2024 Election Lounge

DeSantis dropping out before New Hampshire and South Carolina was obviously a negotiated play with the Trump campaign, with the goal of padding Trump's margin of victory over Haley and cutting her legs out from under her right out of the gate. Trump wants to end any argument for her candidacy by blowing her out in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. There are reports that DeSantis was actually offered the VP slot in return for his quick drop-out and endorsement, but I'm not sure if I believe them. Whatever carrot they dangled in front of him must have been compelling though, because he easily could have dragged his hopeless campaign out through Super Tuesday while mostly bleeding voters from Trump. I suspect at the very least he was guaranteed one of the major cabinet positions, probably Secretary of Defense or Attorney General. DeSantis as AG would actually be a really good fit for him and great for the country, as I suspect he'd be very aggressive in going after people.

DeSantis as VP would actually work pretty well also. He doesn't add any appeal to the ticket per se in terms of attracting non-Trump voters, but I don't think anyone else really would, anyway. Trump himself is so divisive a figure at this point that his running mate barely matters. You're either voting for or against Trump; the name at the bottom of the ticket is largely irrelevant in peoples' minds. That being said, having DeSantis in the #2 slot would probably do a lot to cool any desire of the Deep State to impeach/remove or JFK Trump, as they know they'd just be promoting a guy who clearly lacks Trump's charisma and instincts, but who is considerably more intelligent, more skillful at wielding the apparatus of state, and who has demonstrated both independence of mind and a willingness to follow his principles. For the Deep State, Putting a guy like that in the Oval Office is taking what is already a risky proposition and adding some very significant potential for negative blowback even if their plan initially succeeds.
 
Since it's very important to organize and build parallel societies to survive the upcoming collapse, do you have any advice based on your own personal experiences with linking up with like minded men and with community development to give to people who want to do the same? I mean since this is the only solution according to you, you surely must have taken steps yourself to integrate yourself into a faith community or some other community and are basing the advice you give on this forum on those experiences? If you really believe in your own predictions that things really will be that bad then you must of course be following your own counsel.
Yes. I have worked 7 days a week, for almost 25 years straight. There is nothing special about me, except I was blessed to be born early enough to take advantage of a better system and see ahead of time where things were going. Everyone else here has the strength in them to do the same. And it is going to take this kind of work effort to have a fighting chance. Your money should then be converted into real world investments, land, gold, water supplies, gas supplies, ammo, whatever you can handle to help survive what is coming.

We have like-minded men here, there are other groups online. I am not going to recommend any group, because I have no knowledge if they are legit or not. Right now, is the time to make hay while the sun is shining, and that is by working every possible waking second to build yourself separate from the system. Turning off the silly TV, not buying into Trump/GOP nonsense, or other distractions pushed on us by the satanic elites.

I have to go, if you have specific questions, feel free to ask or PM me.
 


So basically we have two bad possibilities.
Either Biden wins and America continues to deteriorate with increasing leftist insanity, less freedom, and the flooding of third world immigrants. Or Trump wins and we get some small improvements in the domestic situation. Or at least a slowdown of the decline. However, it may be at the cost of a war with Iran as Israel's attack dog. A very expensive and deadly war.

I'm thinking most Americans are going to want Trump. And "they" also want Trump because their beloved Israel is cherished above all. So the will of the American people may actually align with the will of globohomo elites temporarily. Who loses out? Obviously Iran, but your average American doesn't care about the suffering inflicted on innocent ragheads halfway across the world. Also the young American soldiers who will die in this war (and they will be many because Iran is far more formidable a foe than our recent opponents), and the next generation when the country goes bankrupt. Who doesn't lose out? Of course our greatest ally.

I think Haley will be crushed soon in the primaries and the choice will become obvious. And I hope I'm wrong, that Trump's more pacifist side will win out.
 
DeSantis dropping out before New Hampshire and South Carolina was obviously a negotiated play with the Trump campaign, with the goal of padding Trump's margin of victory over Haley and cutting her legs out from under her right out of the gate. Trump wants to end any argument for her candidacy by blowing her out in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. There are reports that DeSantis was actually offered the VP slot in return for his quick drop-out and endorsement, but I'm not sure if I believe them. Whatever carrot they dangled in front of him must have been compelling though, because he easily could have dragged his hopeless campaign out through Super Tuesday while mostly bleeding voters from Trump. I suspect at the very least he was guaranteed one of the major cabinet positions, probably Secretary of Defense or Attorney General. DeSantis as AG would actually be a really good fit for him and great for the country, as I suspect he'd be very aggressive in going after people.

DeSantis as VP would actually work pretty well also. He doesn't add any appeal to the ticket per se in terms of attracting non-Trump voters, but I don't think anyone else really would, anyway. Trump himself is so divisive a figure at this point that his running mate barely matters. You're either voting for or against Trump; the name at the bottom of the ticket is largely irrelevant in peoples' minds. That being said, having DeSantis in the #2 slot would probably do a lot to cool any desire of the Deep State to impeach/remove or JFK Trump, as they know they'd just be promoting a guy who clearly lacks Trump's charisma and instincts, but who is considerably more intelligent, more skillful at wielding the apparatus of state, and who has demonstrated both independence of mind and a willingness to follow his principles. For the Deep State, Putting a guy like that in the Oval Office is taking what is already a risky proposition and adding some very significant potential for negative blowback even if their plan initially succeeds.

Or, DeSantis doesn't want to be hated for life and is dropping out peacefully because Florida is more pro-Trump than it is pro-DeSantis.

DeSantis didn't have the money to drag out a long campaign. The longer he stayed in the race, the more it would hurt his image and reputation back home in Florida. It's very likely he's just dropping out to quit while he's ahead, and have nothing to do with Trump going forward.

All in all, a tremendous waste. I've helped far worse candidates win their election, Ron was a dummy for taking tons of bad advice convincing him to run, plus ordinary greed. Once those millions were waved in his face he decided it would be worth the run, except now his future political career is dead.

Ron's campaign was abysmal, it was obviously Karl Rove running his campaign, just like I strongly suspected and told you back on RVF. Too much of his strategy involved just trying to drown out the field with ad spending and noise, and not addressing substantive issues (like how can we trust you Ron?). Classic Karl Rove/GOPe clown strategy that worked great in the 90's to scoop up low information voters, but totally worthless today.
 
DeSantis dropping out before New Hampshire and South Carolina was obviously a negotiated play with the Trump campaign, with the goal of padding Trump's margin of victory over Haley and cutting her legs out from under her right out of the gate. Trump wants to end any argument for her candidacy by blowing her out in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. There are reports that DeSantis was actually offered the VP slot in return for his quick drop-out and endorsement, but I'm not sure if I believe them. Whatever carrot they dangled in front of him must have been compelling though, because he easily could have dragged his hopeless campaign out through Super Tuesday while mostly bleeding voters from Trump. I suspect at the very least he was guaranteed one of the major cabinet positions, probably Secretary of Defense or Attorney General. DeSantis as AG would actually be a really good fit for him and great for the country, as I suspect he'd be very aggressive in going after people.

DeSantis as VP would actually work pretty well also. He doesn't add any appeal to the ticket per se in terms of attracting non-Trump voters, but I don't think anyone else really would, anyway. Trump himself is so divisive a figure at this point that his running mate barely matters. You're either voting for or against Trump; the name at the bottom of the ticket is largely irrelevant in peoples' minds. That being said, having DeSantis in the #2 slot would probably do a lot to cool any desire of the Deep State to impeach/remove or JFK Trump, as they know they'd just be promoting a guy who clearly lacks Trump's charisma and instincts, but who is considerably more intelligent, more skillful at wielding the apparatus of state, and who has demonstrated both independence of mind and a willingness to follow his principles. For the Deep State, Putting a guy like that in the Oval Office is taking what is already a risky proposition and adding some very significant potential for negative blowback even if their plan initially succeeds.

DeSantis is VP is very unlikely due to the fact that Trump is a resident of Florida (he changed his residency while he was president, in 2020 I believe, to take advantage of the excellent work DeSantis has been doing as governor). Under the US Constitution it's basically impossible for the POTUS and VP to come from the same state (it isn't technically forbidden, but they can't both claim the electoral votes from the same state which given Florida has something like 30 is a non starter).

A workaround would be for Trump to change his residency back to NY or to somewhere else where he owns property, same as Dick Cheney did in 2000 (lived in Texas but declared residency in Wyoming where he owned vacation property in order to run on the same ticket with W Bush), but it's hard for me to imagine his ego allowing him to make a move like that to accommodate someone else. If he did, it would be a nice show of humility from a man who has never displayed any. DeSantis, as the sitting governor of Florida (and who has lived there his entire life except when he was in the military and doesn't own property anywhere else), can't be the one to switch.

My suspicion is that Trump and Haley have been working together behind the scenes all along to crowd out DeSantis, she will drop out after SC and be his VP pick, but we'll see. The part of your post I bolded is precisely why RDS was a better choice to begin with.
 
DeSantis is VP is very unlikely due to the fact that Trump is a resident of Florida (he changed his residency while he was president, in 2020 I believe, to take advantage of the excellent work DeSantis has been doing as governor). Under the US Constitution it's basically impossible for the POTUS and VP to come from the same state (it isn't technically forbidden, but they can't both claim the electoral votes from the same state which given Florida has something like 30 is a non starter).

A workaround would be for Trump to change his residency back to NY or to somewhere else where he owns property, same as Dick Cheney did in 2000 (lived in Texas but declared residency in Wyoming where he owned vacation property in order to run on the same ticket with W Bush), but it's hard for me to imagine his ego allowing him to make a move like that to accommodate someone else. If he did, it would be a nice show of humility from a man who has never displayed any. DeSantis, as the sitting governor of Florida (and who has lived there his entire life except when he was in the military and doesn't own property anywhere else), can't be the one to switch.

My suspicion is that Trump and Haley have been working together behind the scenes all along to crowd out DeSantis, she will drop out after SC and be his VP pick, but we'll see. The part of your post I bolded is precisely why RDS was a better choice to begin with.

If this happens, get ready for Trump voters to experience 4 years of being slapped in the face. It’s would be as if he learned nothing. I don’t think she’ll be his VP pick though, if he wants a woman what about Kristi Noem?
 
If this happens, get ready for Trump voters to experience 4 years of being slapped in the face. It’s would be as if he learned nothing. I don’t think she’ll be his VP pick though, if he wants a woman what about Kristi Noem?

My theory is he promised it to her months ago in exchange for staying in the race long enough to crowd out DeSantis. She'll also bring her GOPe donors on board. Doesn't mean he won't double cross her of course (although it would be risky given she could go public with the deal if he did) but gun to head I'm betting she's his VP pick.
 
Trump did explicitly state a couple days ago that Haley has no chance of being his vice president. Now of course he might not stick to that promise, but if he makes the mistake of making her vice president, that could be enough to tip the balance to Joseph Biden. Because that would be a major betrayal and just more neoconservatism.
Or, DeSantis doesn't want to be hated for life and is dropping out peacefully because Florida is more pro-Trump than it is pro-DeSantis.

DeSantis didn't have the money to drag out a long campaign. The longer he stayed in the race, the more it would hurt his image and reputation back home in Florida. It's very likely he's just dropping out to quit while he's ahead, and have nothing to do with Trump going forward.

All in all, a tremendous waste. I've helped far worse candidates win their election, Ron was a dummy for taking tons of bad advice convincing him to run, plus ordinary greed. Once those millions were waved in his face he decided it would be worth the run, except now his future political career is dead.

Ron's campaign was abysmal, it was obviously Karl Rove running his campaign, just like I strongly suspected and told you back on RVF. Too much of his strategy involved just trying to drown out the field with ad spending and noise, and not addressing substantive issues (like how can we trust you Ron?). Classic Karl Rove/GOPe clown strategy that worked great in the 90's to scoop up low information voters, but totally worthless today.
I won't be surprised if Trump does end up giving DeSantis some Cabinet position, but I also won't be surprised if he gets nothing. His dropping out could very well be just saving face, because if he had gone through New Hampshire he would become a laughingstock (more so than already) after getting something like 6%. His second place results in Iowa were decently respectable (and he did beat Nimrata Haley there) so that was a good note to end on.
 
Trump did explicitly state a couple days ago that Haley has no chance of being his vice president. Now of course he might not stick to that promise, but if he makes the mistake of making her vice president, that could be enough to tip the balance to Joseph Biden. Because that would be a major betrayal and just more neoconservatism.

I won't be surprised if Trump does end up giving DeSantis some Cabinet position, but I also won't be surprised if he gets nothing. His dropping out could very well be just saving face, because if he had gone through New Hampshire he would become a laughingstock (more so than already) after getting something like 6%. His second place results in Iowa were decently respectable (and he did beat Nimrata Haley there) so that was a good note to end on.

Iowa turned out exactly the way many of us figured it would. Trump easily first, DeSantis second. The only thing I didn't see coming 6 months ago was Haley with as much of the vote as she had rivaling DeSantis. But that's mostly due to funding from Democrats and establishment Republicans.
Look at the outrageous money spent per vote by the candidates and their PAC's according to the data linked below:

DeSantis $1497 per caucus voter
Haley: $1760 Per caucus voter
Trump: $328 Per caucus voter
Crazy... I really like RDS but his decision to go up against Trump was probably the worst political calculation I have ever seen. All he had to do was be loyal to Trump, maybe be selected VP and coast to the nomination with the blessing of DJT in '28.
 
Or, DeSantis doesn't want to be hated for life and is dropping out peacefully because Florida is more pro-Trump than it is pro-DeSantis.
I definitely think that contributed to his decision to some degree. But I said it the better part of a year ago - DeSantis was going all-in on Iowa. If that gambit failed, he was pretty much toast. And that's exactly what happened.

DeSantis didn't have the money to drag out a long campaign. The longer he stayed in the race, the more it would hurt his image and reputation back home in Florida. It's very likely he's just dropping out to quit while he's ahead, and have nothing to do with Trump going forward.
I'm sure he had enough in the coffers to drag out at least a modest campaign for another few months, siphoning off 5-10% of the vote. But what would be the point? As you say, he'd only be damaging himself. Dropping out before New Hampshire was the best play for him, for his voters and for Trump (and for the country, obviously).

All in all, a tremendous waste. I've helped far worse candidates win their election, Ron was a dummy for taking tons of bad advice convincing him to run, plus ordinary greed. Once those millions were waved in his face he decided it would be worth the run, except now his future political career is dead.
His campaign honestly seems to have been snake bit from the get-go. He had a ton of bad luck and found himself up against unprecedented headwinds, and then wound up underperforming to boot. I don't think you can attribute his decision to run to greed though - ambition, sure, but those are clearly two different things. And it's far too early to declare his political career dead. At the very least, I expect him to return to Florida to serve out his term, then run for Rick Scott's senate seat when he retires. Or if he made some sort of deal with Trump and Trump manages to get back in the White House, he might consider taking a cabinet position if he feels he still has a good shot at the nomination in 2028.

Ron's campaign was abysmal, it was obviously Karl Rove running his campaign, just like I strongly suspected and told you back on RVF. Too much of his strategy involved just trying to drown out the field with ad spending and noise, and not addressing substantive issues (like how can we trust you Ron?). Classic Karl Rove/GOPe clown strategy that worked great in the 90's to scoop up low information voters, but totally worthless today.
I've still seen zero evidence that Rove had anything to do with the DeSantis campaign. This was just a smear from the Trump Twitter crew. If you have any evidence otherwise, post it. Most of DeSantis's advisors were former Cruz campaign people mixed with his own people from his Florida campaigns.

Crazy... I really like RDS but his decision to go up against Trump was probably the worst political calculation I have ever seen. All he had to do was be loyal to Trump, maybe be selected VP and coast to the nomination with the blessing of DJT in '28.
It's very easy to say this in hindsight, but he made the decision to run shortly after winning re-election as Governor in a swing state by 20%, and at a time when "Trump fatigue" was very real and a LOT of Republicans were open to an alternative. Trump was basically at his nadir at that point, while DeSantis was at his zenith. There would never be a better chance for him, so he took it. Unfortunately, everything began to unravel for him almost immediately, with the Trump indictments being the biggest factor, turning Trump into a political martyr and making it impossible for DeSantis to criticize him. And that's not to excuse DeSantis himself - his weaknesses as a candidate were certainly revealed during the campaign, most notably a shocking lack of charisma (I honestly think the dude is slightly on the autist spectrum) that contrasted horribly with Trump's superstar aura. All in all, I've no doubt that DeSantis certainly wishes he could revisit that decision. But it doesn't change that fact that at the time it was a very reasonable gamble to take.
 
I definitely think that contributed to his decision to some degree. But I said it the better part of a year ago - DeSantis was going all-in on Iowa. If that gambit failed, he was pretty much toast. And that's exactly what happened.


I'm sure he had enough in the coffers to drag out at least a modest campaign for another few months, siphoning off 5-10% of the vote. But what would be the point? As you say, he'd only be damaging himself. Dropping out before New Hampshire was the best play for him, for his voters and for Trump (and for the country, obviously).


His campaign honestly seems to have been snake bit from the get-go. He had a ton of bad luck and found himself up against unprecedented headwinds, and then wound up underperforming to boot. I don't think you can attribute his decision to run to greed though - ambition, sure, but those are clearly two different things.


I've still seen zero evidence that Rove had anything to do with the DeSantis campaign. This was just a smear from the Trump Twitter crew. If you have any evidence otherwise, post it. Most of DeSantis's advisors were former Cruz campaign people mixed with his own people from his Florida campaigns.


It's very easy to say this in hindsight, but he made the decision to run shortly after winning re-election as Governor in a swing state by 20%, and at a time when "Trump fatigue" was very real and a LOT of Republicans were open to an alternative. Trump was basically at his nadir at that point, while DeSantis was at his zenith. There would never be a better chance for him, so he took it. Unfortunately, everything began to unravel for him almost immediately, with the Trump indictments being the biggest factor, turning Trump into a political martyr and making it impossible for DeSantis to criticize him. And that's not to excuse DeSantis himself - his weaknesses as a candidate were certainly revealed during the campaign, most notably a shocking lack of charisma (I honestly think the dude is slightly on the autist spectrum) that contrasted horribly with Trump's superstar aura. All in all, I've no doubt that DeSantis certainly wishes he could revisit that decision. But it doesn't change that fact that at the time it was a very reasonable gamble to take.
I agree with your assessment net net. I think he will have a good opportunity in 2028 having learned from this and by his own admission he learned from what he didn't do well. He's gotten a good ground game in Iowa or 2028.

I would hope he has less of the GOPe advisers like Christina Pushaw next go around. In retrospect it was poor choice to run, but the Trump Fatigue mentioned was a real factor. On the policies I would vote for him. I think he's a good person deep down...it's unfortunate he did so much damage short term after just having gotten reelected as governor... Once the State went all in against Trump there was zero chance that anyone would get in his way.

I was happy to see him endorse Trump and glad he didn't endorse Haley. Whom I think allllll of the backers he had left for.
 
My theory is he promised it to her months ago in exchange for staying in the race long enough to crowd out DeSantis. She'll also bring her GOPe donors on board. Doesn't mean he won't double cross her of course (although it would be risky given she could go public with the deal if he did) but gun to head I'm betting she's his VP pick.

Watch I bet she becomes his Secretary of State. He will have told the truth that she’s not his vp
 
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