The official 2024 GOP Presidential Candidate Clown Car thread!

[Pancho 44492]

[TheStoicPaisano 9904]

Jackie Rogers Jnr has made the first cut.

 

[YGIFS 19449]

he of the $100,000 Jackpot Wad?  

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20345]

They're calling Chris Christie "White Lizzo"  on Twitter.  I feel bad for laughing at that but ... I laughed at that. 

[ChiTownDoc 21102]

1 hour ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

They're calling Chris Christie "White Lizzo"  on Twitter.  I feel bad for laughing at that but ... I laughed at that. 

 

[Degenerate Gardner 4081]

4 hours ago, TheStoicPaisano said:

Jackie Rogers Jnr has made the first cut.

 

Perry seems to have purchased the Matlock ensemble to appeal to olds. It worked.

[Biff Tannen 45502]

11 hours ago, TheStoicPaisano said:

Jackie Rogers Jnr has made the first cut.

 

Who?

[Pancho 44492]

 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13553]

Americans have too many holidays! Finally a candidate who will tackle the issues that matter.

[Biff Tannen 45502]

1 hour ago, Pancho said:

 

wow

[Hookah Horns 3082]

2 hours ago, Pancho said:

 

Torbush

[Foosters 17734]

2 hours ago, Pancho said:

 

Blacks for Ramaswamy!

[Red Five 40681]

The top three in polling are Dotard, Meatball, and this dickhead. So, the ones who say the most awful hateful things. 

[atomheartbevo 89460]

15 minutes ago, Red Five said:

The top three in polling are Dotard, Meatball, and this dickhead. So, the ones who say the most awful hateful things. 

#2 and #3 love sucking that orange mushroom, all the while he shits all over them and will never love them.

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20345]

This is one of the best editorials I've read in a long time:

An excerpt:

 

"The other figure in the race was the golden child, the blessed one, the savior, the great hope of the post-Trump era, Ron DeSantis.

The Florida governor had it all, red state at his back, a big win and tidal waves of money from establishment Republican donors in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and beyond. There wasn’t a hedge fund bro or private equity guy in America who didn’t think Ivy League Ron could deliver the tax cuts and regulatory advantages without all the drama and noise of Donald Trump.

But DeSantis was like a Tinder date gone very, very wrong. Instead of some handsome suitor showing up at their door, DeSantis was politically inept, personally off-putting and deep in the embrace of the fringiest (and cringiest) elements of the nationalist-populist fringe.

No one who wrote Ron DeSantis a check with six or seven figures on it expected their golden boy would hire a claque of barely disguised alt-right cranks for his campaign. No one sitting in a board room off Sand Hill Road thought DeSantis would float naming conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or Food and Drug Administration.

They believed all that money and the talented people surrounding DeSantis would mold him into the candidate they needed to defeat Trump. 

But some things can’t be trained. Even if DeSantis had been willing (and he most certainly was not) to be trained, it would’ve been an uphill battle. He’s not good with humans, he’s terrible in the room and he bleats out the word “woke” as if he’s suffering from culture war Tourette’s syndrome.

Those donors were also shocked to learn that Ron and his wife, Casey, were spending their money in a way that would make drunken sailors blush. The private jet fleet, the imperial-sized staff and the ludicrous burn rate of both the campaign and the SuperPAC all came home to roost as donors and supporters cooled.

When you drop, as DeSantis did, from the mid-30s to the low teens in GOP primary polling, you can forget your Camelot dream house.

This should’ve surprised no one who observed DeSantis. But now Republican elite circles are in a frenzy to find the next substitute to take on Trump…and the next and the next.

The nomination was always Trump’s to lose, and with the former president polling at over 50 percent in Iowa, their chances are narrowing by the day. 

Iowa was the state where DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and many others hoped to land a sharp blow with a victory against Trump to set the tone and narrative of the race. That’s a fading hope.

So as DeSantis fades, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will have his moment in the sun. The money will flow, and the expectations will rise. Scott, an affable, sometimes bordering on an inspirational man who, in ordinary circumstances would be highly competitive, will fade. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the establishment’s Hamlet in a sweater vest, will similarly peer into the void of the Republican base vote, and slowly step away.

In a Warholian way, expect almost every candidate in the field to have their 15 minutes as the new best hope and then, as has always been inevitable, Trump will win the nomination. 

Not one of the candidates can win over Trump’s party and Trump’s base without cost and consequence. They know that if Trump loses the primaries by some unlikely and improbable miracle, he will retreat to Mar-A-Lago and issue endless pronouncements of a stolen Republican primary, peeling off two or three or 10 or 15 percent of the Republican base vote in the general election.

I’ve sat with dozens of donors and operatives in the last year, almost all of whom engaged in the fervent wishcasting that Trump will just die or somehow be instantly convicted for his crimes. They genuinely believe the charges against Trump hit the MAGA base like they hit people in the real world. They’re wrong."

Little evidence indicates this is the case. The evidence, in fact, points to a hardening of base support in his favor. Moral suasion or countervailing information will never change the hearts and minds of Trump supporters. The Republican Party is stuck with him, and so are we.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4139325-the-gops-warholian-campaign-and-the-inevitability-of-trump/

Edited August 8, 2023 by Horn Under a Bad Sign

[YGIFS 19449]

The Onion couldn't even do DeSantis justice if it came out with the headline, "World's Shortest Book entitled 'Things Ron DeSantis Can't Fuck Up' to be released in stores tomorrow.:  

[wildcat09 29267]

Quote

No one who wrote Ron DeSantis a check with six or seven figures on it expected their golden boy would hire a claque of barely disguised alt-right cranks for his campaign. No one sitting in a board room off Sand Hill Road thought DeSantis would float naming conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or Food and Drug Administration

This is absurd. Silicon Valley execs are all themselves a bunch of barely disguised alt-right cranks and they fucking love RFK Jr.

[YGIFS 19449]

I bet there are a few that like RFK, Jr.  But for the most part, they're not a complicated bunch.  For every Lonsdale or Thiel, most of those folks are content to be behind the scenes and quiet.  There's a reason most Americans, even well-rounded ones don't know the metonym "Sand Hill Road" like they do "Wall Street"  Those folks are still socially liberal for the most part.  And they're nothing more than superficially conservative for carried interest as capital gains and low regulatory environments for whatever sector they're activist/specialists for that particular year.  Some vintage fund is health-technology heavy one year, that's who they give a shit about overseeing that industry from D.C. that year.  Once the fund closes out and they get their promote, look who suddenly doesn't give a shit about health-care regulations anymore?  Most of 'em are assholes, but they have the decency to not be overly-complicated.  Kinda like Ron DeSantis now that I think about it.  He's a simple, simple asshole.  But he made one prize mistake, you can be a cruel, cruel asshole and get away with being mean to people...but you gotta be cool/likable while you're doing it.  He is definitely NOT pulling that off.

[tokamak 6352]

1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

This is absurd. Silicon Valley execs are all themselves a bunch of barely disguised alt-right cranks and they fucking love RFK Jr.

DeSantis literally appointed a vaccine skeptic as surgeon general of Florida. The statement you quoted is absurd.

[wildcat09 29267]

29 minutes ago, tokamak said:

DeSantis literally appointed a vaccine skeptic as surgeon general of Florida. The statement you quoted is absurd.

Yeah, his antivax pivot was pretty much exactly when all of Silicon Valley (along with their IDW-type fellow travelers) suddenly began enthusiastically supporting him. The rest of the piece about why he sucks is true enough, but it's completely wrong on its argument that Silicon Valley folks are more respectable Republicans who thought DeSantis would be a "normal" version of Trump. Yes, they thought he'd be more effective than Trump in some respects, but they absolutely didn't think he'd be some normal everyman.

[Bullneck 19007]

On 8/5/2023 at 1:15 PM, TheStoicPaisano said:

Jackie Rogers Jnr has made the first cut.

 

Who?  This Hee Haw looking jackass?

This guy is a douche.  Hopefully he'll piss away a lot of his own money before coming in fourth in a bunch of primaries.

On 8/7/2023 at 1:23 PM, Pancho said:

 

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Bullneck

[Bullneck 19007]

So, how do you beat Trump? 

Answer: By rapping.  Or sing-a-long rapping.  Not even karaoke rapping:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vivek-ramaswamy-raps-eminem-lose-yourself_n_64d86f48e4b040e7d4a67411

I have to say that I didn't realize campaigning for president meant living in Iowa for a year.  Those assholes are desperate.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Bullneck

[elfenix 34185]

The United States Republican Party is an existential threat:


"
GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy railed against climate-conscious business policy at an Iowa State Fair appearance Saturday. 

In an fireside chat with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Ramaswamy said that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) business policies are among the “grave threats to liberty,” and said “the climate change agenda” is a “hoax.”
"

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4150183-ramaswamy-calls-climate-change-agenda-a-hoax/



Also, we should add Ivy Lee to the grave-pissong world tour

[Pancho 44492]

 

[atomheartbevo 89460]

Those polls that @Pancho is referencing, I've heard a few people talking about Tim Scott as an alternative to Trump.  Pence and Christie turn a lot of people off (MAGA in particular). Ramaswamy has a feel of a lightweight (among other things).

DeSantis...just does not come off as likable, even when he stands next to his human wife.

 

[Pancho 44492]

Combined with his position that 18-25 year olds will be required to take a test before they can vote under his administration (and his horrible rapping skills), bro is just clearly trying to be a mini trump

 

 

 

[Disco Strangler 1865]

People are saying he was born in Calcutta.  Where is his birth certificate?

Is that how you do it?

[Neonmoon 38127]

15 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Those polls that @Pancho is referencing, I've heard a few people talking about Tim Scott as an alternative to Trump.  Pence and Christie turn a lot of people off (MAGA in particular). Ramaswamy has a feel of a lightweight (among other things).

DeSantis...just does not come off as likable, even when he stands next to his human wife.

 

If you think the GOP will elect Tim Scott, I have some ocean front property on the surface of the Sun I'd like to sell you 

[6th Street 6357]

1 hour ago, Pancho said:

Combined with his position that 18-25 year olds will be required to take a test before they can vote under his administration (and his horrible rapping skills), bro is just clearly trying to be a mini trump

 

 

 

I wonder how that conversation with Putin would go.

"Hey Vlad, will you stop military alliance with China for part of Ukraine?"

"Sure! Happy to do it!"

[Biff Tannen 45502]

Brian Kemp was saying how they need to coalesce and go after Biden's record and all the horrible things he's done.  I would like someone to actually name these horrible things. 

Economy?  Uh no. 

Unemployment?  No.  

From an objective standpoint, I think the data shows Biden has been a damned decent president.  What would they actually go after that isn't just culture war nonsense?

[atomheartbevo 89460]

16 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Brian Kemp was saying how they need to coalesce and go after Biden's record and all the horrible things he's done.  I would like someone to actually name these horrible things. 

It’s just another way for Kemp to say “quit living in 2020”

[The Dog 43830]

@BamaATL

[BamaATL 16592]

2 minutes ago, The Dog said:

@BamaATL

Interviewing potential VP candidates no doubt, and figuring how to line up the money.  I'd still be surprised he makes his move this early, but it's clear he's setting up to.  Let the smoke clear from the current idiot parade and watch Trump bury himself for a bit longer.  

[tbone_ 14027]

Looks like I’ll be at the debate next week. Tangentially involved in Doug Burgum’s campaign - bunch of people I know used to work for him, really good people who think the world of him.

Clearly a snowballs chance but he’s a good dude. Actual grown up. Stays completely out of the culture bullshit. Zero right wing alt conspiracy nonsense.

One can hope I guess.

Regardless it will be cool to be at a presidential debate, even though it will clearly be a clown show.

[Brisketexan 104671]

This is one of the best editorials I've read in a long time:

An excerpt:

 

"The other figure in the race was the golden child, the blessed one, the savior, the great hope of the post-Trump era, Ron DeSantis.

The Florida governor had it all, red state at his back, a big win and tidal waves of money from establishment Republican donors in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and beyond. There wasn’t a hedge fund bro or private equity guy in America who didn’t think Ivy League Ron could deliver the tax cuts and regulatory advantages without all the drama and noise of Donald Trump.

But DeSantis was like a Tinder date gone very, very wrong. Instead of some handsome suitor showing up at their door, DeSantis was politically inept, personally off-putting and deep in the embrace of the fringiest (and cringiest) elements of the nationalist-populist fringe.

No one who wrote Ron DeSantis a check with six or seven figures on it expected their golden boy would hire a claque of barely disguised alt-right cranks for his campaign. No one sitting in a board room off Sand Hill Road thought DeSantis would float naming conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or Food and Drug Administration.

They believed all that money and the talented people surrounding DeSantis would mold him into the candidate they needed to defeat Trump. 

But some things can’t be trained. Even if DeSantis had been willing (and he most certainly was not) to be trained, it would’ve been an uphill battle. He’s not good with humans, he’s terrible in the room and he bleats out the word “woke” as if he’s suffering from culture war Tourette’s syndrome.

Those donors were also shocked to learn that Ron and his wife, Casey, were spending their money in a way that would make drunken sailors blush. The private jet fleet, the imperial-sized staff and the ludicrous burn rate of both the campaign and the SuperPAC all came home to roost as donors and supporters cooled.

When you drop, as DeSantis did, from the mid-30s to the low teens in GOP primary polling, you can forget your Camelot dream house.

This should’ve surprised no one who observed DeSantis. But now Republican elite circles are in a frenzy to find the next substitute to take on Trump…and the next and the next.

The nomination was always Trump’s to lose, and with the former president polling at over 50 percent in Iowa, their chances are narrowing by the day. 

Iowa was the state where DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and many others hoped to land a sharp blow with a victory against Trump to set the tone and narrative of the race. That’s a fading hope.

So as DeSantis fades, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will have his moment in the sun. The money will flow, and the expectations will rise. Scott, an affable, sometimes bordering on an inspirational man who, in ordinary circumstances would be highly competitive, will fade. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the establishment’s Hamlet in a sweater vest, will similarly peer into the void of the Republican base vote, and slowly step away.

In a Warholian way, expect almost every candidate in the field to have their 15 minutes as the new best hope and then, as has always been inevitable, Trump will win the nomination. 

Not one of the candidates can win over Trump’s party and Trump’s base without cost and consequence. They know that if Trump loses the primaries by some unlikely and improbable miracle, he will retreat to Mar-A-Lago and issue endless pronouncements of a stolen Republican primary, peeling off two or three or 10 or 15 percent of the Republican base vote in the general election.

I’ve sat with dozens of donors and operatives in the last year, almost all of whom engaged in the fervent wishcasting that Trump will just die or somehow be instantly convicted for his crimes. They genuinely believe the charges against Trump hit the MAGA base like they hit people in the real world. They’re wrong."

Little evidence indicates this is the case. The evidence, in fact, points to a hardening of base support in his favor. Moral suasion or countervailing information will never change the hearts and minds of Trump supporters. The Republican Party is stuck with him, and so are we.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4139325-the-gops-warholian-campaign-and-the-inevitability-of-trump/

No. Fucking. Shit.
This is what we’ve been fucking saying for fucking years. This is some damned revelation?

[Biff Tannen 45502]

11 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Looks like I’ll be at the debate next week. Tangentially involved in Doug Burgum’s campaign - bunch of people I know used to work for him, really good people who think the world of him.

Clearly a snowballs chance but he’s a good dude. Actual grown up. Stays completely out of the culture bullshit. Zero right wing alt conspiracy nonsense.

One can hope I guess.

Regardless it will be cool to be at a presidential debate, even though it will clearly be a clown show.

[atomheartbevo 89460]

22 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

No. Fucking. Shit.
This is what we’ve been fucking saying for fucking years. This is some damned revelation?

It's perfect for 2023, after all of the shit from the last 4 years.  We all hoped that Meatball might get in a few body blows to Trump, keep him distracted and melting down through the primaries, all the while everybody knew that Trump would get the nomination, but that Meatball would be damaged enough with MAGA and the GQP that 2024/2028 wouldn't happen for him, because Meatball seemed far more worse in that he could probably get things done that Trump might not have cared about.

Except it turns out that Meatball is incompetent as fuck whether it's taking on Disney, or campaigning, or trying to recite a speech while standing next to his human wife.

Instead, we are going to get Brian Kemp in 2028, who seems far more competent than Meatball, and whom the BMDs will gladly get behind.

[Pods 7531]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

It's perfect for 2023, after all of the shit from the last 4 years.  We all hoped that Meatball might get in a few body blows to Trump, keep him distracted and melting down through the primaries, all the while everybody knew that Trump would get the nomination, but that Meatball would be damaged enough with MAGA and the GQP that 2024/2028 wouldn't happen for him, because Meatball seemed far more worse in that he could probably get things done that Trump might not have cared about.

Except it turns out that Meatball is incompetent as fuck whether it's taking on Disney, or campaigning, or trying to recite a speech while standing next to his human wife.

Instead, we are going to get Brian Kemp in 2028, who seems far more competent than Meatball, and whom the BMDs will gladly get behind.

Any Trumpkins still left won't though, especially after he testifies against Trump. Fingers crossed, Kemp as the nominee divides them further. The best chance for America to survive is for the GOP/GQP to fully cleave in two. 

[atomheartbevo 89460]

38 minutes ago, Pods said:

Any Trumpkins still left won't though, especially after he testifies against Trump. Fingers crossed, Kemp as the nominee divides them further. The best chance for America to survive is for the GOP/GQP to fully cleave in two. 

There is a chance of it dividing.  Trump is trying to destroy Meatball, even though he's defended Trump or tries to avoid saying anything bad about Trump. And yeah, the Trumpkins obviously wouldn't vote for Kemp either for testifying against Trump, but there's nobody else that can live up what Trump does for the Trumpkins, and Kemp is probably a safe bet for the BMDs - he and they want a lot of the same policies.  It's pretty clear that Republican Presidential candidates are going to split between the pro- and anti-Trump camps going forward, and MAGA will remember this in 2028.

Of course, if Kemp completely loses Georgia between now and heading into the 2026 mid-terms...that gets dicey for him.

The Whigs held plenty of power at times during their 20 or 30 year run, and even after they got their asses kicked in 1852, still acted like they could come back in 1856, but when they collapsed/divided into north/south lines, it started slow and then happened fast.

[Biff Tannen 45502]

I’m still laughing so hard at his whole “hey Disney, sorry I fucked around with y’all for the past year. How’s about we move on now?”  
 

Disney:  “oh we’re just getting started”

[Francisco 2.0 32346]

 

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89460]

 

He literally took Soros money.  
 

https://www.pdsoros.org/meet-the-fellows/vivek-ramaswamy

[Biff Tannen 45502]

52 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

Why would he pay someone to do that?  It’s Wikipedia. You can edit it for free.  

[atomheartbevo 89460]

He was annoying when he was in Felicia Day”s web series The Guild and he’s annoying as a presidential candidate. 

[Jatrain 288]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:24 PM, tbone_ said:

Looks like I’ll be at the debate next week. Tangentially involved in Doug Burgum’s campaign - bunch of people I know used to work for him, really good people who think the world of him.

Clearly a snowballs chance but he’s a good dude. Actual grown up. Stays completely out of the culture bullshit. Zero right wing alt conspiracy nonsense.

One can hope I guess.

Regardless it will be cool to be at a presidential debate, even though it will clearly be a clown show.

The guy who signed a near total ban on abortion, has signed numerous anti-trans laws, banned CRT, and sent the North Dakota national guard to the border stays “completely out of the culture war bullshit”?  
 

He might not like to talk about it, but Id say his actions show that he’s marching lock step with the alt-right.  
 

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Jatrain

[Biff Tannen 45502]

3 minutes ago, Jatrain said:

The guy who signed a near total ban on abortion, has signed numerous anti-trans laws, banned CRT, and sent the North Dakota national guard to the border stays “completely out of the culture war bullshit”?  
 

He might not like to talk about it, but Id say his actions show that he’s marching lock step with the alt-right.  
 

 

Yep, he was on Meet the Press this morning and right afterward his "colleague", gov of Minn, called him out for not answering any of Todd's questions.

[Pancho 44492]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:24 PM, tbone_ said:

Looks like I’ll be at the debate next week. Tangentially involved in Doug Burgum’s campaign - bunch of people I know used to work for him, really good people who think the world of him.

Clearly a snowballs chance but he’s a good dude. Actual grown up. Stays completely out of the culture bullshit..

[TheStoicPaisano 9904]

 

[atomheartbevo 89460]

I admit I'm surprised - that was going to be more publicity that he could control than he's had in a long time. And Fox News would probably lob him softballs.

[WhatTheBuck 28717]

On 8/18/2023 at 11:24 PM, tbone_ said:

Looks like I’ll be at the debate next week. Tangentially involved in Doug Burgum’s campaign - bunch of people I know used to work for him, really good people who think the world of him.

Clearly a snowballs chance but he’s a good dude. Actual grown up. Stays completely out of the culture bullshit. Zero right wing alt conspiracy nonsense.

One can hope I guess.

Regardless it will be cool to be at a presidential debate, even though it will clearly be a clown show.

Did you see him on Meet the Press this morning? It looked like he was there for two reasons. He wanted us to know his name and he wanted to mention Hunter Biden when the subject of Trump’s legal troubles came up. He didn’t answer any questions or offer anything of substance. ‘I’m gonna do something about this horrible inflation!’ Oh really, Doug? Like what? No? Don’t want to tell us?

Seemed like an empty suit.