Trump Two Months Ago: "Shutdown Ron" Shut Down Florida Too Much.
Trump Now:Shutdown Ron Didn't Shutdown Florida Enough, and Killed a Lot of People. Unlike Me, Who Listened to the Scientists and Told Everyone to Shut Down.

We can "counterpunch" too, Shutdown Don.

Let me show you how good we are at counterpunching.

"Ron DeSantis didn't shut down hard enough and murdered old people" is of course the leftwing attack line on him, and I'm 100% not surprised to hear Trump repeating the left's attack lines at all. We already saw him using the left's "Medicaid and Social Security cuts lines."

And I and other friends predicted this long ago. Trump has several big problems with voters on the right, where he takes the position opposite the great majority of Republican, conservative primary voters.

Because Trump never admits he's wrong -- TRUMP IS ALWAYS RIGHT! -- he cannot say that he was wrong on these issues.

He's going to have to claim he was right to take the leftwing position on these issues, and that anyone taking the opposite view -- like Ron DeSantis -- is a "right-wing extremist" or bigot.

For a start: Trump is now repeating all the left wing Democrats' lies that Florida is a place of "misery and despair," enlisting, get this, a leftwing blogger to write the hit piece on DeSantis, who in turn gets his "facts" from leftwing sources.

As a potential announcement for president in 2024 from Gov. Ron DeSantis nears, former President Donald Trump's campaign has ramped up attacks against the governor.

After a blitz of endorsements from representatives in DeSantis' home state, Trump's campaign Friday released "The Real Ron DeSantis Playbook," which contains a long list of reasons Florida "continues to tumble into complete and total delinquency and destruction."

"The real DeSantis record is one of misery and despair," campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said. "He has left a wake of destruction all across Florida and people are hurting because he has spent more time playing public relations games instead of actually doing the hard-work needed to improve the lives of the people he represents."

The campaign focused on Florida reportedly being "one of the least affordable states to live in the country" and linked to a Substack post from frequent DeSantis critic Jason Garcia who argued the governor raised taxes by more than $1 billion during his first term.

Garcia noted that the governor cut taxes by "more than $4 billion overall."

In February, DeSantis proposed an additional $2 billion in tax relief. Last year, he signed one of the largest relief packages in state history.

They cited other media reports on the rising cost of living in some Florida cities.

Several of their cited reports came from left-leaning sources.

The Florida Policy Institute was cited, which was founded in 2014 as a "left-leaning policy research and advocacy organization."

So was Oxfam, a "left-of-center" organization.

They also cited the National Low Income Housing Coalition, whose president and CEO is Diane Yentel, a supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris.

...

They went on to reference other claims and reports that DeSantis ranks low on economic opportunity, in places to retire, in places to raise a family, in fair taxes, for energy affordability, to rent a home, to be a teacher, to be a doctor, and even to be a police officer.

Hey remember two weeks ago when leftwing governor of California Gavin Newsome came to Florida and spouted all the same lies? Trump is now endorsing all that.

And remember, Gavin Newsom was "very nice" to Trump, as Trump childlishy brags, as if any of us give a FUCK about who is "very nice" to him and who "betrayed" him by running against him. Everything is down to this sub-retard-level "Who's my fwenz and who's my enemeez" bullshit with this fucking moron.

But Trump is repeating a lot of leftwing attack lines lately.

For example, Trump repeatedly embraced the LGBT Alphabet Mafia and, when North Carolina was getting boycotted for trying to make bathrooms single-sex again -- because some leftwing cities had passed laws requiring all bathrooms to be open to transgenders and, well, anyone -- Trump took the side against the state government, telling them to "leave them the way they are," that is, leave the bathrooms open to anyone of any gender.

Has Trump changed his position since then? Given the chaos and insanity caused by this RINO "I don't want to upset my liberal Hollywood fwenz like the beautiful Caitlyn Jenner" attitude?

No, he hasn't. His paid shill Richard Grennell -- who, along with Sean Hannity, slandered Kathy Barnett as an "extremist" and a "Islamophobe" when she threatened to defeat Trump's Perfect Pick Mehmet Oz in the primary -- now calls the above ad "homophobic."

Grennell was on Twitter all day, calling anyone who questioned Trump's iron-clad, Read My Lips guarantee on letting transgenders into bathrooms guilty of "anti-gay content."

Wow! Feel that True Conservatism!

Grennnell kept insisting that we can only object to trans-pushers grooming kids-- but we must support the transgender ideology generally. Otherwise, we're Bigots and Homophobes.

And I don't know why he keeps claiming we're "homophobes" for opposing transgender ideology. If anything, we're "transphobes." Many/most transgenders aren't even actually gay.

Oh wait, I do know why he's doing that -- because at this point, getting constantly slurred by the left as "transphobes" for opposing breast-lopping for children, calling us transphobes is essentially a compliment.

So Grennell is using the slur that he thinks will have the more potent effect -- "homophobe."

You guys aren't homophobes are you?

This is another extreme leftwing tactic -- claiming the "T" is just another form of the "G." The transgender extremists are determined to claim their demands and rights are no different than the gays -- a point many gays increasingly dispute. They want to keep the "T" right next to the "LGB," while many of the "LGB's" are trying to distance themselves from the T.

But just to juice up his leftwing slur, Ric Grennell embraces the theory that transgenders are just gays and if you oppose their "rights," you're "homophobic."

By the way, Trump supporters, if you're angry about my pointing this out, maybe it would be better if you got angry at Trump and his paid surrogate Ric Grennell and told them to stop repeating all the leftwing's favorite insults for conservatives.

Because this is policy, going forward -- and he will not change it until all of his precious polls (which he believes in when he wants to) start showing him losing support.

It's just on and on and on with the "homophobe!" slurs.

Ric Grennell, consistent with his boss Trump, also defended Disney from DeSantis. DeSantis just cancelled Disney's ownership of the Reedy Creek development zone, and Dave Reaboi said, "now comes the pain."

Ric Grennell whined: "Pain for who?"

Does he object to pain for Disney? Or, as I suspect, is he claiming that Ron DeSantis, the homophobic brute, will use his new power to spread more "homophobic tropes"?

Here "Ric" Grennell is so angry that anyone is pointing out the Trump family's embrace of transgenderism that he also decides to smear Dave Reaboi, who is Jewish, as an "anti-semite," out of nowhere.

Leftist tactic! Point out any of our contradictions and lies, and we'll smear you as an "-ist" or a "-phobe."

By the way, that person that Grennell chose to respond to, just to call Dave Reaboi an anti-semite? That person has zero followers.

Just like a leftist, Grennell went hunting for the worst tweets he could find so he could brand his opponents "homophobes" and "anti-semites" with them.

And let's not even get into Trump's embrace of rightwing grifter and alleged groomer. None of these new charges are new. This has long been rumored, and as you know, Trump loves collecting rumors about people's sexual habits, as Ron DeSantis' wife can tell you. (He threatened he'd reveal more about Ron DeSanctimonius than his wife knew.)

Pedro L. Gonzalez
@emeriticus

Trump and his camp are the greatest obstacles to opposing the most radical tendencies of the left. They’re trying to sell you yesterday's radicalism and social revolution as today's "moderate" position. And they're using leftist slurs to do it.

What is it we all used to say of the GOPe? They are always fighting for the status quo of five years ago -- a status quo which itself was the product of leftist win after leftist win.

And Trump's doing the same. Now the only thing we can fight is transgenderism in schools -- objecting to the ideology generally is "homophobic."

Yes, let's fight for the Democrat position of five years ago, because that's all that "conservative" means.

Again, if you have a problem with this, complain to Trump and his paid whore Grennell, not me. Unless you endorse Trump's new (?) policy that we must support transgender ideology or else count ourselves as "homophobes."

Speaking of Disney, Mike Pence, noted Establishment corporate cuck, agrees with Trump that it's wrong to beat up on Disney.

Wait, if Trump is the super-populist who is willing to defy any corporation because he's so rich and doesn't care about money-- why does he share the same position as the Establishment arch-corporatist Pence?

Oh, right -- just to attack Ron DeSantis. Got it.

Fighting Groomer Disney is "so unnecessary" and just a "political STUNT!"

Got it, Shutdown Don.

Speaking of Disney: Would you believe that Donald Trump -- who is supposedly a billionaire who doesn't care what his corporate donors say -- came in to defend Disney from DeSantis?

Would you believe further that "globohomo" groomer corporation Disney... just happens to be a big donor to Trump?

It turns out that Disney executives gave the America First Action PAC (a Trump PAC) $20 million, versus just $1.25 million for Joe Biden, in 2020.

John Cardillo @johncardillo

In fairness, Disney execs were VERY generous to Trump in 2020, so after his abysmal Q1 fundraising haul it makes sense he'd be advocating for them to bump the Q2 numbers.

Pedro L. Gonzalez
@emeriticus

Don Jr. told people not to boycott Bud Light because they give to the GOP. Trump sided with Disney against DeSantis; Disney gave a Trump PAC $10.5 million. Trump killed a vaccine safety commission; Pfizer was the biggest health donor to his inauguration and he owns Pfizer stock....

Pedro L. Gonzalez
@emeriticus

Trump sided with Disney, in part, because he's a bitter liberal who hates DeSantis. But there's money here, too.

Disney gave $10.5 million to Trump's America First Action PAC in the 2020 election cycle--more than it gave to then-candidate Joe Biden during the same period.

Pedro L. Gonzalez @emeriticus

By siding with Disney against DeSantis, Trump is defending a corporation that has given to him generously in the past. Maybe he thinks Disney will remember the favor as he runs for president again. Who knows. But he's on the wrong side of the issue for purely selfish reasons.

That chart, by the way, is from opensecrets.org, which tracks all donations in political races.

So it's real. It's not just a lie spread by "DeSimps" online. It is a fact that must be confronted.

Hey "Sundance" -- Who's the "Managed Principal" acting at the behest of his corporate handlers, again? Is it DeSanctimonious, who is standing up to woke corporations and telling them that the GOP will no longer be their Amen Corner, or is the drunk-on-Budweiser-and-Disney donations Trump?

People always say that Trump doesn't need corporate money. Well, he sure acts like he needs it. He sure comes riding to their rescues in a pinch.

I'm pretty sure "DeSanctimonious" will not be getting Anheuser-Busch and Disney money, and I'm pretty sure that Trump will.

But you know, he's the guy who's willing to take the Corporate Donor Class on.

And speaking of the CDC:

Trump has never stopped bragging about his "beautiful vaccine," and never once admitted it had any problems with it. He has praised "my beautiful vaccine" as fulsomely as Fauci's zealots.

He has also praised himself for listening to "the smartest people in the world" and shut down the country.

He's proud of that. He's bragging.

Don't believe me?

Here's the video:

Remember, Trump first attacked Ron DeSantis as "Shutdown Ron" a couple of months ago, claiming DeSantis was wrong to shut down Florida for a couple of weeks.

Then we all collectively reminded the increasingly-forgetful 76-year-old Trump that it was he himself who demanded that DeSantis shut Florida down -- DeSantis leaked it out there that Trump had personally called him to demand that shut-down, and says he has the receipts for that call.

If you don't believe that, you can believe Trump's own public statements condemning Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia for opening up some businesses, claiming "it's just too soon."

He said that two weeks before Ron DeSantis briefly closed his beaches in Florida.

So Trump was claiming that Ron DeSantis shouldn't have listened to... Donald Trump.

So that attack failed. The attack line that "Shutdown Ron" was too quick to shut his state down failed.

So now Trump is trotting out the new leftwing script: Florida was a covid hellhole and DeSanctimonious killed more people than almost every other governor.

Here, he whines like an old woman that DeSantis isn't "loyal" to him, and then, at 1:24, claims that DeSantis' covid numbers were among the worst.

Again, this is exactly what the leftwing media was saying about DeSantis, while Trump was agreeing with the leftwing media that the entire nation must be shut down.

Is this what we all want? Four more years of Shutdown Don? Four more years of this whiny narcissist who doesn't care anything at all about any policy, only that we show our "respect" for him and make him president again?

Four more years of filling the bureaucracy with liberals and f***ing Ivana's sorority sisters?

Ed Morrissey wrote this a few days ago, about Trump's defense of Bud Light and Disney.

There's nothing wrong with good fundraising, of course. However, this context makes it appear that Trump is choosing big corporate donors over conservo-populist principles.

But let's put that aspect aside for the moment and look at the strategy involved. There is nothing coherent about running for the GOP presidential nomination on a populist, anti-establishment message and then siding with Disney, Anheuser-Busch, and Gavin frickin' Newsom all in the same week. This looks more like a personal grudge meaning more to Trump than policy or even messaging. It's a chaos approach, which might have been appealing in 2015-16 to set Trump apart from the usual Establishment figures. Trump, however, has already been president and wants to get re-elected to complete his work -- so why side with the woke Establishment figures? Just to pwn "DeSanctus"?

Republicans will have to choose whether they want four more years of personal-grudge chaos or a candidate that can offer an effective pushback on their issues. Trump is making that choice excruciatingly acute over the past few days.

I'd also point out that we know for a fact who is the most uncomfortable with the Culture War -- cultural liberals like the The Bulwark Boyz and The Dispatch Boyz. They hate the Crazy Christians fighting all the time with their gay frenz, and they want them to stop.

Well, guess who else is cultural liberal who doesn't want the Crazy Christian fighting the trans extremists.

Is this True Conservatism, Trump-style, now? Is this "populism" -- adopting all the cant and tactics of the leftwing, trans-crazy Ruling Class?

And he's going to be the one to take on The Regime? LOL. He's repeating every single point of their catechism!

Mark my words: The leftwing media is going to try to make Trump the Republican nominee again, and for the same reasons they did in 2016: They think he's a social liberal, they think he's a rube who they know for a fact that liberal bureacracy can snooker and undermine and treat as a, what's that word again, Managed Principal, and they're absolutely sure they can beat him, as they have done so three elections in a row.

And here.

We.

GO:

Trump Now:Shutdown Ron Didn't Shutdown Florida Enough, and Killed a Lot of People. Unlike Me, Who Listened to the Scientists and Told Everyone to Shut Down.&bodytext=We can "counterpunch" too, Shutdown Don. Let me show you how good we are at counterpunching. "Ron DeSantis didn't shut down hard enough and murdered old people" is of course the leftwing attack line on him, and I'm 100% not...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 04:54 PM

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