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini with a six-member crew entered Goa harbour on Tuesday, reaching India after successfully completing a 17,000 NM (nautical mile) trans-ocean inter-continental voyage after 188 days.

Mob vandalises Manipur Minister’s house

A mob on May 24 evening vandalised the house of Manipur PWD Minister Konthoujam Govindas in Bishnupur for the State government’s alleged failure to take steps to protect locals from armed tribal extremists.

₹2000 note withdrawal won’t disrupt the economy: Shaktikanta Das

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das asserted on Wednesday that there will be no disruption to the economy owing to the ₹2000 currency note’s withdrawal, and said high denomination currencies lingering in the economy can create “collateral issues”.

China appoints new envoy to U.S. in sign of thaw

China’s new Ambassador to the United States finally landed in Washington on Tuesday, filling a post that unusually remained vacant for close to five months and heralding what some observers see as a possible sign of a limited thaw in recently frosty relations.

Bulgarian writer wins International Booker Prize for darkly comic memory novel

Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov and translator Angela Rodel won the International Booker Prize on Tuesday for  Time Shelter, a darkly comic novel about the dangerous appeal of nostalgia.

IPL 2023 eliminator | Akash Madhwal ‘engineers’ Lucknow Super Giants elimination, takes Mumbai Indians closer to summit clash

Little-known Uttarakhand engineer Akash Madhwal bowled a dream spell as his five-wicket haul took five-time champions Mumbai Indians one step closer to a summit clash after thrashing Lucknow Super Giants by 81 runs in IPL Eliminator, in Chennai on May 24.

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2024 U.S. presidential campaign | Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launches bid to challenge Donald Trump

Florida Guv. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on May 24, stepping into a crowded Republican primary contest that will test both his national appeal as an outspoken cultural conservative and the GOP’s willingness to move on from former President Donald Trump.

The 44-year-old Republican revealed his decision in a Federal Election Commission filing before an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

It marks a new chapter in his extraordinary rise from little-known congressman to two-term Governor to a leading figure in the nation’s bitter fights over race, gender, abortion and other divisive issues. Mr. DeSantis is considered to be Mr. Trump’s strongest Republican rival even as the Governor faces questions about his readiness for the national stage.

Mr. DeSantis’ audio-only announcement was to be streamed on Twitter Spaces beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. He was following up with prime-time appearances on conservative programs, including Fox News and Mark Levin’s radio show.


Editorial | Second innings hopes: On Biden announcement and repeat U.S. presidential candidates

Mr. DeSantis’ entry into the Republican field has been rumoured for months and he is considered one of the party’s strongest candidates in the quest to retake the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden. The 80-year-old incumbent, Republicans say, has pushed the nation too far left while failing to address inflation, immigration and crime.

The Republican nominee will face Biden on the general election ballot in November 2024.

He joins a field that already includes: Mr. Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also considered a likely presidential candidate but has not yet announced a bid.

Mr. DeSantis begins his campaign in the top tier of two alongside Mr. Trump based on early public polling, fundraising and campaign infrastructure.

The two GOP powerhouses have much in common.

Mr. DeSantis, who likely would not have become the Florida governor without Mr. Trump’s endorsement, has adopted the former President’s fiery personality, his populist policies and even some of his rhetoric and mannerisms.

Yet Mr. DeSantis has one thing Mr. Trump does not: a credible claim that he may be more electable in a general election than Mr. Trump, who faces multiple legal threats and presided over Republican losses in three consecutive national elections.

Mr. DeSantis, just six months ago, won his reelection in Florida by a stunning 19 percentage points— even as Republicans in many other states struggled. He also scored several major policy victories during the Republican-controlled Legislature’s spring session.

Aware of Mr. DeSantis’ draw, Mr. Trump has been almost singularly focused on undermining Mr. DeSantis’ political appeal for months. Mr. Trump and his team believe that Mr. DeSantis may be Trump’s only legitimate threat for the nomination.

Hours before the announcement, Mr. Trump argued in a social media post that “Ron DeSanctus” cannot win the general election or the GOP primary because of his previous votes in Congress on Social Security and Medicare.

“He was and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!” “RINO” stands for Republican In Name Only.

Mr. Trump’s kitchen-sink attacks and nicknames won’t be Mr. DeSantis’s only hurdle.

Mr. DeSantis may be a political heavyweight in Florida and a regular on Fox News, but allies acknowledge that most primary voters in other States don’t know him well.

A Florida native with family roots in the Midwest, Mr. DeSantis studied at Yale University, where he played baseball. He would go on to Harvard Law School and become a Navy Judge Advocate General officer, a position that took him to Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

He ran for Congress in 2012 and won an Orlando-area district, becoming a founding member of the far-right Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill.

Despite his lengthy resume, friends and foes alike note that Mr. DeSantis struggles to display the campaign-trail charisma and quick-on-your-feet thinking that often defines successful candidates at the national level. He has gone to great lengths to avoid unscripted public appearances and media scrutiny while governor, which is difficult, if not impossible, as a presidential contender.

Would-be supporters also worry that Mr. DeSantis has refused to invest in relationships with party leaders or fellow elected officials, raising questions about his ability to build the coalition he will ultimately need to beat Trump. By contrast, the more personable Mr. Trump has already scooped up an army of endorsements in key states, including Florida.

Beyond the primary, Mr. DeSantis’ greatest longer-term challenge may rest with the far-right policies he enacted as governor as an unapologetic leader in what he calls his war on “woke.”

The Florida Governor sent dozens of immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He signed and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill— known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.

More recently, he signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize they’re pregnant. And he single-handedly removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Florida’s new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

Mr. DeSantis also signed a law this year allowing Florida residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. He pushed new measures that experts warn would weaken press freedoms. He also took control of a liberal arts college that he believed was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

The Governor’s highest-profile political fight, however, has come against the beloved Florida-based entertainment giant Disney, which publicly opposed his “Don’t Say Gay” law. In retaliation, Mr. DeSantis seized control of Disney World’s governing body and installed loyalists who are threatening to take over park planning, among other extraordinary measures.

Mr. DeSantis himself has threatened to build a State prison on park property.

The dispute has drawn condemnation from business leaders and his Republican rivals, who said the moves are at odds with small-government conservatism.

Mr. DeSantis delayed his announcement until Florida’s legislative session was over. But for much of the year, he has been courting primary voters in key States and using an allied super political action committee to build out a large political organization that is essentially a campaign in waiting and already claims at least $30 million in the bank.

More than any of his opponents, except perhaps Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis is positioned to hit the ground running thanks to the super PAC’s months-long efforts to install campaign infrastructure across Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, which will host the first four contests on the GOP’s primary calendar early next year.

The super PAC also established more than 30 Students for Mr. DeSantis chapters across at least 18 States.

Mr. DeSantis gave no hint as to his plans during a meeting of the State clemency board in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning, where he granted several pardons to former prisoners charged mostly with drug-related crimes decades ago.

“You are what the country needs,” one man said after getting his pardon.

A smiling Mr. DeSantis chuckled and thanked him.

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2024 U.S. presidential campaign | Florida Governor Ron DeSantis launches bid to challenge Donald Trump

Florida Guv. Ron DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race on May 24, stepping into a crowded Republican primary contest that will test both his national appeal as an outspoken cultural conservative and the GOP’s willingness to move on from former President Donald Trump.

The 44-year-old Republican revealed his decision in a Federal Election Commission filing before an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

It marks a new chapter in his extraordinary rise from little-known congressman to two-term Governor to a leading figure in the nation’s bitter fights over race, gender, abortion and other divisive issues. Mr. DeSantis is considered to be Mr. Trump’s strongest Republican rival even as the Governor faces questions about his readiness for the national stage.

Mr. DeSantis’ audio-only announcement was to be streamed on Twitter Spaces beginning at 6 p.m. EDT. He was following up with prime-time appearances on conservative programs, including Fox News and Mark Levin’s radio show.

Mr. DeSantis’ entry into the Republican field has been rumoured for months and he is considered one of the party’s strongest candidates in the quest to retake the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden. The 80-year-old incumbent, Republicans say, has pushed the nation too far left while failing to address inflation, immigration and crime.

The Republican nominee will face Biden on the general election ballot in November 2024.

He joins a field that already includes: Mr. Trump, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also considered a likely presidential candidate but has not yet announced a bid.

Mr. DeSantis begins his campaign in the top tier of two alongside Mr. Trump based on early public polling, fundraising and campaign infrastructure.

The two GOP powerhouses have much in common.

Mr. DeSantis, who likely would not have become the Florida governor without Mr. Trump’s endorsement, has adopted the former President’s fiery personality, his populist policies and even some of his rhetoric and mannerisms.

Yet Mr. DeSantis has one thing Mr. Trump does not: a credible claim that he may be more electable in a general election than Mr. Trump, who faces multiple legal threats and presided over Republican losses in three consecutive national elections.

Mr. DeSantis, just six months ago, won his reelection in Florida by a stunning 19 percentage points— even as Republicans in many other states struggled. He also scored several major policy victories during the Republican-controlled Legislature’s spring session.

Aware of Mr. DeSantis’ draw, Mr. Trump has been almost singularly focused on undermining Mr. DeSantis’ political appeal for months. Mr. Trump and his team believe that Mr. DeSantis may be Trump’s only legitimate threat for the nomination.

Hours before the announcement, Mr. Trump argued in a social media post that “Ron DeSanctus” cannot win the general election or the GOP primary because of his previous votes in Congress on Social Security and Medicare.

“He was and is, a disciple of horrible RINO Paul Ryan, and others too many to mention,” Mr. Trump wrote. “Also, he desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet. A disloyal person!” “RINO” stands for Republican In Name Only.

Mr. Trump’s kitchen-sink attacks and nicknames won’t be Mr. DeSantis’s only hurdle.

Mr. DeSantis may be a political heavyweight in Florida and a regular on Fox News, but allies acknowledge that most primary voters in other States don’t know him well.

A Florida native with family roots in the Midwest, Mr. DeSantis studied at Yale University, where he played baseball. He would go on to Harvard Law School and become a Navy Judge Advocate General officer, a position that took him to Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

He ran for Congress in 2012 and won an Orlando-area district, becoming a founding member of the far-right Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill.

Despite his lengthy resume, friends and foes alike note that Mr. DeSantis struggles to display the campaign-trail charisma and quick-on-your-feet thinking that often defines successful candidates at the national level. He has gone to great lengths to avoid unscripted public appearances and media scrutiny while governor, which is difficult, if not impossible, as a presidential contender.

Would-be supporters also worry that Mr. DeSantis has refused to invest in relationships with party leaders or fellow elected officials, raising questions about his ability to build the coalition he will ultimately need to beat Trump. By contrast, the more personable Mr. Trump has already scooped up an army of endorsements in key states, including Florida.

Beyond the primary, Mr. DeSantis’ greatest longer-term challenge may rest with the far-right policies he enacted as governor as an unapologetic leader in what he calls his war on “woke.”

The Florida Governor sent dozens of immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard off the Massachusetts coast to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He signed and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill— known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida public schools for all grades.

More recently, he signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize they’re pregnant. And he single-handedly removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Florida’s new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

Mr. DeSantis also signed a law this year allowing Florida residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit. He pushed new measures that experts warn would weaken press freedoms. He also took control of a liberal arts college that he believed was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

The Governor’s highest-profile political fight, however, has come against the beloved Florida-based entertainment giant Disney, which publicly opposed his “Don’t Say Gay” law. In retaliation, Mr. DeSantis seized control of Disney World’s governing body and installed loyalists who are threatening to take over park planning, among other extraordinary measures.

Mr. DeSantis himself has threatened to build a State prison on park property.

The dispute has drawn condemnation from business leaders and his Republican rivals, who said the moves are at odds with small-government conservatism.

Mr. DeSantis delayed his announcement until Florida’s legislative session was over. But for much of the year, he has been courting primary voters in key States and using an allied super political action committee to build out a large political organization that is essentially a campaign in waiting and already claims at least $30 million in the bank.

More than any of his opponents, except perhaps Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis is positioned to hit the ground running thanks to the super PAC’s months-long efforts to install campaign infrastructure across Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, which will host the first four contests on the GOP’s primary calendar early next year.

The super PAC also established more than 30 Students for Mr. DeSantis chapters across at least 18 States.

Mr. DeSantis gave no hint as to his plans during a meeting of the State clemency board in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning, where he granted several pardons to former prisoners charged mostly with drug-related crimes decades ago.

“You are what the country needs,” one man said after getting his pardon.

A smiling Mr. DeSantis chuckled and thanked him.

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