the DON JONES INDEX…

 

 

GAINS POSTED in GREEN

LOSSES POSTED in RED

 

  3/13/23…    14,983.57

    3/6/23…    15,055.33

   6/27/13…    15,000.00

 

(THE DOW JONES INDEX:  3/13/23...31,909.64; 3/6/23...33,390.97; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)

 

LESSON for March 13, 2023 – “THE IVORY POACHERS”

 

Back in 2012, years before their father ran for president, photos surfaced of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump's hunting trip to Zimbabwe.

Photos released by the safari company at the time, which were later published on TMZ and elsewhere, showed the brothers posing next to various dead animals that were killed as part of their hunt. Donald Trump Jr. was 34 years old at the time, and Eric Trump was 28.

The Trump brothers were not pictured with any dead lions in but Donald Trump Jr. was pictured next to a dead elephant while holding its severed tail.  Wielding a dead elephant’s tail to shake at one’s foes has been a traditional sign of masculinity among Africans.  But the money... that is in the tusks – which is to say, the ivory fashioned into jewelry for fashionable women and into piano keys to be tickled by Liberace’s heirs.

Don’s daddy don’t hunt… except for Hunter Bidens… but he did lift a ban on importing sport-hunted trophies of elephants from certain African countries, just over three months after appearing to pause a first attempt to do so amid public uproar. In a memo dated March 1, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that in place of the Obama-era blanket ban, the agency will consider importation permits "on a case-by-case basis."

Biden subsequently reversed the reversal, citing the near extinction of the beasts.

 

And now the Grand Ol’ Party’s elephant is under fire from all quarters and the businessmen and souvenir hunters are warring fiercely for tail and trunk and tusks... tho’ not the meat, despite Junior’s affirmation that he eats what he kills... that was allegedly given to the natives.  Red meat for the red mob.

And declared candidate Dad and the undeclared Fuhrer of Florida, Ron deSantis are today’s hunters with the biggest guns and the most devious of blinds from which to snipe at one another – twenty months before the Twenty Twenty Four election.  Lesser ivory poachers are also giving chase... a woman, a from-India Indian and even, on the Democratic front, a psychic.

And the fun’s only begun.

 

Over the past weekend, the former President decamped from his blind, taking a safari to Maryland to rally the porters and gun-bearers and pack animals at the Conservative Political Action Committee safarireast.  (See Attachment One, Wiki)

Team deSantis, for his part, laid claim to the enemy’s stronghold... surrounding Djonald UnDefended’s Mar-a-Lago redoubt somewhat as the Russian army of conscripts, convicts and war criminals have been laying siege to the desolate and depopulated city of Bakhmut in Ukraine although, in place of the hypersonic missiles, tanks and from-Iran drones the combatants have been sniping at each other with pithy words and sharp, pointed insinuations.  His dark Gubernatorial majesty’s still-undeclared insurgency gathered at the Breakers to break bones and  celebrate themselves with pomp and (Mike Pompeo) and appeal to the billionaires and mere mortal hundred-millionaires that circumstances dictated a new (and, according to rival poacher Nikki Haley, younger) alternative.  (Wiki on CFG Attachment Two)

Team Trump’s retreat for a glamorous weekend transpired in the overwhelmingly Democratic wasteland of Oxon, Maryland... somewhat between Washington and Baltimore... where was held the neo-CPAC gathering of the MAGAfaithful, their grievances over stolen elections and their merch.  It was a loud and messy spectacle, streamed and cabled for spectators of at least modest means; just the ticket for sensation-seeking Don Joneses wondering how to pass the gloomy hours between the close of the football season and last night’s Oscars and, for the connoisseurs of the strange and the sanctimonious slammers alike, it did not disappoint.

 

@newsweek preview: Share on LinkedIn  and add peanuts

(See an unedited transcript of The Donald’s lengthy, lugubrious and often livid discourse as Attachment A... a repetition, punctuated by outbursts from sore media losers wraps up as B)

 

The barbarians surrounding the gates of Mar-a-Lago, on the other hand, were quiet and suspicious and seeking a surfeit of security, for their Woodstock was the seldom seen but notorious  homeless but hallowed conclave of the Club for Growth... in English, a pride of proud, rich Republicans descending upon luxry premises here and there every year, most willing to shed a few shekels for the ears (if not the tails) of obsequious politicians seeking their favor.  It’s not that rich people suddenly despise The Exile; it’s just that, after the 2022 debacle when the herd of elephants blundered into the blinds of the ivory poachers with their long guns, their subpoenas and dark whisperings of Hunter Biden in the jungle.

No CFG transcripts from Saint Ron’s Appeal to Go Fund Me have yet been posted, but a few barbed shafts (See Attachment Four)

 

The hunting and the poaching occurred under terms of grievous political ambience – hot Uke and impending nuke war, a flailing economy (that would become failing over the following weekend, at least in the key tech and banking sectors), environment and transporation meltdowns, aggressive Chinese and Russian advances and a domestic divide that has engendered terrorism and calls for a New Confederacy.

Initiated last November, the Trump Twenty Four movement has had a fairly slow start, but is beginning to rev up (as recent Rev transcriptors noted.)

           

Certainly within the candidate’s base... his family, of course, (both subpoenaed and not yet), the loyalists, denialists and denied and strange persons emitting wild theories flying about like drunken parakeets.

One of many (see the Rolling Stone top ten below) came from the forever-giving Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who blamed President Joe for the fentanyl deaths of two young men. “Listen to this mother, who lost two children to fentanyl poisoning, tell the truth about both of her son’s murders because of the Biden administrations refusal to secure our border and stop the Cartel’s from murdering Americans everyday by Chinese fentanyl,” she tweeted.

The only problem is that the two men died while Trump was in office in 2020.

The Conservative Political Action Committee... now being called TPAC (the Trump Political Action Committee) by some of the dark and disgruntled angels fluttering ‘round Saint Ron... was conceived as a partisan gathering of nonpartisan conservatives of the Reagan stripe, now sneeringly refered to RINOs by the true believers.

In advance of the really big... maybe... shew, USA Today predicted that “thousands of political activists, pundits, elected officials and public intellectuals (would) gather under palm trees in Orlando” (more accurately, it was the CFG, at the Breakers in Palm Beach... CPAC forsaking their usual haunting grounds of the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Maryland, across the river from the nation’s capital for the historic, if rather dingy or, perhaps “jinky” (the iconic hotel remaining shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The convention’s move from its longtime home, however, has not diminished its significance for the political right.  Joining their hero’s deSanctification of Ron and Joe jihad would be, as USA predicted, “nine sitting senators; two governors; 36 members of the U.S. House— including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — and various high-profile conservative media personalities and activists.”

They got closer to the truthiness with that... McCarthy did attend – but last year.  After promising to attend, he pivoted to CFG instead.

Conspicuous in their absence besides the Florida Governor and his mob were anti-Semitic rapper Young Pharaoh, unholy alt-right pedophile Milo Yiannopoulos, holy but unhanged Mike Pence and a garble and gabble of “disloyal” MAGA2020 backers who have since saw the light (and the midterm results).

One putative problem pedophile not disinvited... in fact, honored by the former President as another victim of Democrat’c thuggery and witch-hunting was the American Conservative Union (ACU), thus nominal CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp, accused of

Supplementing Trump’s defiant shoutout to his fellow victim, ACU board members posted...

“We have seen the most recent egregious attack by the Daily Beast on ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp. We have both known Matt and his wife, Mercedes, for decades. We know Matt Schlapp's heart and his character. And we believe this latest attempt at character assassination is false.”  (CPAC home, Attachment Six)

 

The gathering had run into trouble of late, not only because of the Democratic stampede (well... they did hold the Senate by one vote, after being predicted to lose between five and ten seats) but on account of the travails and transgressions of Schlapp and the boycotts of MAGAtraitors like DeSantis and Pence, but not Haley who tried to have it both ways, claiming and proclaiming at CPAC to a chorus of boos exceeded only by the hostile clamor arising whenever Volodomyr Zelenskyy was mentioned.

In turn, “Trump was the only major 2024 hopeful not invited to the group’s Palm Beach donor retreat” (CNN March 3nd, Attachment Seven) and the network unearthed “some” Republicans who linked the defections to the Schlapp suit by a Republican strategist who was working for Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign (a male) who alleged that Schlapp sexually assaulted him and is suing the Chairman and his wife for more than $9 million. Schlapp has denied the claims.

“It’s a scandal,” one Republican operative who has worked on several presidential campaigns told CNN. “If you are thinking about running for president and you’re not Donald Trump, you can’t afford a misstep. You can’t afford to be linked to a scandal.”

When it was reported last month that Trump was not invited to the Club for Growth summit, the former president fired back, slamming the group as “an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers” and as “Club for NO Growth” on his Truth Social account.

He found his quantum of solace among loyalists... “a slate of prominent election deniers and close allies of Trump, including defeated Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon,” and also more semi-mainstream talking heads like Ted (Cruz) and    

The Washington Examiner’s David Freddoso reported that CFG countered with a roster of Republican limelighters as follows... (Attachment Eight)

Sen. Cruz (R-TX)

Ted, the WashXanuber said, “serves as the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee. He was a presidential candidate in 2016 but does not appear likely to run in 2024.” Cruz spoke before the conference Thursday afternoon, suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be thrown in jail for "lying under oath."

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)

“Jordan serves as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. He spoke Thursday morning about his vision for the Judiciary Committee's various investigations into the "Trump-Russia collusion hoax," the COVID-19 pandemic, and the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH)

“Vance won his seat in 2022, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), and serves on the Senate Banking and Commerce committees. He ripped into Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying "he needs to go" while on a panel with Cruz on Thursday afternoon.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)

“Scott won his seat in 2018 and is up for reelection in 2024. He unsuccessfully challenged Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for the Senate leadership position following the 2022 elections. Scott defended his challenge to McConnell in his Thursday afternoon  speech, saying he would "like to apologize to absolutely nobody."  Annnd... he’s the rogue elephant who proposed that America balance its budget by cutting or eliminating Social Security and Medicare, a proposal even other Republicans couldn’t stomach (whether out of empathy or political retaliation) – DJI    


Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)

The Notorious MTG “serves on the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees, in addition to being on the House select committee on the coronavirus pandemic. She spoke Friday morning, defending herself against attacks by Democrats on her bill that would outlaw transgender surgeries for those under the age of 18. Greene also whipped up boos for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he “wants our sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine."

Former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines

“Gaines, a 12-time NCAA All-American swimmer for the University of Kentucky, has been an outspoken advocate against biological men competing in women's sports after having to compete against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in 2022. She blasted the "systemic eradication of women" at the conference Friday morning.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)

“Gaetz serves on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees. He was known for being one of the lead "never Kevin" congressmen who held up the House speaker vote in January. Gaetz called for the "weaponized" FBI and DOJ to be abolished during a speech Friday morning.”

Rep. James Comer (R-KY)

“Comer serves as the chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Under his leadership, the Oversight Committee is looking into the Justice Department's investigations, including into President Joe Biden's son Hunter. Comer also serves on the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Agriculture Committee. He spoke Friday morning.”

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL)

“Donalds serves on the House Oversight, Budget, and Small Business committees. He addressed the conference on Friday afternoon.”

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley

“Haley is one of three GOP presidential candidates speaking at CPAC. She served as governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and later as ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump from 2017 until 2018. She addressed the conference on  Friday afternoon by attempting to court voters who are "tired of losing" in a subtle dig at fellow presidential candidate Trump.”

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

“Pompeo served as a congressman from Kansas from 2011 until 2017, when he became director of the CIA and later secretary of state under Trump. He is widely seen as a contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 but has not stated whether he will run. Pompeo spoke to attendees Friday afternoon, issuing a stark warning about a "crisis within conservativism" amid a recent string of losses.”

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

“Ramaswamy is the second Republican presidential candidate speaking at CPAC. He is an entrepreneur and author known for the books Woke, Inc. and Nation of Victims. Ramaswamy (countering MTG) a spoke Friday afternoon, countering calls for a "national divorce," and calling instead for a "national revival."

Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake

“Lake was the 2022 Republican nominee for governor in Arizona but lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs in a tight race. She spoke at the Ronald Reagan Dinner on Friday evening, leaning into Trump and claims that the election she lost was stolen.”

Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

“Gabbard served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 as a Democrat but announced she was leaving the party in 2022 to go independent. She is scheduled to speak at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday.”

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

“Bolsonaro served as president of Brazil from 2019 until the end of 2022. He lost his reelection bid to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and left the country for the United States in December 2022. He is scheduled to speak at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday.

...and, finally...


Former President Donald Trump

“Trump is the third GOP presidential candidate speaking at CPAC and will be the final speaker of the conference. He served as president from 2017 until 2021, losing his reelection bid to President Joe Biden in 2020. Trump announced in November 2022 he would be seeking a second term as president in 2024. He is scheduled to speak at 5:25 p.m. on Saturday.”

 Other notable speakers include Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and John Kennedy (R-LA), Virginia GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Jason Smith (R-MO), and commentator Candace Owens.

These, prior to Djonald UnChained made what CNN called “false claims about Biden, Zelensky, the FBI and The Children” during Saturday’s mid-CPAC autopsy.  (See March 4th, Attachment Nine)

“Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio uttered two false claims about President Joe Biden. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia repeated a debunked claim about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama used two inaccurate statistics as he lamented the state of the country. Former Trump White House official Steve Bannon repeated his regular lie about the 2020 election having been stolen from Trump, this time baselesly blaming Fox for Trump’s defeat.

“Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida incorrectly said a former Obama administration official had encouraged people to harass Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina inaccurately claimed Biden had laughed at a grieving mother and inaccurately insinuated that the FBI tipped off the media to its search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence. Two other speakers, Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka, inflated the number of deaths from fentanyl.”

And that’s not all, CNN said, ticking off their fact check of “13 false claims from the conference,” as of Saturday.  (See full texts as Attachment Nine, above)

Facts First: MTG on Zelensky... Greene’s claim is false. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t say he wants American sons and daughters to fight or die for Ukraine.

Facts First: Bannon on Fox...  This is nonsense. On election night in 2020, Fox accurately projected that Biden had won the state of Arizona. This projection did not change the outcome of the election; all of the votes are counted regardless of what media outlets have projected, and the counting showed that Biden won Arizona, and the election, fair and square.

Facts First: Jordan on Deportations... Jordan inaccurately described the 100-day deportation pause that Biden attempted to impose immediately after he took office on January 20, 2021. The policy did not say the US wouldn’t deport “anyone who comes.” It explicitly did not apply to anyone who arrived in the country after the end of October 2020, meaning people who arrived under the Biden administration or in the last months of the Trump administration could still be deported.

Facts First: Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) on the FBI “raid” at Trump’s mansion... Norman’s narrative is false. The FBI did not tip off the media to its search of Mar-a-Lago; CNN reported the next day that the search “happened so quietly, so secretly, that it wasn’t caught on camera at all.” Rather, media outlets belatedly sent cameras to Mar-a-Lago because Peter Schorsch, publisher of the website Florida Politics, learned of the search from non-FBI sources and tweeted about it either after it was over or as it was just concluding, and because Trump himself made a public statement less than 20 minutes later confirming that a search had occurred.

Facts First: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Al) on two-parent households.  Tuberville’s claim that half of American children don’t have two parents is incorrect. Official figures from the Census Bureau show that, in 2021, about 70% of US children under the age of 18 lived with two parents and about 65% lived with two married parents.

... and on “woke education” –

Facts First: This is false. While many Americans do struggle with reading, there is no basis for the claim that “half” of high school graduates can’t read a basic document like a diploma. “Mr. Tuberville does not know what he’s talking about at all,” said Patricia Edwards, a Michigan State University professor of language and literacy who is a past president of the International Literacy Association and the Literacy Research Association.

Facts First: Jordan again, claiming that Biden States stood in front of Independence Hall, (and) “called half the country fascists.”  This is not true. Biden did not denounce even close to “half the country” in this 2022 speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. He made clear that he was speaking about a minority of Republicans.

Facts First: Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa) on gas stoves and electric vehicles... This is nonsense. The federal government has not told people that they can’t buy a gas stove or must buy an electric vehicle.

Facts First: Norman (above) also claimed that Biden had just laughed at a mother who lost two sons to fentanyl...  Norman’s claim is false. Biden did not laugh at the mother who lost her sons to fentanyl, the anti-abortion activist Rebecca Kiessling; in a somber tone, he called her “a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl.” Rather, he proceeded to laugh about how Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had baselessly blamed the Biden administration for the young men’s deaths even though the tragedy happened in mid-2020, during the Trump administration.

Facts First: Rep. Kat Commack (R-Fl) on harassment of SCOTUS Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  This story is false. The witness Cammack questioned in this February exchange at the subcommittee, former Obama administration deputy assistant attorney general Elliot Williams, did not encourage people to harass Kavanaugh. In fact, it’s not even true that Cammack accused him at the February hearing of having encouraged people to harass Kavanaugh.

Facts First: Sen. John F. Kennedy (R-La) calling the economy better when Trump was “in charge”... This is inaccurate in two ways. First, the economic numbers for the full “four years” of Trump’s tenure are much worse than these numbers Kennedy cited; Kennedy was actually referring to Trump’s first three years while ignoring the fourth, which was marred by the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, there weren’t “8 million new jobs” created even in Trump’s first three years.

Facts First: Daughter-in-law Lara Trump’s claim about February 2020 having “the lowest unemployment in American history” (was) false. The unemployment rate was 3.5% at the time – tied for the lowest since 1969, but not the all-time lowest on record, which was 2.5% in 1953. And while Lara Trump didn’t make an explicit claim about unemployment under Biden, it’s not true that things are worse today on this measure; again, the most recent unemployment rate, 3.4% for January 2023, (3.6% now) is better than the rate at the time of CPAC’s 2020 conference or at any other time during Donald Trump’s presidency.

Facts First: Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump administration official, and Perry (above) blamed “Biden’s open border” for 110,000 fentanyl deaths... It’s not true that there are more than 100,000 fentanyl deaths per year. That is the total number of deaths from all drug overdoses in the US; there were 106,699 such deaths in 2021. But the number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, primarily fentanyl, is smaller – 70,601 in 2021.

CNN also stated that there were 91,799 “troubling” total overdose deaths and that fentanyl smugglers largely use legal ports of entry as opposed to migrants “sneaking” across the border.

 

CNN did not check, nor could they, Ol’ 45’s allegation that “I am your retribution.”  (Guardian U.K., March Fourth, among other references... See Attachment Ten)

“Donald Trump turned back the clock to the darkest elements of his presidency on Saturday,” wrote liberal GUKster David Smith, “with a fiery address that showed the threat to American democracy is far from over,” after a “lackluster: start to his campaign and, “watched by Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro,” returned to “the authoritarian language that characterised his political rise seven years ago.”

Opinion polls dredged up by GUK suggest that Trump’s grip on the party is slipping in the wake of the 6 January 2021 insurrection and a disappointing midterm performance. “But he continues to rule supreme at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), billed as the biggest annual gathering of grassroots conservatives.”

It wasn’t, but the enthusiasm index spiked Saturday night.  “I didn’t know this was a rally, Matt,” Trump said at one point to beleavuered and besmirched CPAC impresario Matt Schlapp. “It really is a rally.”

As the crowd erupted in cheers and chants of “Four more years!”, Trump cast the upcoming election in Manichean terms, returning to his us-versus-them rhetoric of old... these being, in GUK-speak...

Demolishing the “deep state”...

Expelling the “war mongers” (Putin haters)...

Driving out the globalists...

Casting out the communists...

And torching the enemies of America... “villains and scoundrels” one and all...

The “political class that hates our country”

The Democrats

The fake news media (Fox now included)

The Rino “freaks, neocons, globalists, open border zealots and fools”...

Karl Rove...

Jeb Bush (but not “W”?)...

Hate!  Hate!  Hate!  Kill!  Kill!  Kill!  MAGA!  MAGA!  MAGA!

(Djonald UnCivil has apparently divorced his Lady Magaga... just as MTG proposes a “divorce” between the red and blue states like... you know... 1861, but messier.)

He also made what the Brits called an “unlikely” boast: “Before I arrive in the Oval Office, I will have the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine ended... I know what to say.”

“And you’re going to have world war three, by the way. We’re going to have world war three if something doesn’t happen fast. I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent world war three.”

“We have no choice,” he said in a startling contrast to Biden’s pleas for unity, warning “this is the final battle”.

 

And The Fox, apparently, is also divorced from Team Trump – at least for the primary season.

 

Well, now that they have to appear fair and balanced, they modestly compared the before-the-fire ambience of CPAC and the CFG, while calling both “cattle calls”.

When asked why Trump was not invited, Club for Growth President David McIntosh told Fox News (Attachment Eleven) that "what we decided we wanted our members and donors to do is…. They know Trump, and they know his record. They like his record as president, but they’re not sure he can win. So they’re going to take a look and this will be an opportunity for the candidates to present themselves."

McIntosh and the Club, the Fox said, have had an “up and down” relationship with Trump. They opposed Trump as he ran for the White House in 2016 before embracing him as an ally. Last cycle, Trump and the Club teamed up in some high-profile GOP primaries but clashed over combustible Senate nomination battles in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

McIntosh did hold out an olive branch... perhaps poisoned, perhaps not... telling Fox that "the Club would certainly support him (Trump) if he’s the nominee for the party. He has a good record as a former president. We want to make sure he can win. And if he ends up being the nominee, we’ll try to help him win because a Biden presidency for four more years would be a disaster."

Across the Palm Beach, Florida neighborhood from a temporarily vacant Mar-a-Lago, Governor Ron deSantis reiterated passages from his “woke is dead” Bible, hawked his new book and pushed through new congressional maps which suppress the minority vote by eliminating two African American voting districts.

NPR, post CFG (March 6th, Attachment Twelve) acknowledged The Saint as “one of the leading candidates” who “rivals and sometimes surpasses former President Donald Trump” in the Paleolithic polls twenty months from Twenty Twenty Four.

Their thumbnail biography... heavy on the “nails” as befits an icon of the liberal media... acknowledged his breakthrough 2022 re-election during a time of crisis for Republicans with even the MAGAmob rallying to his “Don’t Say Gay” and “Florida is where woke goes to die” tropes and distancing himself from Rick Scott’s anti-Social Security and Medicare messages – preferring to lull senior voters into yawning “Long live Sleep” before fading off to count sheep.

Former Congressman David Jolly, from the Tampa area, now remembers DeSantis as part of the then-MAGAless House Freedom Caucus, then focused on cutting government spending. "At the time," Jolly says, "I described them as the shutdown caucus..." remembering Ronnie’s “commitment to fundraising and the raw political hunger of moving beyond the House."

DeSantis, a Yale and Harvard-educated lawyer who served in the Navy, spent three terms in Congress before running for governor. His frequent appearances on Fox News drew the attention of President Trump who endorsed him. DeSantis embraced the endorsement and ran a now-famous ad narrated by his wife as he read to his children from Trump's book, Art of the Deal.

Another now-Congressman Aaron Bean has nothing but praise for how the governor responded to the pandemic. "He went against the grain," Bean says. "You can't say Florida now without saying the 'Free State of Florida' because Governor DeSantis has led the way."

An enemy of masking, vaxxing and social distancing... who, as President, might well stack the DOJ to indict, prosecute and lock up Dr. Fauci and other denialists of plague denialism... the Guv’nor has few friends among the medical profession.  Bill Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, says DeSantis “politicized the public health crisis.” which led to an increase of deaths in Florida from COVID. "If you compare it with California, New York, Massachusetts and the United Kingdom," Hanage told NPR, using data from Johns Hopkins University, Florida is "the only one to have more deaths since vaccines were available, than before. The only one of them."

DeSantis dismissed the criticism by saying Florida voters looked at his record on COVID in November and gave him a resounding vote of confidence. "Not only did we win re-election," he boasts, "we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican Governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida."

“That's true, if you leave out the Reconstruction era,” NPR snarked... or the voters that died during this term of office.

Saint Ron has also drawn both bouquets and brickbats for his War on Disney (See Attachment 35 below), some even urging The Mouse to move and emigrate to another clime.

But maybe there will be an equal im-migration... a nice immigration, being composed of cold Americans who vote and mostly (except for the bewildered and forlorn techies) find jobs.

Jolly (above) says that, for DeSantis, there's a more fundamental question. True, his nearly 20-point win in Florida came in a midterm election in which most of the country turned away from the Republican Party and many of the conservative policies DeSantis has promoted. But now Jolly says, "The test for Ron DeSantis will be, is he really that skilled and that good of an evangelist to convince the country to follow the direction he took Florida?"

Can he flip, for example, California?

DeSantis' supporters have a slogan, "Make America Florida." Next year, voters across the country may get a chance to decide if that's something that they want.

Especially the ones living in and around Lake Tahoe or the San Bernardino mountains.

While Trump is “easily the most recognizable name at this year's conference,” Axios (Attachment Thirteen) soft-pedaled the absence of Saint Ron and House Speaker Kevin Mac from CPAC.

(Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fell down at a fundraising dinner in the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington, D.C.; bumped his head, broke a rib and so, therefore, avoided having to face the wrath of either faction or either leading candidate.

Mitchy survived what might well have been a Dadaist pratfall (or a strategic one).  There were gaffes, more physical and intellectual pratfalls and outrageous whoppers at CPAC – Rolling Stone selected its top ten (Attachment Fourteen) and the adventures of Schlapp… in Brazil, like George Santos’, of all places… (Attachment Fifteen) provided fresh meat for not only the Stoners but for a cornucopia of TV, stand-up and online comedians.

 

Most prominent Republican lawmakers at CPAC didn’t bring up what GUK, predictably, termed Trump’s big lie.  (Attachment Sixteen).  Instead they largely chose not to repeat his common talking point that rampant voter fraud cost him his re-election.

Given the predictability of the two warrior chiefs at CPAC and CFG, some of the media... partisans to one side or the other, neither or, also hedging their bets, both shone a spotlight on some of the supporting cast at the two conferences.

Some embraced the spotlight and shone.  Others ran like roaches when the kitchen light’s turned on.

CPAC security even stomped on one ugly bug... Nick Fuentes, the antisemitic white nationalist provocateur who dined with former President Donald Trump last year, was "removed" from the premises Schlapp told NBC on Friday (Attachment Seventeen)

“We are pleased that our conference welcomes a wide array of conservative perspectives from people of different backgrounds, but we are concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe, whether it be in the corridors of power and academia or through the online rantings of bigots like Fuentes,” Schlapp said.

Fuentes responded to the statement in a post on the social media site Telegram, where he appeared... appeared?... to mock Schlapp's legal troubles, saying, "Ah yes we all know CPAC is reserved for sexual gropers."

His dinner partner, Ye — who also has a history of making antisemitic remarks, if not groping strange men — said in a Twitter video after the feast that “Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes.”

Trump has since said he didn’t know Fuentes or his background when they dined together. 

Also evicted 3 rats and 12 spiders... five buzzards were allowed to stay when they were recognized as  members in good standing of the donor class.

If the size of the CPACrowd was smaller than expected... always a trigger for Trumpian rage... an aide speaking to Axios (Attachment Eighteen) wished away the discrepancy by explaining that it was their enthusiasm... not their numbers... that was paramount.  "Trump has completely remade the party since he’s become president... (H)e realized there’s a difference between what grassroots activists thought and what Bush Republicans in Washington, D.C., were trying to enact."

Still, the Boston Globe described the conference as “in turmoil”... largely over the great, gray, gay, gaseous vapors swirling round the Gaylord Convention Center on the banks of the Potomac (and some elephants’ memories of November, 2022.)

The reduced, but enthusiastic mob cheered their hero, nonetheless, craned their neck to view Steve Bannon podcasting from the premises, snapped selfies of a fake Oval Office to cement the denial of 2020 and gobbled mountains of merch at The MAGA Mall booth.  (Attachment Nineteen)

“Any Trump competitor will have to appease this crowd, which has already shaped the party’s rhetoric and priorities far outside this convention center and is unwilling to go down without a fight,” condluced the Globe, whether political or (as is quite possible at the 2024 convention, if not wholly probable) physical.

“Anybody else that’s running,” said Representative Byron Donalds of Florida after Team MAGA booed Haley and Pompeo off the stage, “you better figure out a way to contend with that.”

The only apparent survivor of the bloodbath was Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder who has become one of the country’s most prominent election deniers, handed out fliers for his latest project, an entity called the “Election Crime Bureau.”

“I’m here at CPAC for one reason and one reason only, and that is to educate people,” Lindell said, calling for the end of vote tabulation machines and early voting, and lambasting DeSantis as a “Trojan horse.”

“This is almost like grassroots, a new party forming … call it the party of common sense,” Lindell added. “That’s the Donald Trump party, too, by the way.”

Disappointed dissenters quickly ran for their lives from the warriors and the weather.  “It’s become the Donald Trump political action conference,” said Michael Biundo, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist who left Washington early to get ahead of a winter storm aimed at his home state.

But Beth Veneto of Quincy, outside Boston, selling gingerbread cookies depicting Trump, intricately decorated with yellow frosting hair and glittery stars, told the Globe that: “I’m glad the other people are jumping into the race, but ginger Donald all the way,” Veneto said. “We’re going to make sure our cookie country doesn’t crumble.”

Perhaps she hasn’t yet processed the news that the Number One Girl Scout cookie of the year is “Raspberry Rally” – as in Red Tide Ron, down in Florida.

Speaking of thing edible, a hyperthusiastic Don Junior punctuated his CPAC speech with a remark that the old RINOs at National Review found offensive (Attachment Twenty)... castigating Pennsylvania’s stroked and depressed John Fetterman as “a vegetable” who’d be better off as a supermarket bag boy.

“As far as I am concerned,” declared Wesley J. Smith, “it belongs in the same category of unacceptable terminology as the N-word.”

Fetterman might well be incapable of performing the work of a United States senator. That’s a legitimate issue, as is the senator’s hiding of his previous episodes of depression during the campaign.

But the matter can be discussed quite thoroughly without slinging slurs at people who have mental challenges and disrespecting people who are cognitively disabled, as his “bag guy at a . . . grocery store” snidery did. We are all equal. The people with special needs who bag our groceries have more class than Trump Jr. ever will.”

Noted... but not all the people who bag groceries at supermarkets have “special needs.”  A lot of them only need more money than the company pays them.  But don’t expect either The Saint or The Donald to get into that.

But if chastising a cripple was politically incorrect, MTG’s subseqnent denunciation of Volodomyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian freedom fighters (and implied support for Putin’s war) was off the charts, the charts off the table, the table overturned and the Buckley Boys on the side of America’s better angels.

“A crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) booed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in absentia on Friday,” wrote NR correspondent Brittany Bernstein (Attachment Twenty One) after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) misleadingly claimed he “wants our sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine.”

Zelensky’s full quote read: “If it happens so that Ukraine, due to various opinions and weakening, depleting of assistance, loses, Russia is going to enter Baltic states, NATO member states, and then the U.S. will have to send their sons and daughters exactly the same way as we are sending, their sons and daughters to war.”

“They will have to fight. Because it’s NATO that we’re talking about, and they will be dying, God forbid, because it’s a horrible thing,” the Ukrainian president said.

Putin’s war, we have previously noted, has been sanctioned by Kyrill... the Patriarch of Russian Orthodoxy who adheres to the Old Testament orthodoxy who numbers gays along with the enemies of God... fornicators, idolators, bacon-eaters and infidels (a changing cast of villains as now includes Jews, as well as members of Christian sects that offend the spectator and so must be put to death per Deuteronomy 20:17.

Pute-symp Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire sparked alarm on Saturday with his anti-trans oratory.

“Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely,” he said.

John Knefel of Media Matters called it “eliminationist, genocidal rhetoric”.

Adam Vary of Variety urged people to “pay attention. This is genocidal. That is not hyperbole or alarmist; this rhetoric is calling for the eradication of a group of people for who they are”.  (Independent U.K., Attachment Twenty Two)

As we noted when noting the Kyrill/Putin bromance... the invasion of Ukraine was“all about the gays.”

And also, all about those... uh... dusky people?

The Independents asked conservatives at CPAC what ‘woke’ means. Their replies were revealing...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the potential Republican presidential candidate, has repeatedly said that his state is where “woke goes to die”. Mr. DeSantis did not attend the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington this week. But plenty of others focused on “wokeness”.

Former president Donald Trump has talked about generals being too “woke”.

Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said that “I’m running for president to renew an America that’s proud and strong, not weak and woke.” Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama held a talk on the first full day of the conference entitled “Sacking the Woke Playbook”.

Black Americans largely adopted the term “woke” going back as late as the 1940s as a phrase meant to be aware of racism around them and became a staple of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). But plenty of activists at CPAC had a different definition...

Marie Rogerson, an executive director of program development at Moms for Liberty said Mr DeSantis’s war on the concept of “woke” was necessary to help the state thrive.

“Killing ‘woke’ means, it’s like a garden, you’re getting rid of the weeds so that the things you actually want to grow, can,” she said.

Ms. Rogerson also said people did not need to use the word “woke” to discuss racism... it could be a major problem, it could be a minor problem. I don’t think it’s necessary to say ‘stay woke’ to be concerned about any racism that exists in America. Woke means more than just racism.”

“‘Woke’ to me means that you are basing your reality off of fiction and your feelings rather than actual facts,” Angelo Veltri, northeast regional director for Young Americans for Liberty, told The Independent. “‘Woke’ is more of the sense of like, if you feel a certain way, then you must be true, and they typically adhere to their truths rather than the truth as a whole. And it’s leading toward this woke postmodernism in a sense. Woke communism, where they’re trying to take over based on people’s feelings rather than actual factual evidence.”

Trump, at CPAC, floated a policy to wipe out “woke” as well as certain other psychologies and pathologies of dissent.

Former President Donald Trump promised attendees at an ultra-conservative gathering Saturday night that he would use a second term in the White House to implement an authoritarian vision for policing crime that would include deploying the National Guard into US cities with high crime rates.

“I will send in the National Guard until law and order is restored.”  (Time, March 4th, Attachment Twenty Three)

“Frankly the federal government should take over control and management of Washington, D.C.,” Trump said, adding at one point, “I wouldn’t even call the mayor.”

Without evidence, Trump claimed that, as President, he ordered the clearing out of homeless encampments in Washington, DC. He also bemoaned how his chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. Mark Milley objected to Trump’s June 2020 order for National Guard forces to use tear gas and rubber bullets to push out racial justice protestors from Lafayette Park in front of the White House so Trump could stage a photo op with a bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church. “He didn’t like me holding up a bible in front of a church,” Trump said about Milley.

“The sinister forces trying to kill America have done everything they can to stop me, to silence you, and to turn this nation into a socialist dumping ground for criminals, junkies, Marxists, thugs, radicals and dangerous refugees that no other country wants,” Trump said.

 

And his were not even the most extreme alt-alt-right proposals at the outskirts of CPAC.

Rep. Paul Sherrell, R-Sparta, suggested adding hanging by tree as a method of execution during discussion this week in Nashville over a bill concerning capital punishment.  (Capitol TN.gov, Attachment Twenty Four)

Warned by lesser and lefter alt-righters that he might be damaging the cause, Sherrell recanted... sort of.

"My exaggerated comments were intended to convey my belief that for the cruelest and most heinous crimes, a just society requires the death penalty in kind," Sherrell said. "Although a victim's family cannot be restored when an execution is carried out, a lesser punishment undermines the value we place on protecting life."

Racial and eccleastical cardsharps were quick to pounce.

"A bill calling to expand the death penalty by firing squad, and even lynching, is deplorable, immoral and takes us back to the dark days of Jim Crow," said Rev. Dr. Kevin Riggs, pastor of Franklin Community Church. "I'm appalled by the words of Representative Sherrell. Suggesting firing squads and lynchings is unconscionable.

There were other ghouls rushin’ in... even while CPAC was CPACting along over the weekend.

The glaring absence of many prominent Republicans this year marks a dramatic change from 2015, the year before the last competitive GOP presidential primary, when CPAC’s schedule included nearly all of the major candidates, Jeb Bush among them, the Associated Press compared and contrasted.  (Attachment Twenty Five)

“If you’re Ron DeSantis, what’s the strategic reason for you to go to a place that’s pretty well on the record as just being a Trump fan club?” said Ross Hemminger, a former press secretary and former deputy communications director for the ACU.

“You just look at it and you think, ‘Oh wow.’ CPAC used to be such a big deal and now it’s this,” Hemminger said. “The goal used to be setting the conservative agenda. The goal now is: It doesn’t matter how nutty you have to be, you just have to get Donald Trump’s attention and make him know that you are willing to make a fool of yourself for him so that you can stay in his good graces.”

But, to idolize heroes, one most have a clear and prescient picture of the enemies.

And the best Team Trump could do... according to the Guardian U.K. was... the drag queens.  (Attachment Twenty Five)

One joke going round, about the suspected Chinese spy balloon’s preferred pronouns; claimed that Democrats believe there are “millions” of genders – engendering a menacing call for “transgenderism” to be “eradicated” (Guardian U.K. Attachment Twenty Six) which prefaced Djonald UnCircumsized’s pledge to ban the “chemical castration and sexual mutilization [sic]”​ of children.

Republican senator John F, Kennedy (not the ghost, come back and Gabbarded, but the one fromf Louisiana), said “liberals” believe that children “should be able to change their gender at recess” and “hyperventilate on their yoga mats if you use the wrong pronoun”. The remarks elicited peals of laughter from the audience.

“People like Marjorie Taylor Greene will not be satisfied until every LGBTQ person is forced into the shadows,” said Geoff Wetrosky, campaign director for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.  So far this year, anti-trans legislation has been proposed in 39 states, including 112 measures that focus on medical care restriction and 82 that pertain to education-related issues, according to the website Track Trans Legislation.

It’s a strategy that seeks rile up their base, seeking to capitalize on the conservative “parental rights” movement which, according to Angelo Carusone, president and chief executive of Media Matters for America, emerged in opposition to pandemic-era school polices requiring remote-learning and mask-wearing but quickly shifted to target classroom instruction related to race, sexual orientation and gender identity as well as transgender students’ bathroom use and sports participation.

On a CPAC panel dedicated to the issue, a former college athlete who competed against a transgender swimmer warned that there was an effort under way on the left to “fully eradicate women”.

A male panelist joked about “transitioning” into his female co-panelist, Chaya Raichik, who runs “Libs of TikTok”, an anti-LGBTQ social media account. Another lamented that students in China are taught calculus while American students learn that there are “72 genders”.

The homophobic strategy... not to mention some originally on the roster of CPACandidates took hits from the “left” (aka the RINO Republican right) and the extreme hyper-right when Schlapp’s "groping" of a male staffer for Herschel Walker's Senate campaign floated to the surface of the Unwoke River like a bloated mobster in October. (People.com, Attachment Twenty Seven).  Many now-Djonald DisLoyalists decamped and flocked instead to an event held by Club for Growth or stayed home, presumably doing their knitting or other gay stuff.  And Vox noted not only the canine replacement of Fox with the Chinese religious movement Falun Gong, but also other desertions from The Exile’s Fourth Estate... instead of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, there were major media presences from the Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty (NTD) TV, which are both, also, affiliated with Falun Gong.  (Attachment Twenty Eight)

Fence-sitters like Haley did not fare well... the former Governor and U.N. Secretary was chased from the ballroom by chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump” and “we love Trump” from attendees more interested in signed copies of Sean Spicer’s children’s book, The Parrots Go Bananas at the merch table or take selfies with Gorka, Mike (My Pillow) Lindell or promoter of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory Jack Posobiec.

Vox’s Ben Jacob, sniffed “a sense of slow and steady decay creeping through the event”, but at least acknowledged that the attendees, “those who have probably spent, at minimum, hundreds of dollars on a ticket and traveled from across the country to attend” were with Trump.

Out in the Promised Land, the Romney Land... Utah... Brigham Tomco of Deseret.com also noted the desertion of some of Team Trump’s stalwarts, and a few potential rivals.  “A conference that was once a critical stop for Republican presidential candidates” now seemed dominated by merch. MAGA and supporters of former President Donald Trump, who headlined the event.  (Attachment Twenty Nine)

Reiterating the cast of characters who did attend, Tomco allowed more space to Mike Pompeo, and even to another bi-conferencial seeker, Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and “anti-woke” activist who announced his presidential bid at the end of February and, at least, was not heckled by the jeckled and jacked-up Trump pull-toys. 

“You get national unity in this country by embracing the extremism, the radicalism, of the ideals that set this nation into motion 250 years ago,” Ramaswamy said, clearly enjoying his fifteen seconds (if not minutes) of importancy.

Ignoring the Ramasami, Steve Bannon did take a few potshots at the pompous Pompeo (who had proclaimed: “We can’t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics, those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality,”)  Steve-O: “Donald J. Trump is not simply a leader of a political party. He is not a politician. He is the leader of the most powerful political movement in American history.”

And then, the Fearless (and somewhat narcissisticly disgruntled) Leader declared that “...for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” 

Which begs the question: if Trump does lose the nomination... whether to deSanctimonious or some other odious defector... might he not – just for the retribution of it (and the fun) – start his own breakaway party and party down all through the fall of 2024 until Ol’ White Joe’s re-election?

Or... as a USA Today preview piece noted two like-minded instances of insurrection, implying, perhaps, a retributive termination of a weird and violent trilogy... could the invitation of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, “whose supporters stormed government buildings to protest his loss in that country's president election last year, reminiscent of the pro-Trump insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021” been a dog-whistle to the few, the proud and the psychotics?  (Attachment Thirty)

 

But still, there were the RINOs, too, among the elephants... old fogeys with disgruntlements and grievances at the Trump-led faction of the G.O.P. and a key constituency of the conservative faithful... the National Review complaining in its preview issue that one issue (in the other sense) was conspicuous in its absence from the CPAC agenda... “abortion!”  (March 1st, Attachment Thirty One)

“What makes this especially disappointing is that sanctity-of-life issues were exceptionally salient this past year,” said salty NR commentator Michael New, who resuscitated an old grievance from the Trumpless 2022 confab.

“In March 2022, many pro-lifers thought there was a very good chance that the U.S. Supreme Court was about to overturn Roe v. Wade.  However,” New recalled, “no panel at the 2022 CPAC was dedicated to sanctity-of-life issues, citing a Twitter thread by pro-life activist Alison Centofante on this topic which went viral.

“During an interview,” New noted, “CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp dismissed the concerns of Centofante and other pro-lifers”, saying: “Everything is prolife that we talk about.” Schlapp later called into a gathering of pro-life leaders to mend fences. However, there was no public commitment to organizing a pro-life panel at a subsequent CPAC.”

Whether the exclusion was perhaps a gesture of “retributive” payback to Michael UnHanged or an augur of MattSlap’s private distraction by other matters, CPAC, dissing “the culture of life” has, opined the NR... not unlike its previous condemnation of the former President for his 2022 midterm miseries, failed again.

One of the ivory poachers of NR’s hegemony among right-wing elephantine internal and external organs, the hybrid-ly named Washington Examiner leaped into the gap with a tried and true Republican ripost... a poke at President Joe and donkey-boys who not only failed to launch with the announcement of the candidacy of Marianne Williamson, but countered the ivorious CPAC convention and CFG counter-convention with a competing Biden speech “at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, ahead of the release of the administration's federal budget proposal.  (Attachment Thirty Two) wherin, the Xaminer spake: “Republicans are expected to use the debt ceiling negotiations to exact concessions from Biden in exchange for votes.”

Sic simper un-fi to the Shutdown Caucus!

 

On Sunday after words took flight, the New Republic’s Laura Jedeed (Attachment Thirty Three) bemoaned the “sad, desolate scenes of CPAC”.

At what had once been the most famous annual gathering of America's conservatives, the chairs are empty, the energy is low— “(a)n attendee yawns, amongst a sea of empty chairs, following a speech by Donald Trump Jr.” and “the Potomac Ballroom looks grim.”

The New Republican Laura, reminding you that she is more or less enduring, as opposed to celebrating her fourth CPAC... “a bi-yearly gathering of conservative groupies, donors, political operators, long-shot candidates, and packs of teenage boys in crisp suits who wander the hallways in packs and talk to no one else...” a bacchanale and an indoctrination, a “ComiCon for politics nerds.”

“The vibes are off,” jaded Jadeed snarked shortly before noon, as CPAC organizer Matt Schlapp admits: “There’s a lot of chatter in the media over who’s here or not here.”   Jadeed need not add that a healthy slice of the bad vibes and chatter are attributable to Schlapp himself who had promised to to “go a little bit Hungarian” on the press this year (perhaps an homage to last year’s foreign celebrity Victor Orban, perhaps an appeal to the faithful to attack, kill and slice up the wicked left-wing media mob for goulash) except that he’s already been Beasted, the crowd seems too blasé, too tired to do much more than gripe about the “mistake” about moving CPAC back to Washington D.C. from Orlando (even with its transgender Disney mice and M&Ms) and hopeless old tropes (Hunter’s laptop, Chinese balloons, mask mandates, the war, the drugs, the inflation, the plague) troop to the fore once again to sigh and surrender.  Even Steve Bannon can finger no more mortal peril than that Fox on the run.

With Djonald still to appear, Jadeed predicts an ugly, probably crowded, primary season – calling Republicans “a flock without a shepherd” or, this DJI contends, an elephant whose ivory has been sawed off by the wildlife protectors to prevent it from being poached.

“No leader. No galvanizing cause. No hope. No wonder these seats are empty.”

But wait!

Look down there... look south and follow the migrating words.  Look to Florida, where the King of the Castle holds court.

While Trump makes ready to address the people in two hours, (and while DeSantis, who possesses degrees from both Harvard and Yale, hobnobs with the political elite), history bids us look away from the CPAC stage where, as lovely Laura declares,  President of Concerned Women for America Penny Nance is getting Biblical. “The Old Gods, Ba’al and Moloch, the god [sic] of death, are moving in,” she says. “We are seeing it now and it’s Satanic.”

Look away, History asks, from those luxurious, but also rather proletarian environs of the Gaylord Convention Center, where the jittery jawyers at New York Magazine presumably assigned the graveyard shift are coining a new viral voice for the Old Trump/New MAGA-populist Right (or, perhaps its epitash)... “janky”.

Presumably a grafting of “junky” (in the garbagian, not the opiod sense) and “swanky” (as in the deserted rooms of the Gaylord ... a sort of diamond dumpster of a conference, if you will – in what the sober, nose-holding Yankees (well, plenty of their correspondents and more of their advertisers domicile in New England, just a short train hop, skip and jump away) contemptuously compared to a mall full of empty stores... the New Yorkers like Ben Jacobs contrasted the proletarian, populist environs to the genuinely swanky (and warm) shores of Mar-a-Lago (rather, the Breakers three miles away) where Governor de Santis is bowing and wowing the billionaire brethren of the donor class: the Floridians, Wall Streeters and the rest stuck on (and living it up in) their Billionaire Island club.

Yes, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was once a marquee event on the political calendar where Republicans seeking the favor of the party’s conservative base would attempt to woo a crowd of right-wing activists and diehards,” the New Yorkers look back in regret, if not anger.  (See Attachment  Thirty Four)

In 2015, the last time there was a competitive Republican presidential primary, a dozen candidates showed up, representing all wings of the party from Chris Christie to Ted Cruz. And they weren’t the only ones there, it was a marquee event for the entire right-wing ecosystem with seemingly every group represented.

The decline, Jacobs contends, began once the event began turning into a virtual proxy for Donald Trump and Trumpism. “It wasn’t just that the halls were packed with attendees in red MAGA hats and wearing t-shirts proclaiming “Trump won” or “Let’s Go Brandon.” It was that the crowd was often indistinguishable from one at a Trump event” sneered the New Yorkers.

“It felt like the continuation of CPAC’s slow spiral from a can’t-miss conservative confluence to an increasingly shabby Trump-con that seems smaller and smaller each year. The cycle feeds itself, just like the once popular mall that attracts fewer customers as stores close, causing more and more stores to close, drawing even fewer customers. And it seems like the exact same demographic of people who only go to a struggling mall to get in their daily steps are the same ones still converging at CPAC to celebrate Trump.

“The Orange Julius may be gone,” Jacobs potted the Stormy-deluged former Gothamite with more New Yorkisms, “but there’s still plenty of kiosks peddling the Orange Donald.”

 

Speaking of potted things... meats, cannabis oilies, geraniums or what have you... DeSantis, in a closed-door speech to donors Thursday, sought to cement himself as the governor who will go places other Republicans will not as he accused fellow GOP leaders of sitting back in the cultural fights “like potted plants,” according to audio of his remarks obtained by CNN.

“I’m going on offense,” DeSantis said at a retreat hosted by the conservative Club for Growth. “Some of these Republicans, they just sit back like potted plants, and they let the media define the terms of the debate. They let the left define the terms of debate. They take all this incoming, because they’re not making anything happen. And I said, ‘That’s not what we’re doing.’”

David McIntosh, the Club’s president who introduced DeSantis at The Breakers Palm Beach resort, told CNN that the governor “gave a great speech that was well received.” The 40-minute address received multiple rounds of applause (March 3rd, Attachment Thirty Five)... no doubt enhanced by the candidate’s contention that he would not 'mess with Social Security,' as Democrats and Trump slammed his past support for privatization – but, rather, “step out and fight back.” It’s a theme, the cable giant’s Alayna Treene and Steve Contorno asserted, that DeSantis “leans into” in his new book,”The Courage to Be Free,” which he released on Tuesday and has spent the week promoting on Fox News and in events throughout Florida.

A source familiar with DeSantis’ remarks told CNN that the governor showed up late to Thursday’s event and immediately left after his speech without talking to anyone. CNN previously reported that GOP donors have expressed frustration that DeSantis rarely lingers at gatherings, and the Guv’ has earned a reputation for ducking out of events with guests still waiting for a photo. DeSantis hosted his own donor gathering in Palm Beach last weekend that was aimed at addressing those concerns.

In his speech before the traditionally business-friendly audience, DeSantis also defended his strong-arming of corporations (i.e. the Mouse Factory and Wall Street), and criticized American CEOs as being “just weak” for giving into “woke mobs” that push environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policies, among other “leftist” issues.

“I think these companies should just stay out of this stuff. I don’t think it’s good for our economy,” the governor said. “I don’t think it’s good for society to have every decision that’s made in politics have corporate America weighing in.”

Although, like CPAC, formerly aligned with Trump, the Club for Growth claimed to host this event to give "new talent" the opportunity to showcase those who support the ideas the club backs, including limited government and free markets, and for these speakers to share their vision of "where America should go, or what America would need," said McIntosh.

"We wanted to show all of the different talent that was in the Republican Party, thinking about running or being speculated about running," McIntosh told Mar-a-Lago martyr’s hometown Palm Beach Post on Saturday (Attachment Thirty Six).

“Polls tend to remain close between the two Florida Republicans,” the PBP contended.  In a Yahoo News/YouGov poll of potential Republican presidential nominees taken in early February, DeSantis was leading Trump by 4 percentage points. But a more recent YahooNews poll conducted toward the end of February showed Trump leading by 8 percentage points.

In addition to his Club for Growth speech last week, DeSantis spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Sunday, promoting his new book, fully titled: "The Courage To Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint For America’s Revival." (Ingrid Jacques in USA Today’s March 7th issue, Attachment Thirty Seven)

“It could also read like a blueprint for his 2024 campaign,” gushed fangirl Jacques. During his speech, he advocated how Florida is pro-business and pro-freedom and how it’s “where woke goes to die,” which has become a common refrain for the governor. 

It’s noteworthy, Ingrid added, that a “tired” Trump used similar verbiage Saturday in his CPAC speech when he said, “The era of woke and weaponized government is over.”

Trump is likely sees Ronny deSanctimonious as his biggest competition, so he’ll likely “continue to copy some of DeSantis’ messaging.” (USA Today)  And vice versa, as the ivory poachers continue traipsing through the 2024 jungle – stealing taglines from one another and backing up, bumping backs like a couple of low-rent slapstick comedians.

“It’s refreshing to see Republicans like DeSantis who aren’t afraid of Trump,” the janky Jacques wrapped, “and are showing it’s possible to succeed without pledging fealty to the MAGA doctrine.”

Hastening away from the gloomy Potomac, Trump quickly followed the ravens back south to meet with a group of Nevada State GOP officials at his Mar-a-Lago club even as some reported the Governor to be cleaning his clock; a meeting which was his first direct outreach to party leaders of the early primary state,

The dinner (CBS, March 4th, Attachment Thirty Eight) was the latest example of the Trump campaign's aggressive outreach to state and local party officials in the early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and beyond.

Team Trump will be likely devoting a considerable of brain matter to the question of the DeSantis/Disney wars as originated back in January when Ron signed a bill to take control of municipal services and development for the special “self-governing zone” encompassing the Mouse House East.  (See NPR, Attachment Thirty Nine)

The move “deals a major blow to the company's ability to operate with autonomy,” NPR contends, the Governor saying that the special district surrounding Disney World “has enabled the park to unfairly skirt local rules and building codes.”

But DeSantis critics say the bill smells like retaliation for a growing feud between Disney and the governor, which hit a tipping point last year when Disney "crossed the line" by opposing an education bill that restricts classroom discussion around gender identity and sexual orientation.

The creation of the self-governing zone, known as Reedy Creek Improvement District, was instrumental to Disney's decision to build its theme park near Orlando in the 1960s, according to WMFE reporter Amy Green.

The zone sits on nearly 25,000 acres, sandwiched between Orange and Osceola counties. Once a remote and rural area, the Reedy Creek Improvement District received electricity, water, roads and police thanks to Disney's investments.

The company donated to DeSantis during the 2020 election cycle. In 2021, the governor's staff reportedly worked with Disney to give it an exemption from a law designed to crack down on big tech companies.

But the relationship between the two started to sour that same year after Disney took a stricter stance on preventing the spread of COVID-19, mandating its workers show proof of vaccination and its theme park guests continue to wear face coverings.

At the same time, Disney was increasingly drawing criticism from conservatives for making changes to its parks and films to increase inclusivity. Disney World closed Splash Mountain, for example, after a petition accusing it of "stereotypical racist tropes" gained 21,000 signatures.

DeSantis, who has been fighting what he calls "woke indoctrination," said the company "crossed the line" when Disney CEO Bob Chapek said he'd support the repeal of Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

DeSantis immediately turned Chapek's statement into a fundraising point inciting former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann to argue that the easiest solution to push back against Gov. Ron would be to move Disney World to another state... bringing howls of outrage and ridicult from The Fox  (March 2, Attachment Forty One)

"This isn't difficult. Move all the irreplaceable items out of the current DisneyWorld. Rebuild in the Carolinas or Puerto Rico. Then invite RonDeSantis to Disney's Orlando facility and burn the place down while he watches," Olbermann tweeted.

Social media users pounced on the tweet for returning to the suggestion that Disney could simply move its massive multi-billion operation to another state. 

Right-wingers pounced..."Don't threaten me with a good time," Washington Examiner executive editor Seth Mandel joking while conservative Twitter personality Noam Blum added, "Is there a compound German word that means ‘solutions to complex problems that sound like a teenager proposed them after getting high at a campfire?’"

Even alleged neutrals like Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle explained, "I actually looked into this possibility (minus the arson) and concluded that there simply aren't a lot of good substitutes for Disneyworld. Land is more expensive, construction is more expensive, and finding a place on the mainland with good weather and big plots of land is hard." 

Radio host Royce Lopez remarked, "Puerto Rico can't even keep their building standing when there's a strong wind do you really think Keith that they could handle a multi-billion dollar theme park industrial complex? Also all the New Yorkers moved to Florida so there's already enough Puerto Ricans at Disney now."

DeSantis doubled down, appointing Ron Peri, an Orlando-based former pastor and the CEO of The Gathering – a Christian ministry focused on outreach to men – as one of five people who will now oversee the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the government body that has given Disney unique powers in Central Florida for more than half a century.

Peri has called homosexuality “evil” and shared what CNN (March 3, Attachment Forty Two) called a “baseless conspiracy theory that tap water could be making more people gay.”

“So why are there homosexuals today? There are any number of reasons, you know, that are given. Some would say the increase in estrogen in our societies. You know, there’s estrogen in the water from birth control pills. They can’t get it out,” Peri baselessly said in a January 2022 Zoom discussion, later put on YouTube. “The level of testosterone in men broadly in America has declined by 50 points in the past 10 years. You know, and so, maybe that’s a part of it.”

“But the big part I would suggest to you, based upon what it’s saying here, is the removal of constraint,” he continued. “So our society provided the constraint. And so, which is the responsibility of a society to constrain people from doing evil? Well, you remove the constraints, and then evil occurs.”

 

While DeSantis was eradicating the Mouse, Trump’s own problems with rival gay terminator Michael Knowles were only multiplying.

The turncoat National Review (March 10th, Attachment Forty Three) reported on another panel discussion of transgenderism – notable for the concurrence of one of the panelists... despite the likelihood that it would help Trump mobilize the base in his ivory wars with the RINOs – even as it inspired a sense of fear and loathing in the now-swelling majority of LBBTQ sympathizers or, at least, Joneses tired of the hate.

“There’s only so long that this phenomenon can continue,” said panelist “Mike” (a different Mike than Knowles), and “it’s time for a swift, decisive intervention of common sense. This stuff has no business being in public schools. . . . There’s a bias in American society towards allowing people to live in their self-delusions. Right? But this one is harmful enough that I think it’s totally appropriate for Michael Knowles and everyone else to long for the end of it.”

And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (March 9th, Attachment Forty Four) enhanced the already-swollen hypocritical issue of CPAC chair Matt Schlapp... reporting on the coming forth of Carlton Huffman, a North Carolina resident and longtime Republican operative who worked as a staffer last year for Walker’s failed U.S. Senate bid.  He had additionally sought anonymity, but when the alternative was losing his $9 million in damages from a Virginia court, he came out and sang.

And he sang, and he sang and he sang, sang, sang!

In the lawsuit, Huffman accused Schlapp of fondling his “genital area in a sustained fashion” on Oct. 19 as he drove the official from a late-night stop at Manuel’s Tavern to his hotel near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

“It’s to my shame that I didn’t say anything,” Huffman previously told the AJC. “I wish I had said, ‘What the hell — stop!’ "

He admitted to bar-crawling with Schlapp on October 19th when they drove to Manuel’s Tavern, a Midtown Atlanta watering hole known as a popular haunt for Democratic politicos.

He said around 10 p.m. the outing turned more uncomfortable, as Schlapp’s leg “was in almost constant contact” with his leg, according to the complaint. Schlapp also repeatedly asked the aide why he wouldn’t look at him, the lawsuit said.

On the drive back to Schlapp’s hotel, a Hilton Garden Inn near the airport, the aide said Schlapp reached over and fondled his crotch for at least 5 seconds.

Nine million for five seconds?  Sweet!

But not for CPAC, nor The Donald.

 

The liberals, of course, see Trump’s “iceberg” as a slow and slovenly American “Titanic” with a sad band playing sad songs on deck as it heads straight for an electoral shipwreck.

After brushing off CPAC as “loserville”, the Daily Kos... that day being March 7th, Attachment Forty Five... vaguely allowed that some of the former President’s new initiative might be... uh... dangerous?  Or that the alternative might be a quiet elephant calf like Adam Kinzinger as opposed to the raging bully Ron and his newfound BFF Putin?”

But the predominant tone of Kosmania was not the Republican slide into corporate fascism, just that Ol’ 45 was just old and tired and sad... maybe even worthy of pity, given the “comically abysmal” showing of Donald Trump's hand-picked midterm candidates... as President Joe.

 

"It’s all loserville over there at CPAC," quipped one-time GOP rising star Barbara Comstock, a former congresswoman who was swept out of her northern Virginia district in the anti-Trump wave of 2018.

“So while Trump was disparaging old-guard fiscal conservatives and neocons as "freaks" and "fools," some of those so-called freaks and fools were openly embracing Democrats.

“It turns out that once you let the toothpaste out of the tube, so to speak, demagoguery and bigotry and all that, some people like it. It’s hard to get it back,” longtime conservative, neocon, and never-Trumper Bill Kristol joshed and joked with Kozman Kerry Eleveld. “You can’t just give them a lecture.”

“We need to defeat the Trump Republicans. And if that means being with the Democrats for a while, that’s fine,” Kristol added. In fact, Kristol went so far as to imagine a Democratic 2024 ticket of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia. “That’s fine with me,” he said.

Not gonna happen.

 

And, as opposed to the slapstick denialism of the Kos, the staid Old Leftist Guardian U.K. warned the dipsy, dizzy Colonials about DeSantis... and this on March 10th; three days before Ron dropped his Putin Bomb. 

Americans’ Constitution, their lives, their... to use the trope of burglars and bums everywhere... rights are in danger, and it’s not just the mealy-mouthed mopery of students caught cheating on their homework with some newfangled AI app.

GUKlady Margaret Sullivan, envisioned the fascism envisioned by The Saint may well exceeding that of The Sinner in numerality, intensity and a degree of un-Trumpish competence.

Rights out the alt-right window, like... “for women whose abortion rights already are being dangerously curtailed”, for “gay and transgender students who are already being treated as lower life forms,” for “voting rights and press rights” and even for books themselves.  (Attachment Forty Six)

Cue in “Fahrenheit 451”.

“DeSantis rules by an authoritarian playbook,” wrote Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago, despite the Orwellian title of the governor’s book, “The Courage to Be Free” which would probably escape the pyres.

“When DeSantis signed into law new restrictions on voting rights, he did so in a room where local reporters were shut out,” complained GUK – who might also have noted the press blackout at CFG.  “Fox News, however, got special access,” their reward for poaching the ivory eggs from Trump’s henhouse.

In another blast of Orwellian doublespeak, cited by Sullivan, the law promises “election integrity” while actually making it harder to vote by mail and greatly limiting the use of drop boxes. “No surprise: those rules have the harshest impact on voters of color and those with disabilities.”

GUK called out the timid and vapid American press for “letting DeSantis play at will on his favorite field of divisive social issues” as opposed to “delving into the substance of that record, including the kitchen-table economic issues that have nothing to do with performative anti-woke nonsense,” but did poach CNBC’s recitation of the Guv’nor’s boast...

“You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

 

And, then, from the horror to the farce, the Daily Beast analyzed the Trump-DeSantis smackdown as has been “simmering for months,” and determined that its most coherent explanation was “a Super Bowl tweet.”  (Attachment Forty Seven)

Alex Bruesewitz, a 25-year-old Trump-aligned GOP consultant, dug up by the Beast, had started a flame war with the DeSantis influencerverse when he tweeted an old photo appearing to show Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drinking with 18-year-old high school girls during his teaching stint at the Darlington School in Georgia as a 23-year-old.

“In a since-deleted tweet,” the Beast reported, “right-wing pundit and Army Green Beret veteran Jim Hanson defended the governor, arguing that “partying with 18-year-old hotties” made him like DeSantis more.”

Why not... it was very Trumpy!

Encountering Hanson and DeSantisworld pundit John Cardillo at CPAC, “(p)revious online grudges quickly resurfaced, including Bruesewitz tweeting photos of the Florida governor’s footwear to speculate that DeSantis has been using thicker boots to appear taller.

 “You want a picture of his boots?” Hanson said at the beginning of a video from the tussle. “Do you understand what a Cuban boot is?”

“It’s weird, dude,” Cardillo then interjected. “He doesn't know what boots are, we found that out.”

It gets weirder.  “Inside Trump's inner circle, those close to the former president have poked fun at a photo of DeSantis wearing tall white rubber boots while touring the damage left by Hurricane Ian last year” as opposed to Trump, who wore what said inner circle concluded to be “working men's footwear” during his trip to sniff the vapors in East Palestine, Ohio.

“Donald Trump had work boots on. DeSantis had Dallas Cowboy cheerleader boots on,” a source close to Trump bragged to The Beast.

This latest CPAC “boots are made for walkin’” flare-up indicates just how personal the feelings are between the two sides’ foot soldiers.

As that “longtime GOP strategist” said: “What a dumpster fire!”

 

 

“You gotta have friends,” another song goes and Trump, fortunately, still has a few friends as will be there and here and everywhere all at once for him.  Some of these inhabit the Epoch Times apocalyptic journal where, on March 9th, they interviewed Joseph Verderber and his brother, John: “flag-waving patriots at CPAC.”

Joseph is a New Yorker who had been apolitical for his entire adult life until tragedy struck. His nephew, Joseph L. Verderber, 24, died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016.

“Then Verderber saw how adamant Trump was about stopping the drug from flowing from China and Mexico into the United States. That prompted Verderber to get involved in politics,” said the E.T. (Attachment Forty Eight)  “Now he’s all in.” And he’s fighting especially hard for Trump because “this current regime has a wide open border,” potentially leading to more fentanyl deaths.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, would probably make a good president someday, Verderber conceded. But “now is not the right time” for DeSantis or anyone else who is inexperienced with the inner workings of “the D.C. Swamp,” Verderber said.

The CPAC straw poll reflected that same type of confidence in Trump, with 62 percent of the votes cast for him, trouncing DeSantis, who drew 20 percent.

E.T. also backed up Trump’s assertion that the One Six was a garden party, not a hanging party.

“Although some people did smash windows and confront police at the U.S. Capitol, most people were peaceful at the massive protest against irregularities in the 2020 presidential election.”

Stephanie Liu, a Chinese-American supporting Trump’s campaign against the ChiComs told The Epoch Times at CPAC that she strongly objects to U.S. citizens being held without bail.

“This is un-American,” she said. “How can America have political prisoners?”

Liu, of New York, is part of a group that for months has held a nightly vigil outside the jail, singing patriotic songs to lift the prisoners’ spirits.

And, about 35 people from that group are now chipping in about $100 apiece per month to rent a home where relatives of the prisoners and other supporters can stay for free, she said.

“We are people who take action.”

One action taker profiled by E.T. was 24-year-old Patrycja Brylska, who immigrated to the United States from Poland when she was 13.

“I love Trump for so many reasons,” she said. “I think the most important thing for people to consider is his policies… I truly believe he is the only president I have seen that has actually loved America so much that he was willing to sacrifice everything that he has in order to bring comfort to this country, to the American people.”

Brylska grew up in Florida, and she likes DeSantis. But, for her, there’s no comparison.

“DeSantis is an amazing governor with amazing policies,” she said. “But the only person who can run this country effectively, and fix all the bad things happening, in my opinion, is Donald Trump.”

 

And the Exile has another friend, this one not without power and prestige of his own.

Former GOP superstar Newt Gingrich hailed Trump’s “surprisingly powerful” CPAC Speech on his March 9th gingrich360.com mouth organ, urging Americans to “read the transcript as it was delivered.” (Attachment Forty Nine)  President Trump’s staying power as a national leader “is better understood by seeing the details of his approach.”

Said and done... we’re presenting it twice below... once a stand-alone, once with a few fact checks from CNN (probably one of those turncoats or tyrants or Marxists that he, like DeSantis, so despise).

Trump’s legacy of accomplishments, fingered, named and numbered by Newt include...

   1.   A capacity to recognize dozens of people and ad lib specific references to people in the audience; in which capacity Gingrich puts him second to only (of all people!) Bill Clinton...

   2.   Changing the direction of American politics and government “more than any other president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt” and, Newt adds, for the better.  “On topic after topic, he made the unthinkable into the debatable – and then the doable.”  Some of these topics were...

          a.  taking on China,

          b.  insisting that NATO meet its obligations,

          c.  revising our agreements with Mexico and Canada,

          d. controlling the border, and

          e.  fighting the swamp

   3.   His handling of the Taliban – and the “methodical steps he was taking to end the Afghanistan war with dignity, honor, and safety” – in contrast to the disastrous Joe Biden-Mark Milley incompetence.  Keeping oil prices low “so that Vladimir Putin could not afford to invade Ukraine.”

The specificity, clarity, and power of Trump’s commitments (at CPAC) were stunning. He vowed to “obliterate the deep state”, settle Russia’s war against Ukraine, greatly increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and deport illegals who commit crimes and are involved in criminal gangs.

“We will pick them up, and we will throw them out of our country,” Trump promised, “and there will be no questions asked. It will be my policy to take down the cartels just as I took down the ISIS caliphate.”

And he will wage his version of holy war against domestic terror, treachery and trade inequities, to wit...

          f.  “I will direct the Department of Justice to go after Marxist prosecutors’ offices to make them pay for their illegal, race-based enforcement of the law,”

          g.  “I will revoke Joe Biden’s crazy executive order installing Marxist Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Czars in every federal agency, and I will immediately terminate all staffers hired to implement this horrible agenda,”

          h.  “I will fight for parents’ rights… including universal school choice, and the direct election of school principals by the parents…

          i.  “I will revoke every Biden policy promoting the chemical castration and sexual mutilation of our youth — and ask Congress to send me a bill prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states…

          j.  “I will revoke China’s Most Favored Nation trade status. I will implement a four-year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods and gain total independence from China...        

          k.  “And I will hold China financially accountable for unleashing the China Virus upon the world.”

   4.   “More than any candidate since President Ronald Reagan, Trump has begun to vividly describe a better, more dynamic, and more exciting future:

          “It is not enough just to stop the forces tearing America down. I want once again to build America up… Our objective will be a quantum leap in the American standard of living, especially for our young people. As I announced yesterday, we will hold a competition to build new Freedom Cities on the frontier to give countless Americans a new shot at home ownership and the American Dream.”

 

Calling his CPAC speech “the tip of an iceberg” (as opposed to the steamship it sunk) and denying that President Trump “will be worn down by the left, various Justice Department assaults, the continued bias of the elite media, and the ranting of the Never Trumpers,” Newt cited polls, such as the Emerson survey, showing Djonald UnStoppable far, far in front.

And that was before Guv’nor Ron went even further than Trump’s vague Ukraine War “solution” by linking arms with Rad Vlad Putin and all but kowtowing his post-conquest plans to extend his dominion into former satellites, beginning with Moldova and marching on to Poland, Hungary (where he already has friends), the Baltics and then NATO.

Finally, we thank the American Conservative’s Micah Meadowcoft’s analysis of what augurs to be a sixteen month duel (or dumpster fire) for the nomination... perhaps followed by an even more toxic three month as the survivor moves on to face President Joe (health permitting) or perhaps Marianne Williamson.

“That’s why I’m standing before you. Because we are going to finish what we started,” Meadowcroft quoted Trump  while calling CPAC “a much diminished affair this year”, (March 8th, Attachment Fifty) but also acknodging that “...if it is a pettier kingdom than it once was, Donald Trump remains its sovereign.”

“In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add I am your warrior, I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” Much has been made of this line in particular, a new “American carnage” synecdoche for the speech as a whole. And it should be, for to those not blinkered by the conventions and norms of professional politics, “I am your retribution” is a reminder of what made Trump a special candidate from the start. 

Excerpting the “nice” (if also “dark”... for his numerous enemies like the “RINOs and globalists”) portions of the near-two-hour speech, the AC fairly adjudicated the enthusiasm of the base and the determination of the candidate to “Make America Great Again” again.  Lacking paper towels, he threw out promises like a t-shirt cannon... promises to peaceniks, to veterans (but, like DeSantis now, not Ukrainians)... he’d rein in China, extract (or extort) more money from NATO, ignore the nuclear propiferation “sideshow”, stop the illegal aliens with backpacks of fentanyl from violating our borders, take down the cartels, smash the “false idols of the free trade fanatics”, take a “quantum leap” and build new freedom cities on (an unnamed) “frontier”, rename our schools and boulevards not after communists, but after great American patriots, get rid of bad and ugly buildings and return to the magnificent classical style of Western civilization.

It sounds almost like a campaign speech by one of those pharaohs who, being able to feed the masses but fearing “idle hands” sent the Egyptians and their slaves to building the Pyramids.

Trump promised to support a new baby boom to repopulate America with Americans (presumably not foreign immigrants unless they possess certain skills, or money) and positively bleated: “Oh, you men are so lucky out there. You’re so lucky. You are so lucky, men.

“Our country will shine, thrive, and prosper like never before. All of this is within our reach, but only if we have the courage to complete the job, gut the deep state, reclaim our democracy, and banish the tyrants and Marxists into political exile forever.”

 

If it was a dark speech, it is only because we live in dark times. Who can pretend now that they are certain their children will inherit a safer, more prosperous America than they did? There were thirty years of excess, America standing tall alone, detached from limits and reality, and now the bill is coming due. “If those opposing us succeed, our once beautiful USA will be a failed country that no one will even recognize. A lawless, open borders, crime-ridden, filthy, communist nightmare.” Is he wrong?

 

Ask, also, will the ultimate loser goes quietly into the Florida swamp with the gators and skeeters or bolt, revolt and start a “Party of Me” which, while having little chances of victory, will perhaps so delight President Joe that he’ll have to be careful not to fall over like Mitchy and break a hip.

 

 

March 6th  – 12th  , 2023

 

 

Monday, March 6, 2023

Dow:  33,431.94

 

 

The Week begins as the last one ended, and began and the one before: massive rain and snowstorms in the West causing mudslides, avalanches and roofs (rooves) to collapse; freezing temperatures in the Midwest and above normal highs in the east that also bring tornadoes.  And the usual spate of weekend murders... 8 shot and two killed at Georgia house party, 4 shot, 3 die in Illinois.  And the same old transit problems... bird strike causes Southwest flight to make emergency landing in Cuba and two planes “touch” on Boton tarmac while the NTSB promises to look into Norfolk Southern’s “culture”.  (Is it trans-portation... sounds like Billy Porter’s limousine?)

   Riots break out at Cop City, Atlanta where, after a protester is killed, mobs throw Molotov cocktails and fight the cops with dozens of arrests and injuries.

   Finishing up their rival CPAC and CFG showcases, Donald Trump and Ron deSantis move on to their next move... raising money and making promises to punish hated Americans and foreigners (the Chinese in Trump’s case, he still loves Putin) all the way down to the gay M&Ms.

  Bad Americans: landlord hikes rent $400 on 80 year old who has to go back to work as a janitor to prevent eviction.  Good Americans: students at his school start Go Fund Me page to pay his rent increase.

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Dow:  32,856.46

 

 

 

 

 

President Joe pivots, now says he will deport migrant families back to from where they came. 

Mexico’s Gulf Cartel kidnaps four Americans in Matamoros (“kill the Moors”), excutes two, other two are rescued from a shack and ambulanced back to America with multiple gunshot wounds.  Police, secret agents and angry Yanquis like Lindsey Graham talk of new invasion, conquest, coup and crackdown.

   Planes, trains and automobiles still making headlines:

   Madman stabber fails to open passenger doors and crash flight after proclaiming “I’m taking over this plane” asserting that he’s the son of Dracula and attacking crew and passengers with a spoon.  Psychologists say he has “issues”.  Ordinary airline brawl breaks out between ordinary passengers in Dallas.  No fatalities in either, but four are killed when two planes crash near Tampa.  Regulators take a dim view of Jet Blue/ Spirit merger...

   Another Norfolk Southern trainwreck kills conductor in Cleveland.  More derailments follow in West Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama.

   Tesla cuts prices as gas becomes more expensive again. 

   Congress, facing brutal budget battle upcoming, passes legislation to impose stiff penalties for anybody who “taunts” a police K-9.  No more “bad dog you!” on the streets of the Republic.

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 2, 2023

Dow:  32,797.78

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s National Women’s Day.  Two women profiled after taking over management of the Miami Marlines.  Five more sue Texas for the “no medical exemption” clauses in its new anti-abortion bill.  And a “sort of”... 15 year old celebrity transgender model hits the runway for her first show.  The parents say they are so proud.  (Ron deSantis vows payback.)

   Parents of school shooter not so proud... in fact, they are arrested for letting their li’l devil have access to a gun and just being bad parents.  Legal scholars swarm... asking if arresting bad parents is judicial overreach and, if so, will a deluge of prosecutions follow?

   Beekeeper are fighting the incurable “American Foul” disease after its smell.  The recent die-off imperils crop pollination and supplies of hunny... the keepers call in medical experts to help devise a vaccine for the queens.  (Again, deSantis fumes!)

 

 

 

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Dow:  32,254.86

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Macs on the warpath... McCarthy releases 44 hours of edited (possibly doctored?) video of the One Six “peaceful tourists” to Tucker Carlson.  McConnell says that the documents are a “whitewash” and then falls down... real doctors are treating him for a head injury.  Meanwhile, the dogged One Six prosecutors celebrate a landmark: 1,000 arrests.  (Another landmark: 100 mass killings in 2023, to date.)

   Russia fires 80 missiles (including hypersonics) and Iranian drones at various Ukrainian cities, including Kyev, Lvov on the Polish border and the dangerous Zap nuclear station, killing civilians and blowing up power plants to make them freeze in the dark.  Russians boast they now own half of the rubble of Bahkmut.  Military experts here are optimistic, saying use of the drones and hypersonics mean that Putin is running out of conventional missiles.  Ukes are less optimistic.

   Congress investigates Covid after the fact; wants to punish China for either their accidental or deliberate release of weaponised Manimal hybrid virus... FBI and Trump plague czar Dr. Redfield are on board but four other agencies are not, nor is Governor, soon Presidential Candidate Ronny D who comes out as a mask and vaxxing denialist and Fauci-hater.  The regulators are also going after killer cops in Louisville and Memphis, as well as the makers of Sunny D... “the drink kids love”... for marketing their new vodka-infused varieties.

 

 

 

Friday, March 10, 2023

Dow:  31,909.64

 

 

 

President Joe unveils his new budget.  Republicans, including the Big Macs from their hospital bed and Tucker Shack are not on board, nor is the Dow.

   Coincidentally (or not) the Silicon Valley Bank becomes the first failure since 2008 due to being overextended on tech start-ups that didn’t.  The stock market crashes too, and more rumoured bad banks on the way despite good jobs report that, nonetheless raises up the unemployment rate to 3.6%.

   The weather turns lethal... dozens of snowbound Californians found dead of cold, hunger or other means (carbon monoxide, snow collapsing homes, snow shoveling heart attacks) with more still to come.

  Disgruntled Jehovah’s Witness shoots up services in Hamburg, Germany.  Six die, many more injured.  But in an American cold case, killer of Kristen Smart is convicted, and George Santos’ Brazilian boyfriend rats out the mentor who taught him credit card fraud.

 

 

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Dow:  (Closed)

 

Depositors line up in California to try and get their money out in a scene like “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  The government says that insured deposits up to $250,000 will be covered, but the rich and businesses are likely S.O.O.L.  Lawyers begin swarming.

   Three more women go missing in Mexico amidst guns, gangs, drugs and cartel wars.  Warnings are issued to Spring Breakers to party elsewhere.

   In a likely critical SCOTUS case when appeals are over, a Texas man is arrested for providing abortion pills to a friend on a vigilante bust and lawsuit.  More lawyers gather.  And two Alaskan volcanoes erupt... lawyers and everybody else leave the vicinity.

 

 

 

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Dow:  (Closed) 

 

 

It’s OSCAR night.  Also the fourth birthday of COVID... nobody’s throwing the poor baby a party... as well as the start of Daylight Savings Time.

   Perhaps channeling Will Smith, former VP Mike Pence smites and slaps his old boss Djonald, declaring in his Pencian way, that the ex-President “endangered his family” at the Capitol riot (in addition to urging the mob to hang him).  For his part, Trump is pandering and preening at CPAC while his Number One Rival, Governor Ron UnDeclared begs for money at the Club for Growth (See Lesson) and promises America that “...we roll out and we execute.”  Who?  (Wrongfully convicted Sheldon Thomas freed after 18 years after being framed by policemen “with grudges.”

  In weather and environmental news, the Oscar-calibre California floods are now called “super soakers” and the Red Tide is back in Florida... not Republican candidates but the killer algae that leaves thousands of dead fish on the beaches in and around St. Petersburg.  In the far north, aside from the volcanoes, there are now ecologists and economists clashing over the Arctic pipeline that will lower fuel prices but uglify a formerly pristine National Park.

 

Banks go bust, Dow goes down.  Dow goes down, Don goes down.

 

 

THE DON JONES INDEX

 

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

 

See a further explanation of categories here…

 

ECONOMIC INDICES (60%)

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

RESULTS

SCORE

OUR SOURCES and COMMENTS

 

INCOME

(24%)

6/17/13 & 1/1/22

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

SOURCE

 

Wages (hrly. per cap)

9%

1350 points

1/9/23

+1.24%

3/23

1,434.03

1,434.03

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages   28.61

 

Median Inc. (yearly)

4%

600

2/20/23

+0.25%

3/6/23

601.04

602.54

http://www.usdebtclock.org/   35,742 751

 

Unempl. (BLS – in mi)

4%

600

1/2/23

+5.56%

3/23

670.92

633.65

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000/    3.4 3.6

 

Official (DC – in mi)

2%

300

2/20/23

-0.16%

3/6/23

277.10

277.55

http://www.usdebtclock.org/      5,542 533

 

Unofficl. (DC – in mi)

2%

300

2/20/23

-0.16%

3/6/23

266.96

267.38

http://www.usdebtclock.org/    11,993 971 952

 

Workforce Particip.

   Number

   Percent

2%

300

2/20/23

 

+0.35%                  +0.008%

3/6/23

301.17

301.19

In 160,872 929 979 Out 100,266 277 286 Total: 261,265

 

http://www.usdebtclock.org/  61.61

 

WP %  (ycharts)*

1%

150

1/9/23

+0.16%

3/23

150.95

150.95

https://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate  62.40 .50

 

 

 

OUTGO

15%

 

 

 

 

Total Inflation

7%

1050

2/20/23

+0.5%

3/23

998.57

998.57

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm      -0.5

 

Food

2%

300

2/20/23

+0.5%

3/23

279.90

279.90

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.5

 

Gasoline

2%

300

2/20/23

+2.4%

3/23

245.67

245.67

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +2.4

 

Medical Costs

2%

300

2/20/23

-0.7%

3/23

292.85

292.85

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm      -0.7

 

Shelter

2%

300

2/20/23

+0.7%

3/23

283.33

283.33

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm     +0.7

 

 

WEALTH

6%

 

 

 

 

Dow Jones Index

2%

300

2/20/23

-4.44%

3/6/23

280.91

258.45

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/   32,816.92 33,390.97 31,909.64

 

Home (Sales)

(Valuation)

1%

1%

150

150

1/16/23

-0.50%              -2.15%

3/23