Over the weekend, Bloomberg published a story about how national Democrats can barely contain their excitement over the prospect of again facing Donald Trump in the next presidential election. As we pointed out last week, they haven't been subtle about this, with the DNC's rapid response operation swinging into action to boost a bogus Trump attack on a potential GOP rival. It's true that Democrats could be foolishly overconfident about beating Trump again, as they were in 2016 -- although current political conditions are dramatically different than they were ahead of Trump's famous upset victory. But they were very effective in manipulating Republican voters through expensive meddling in 2022 primary battles across the country. In literally every single midterm race in which Democrats both meddled and faced their preferred Republican nominee, they won. As the early-stages 2024 landscape starts to take shape, Democrats are being quite clear about what outcome they're hoping for:
NEW: Democrats are worried about running against DeSantis in 2024, given his age (44 vs. Biden's 80) + his experience running a big, diverse state. They know the playbook of how to win against Trump but are trying to figure out how to thwart Fla. governor: https://t.co/OTucHRltc5
— Nancy Cook (@nancook) February 4, 2023
Democrats are unfazed, even giddy about a possible 2024 rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But the prospect of facing upstart Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is prompting whispers of angst within Democratic circles. While Biden advisers and allies haven’t yet settled on a strategy to thwart DeSantis, the White House hasn’t missed an opportunity to knock him in an effort to weaken him before he can announce a presidential bid, according to conversations with Biden advisers and Democratic strategists.
The White House attacks DeSantis at every possible opportunity, and many 'Resistance' grifters have begun transferring their eleven-out-of-ten Trump hysteria onto the Florida governor. More telling, in my view, is the 'news' media's relentless attacks and smears -- hammering DeSantis with a panicked zeal at every turn, for years. His record-setting 19.4-point re-election margin in a cycle that was disappointing for Republicans in many other parts of the country is another red flag for those invested in Democrats holding power at the federal level. It's not rocket science to grasp why Democrats and their allies might be anxiously eying Florida's governor, ahead of a possible presidential announcement in May or June:
More than 6 in 10 Americans (62%) would be “dissatisfied” or “angry” if @potus Biden were reelected in 2024; 56% say the same about the prospect of @realDonaldTrump returning to the White House, according to @washingtonpost/@abc poll https://t.co/Femo4RwHvl
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) February 5, 2023
"4 in 10 Americans say they've gotten worse off financially since Biden became president, the most in ABC News/WP polls dating back 37 years."
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) February 5, 2023
"Nearly six in 10 Democratic-aligned adults don't want to see Biden nominated again for the job"https://t.co/YK9Vf1pHjL
The American electorate is, shall we say, less than enthused by the prospect of a Trump-Biden rematch, with Democrats decidedly cool on the idea of re-nominating the sitting President of the United States. Amid the dissatisfaction reflected in the survey, Trump narrowly leads Biden, within the margin of error. In quite a few polls, DeSantis performs better in hypothetical match-ups. Here's one recent example:
2024 National General Election Poll:
— PollTracker (@PollTrackerUSA) February 2, 2023
DeSantis 45% (+7)
Biden 38%
.
Biden 40%
Trump 40%@MULawPoll ~ 790 RV ~ 1/9-1/20https://t.co/n7prPcYuBK
It's not a coincidence that hardcore Trump loyalists and leftist MSNBC hosts are separately workshopping disparaging nicknames for DeSantis: Each camp sees him as a threat to their ambitions, and they're desperate to neutralize him. It's not clear that DeSantis intends to run, but almost all signs point in that direction. In the meantime, he will be presiding over the legislative session in Florida, likely notching a string of conservative policy wins -- building momentum toward a potential entry into the presidential fray some time in late spring or early summer. While cultural battles have drawn the most attention, and generated the most lefty outrage, DeSantis dropped his new budget proposal last week, and it's unambiguously impressive:
Four years ago, we promised a sound budget with $5.2 billion in reserves, $1.6 billion in the rainy day fund & $335 million in tax relief.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 2, 2023
Today, our Framework for Freedom budget contains $15.7 billion in reserves, $3.4 billion in the rainy day fund & $2 billion in tax relief. pic.twitter.com/2nMDY3RF7S
A thriving state operating in the black, reinforcing its reserves and emergency funds, and cutting taxes. Imagine that. This is quite the contrast from, say, Gov. Kathy Hochul's new plan, which proposes huge new tax increases in the fiscal basket case of New York. It's no great mystery why people are bleeding away from blue states. For the first time ever, Florida's workforce was larger than New York's last year. Cause and effect. As for the 2024 national terrain, some conservatives who are eager to turn the page from Trump are concerned that a big primary field, with Trump alternatives all vying for different "lanes," could lead to a repeat on the 2015-16 effect, wherein Trump benefited immensely from a consolidated base. Americans For Prosperity, a conservative grassroots organization, is making headlines by unveiling a decision to actively engage in the 2024 primary (disclosure -- I'm affiliated with AFP in an advisory role, but had no input on this decision, which I was informed of hours before it leaked publicly):
The organization, Americans for Prosperity, has stayed out of the last two presidential cycles but has concluded it needs to engage now as Mr. Trump mounts his third consecutive White House run. The memo released Sunday doesn’t mention the former president by name but is unambiguous in its purpose. “To write a new chapter for our country, we need to turn the page on the past,” the document reads. “So the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter. The American people have shown that they’re ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that.”...AFP didn’t say how much it would spend but boasts of a large grass-roots and data operation. “The states with some of our strongest and most effective state chapters are the same ones that will play a crucial role in nominating the next Republican presidential candidate,” reads the memo, written by CEO Emily Seidel. A related super political-action committee, AFP Action, “is prepared to support a candidate in the Republican presidential primary who can lead our country forward, and who can win,” the memo stated.
On the other end of the spectrum, the hyperventilations over DeSantis continue daily, including an insulting racial smear from a disgraced former journalist -- and an embarrassing conflation from The Atlantic's editor, who apparently can't distinguish between people choosing to read an article advocating racial reparations, and teaching that radical concept to teenagers in public schools schools:
The South today is represented in part by elected Latino and African American Senators who hail from both parties but it’s the same thing as the 1960s. Do media people realize when they engage in this kind of stuff it undermines the public’s trust in us? https://t.co/dWaEj4FEiU
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) February 3, 2023
You know, I think DeSantis is fine with “you” reading this article, regardless of how bad and divisive the idea it espouses might be. It does seem as though he opposes teaching its thesis to teenagers as part of a taxpayer-funded curriculum, however! https://t.co/p9YriTUjrb
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 2, 2023
Also, this is a good catch on a subject we've been covering for weeks:
The funniest part is where the NYT says the College Board "purged the names of many Black writers and scholars associated with critical race theory...from the formal curriculum."
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 1, 2023
So much for "CRT is just a grad school theory nobody'd ever teach in public schools." https://t.co/vlrFTXynyc
Remember, indoctrinating public school students with CRT poison is a right-wing fever dream that isn't happening...except when it absolutely is, in which case they brag about it and assail efforts to prevent it. Funny how that works, isn't it? In case you missed it, I'll leave you with my radio monologue last week, which was based on this post:
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