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The DeSantis gambit

For all the things did wrong which let me check the chart, yep was "everything" at least Trump was new. He was something we had never seen before in that context.

Watching a bunch of goobers try to do a bad impression of it and they only thing they can't actually copy is the raw energy and danger is gonna be fun.

The only thing worse than a populist demagog is somebody doing a neutered karaoke version of it. It's like the Glee episode of Rocky Horror Picture Show.
 
Stop holding back on showing your utter disdain for the US. Some of your comments are just too subtle and nuanced and we've missed your complete disdain for us. So, go on...tell us how you really feel.

He is from Canada, and a number of Canadains have total disdian for the US.
Probably inherited from United Empire Loyalists ancestors.
He also seems not to get that if the US goes down the tubes, the suction will almost certainly take Canada down with it.....
 
He is from Canada, and a number of Canadains have total disdian for the US.
And a lot more have strong family ties and great respect if not love for the USA.

Probably inherited from United Empire Loyalists ancestors.
No, from the totally exhausting exasperation of watching a good friend and neighbour let their garden go to ruin while spending all their money on crack and Nazi uniforms.

He also seems not to get that if the US goes down the tubes, the suction will almost certainly take Canada down with it.....
It may hurt but only a bit. Canada, like most major economies besides the USA, has enough inertia, contacts and reserves to survive the USA going backwards for a while. Anyway, the USA will not "go down the tubes". The money sector won't ever let it, even if it means having to exile or otherwise remove the cankers like Trump forcefully.
 
And a lot more have strong family ties and great respect if not love for the USA.

No, from the totally exhausting exasperation of watching a good friend and neighbour let their garden go to ruin while spending all their money on crack and Nazi uniforms.

It may hurt but only a bit. Canada, like most major economies besides the USA, has enough inertia, contacts and reserves to survive the USA going backwards for a while. Anyway, the USA will not "go down the tubes". The money sector won't ever let it, even if it means having to exile or otherwise remove the cankers like Trump forcefully.

The Empire Loyalist line was meant as a joke.
I don't mind criticism of the US, but, frankly, A couple of people here do seem to have total contempt for the US. The giveaway is the language they use.
 
It may hurt but only a bit. Canada, like most major economies besides the USA, has enough inertia, contacts and reserves to survive the USA going backwards for a while. Anyway, the USA will not "go down the tubes". The money sector won't ever let it, even if it means having to exile or otherwise remove the cankers like Trump forcefully.

If the US totally closed its borders and stopped trading with Canada, Canada would be absolutely colossally boned.

TBF like you said, we wont ever totally go down the tubes, we're just too damned big. Bilateral trade between the US and Canada accounts for over HALF of Canadian GDP. And I'm not even sure if that counts all the oil they send down pipelines to the US for export to 3rd countries.

https://www.international.gc.ca/country-pays/us-eu/relations.aspx?lang=eng
https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/gdp

Canada and the U.S. share one of the largest trading relationships in the world, with nearly $1.3 trillion in bilateral trade in goods and services in 2022. That year, Canada was the largest U.S. trading partner in goods and services. Canada-U.S. trade is built on long-standing binational supply chains, whereby roughly 80% of Canadian goods exports to the U.S. are incorporated into U.S. supply chains.

And to add, unlike Rapey McBonespurs assertions, yes Canada is a large, and important trading partner to the US.
 
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If the US totally closed its borders and stopped trading with Canada, Canada would be absolutely colossally boned.

TBF like you said, we wont ever totally go down the tubes, we're just too damned big. Bilateral trade between the US and Canada accounts for over HALF of Canadian GDP. And I'm not even sure if that counts all the oil they send down pipelines to the US for export to 3rd countries.

https://www.international.gc.ca/country-pays/us-eu/relations.aspx?lang=eng
https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/gdp

Canada and the U.S. share one of the largest trading relationships in the world, with nearly $1.3 trillion in bilateral trade in goods and services in 2022. That year, Canada was the largest U.S. trading partner in goods and services. Canada-U.S. trade is built on long-standing binational supply chains, whereby roughly 80% of Canadian goods exports to the U.S. are incorporated into U.S. supply chains.

And to add, unlike Rapey McBonespurs assertions, yes Canada is a large, and important trading partner to the US.

Indeed. But it goes both ways. So the USA would never instantly close the border to Canada, ever. Because not only would Canada be in trouble, the USA would be also. That is a move from shooting yourself in the foot with both barrels to shooting yourself in the head with same. Quite a few times.
 
DeSantis is going to launch on Twitter with an appearance with Elon Musk. We’ll see if this one makes orbit like Falcon, or if it crashes and burns like Starship.

Ron DeSantis to launch 2024 presidential bid on Twitter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65689744

We’ll see if The Atheist is right.

Also, does anyone know if Abbott has endorsed anyone? I have a feeling that there is a kind or Texas-Florida crossover thing going on here. I think DeSantis would need some big endorsements early on to outflank Trump.
 
Learn about sarcasm. It's much more common speech outside the USA.

Sorry, but I think some of the statments Lurch made were not sarcasm.
He also has a long history of such statements.
But is on the political left and therefore must be defended, as is SOP around here.
 
DeSantis is going to launch on Twitter with an appearance with Elon Musk. We’ll see if this one makes orbit like Falcon, or if it crashes and burns like Starship.

Ron DeSantis to launch 2024 presidential bid on Twitter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65689744

We’ll see if The Atheist is right.

Also, does anyone know if Abbott has endorsed anyone? I have a feeling that there is a kind or Texas-Florida crossover thing going on here. I think DeSantis would need some big endorsements early on to outflank Trump.

I think Abbott is going to stay out of this fight until the winner is clear. And right now I think the chances of De Santis winning are very, very, small.
 
I honestly think the GOP looks at the kleptocracy in Russia and thinks, "I wonder if we could pull that off?".

The Republicans have been looking at Hungary and Viktor Orban for a while now and are already trying to 'pull that off.' Below is a quote from a recent Axios news report, titled "The GOP-Hungary connection shaping the '24 campaign."
The far-right populism of Hungary’s prime minister is helping to inspire U.S. Republicans' agenda for 2024, a game plan that targets immigration, LGBTQ rights and — at least for some — the war in Ukraine. Why it matters: Hungary's Viktor Orbán is something of a godfather to the most conservative elements of the GOP, as his harsh policies on immigrants, transgender people, voting rights and other issues have encouraged U.S. conservatives to push for similar laws. Axios news link


This isn't all happening in a vacuum. :(
 
This growing right-wing authoritarianism is spreading in much of Europe as well as the US. Some people never learn from history, can't see the forest for the trees, etc. etc. etc.:mad:
 
The Republicans have been looking at Hungary and Viktor Orban for a while now and are already trying to 'pull that off.' Below is a quote from a recent Axios news report, titled "The GOP-Hungary connection shaping the '24 campaign."



This isn't all happening in a vacuum. :(

Yep, they even hosted CPAC in Hungary.

Orban and co have been courting conservatives and pilled-up influencers for a while now with people like Rod Dreher, Peter Boghossian, Jordan Peterson and Douglas Murray being entertained on junkets where they host events to complain about "woke" propaganda etc...
 
Also from the Axios report:
In 2018 — well before the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ bills that conservative Republicans have pushed in legislatures — Orbán defunded gender studies programs at Hungary's universities. Starting in 2021, he also restricted sales of LGBTQ-themed children's books in Hungary.
Sound familiar? It should.
This spring DeSantis has presided over an expansion of Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law, which prohibits instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. He's also waged a war against the Walt Disney Co., which has criticized the law.
And...
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — widely expected to challenge Trump for the GOP presidential nomination — met with Hungarian president and close Orbán ally Katalin Novák last month. Axios news link
 
So Musk stuck with DeSantis after all. FOr a while he was talking about dropping De Santis.
ANyway they deserve each other.

DeSantis is further right than Trump, so it's predictable that Musk would support DeSantis.
 
DeSantis is further right than Trump, so it's predictable that Musk would support DeSantis.

Socially maybe, but both are into the command economy thing where they get to dictate how business owners run their businesses. Then again Musk leans that way as well, so long as it's not *his* business that is being targeted.
 
So Musk stuck with DeSantis after all. FOr a while he was talking about dropping De Santis.
I really have to wonder what's going through Musk's head.

That he prefers far-right politicians is not surprising. But, from a public relations point of view, he has to exist in a country where more than half of the population disagree.

He'd be much better off supporting Meatball Ron tacitly (and trying to install a fascist dictatorship by allowing the alt-right to take over twitter). That way he at least would have some plausible deniability (i.e. "I'm not pro-fascist I am just pro-free speech")

But openly supporting pudding fingers?

- It might alienate potential customers for Teslas and other products his companies might come up with. (Tesla no longer has a virtual monopoly on electric cars, and anyone wanting to go EV has multiple viable choices now)

- He might lose influence he could have had with democratic politicians
 

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