this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
111 points (99.1% liked)

United States | News & Politics

7227 readers
155 users here now

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
all 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thank god. If Trump is forced out of the race from being in jail, DeSantis was the next leader, and at this point I really don't know which one of them is worse.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Trump is worse, hands down. Trump demonstrated willingness to subvert democracy, DeSantis seems to actually care about working within the system. Maybe that means DeSantis will have more success getting policy passed, but he's less likely to become a dictator.

[–] HandBreadedTools@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I highly disagree. The dude has made life for those he dislikes miserable in Florida. It has been so bad that multiple organizations have issued state of emergencies for trans people, from local trans organizations all the way up to the Human Rights Campaign. Trump is fucking horrible, Desantis is not a sliver better.

His policies consist solely of demonizing minorities and instilling facism as much as possible, I encourage you to read more about it.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Trump attacked our electoral process in order to overturn a democratic election. He lost the electoral and popular vote, and refused to acknowledge it.

DeSantis signed some stupid bills, probably mostly to get his name out for a shot at a national election. He denounced the violence on Jan 6, but he played the political game by refusing to call it an insurrection. If Trump is convicted of insurrection/sedition, that looks bad for all Republicans, so it's the right political play. If you look at his career as governor, it's clear he's playing the political game to get his name known (going so far as to endorse Trump relatively early), but he just doesn't have that energy to show he would try anything close to what Trump tried in 2020.

So while DeSantis' policies generally suck, I don't think he's going to try to subvert democracy, he'll try to work within the system like any other politician to get the positions he wants. So no, I don't see DeSantis as a fascist, he's just a social conservative. Trump, on the other hand, has shown fascist tendencies due to his massive narcissism. It's personal for Trump, for DeSantis, it's a job.

[–] HandBreadedTools@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Desantis is a goddamn psychopath dude. Trump is obviously not someone that should have any type of power but Desantis is literally no better. His policies are fucking insane, his personal ideology is fucking insane, the voters he encourages and the culture wars he wages are fucking insane. It's not "just a job", it's the opportunity of power, something he seizes as much as possible. He is absolutely a fucking dictator if he gets the chance.

He came to my college campus a couple months ago, he kicked off his q and a with a prayer asking god to kill trans people. I'm not even saying that as a euphemism, the motherfucker literally said "and we ask you to stop the prevalence of transgenders by force if you need to" during that opening prayer.

Fucking insanity.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

prayer asking god to kill trans people

Is there any journalistic corroboration for that? This sounds like something a political opponent would jump at, yet I can't find anything similar online.

What I can point to is Trump literally trying to subvert our democratic processes by overturning the election results.

So on the one hand, I have proof of an attempt to stay in power, and on the other I have someone with gross policies that seems to play by political rules. I'm much more worried about Trump than DeSantis.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago (5 children)

So what serious contenders are there still for the primaries?

And is Trump still considered a serious contender when there are entire states who definitely won’t have him on the final ballot?

[–] superduperenigma@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's basically Nikki Haley vs Trump at this point. New Hampshire may be Haley's best bet when it comes to beating Trump in any one state at this point. Polls had shown Trump being anywhere between 10-20 points ahead, although that was before desantis dropped out. If she can win there it'll help her in other states down the line as people will see her as a more viable primary candidate.

If Haley can't build up some momentum and win a few states, it may not matter if Trump is disqualified from being on a few state ballots. He wouldn't need them to win the primary and most of those states are almost certainly going to Biden either way, so it wouldn't have much impact on the general.

[–] survivalmachine@beehaw.org 7 points 10 months ago

Donald Trump and Nicki Haley. And Trump is not harmed in the least bit as long as he's only left off blue state ballots. That has zero effect on his ability to win electoral votes.

[–] cobra89@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

Yes because Colorado was never going to go to Trump anyway. Maine splits their electoral votes but 1 or 2 electoral votes are very very unlikely to make a difference in the election. And that probably won't matter anyway because SCOTUS will almost certainly rule to keep him on the ballot.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

And is Trump still considered a serious contender when there are entire states who definitely won’t have him on the final ballot?

He's the only serious contender. sigh

[–] Dio@lemy.lol -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Those states, and counting, are forced to keep him on the ballot by the Supreme Court.

[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago

I thought the supreme court case hasn't been finished yet?

[–] Stillhart@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It is beyond bizarre to me that we are discussing another election with Trump in it.

[–] SomeGuyNamedPaul@beehaw.org 3 points 10 months ago

Definitely Back Down