Brandon Strikes Again

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

10 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Moved on to what?

Obsessing about Biden?

No to DeSantis.  I just point out how ridiculous Brandon’s election was so other people will move on to DeSantis in 2 and 1/2 years.

[CoffeeTiger 5,087]

2 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

No to DeSantis.  I just point out how ridiculous Brandon’s election was so other people will move on to DeSantis in 2 and 1/2 years.

Watching the fireworks that would take place if DeSantis and Trump primary against each other would be comedy gold. 

What do you think about the speculation that DeSantis will stay out of the 2024 race if/when Trump announces his bid? 

Trump would still have a large base of support, and things could turn ugly for Desantis when Trump starts to sling mud against him. 

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

30 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

Watching the fireworks that would take place if DeSantis and Trump primary against each other would be comedy gold. 

What do you think about the speculation that DeSantis will stay out of the 2024 race if/when Trump announces his bid? 

Trump would still have a large base of support, and things could turn ugly for Desantis when Trump starts to sling mud against him. 

DeSantis gets things done without the rhetoric.  I don’t want to put up with 4 more years of mindless tweeting.  I would like a no nonsense guy in the White House that is a conservative.  I’m sure DeSantis is not perfect, but I like his values and take no prisoners approach.

DeSantis and Trump would duke it out on the debate stage and Trump would get his blows in, but at the end of the day I hope the best survives.  

[jj3jordan 2,047]

DeSantis has great support in FL. I think he can survive a Trump primary race. I would rather have DeSantis as President than Trump. And I believe most current and recent MAGA’s would also.

[homersapien 11,357]

21 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

No to DeSantis.  I just point out how ridiculous Brandon’s election was so other people will move on to DeSantis in 2 and 1/2 years.

I agree.  "No to Desantis" indeed.  He's a full blown fascist who bans books. 

In fact Republicans have gone full blown crazy.  Like all fascists , they rely on hate and division as a source of their political power and embrace sedition. And the book burner DeSantis is a prime example.

 

[homersapien 11,357]

18 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

DeSantis gets things done without the rhetoric.  I don’t want to put up with 4 more years of mindless tweeting.  I would like a no nonsense guy in the White House that is a conservative.  I’m sure DeSantis is not perfect, but I like his values and take no prisoners approach.

DeSantis and Trump would duke it out on the debate stage and Trump would get his blows in, but at the end of the day I hope the best survives.  

You are a useful fool.

If anything, DeSantis is worse than Trump.  Neither are "conservative".  They are both fascists who rely on hate and division for political power.  They appeal to the worst instincts of some Americans. It's shameful for the country.

If Republicans nominate either one, then Biden - or his replacement - have a great chance to win.  I don't believe the country is ready to accept a fascist authoritarian.  We tried it once, which is exactly why Biden is currently president. 

Edited April 23, 2022 by homersapien

[TexasTiger 12,828]

18 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

DeSantis gets things done without the rhetoric.  I don’t want to put up with 4 more years of mindless tweeting.  I would like a no nonsense guy in the White House that is a conservative.  I’m sure DeSantis is not perfect, but I like his values and take no prisoners approach.

DeSantis and Trump would duke it out on the debate stage and Trump would get his blows in, but at the end of the day I hope the best survives.  

DeSantis is an autocrat. It sounds like you like that “takes no prisoners approach.” Use laws to retaliate against those who stop donating to you. Pure mob boss.

[homersapien 11,357]

 

DeSantis’s Threats to Disney Is What Post-Trump Authoritarianism Looks Like

“Special treatment” as long as you support the government.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has pitched himself to the Republican elite as the candidate of “competent Trumpism” — a form of authoritarian populism for conservatives who worried that Donald Trump was squandering his power, not abusing it. A picture of what that would look like in operation can be seen in DeSantis’s thuggish effort to bully Disney into supporting, or at least refraining from opposing, his “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Last week, DeSantis declared at a press conference that Disney “crossed the line” by saying it would support the repeal of DeSantis’s cherished anti-gay legislation. “We’re going to make sure we’re fighting back when people are threatening our parents and threatening our kids,” he warned.

“Fighting back” turns out not to mean refuting or organizing against Disney’s opposition to the law. It means DeSantis using his legislative majority to punish Disney on unrelated legal issues. On Friday, he claimed he was “shocked” to discover Disney has been granted sweeping autonomy to operate in his state:

“I was shocked to see some of the stuff that’s in there. They can do their own nuclear power plant. Is there any other private company in the state that can just build a nuclear power plant on their own? They’re able to do certain things that nobody else is able to do. So I think they’re right to be looking at this and reevaluating and having an even playing field for everybody, I think is much better than basically to allow one company to be a law onto itself.”

 

Given that this legal status has been widely known for many decades in the state where DeSantis grew up and now serves as chief executive, the governor was no doubt shocked — the same way Captain Louis Renault was shocked to discover gambling in Casablanca.

One obvious tell that DeSantis doesn’t actually care about Disney’s legal status is that his pretext for punishing the firm has changed. On Friday, he cited Disney’s special legal autonomy. The day before, the “special treatment” was a bill regulating social media that exempted theme-park operators.

Another tell is that the latter bill was signed into law by DeSantis with specific input from his staff, as the Tampa Bay Times reports. If Disney’s legislative clout is leading to outrageous favoritism, voters should be furious with DeSantis.

DeSantis is barely making any effort to hide his intentions. As he tells Fox News, “Six months ago, it would have been unthinkable” that Florida Republican legislators “would be willing to reevaluate those special privileges.” It’s almost as if the special privileges have nothing to do with the reason Republicans are looking to punish Disney! Perhaps there is something Disney can put in DeSantis’s hand that would make the thing in his other hand go away.

What’s relevant to this threat is neither the merits of DeSantis’s school regulations nor of Disney’s status in Florida. Even if you think DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill is wonderful and Disney’s legal status is awful, the governor’s thuggish linkage of the two ought to terrify you.

DeSantis is trying to establish an understanding that major corporations can expect favorable treatment from the government as long as they play along with the ruling party’s political agenda. They are allowed — nay, encouraged — to get involved in politics on the condition that they take the correct position. But should they take the wrong position, they will find themselves under legal scrutiny. Suddenly, the regulatory noose will tighten.

This is the method Donald Trump used to intimidate firms with employees who gave him a hard time. Amazon lost a lucrative Pentagon contract in retribution for Jeff Bezos’s ownership of the Washington Post, and Trump attempted to block a merger by CNN’s parent company to finish the network.

This is also a method that Trump’s favorite dictators — like Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin — use to control the political debate in their countries. DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw has fired off more than a dozen tweets celebrating Orbán’s victory in Hungary and ridiculing the idea that his regime is repressive or dangerous in any way. When American conservatives tell us Orbán’s version of competitive authoritarianism is the form of government they aspire to, then show us what it would look like in practice, we’d best believe them.

More on "Don't Say Gay"

• Florida Could Be Cleaning Up DeSantis’s Disney Mess for Years to Come
• Florida Republicans Are One Step Closer to Punishing Disney
• In DeSantis’s Banana Republic, Corporations Must Support the Party

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

3 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

DeSantis is an autocrat. It sounds like you like that “takes no prisoners approach.” Use laws to retaliate against those who stop donating to you. Pure mob boss.

Is that what happened?  Really?  I thought it was because Disney tried to publicly go after a law that the legislator of Florida approved.  You know affect a change in the public arena and not use their lobbyists which would be the norm.  

Maybe he should have used the states Revenue System to go after Disney instead.  It would have been underhanded, but that type of thing has been used before.

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

3 hours ago, homersapien said:

He's a full blown fascist who bans books. 

You know he is deciding which books will be used in schools for math, right?  If he uses one book as opposed to another is that banning books?

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

3 hours ago, homersapien said:

If anything, DeSantis is worse than Trump

He will be come November of 2024, bet on it.

[TexasTiger 12,828]

35 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Is that what happened?  Really?  I thought it was because Disney tried to publicly go after a law that the legislator of Florida approved.  You know affect a change in the public arena and not use their lobbyists which would be the norm.  

Maybe he should have used the states Revenue System to go after Disney instead.  It would have been underhanded, but that type of thing has been used before.

Does “publicly go after a law” mean exercise free political expression? 
 

You’re very comfortable using state power to punish political “enemies.” And by enemies I mean those who question the executive. 
 

Disney criticized a law and paused political donations. DeSantis promptly used the power of government to punish them. One can support guys like this and claim they give a damn about freedom.

[TexasTiger 12,828]

47 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

You know he is deciding which books will be used in schools for math, right?  If he uses one book as opposed to another is that banning books?

Down to one publisher. Follow the money. The kind of corrupt crony “capitalism” you like, I guess.

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

15 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

Does “publicly go after a law” mean exercise free political expression? 
 

You’re very comfortable using state power to punish political “enemies.” And by enemies I mean those who question the executive. 
 

Disney criticized a law and paused political donations. DeSantis promptly used the power of government to punish them. One can support guys like this and claim they give a damn about freedom.

Individuals have the right to express their political views.  Why not have the 200 or so disgruntled Disney employees protest the law on there own time?  Why do those 200 employees threaten the company they work for to change from a neutral stance to an aggressive one?  Why did Disney acquiesce?

Is that were we are headed.  I would have never threatened, coerced or even suggested that he company I work for stand up for what I believe in.  I believed I would have been fired and rightfully so.

Politics is a nasty game.

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

1 minute ago, TexasTiger said:

Down to one publisher. Follow the money. The kind of corrupt crony “capitalism” you like, I guess.

I would guess it was the only publisher that didn’t infuse CRT in the text book.

[TexasTiger 12,828]

4 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Individuals have the right to express their political views.  Why not have the 200 or so disgruntled Disney employees protest the law on there own time?  Why do those 200 employees threaten the company they work for to change from a neutral stance to an aggressive one?  Why did Disney acquiesce?

Is that were we are headed.  I would have never threatened, coerced or even suggested that he company I work for stand up for what I believe in.  I believed I would have been fired and rightfully so.

Politics is a nasty game.

Your an autocrat. That’s been firmly established by this thread. Thanks.

[SaltyTiger 7,775]

30 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

Does “publicly go after a law” mean exercise free political expression? 
 

You’re very comfortable using state power to punish political “enemies.” And by enemies I mean those who question the executive. 
 

Disney criticized a law and paused political donations. DeSantis promptly used the power of government to punish them. One can support guys like this and claim they give a damn about freedom.

Provoked by an out of state corporation per Ron.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/22/desantis-disney-florida-law-reedy-creek-governance-structure-dont-say-gay-woke/7414377001/
 

"You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re gonna marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state. We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that," DeSantis said at the bill signing.

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

1 minute ago, TexasTiger said:

Your an autocrat. That’s been firmly established by this thread. Thanks.

I don’t rule a damn thing, I do have beliefs that don’t align with yours though.

Why did Disney allow 2% of it’s employees dictate what a multi-billion dollar company should stand for especially when that company kowtows to a homophobic country like China?

Do you have a answer?

[TexasTiger 12,828]

11 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

I don’t rule a damn thing, I do have beliefs that don’t align with yours though.

Why did Disney allow 2% of it’s employees dictate what a multi-billion dollar company should stand for especially when that company kowtows to a homophobic country like China?

Do you have a answer?

I wasn’t part of Disney’s internal deliberations as you apparently were, but why would it matter why they made their decision? They criticized legislation. So what? What if airlines criticize mask mandates? Oh, they did.  Should Biden seek vengeance thru legislation? I bet you’d understand that one.

[TexasTiger 12,828]

19 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Provoked by an out of state corporation per Ron.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/22/desantis-disney-florida-law-reedy-creek-governance-structure-dont-say-gay-woke/7414377001/
 

"You’re a corporation based in Burbank, California, and you’re gonna marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state. We view that as a provocation, and we’re going to fight back against that," DeSantis said at the bill signing.

Disney attacked the parents of Florida so they must be punished. I bet you think Putin’s liberating Ukraine if you buy that BS rationale.

[TexasTiger 12,828]

All you guys who claim not to like Trump, but support him are clearly just upset the tweeting gets in the way of autocrating. Y’all just want an autocrat that tweets less.

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

1 minute ago, TexasTiger said:

I wasn’t part of Disney’s internal deliberations as you apparently were, but why would it matter why they made their decision? They criticized legislation. So what? What if airlines criticize mask mandates? Oh, they did.  Should Biden seek vengeance thru legislation? I bet you’d understand that one.

The difference is a top down approach in a time of an emergency as opposed to a tail wagging the dog approach by Disney.  Disney, originally, was neutral.

Isn’t Biden now seeking vengeance through the courts for the mask mandate?

[I_M4_AU 7,785]

4 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

All you guys who claim not to like Trump, but support him are clearly just upset the tweeting gets in the way of autocrating. Y’all just want an autocrat that tweets less.

How’s that approval rating going?  33% the last I heard.

[TexasTiger 12,828]

Just now, I_M4_AU said:

The difference is a top down approach in a time of an emergency as opposed to a tail wagging the dog approach by Disney.  Disney, originally, was neutral.

Isn’t Biden now seeking vengeance through the courts for the mask mandate?

Do you honestly not see the difference in appealing a lower court’s decision to a higher court and quickly rushing thru legislation specifically targeting an entity that criticized a decision and said it was pausing campaign contributions?

[TexasTiger 12,828]