So if DeSantis wins in 2024, America will once again have a prick for President, but at least it'll be an educated prick.

Reminds me of a saying I read once, "there's nothing more dangerous than a useful idiot".

I guess the thing is for Trump is he is a known quantity now, and that article had a good point - De Santis is untested on the national stage. It's going to be interesting to see how the primaries go next year.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-frustrated-conservative-group-turning-point-usa-rcna69564

For the unfamiliar, Turning Point USA is a conservative platform for young people interested in aligning with the Republican Party - think of the Young Nats here.

The guy who runs it was (once) fully behind Trump, but recent events indicate a leaning now towards De Santis.

I guess you could say the relationship between Trump and this crowd has reached a...turning point 😬

The Washington Post - Exclusive - Trump campaign paid researchers to prove 2020 fraud but kept findings secret

11 Feb 2023

An outside firm’s work was never released publicly after researchers uncovered no evidence that the election had been rigged for Joe Biden.

 

Former president Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign commissioned an outside research firm in a bid to prove electoral fraud claims but never released the findings because the firm disputed many of his theories and could not offer any proof that [Trump] was the rightful winner of the election ...

 

The campaign paid researchers from Berkeley Research Group to study 2020 election results in six states, looking for fraud and irregularities to highlight in public and in the courts.

 

Among the areas examined were voter machine malfunctions, instances of dead people voting and any evidence that could help Trump show he won ...

 

The work was carried out in the final weeks of 2020, before the Jan. 6 riot of Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. ...

 

President Trump resembles which comic strip character?

 

• He has tantrums like Donald Duck.
  
  
• His temperament is like Daffy Duck.
  
  
• His physique is like Garfield.
  
  
• His tendency to sabotage himself and fail spectacularly is akin to Wile E. Coyote.
  
  
• He is obsessed with money like Scrooge McDuck.
  
  
• He has the competence and eloquence of Elmer Fudd.
  
  
• He has the bluster of Foghorn Leghorn.
  
  

This poll doesn't look particularly good for Trump - but remember, almost every poll in the world said Hillary was going to beat him in 2016 as well:

https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_US_020923/

And the presidential race becomes more murky - This in from CNN:

Nikki Haley announces 2024 White House bid

I wonder if Trump will hammer her Indian heritage ? and of course that she is a woman.

What ever, it starts to split the funding pot and the votes so more GOP infighting.

Come “Ron Desanctimonious.” file your running papers, I so want a good laugh. 😂

As much as I hate to say it, I can imagine a lot of Republicans still blindly hitting the Trump button simply because they like him - despite him not really making their lives "great again" during his 4 chaotic years in office.

Haley also said she wouldn't run if Trump announced he was running again, so that's a bit of a turnaround from her.

The NY Times - Prosecutors Seek Trump Lawyer’s Testimony, Suggesting Evidence of Crime

breaking

Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents are seeking to pierce assertions of attorney-client privilege and compel one of his lawyers to answer more questions before a grand jury, a adding an aggressive new dimension to the inquiry and underscoring the legal peril facing Mr. Trump.

 

The prosecutors have sought approval from a federal judge to invoke what is known as the crime-fraud exception, which allows them to work around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime. 

 

The fact that prosecutors invoked the exception in a sealed motion to compel the testimony of the lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, suggests that they believe Mr. Trump or his allies might have used Mr. Corcoran’s services in that way. ...

 

Mr. Corcoran recently appeared before a grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington and is believed to have asserted attorney-client privilege on behalf of Mr. Trump in refusing to answer certain questions related to his representation in the documents investigation. ...

 

The push for Mr. Corcoran’s testimony is another sign of the aggressive efforts being made by Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigations into Mr. Trump, to secure testimony. 

 

Jack Smith is doing a good job, quickly.  🙂🙂🙂🙂

A look at Nikki Haley, Trump's (so far) only announced challenger:

Politico: 55 things you should know about her: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/14/nikki-haley-2024-bio-what-you-need-to-know-00082742

538: She is the first woman of colour to run for the Republican nomination: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nikki-haley-is-taking-on-trump/

Question - should we now start a new thread: GOP 2024 Contenders with the above two Nikki Haley posts being moved by the Mod's into that new thread ?

quickymart:

538: She is the first woman of colour to run for the Republican nomination: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nikki-haley-is-taking-on-trump/

The NY Times - Opinion - The Law Is Closing In on Trump

15 Feb 2023

There are now three clear indicators that criminal probes of Donald Trump are rapidly reaching a conclusion. 

 

First, in Georgia a special grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the presidential election in the state has concluded its work. The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, has indicated that charging decisions are imminent. 

 

Second, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is reportedly presenting evidence to a grand jury regarding the accusation that Trump paid hush money to the porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

 

Third, as The Times reported last week, the special counsel Jack Smith issued a subpoena to Mike Pence. 

 

The special counsel said it is investigating Trump’s mishandling of classified information and “efforts to interfere” with the certification of the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021, and with the “lawful transfer of power” after the election.

 

... As the former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy wrote in National Review, the subpoena indicated that a final charging decision was “probably nearing” and the prosecutor was “preparing to cross the Rubicon.”