‘Who are you trying to help?’: Buttigieg slams DeSantis over LGBTQ-focused ad I've been supportive of DeSantis, but this is too much. While I agree the LGBTQ+ political stunting and virtue signaling has gotten way out of hand, with this ad DeSantis attempts to create distance between himself and President Trump using remarks President Trump made during his 2016 campaign. Crazy remarks like: "I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens" and telling Matt Lauer during a sit-down interview that if Kaitlyn Jenner needed to take a piss, Trump would allow Kaitlyn to do so inside Trump Tower. And that was the gist of the ad. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with protecting citizens. That is what a president should do. If citizens are truly under threat of harm or discrimination, they should 100% be protected at all times. And yes, if I owned a restaurant and Kaitlyn Jenner stopped by and said he had to go to the bathroom, I would let him take a piss in the bathroom. I am generally a peaceful and accommodating individual, even with people I know and don't like for whatever reason. No, I would not call Kaitlyn "sir" or go out of my way to disrespect him either. Such a strange ad by the DeSantis camp. I don't know if he truly believes the opposite of what Trump said in the quotes, but he needs to reset if he does. That's not going to work.
So, the position that DeSantis takes in this ad is that Trump is too kind to gay people? Got a feeling this is going to backfire, bad. I mean, pretty much everyone has a gay relative, friend, coworker, and --except for the most bigoted and homophobic among us-- can see they are regular people and not evil demons that should never be allowed to take a piss ...
This was in the DeSantis thread. As I said there, I really find it bizarre, along with distasteful. It is just more evidence to me he isn’t a terribly good politician. He has decided that going to the right of Trump on absolutely everything is the keys to the kingdom to the point of doing really dumb stuff life this. He just seems like an unpleasant person and is totally alienating himself from pretty much everybody except the hard right.
I don't know if I would call that "to the right of Trump." It's just hateful and bigoted. You can be a hateful and bigoted leftist or Democrat. But I agree with your overall point, which is that he's appealing to those that harbor hateful thoughts on the fringe and that's unfortunate. To be honest, it's likely a sign of desperation, as though DeSantis has realized he has no hope of catching Trump.
When I say to the right, it is largely to the cultural right. You may be right, perhaps it is desperation. But as I have said previously I also think it is a function of not really being ready for prime time. It is possible to be perceived as a hit shot governor and completely lay an egg on the national stage. Rick Perry, Scott Walker and Jeb Bush come to mind.
Desantis is doubling down "And ultimately when you talk about some of the gender ideology that’s being unleashed in this country, in the state of Florida, we are fighting back against that.” https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...s-down-amid-criticism-over-trump-lgbtq-video/
I think Desantis path to the White House was to be aggressively anti-Trump, like a “cut out the bullshit” Republican that goes after the MTG, Boebert’s, Trump, Gaetz, Gosar, moron wing of the party. Instead, he went hard after the culture war, not even a coded culture war like CRT fear that worked on the rubes in ‘22. But next level hate. A bizarre strategy, as the Evangelicals aren’t leaving Trump for him regardless, and the normal chamber of commerce republicans want no part of that trash. But hey, guess he wrapped up that Nazi vote.
When Wokey drops out he might not even be in 2nd place. He may also have the legacy of turning Fla blue.
How dreadfully uninspiring for America on both sides of this election. Makes me physically ill to think their combined ages will be 160 next year. Good grief. Funny thing about DeSantis, who fashions himself as very politically savvy-his campaign was toast before he even knew it was in the toaster. His “mandate” in Florida certainly does not appear to be traveling well. Terrible ad. Shows how out of touch he is with the middle he needs to win.
A reliable test for certain types of autism used I think mostly in the UK was to show a person a box of smarties & ask them what was inside. Smarties of course was the ans. The box was opened to reveal pencils. They were then asked, “if we ask another person what’s in the box what will they say?” Non autistics say smarties; autistics say pencils. This is Bootsie, he thinks everyone has the same priorities as him. He can’t see things from others’ perspective. Mix in arrogance & boom you have faceplant
Ehh, he still had a shot until this. Candidates normally move towards the center once primary season ends. But this was a deal breaker for several reasons. First, the ad actually made Trump look really likable in contrast, which is a hard thing to do. Secondly, he basically admits he is not going to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights. Now again, I'm very much against the woke agenda and the stupidity which pervades that realm, but to flat out say you're not going to stand up for their rights? Are they second-class citizens? Do they only get 3/5th's representation? Memo to Tallahassee: attempting to paint Trump as part of the woke mob is like attempting to paint Hillary as not a bitch. I mean, let's be serious.
Is Jerry Brown still alive? It might not be too late for him. 81 million marking their ballots with Brown!
it’s comical that one of his early attempts at a slogan was “Make America Florida”… The other 49 states and half of Florida don’t want that…
The conservatives certainly have winning issues when they focus on minors changing genders and trans competing in women's sports. But when they broaden that not just to all trans, but to all gays, which DeSantis appears to be doing ... I think they lose badly. Not to mention DeSantis's thing for gladiators and body builders.
This is a really important point IMO. Trump won a lot of evangelicals and social conservatives by saying the right things, but I doubt most really think Trump reads the Bible or cares what consenting adults are doing with each other. We're talking about a guy who went on national tv and wondered how big his daughter's breasts might get and bragged about how many women he slept with over the years. Trump lies all of the time, but people still perceive him as authentic, much like Tony Montana said in Scarface - that he tells the truth even when he lies. I'm not sure what DeSantis actually believes. I feel like he has a little bit of a Hillary issue in that he's clearly book smart, not a natural politician, and appears to be willing to say almost anything to be president. I think he may believe GOP primary voters care more about the broader culture wars and Twitter fights than they do about how the candidates make them feel. Trump could move half the party on most issues if he wanted except for guns and abortion, and to a lesser extent, something like the Covid vaccine. I feel like DeSantis is trying to figure out what the GOP base wants to hear and reverse engineering his campaign.
Not a good Politician? It shows he’s not a good human. This is who he is - an unabashed, hateful bigot.
