139 Comments

I think this is the scariest article you have ever written. Alas, it rings so true.

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I almost wrote the same thing, nearly word for word. We’re all feeling this to our core.

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Same!

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I totally agree. It is terrifying.

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The only thing more frightening than an out-of-control, revenge fueled Trump? DeSantis. Look at the performative fascism he’s engaged in, the damage already done in Florida he’s currently engaged in a small-scale war and unlike Trump, he’s not out of control of his emotions he’s not stupid and lazy and gets things done. That’s what keeps me awake at night. My only hope is that the two of them go after each other to such a degree that it shreds their party.

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Trump is old, overweight, unhealthy and lazy; many in the GOP are eagerly anticipating his death. DeSantis, however, is young, fit, healthy, energetic, ideologically fanatic, brutally efficient in getting his agenda passed, and likely to be around for decades. He is much more dangerous than t-Rump.

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Right. To DeSantis, Trump’s administration looks like a not very effectual proof of concept.

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Similarly, Florida under DeSantis looks like a successful proof of concept, one intended to be taken nationwide.

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I agree, AJ, DeSantis is dangerous too. He has turned Florida into a fiefdom installing himself as king. I can't imagine either one of these two super inflated egos serving as VP to the other but what a deadly combination that would be.

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while DeSantis might seem to be less out-of-control than TFF, what I've been noticing is how thin-skinned he is. the teeth-gnashing and rage he exhibited in that one debate indicated to me that he's not especially "in control of his emotions." TFF is a law (nay, a universe) unto himself and shouldn't be compared with anyone else. but I really don't think DeSantis has the moxie. and I sure hope I'm right.

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Yeah, I keep hearing that he’s an absolute dud at public speaking and will not hold up well on the campaign trail. But if DeSantis does not have the moxie, does this mean we’re going to be in a Trump v Biden race in 2024? That he hasn’t been indicted and thrown in a deep dark hole by now tells you that he won’t be. I’ll be the first one to eat my words if Smith actually comes through.

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Hi AJ, Yeah, not sure how he'll do compared to Trump who says he'll still run even if he's indicted. He is probably relying on his bevy of lawyers to keep him from being convicted but I would think there'll be several charges against him and hopefully if there is a trial something will stick. The problem will be getting all 12 jurors to agree on a guilty verdict. . .

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Good point, David, I think you're right. Maybe trying to cover up insecurity. Fear seems to drive him. He wants to control his world so he feels safe from all these things he doesn't understand. They frighten him, . On the funny side:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPXdKTWWKPc

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I believe that is what will happen. And I hope they cancel each other out.

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It's hard for me to imagine anyone worse than trump. We live in Florida half the year and when DeSantis took office we were encouraged by his actions for about 6 months and then things started to go badly. My impression of him is that when push comes to shove he would probably do what is necessary to keep the Union from going over a cliff while Trump would let us burn for a BOGO extra crispy cupon.

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I disagree. desantis is a nazi. He is enjoying screwing citizens out of their rights and freedoms, being the 'big boss', and trying to rewrite history. Given the chance, he would push us all over a cliff if it served his disgusting purpose. Beware of his actions, they are dangerous and deadly.

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Well, there is a lot of truth in what you are saying and also the competency factor is an issue too. DeSantis is somewhat capable of getting his crazy agenda accomplished while Trump's ineptitude has been the nation's savior more than a few times. Liz Cheney is at the other end of this spectrum. She is way more competent than either of them AND a completely loyal American. The problem I have with her is all that competency could set back the gains Biden has made without even breaking the law.

I think the point I was trying to make was in my opinion Trump is a known quantity. He will act in his own behalf without consideration to others, including his own family, 100% of the time.

DeSantis could be the same thing but I'm just not sure. He is truly awful, don't get me wrong on that, but there is at least a possibility of a conscience lurking around inside that diseased cranium of his.

If you are sure about DeSantis that's great. You very well may be totally correct. I keep going back to those first 6 months when he seemed to be a reasonable person. I don't really believe in the short term it will matter. I don't think either he or Trump will be the nominee in 24.

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There are truly trying times ahead. There are so many politicians who are interested only in what they can gain, and not at all concerned about how it will effect our citizens. I agree when you talk about a "known quantity". I think if the orange traitor is the nominee, he would surely lose. What is the expression, '...the devil you know'.

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That's his job, minus the true part.

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When I was a teenager I used to watch the award winning BBC WW2 documentary - "The World At War". I would wonder; how could people be so stupid? How could they go along with such obvious madness? Since 2016 I no longer ask such questions. It is frightening and we need to fight back like our lives depend on it.

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My fear is that he will bully his way back into power by whatever means necessary. We’ve seen who he is and half, if not better than half of those in armed services favor him. It’s a dismal scenario. I hate that bastard to his very core.

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He has put us in touch with emotions we never had before.

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The most fanatical Nazis did not hate Jews more than I hate t-Rump and all those who support him.

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Deeply disturbing! Mainly that TFG gets away with his crap! I also paid attention to the Ayatollah of Desantistan on his “book” tour at the Reagan library. Marjorie, I wish I had an answer for you. Donnie and Ronnie appeal to the lowest common denominator among us. Since education, knowledge, science and TRUTH are not things that motivate them, I haven’t a clue how we’d survive. The followers are terrifying.

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Khymer Rouge..

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This speech (at two hours long I think you have to call it a soliloquy) was the inevitable conclusion of where we are after four years of a Fifth Columnist fascist in office and two years of impotent justice against the 1/6 revolt. Trump and his coconspirators feel emboldened by their seeming invincibility to any degree for real law and order and justice.

In the prewritten phrasing which occasionally broke up his standard rally schtick I detect the not so fine hand of on Stephen Miller who wrote Ameican Carnage. But, the fact remains after two years of simply ignoring what Congress tried to do Tfrump is an active participant in the political process and is going go go for the gold again. If he gets it there will both retribution and carnage. Against our Republic , our Constitution and those who might stand in his way. Count on it. He has been conditioned to believe he can get away with anythng. And,so far, he is correct.

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Robert, I saw the same thing as the Dumpster read the words that his Hitlerian sycophant Miller undoubtedly wrote. This whole CPAC trash pit sounded a lot like pre-WW2 Germany. We need to take the Dumpster at his word and keep from the WH by any means necessary.

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This country is a giant fail if we cannot lock this guy up.

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What a relief that this persistent loser's chances of election are slim. We have worse problems: what de Santis's and other GOP state administrations are doing, not just threatening,, and the voters who support them and trump.

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That's what we said when he was elected. I think there's no comfort in that.

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He was elected once, has lost consistently ever since. That includes his last run for the White House. Taegan Goddard repeated this nyt quote from Paul Ryan in politicalwire.com: "We lost the House because of Trump in ’18. We lost the White House in ’20 because of Trump. We lost the Senate because of Trump in ’20 and ’22." djt's track record is the despair of GOP leaders who support trumpism but not trump. That's a call for more action on this side, not complacency.

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I'm really looking at the negative fallout since he took the scene. Trumpism is actually worse than Trump. He's the ultimate cockroach.

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☝️

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Sigh. Some mornings I listen to C-Span Washington Journal as a tippy toe glimpse into the “look what’s happening to this country” pit of bubbling conspiracies of MAGA. Their rage is simultaneously terrifying and disturbing. Elected officials continue to fuel their rage using age old tactics perfected by fascists and Nazis. Trump and DeSantis appointing themselves as the sole source of truth.

I am frightened. I am angry. I can only hope that those with legislative and judicial powers stand firm against the rising tide of fascism.

Meanwhile, this boomer dusts off her street protesting skills for my GenZ daughters. As one recently said “I am an adopted Asian woman raised by lesbians and I have a few things to say!”

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Has anyone seen what legislation the Georgia Republicans are putting up for a vote now? They want Fani Williams gone. They're voting on 2 percent can get her fired. And other despicable things. Just like Floridastan.

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I just hope she moves fast on indictment. What they are doing is all about getting rid of her. It is despicable.

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They have way too much power behind their desperation so everything that matters is vulnerable.

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Ominous and so true. Trump is a cancer that has metastasized throughout the entire Republican body politic - a malignant rageaholic who should be locked up before he takes us down with him.

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Totally.. Cancer/Putin

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I have more and more reasonable, America-loving friends, we're all old, who are looking for places other than the U.S. to go. It's not just Trump. It's what he unleashed everywhere across the country. We know how it happened. And it's now that it unfolds in its most horrific possibilities.

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Portugal.

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I love Portugal! E eu falo Português.

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Actually, I have a friend who just moved there frm S. Korea. I'm telling you, she posts stuff all the time and it looks lovely. The MAGAs are ruining America and nobody seems to be able to stop it.

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I haev a friend from Iran who has taken his wife and gone to Mexico. He loved being here but now? And I have an old boyfriend who was a child in Argentina and he swore never to go back there. Well, now he's checking it out again.

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France always looks good to me. I speak enough French to get by. A foreigner with adequate means of support (job, pension, savings) can obtain a long-term residency visa that English-speaking countries will not grant. And depending on where in France you land, you're close to many other countries to visit or stay part-time. Quality of life is good. Canada is closer but Canada is very picky about who it lets in and for how long, and they don't want millions of American refugees.

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Canada is smart. They are particular about who comes to live with them.

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Please keep us informed about places to go in the advent of another Trump presidency.I am serious.Maybe we could have a nation somewhere that has no Trump.Sigh

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Any American who has dual citizenship or a "right of return" to another country through birth or ancestry or family ties, would be very wise to obtain that second passport or residency permission now, before any future storm. Having a secure bolthole may be the smartest preparation you can make for domestic turbulence.

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If you find the perfect place, be sure and share.

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The depth and breadth of hostility is staggering. The mindless obeisance to a corrupt and dangerous fool is mind-boggling. Nevertheless, here we are. Please keep up your dedication to revealing the horrors that confront us.

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Yes.It is very exasperating that there are probably more of us than”them” but they have a lot of corruption working their way.

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The fact that the big orange testicle can get away with a speech that is this plain, that his only plan is to empower himself permanently, is the worst part. It seems that the media is keeping him on a lower profile because he is so repetitive and predictable in his self aggrandizement. They know he was a loser in 2020 and then again a loser in the midterms. Even if he can win the nomination, he’s not more appealing then he was, now he’s just a big fat loser. So the media hasn’t shown him saying that part of his speech over and over again on all platforms, clarifying for us all what his real plan is and spelling it out for their viewers. Maybe his lemmings like that kind of talk, “yes, let’s put the power mad, deranged clown in charge of us all!” Still, there are more of us than there are of them.

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Oh, boy, are you right. Very scary.

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I am still blown away that a twice impeached POTUS and perhaps the most corrupt one in our history is eligible to run for this office again.I still think the DOJ should indict this man and hold him accountable for his many crimes and let the chips fall where they may.I continue to be appalled that this most mediocre man who has never been stellar at anything except lying has hamstrung the United States government.

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i am still blown away by thinking that 74,200,000 people *still* voted for him after his abysmal 4 year reign.

seventy four MILLION stupid people.

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Voters who believe Trump's lies think that he MUST be telling the truth because he's Donald Trump who was once president. That's the core of their cult-like devotion. Trump filled his CPAC address with lies; fact checks pointed out his highly exaggerated murder rate in NYC, misrepresentation that Chinese tariffs added money to our TREASURY, and made up "facts" about countries defaulting on financial pledges to NATO. But too many lies to list--everything he said was a lie. His "tell" hasn't changed: you know he's lying when he quotes a man calling him "Sir" to congratulate him for something he didn't do. Add this to the pure hatred he stirs up against Democrats, as Lucian points out. Yes, in many ways we have a very dangerous situation in this country.

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He has certainly stirred up my “pure hatred” of him and all who support and adore him.

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Not so much stupid as bigoted, willfully ignorant and EVIL.

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This above all else...I was gobsmacked that he got 7 million MORE votes in 2020 than in 2016. WTF???

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Just proof that there are even more ignorant, cruel, bigoted, perverted, vicious, morally worthless pieces of human garbage in this country than we’d ever suspected!

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The hate and animosity appearing in these comments is beginning to scare me.

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It scares me to be feeling such hatred. But there it is. I feel it. I truly believe that t-Rump and his supporters are pure, unadulterated EVIL, and that they are destroying everything of value in this country, day after day, and nothing effective is being done to stop them.

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This is the real danger. Trump will die sooner rather than later but that 74,200,000 is out there reproducing themselves as fast as they can. We only have to look at the fall of other "empires" to keep us in reality.

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yes, MVH,

your prescient view of 74 million deplorable people breeding to a dangerous mass fits my Modified Mendel's theory of propagation of societal classes which essentially posits that successful people will be outnumbered by less endowed masses

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conned people.

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He will be in prison.

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How can you possibly believe that? I wish I could understand and share your certainty, but my certainty is the opposite: he will NEVER see the inside of a prison. I doubt he’ll even be indicted! Month after month goes by and NOTHING changes. He is free; his rhetoric grows increasingly treasonous and poisonous and still, nothing happens to curb him.

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He may escape on his Putin puppetmaster's yacht as the authorities close in from 4 different directions, but he's going down. Al Caponed.

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Dear Lord, hear our prayer.

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They have been “closing in” for months and months, and yet they aren’t any closer to actually indicting and arresting him. He is still free!

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No, they are far "closer to actually indicting and arresting" Trump than ever, try researching the processes ongoing to do that. By their very nature, it's not done in full view of the public and Trump's lawyers.

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I'm not sure how you can know that with such certainly. I've been in the legal biz for a long, long time and everything is not all that fast. That they aren't charging that disgusting worm Gaetz is disconcerting and it was based on not being able to convict him because the witnesses were of such poor quality. It would be so much worse to go in not armed to the hilt because he could certainly slip through anything not air tight. If it's a jury trial, let's pray MAGAs don't get on the jury.

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I agree with you. I think he is going to get away with it all. Just last night on Rachel Maddow's show she was talking about what is going on right now in Georgia in that their state legislature is pushing through a bill to create oversite of county prosecutors-Hello Fani Willis. This is aimed at her indicting Trump and now not being able to do so. This bill is going to the corrupt Governor to sign.Meanwhile our DOJ is moving molasses slow about doing anything to hold him accountable allowing him to make POTUS run which is insane.

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I really don't understand the source of some individuals' continuing optimism! Maybe they know things we don't, but when month after month after month passes and NOTHING happens, you have to wonder what's holding them all back. Any other person on this earth would have been in prison not months, but YEARS ago! And yet t-Rump remains totally free, saying anything he wants, including treasonous declarations that would have landed anyone else in prison.n I still say they only thing that will stop him is his death!

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I am with you there. I have a friend who says he is Satan. I don't know about that but I agree with what you said. Anyone else would have already been tried and jailed for doing what he has done to America and her people. His speech@ CPAC was a page right out of the old Hitler playbook. He is dangerous and he is getting away with murder.

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He promises to run even if indicted. Is that possible? In Boston, people voted for James Michael Curley when he was in jail.

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Yes, it's possible. Socialist Party candidate Eugene V. Debs got almost a million votes running for president, and he was not only indicted, he was convicted and imprisoned at the time!

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He could still run if he is indicted.

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I know he plans to continue with his run for POTUS even if he is indicted.I am saying the attempt to indict this man must be made as we have never had a sitting POTUS who attempted to overthrow the lawful transfer of power and negate the legally cast ballots of millions makes the move to gain power again.

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DOJ's Jack Smith has got this.

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What makes you so sure? I am not. I keep hearing how he’s gathering this is collecting that and so far the big orange pus sac continues to walk free and campaign for president again. I think I have Mueller derangement syndrome I don’t believe in any of these people anymore. And I do believe that powers exist with a lot of money that are keeping him going, and stopping everything that could impede his progress

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The key is to not listen to him or his hysterical minions. Besides the 4 solid cases against him all converging at the same time, Corporate America is eager for the DOJ (and/or New York and/or Georgia) to make him go away. Stock up on popcorn.

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I’m with you, AJ Bernstein! Something—I don’t know what— is paralyzing the DOJ and all these other investigations that were supposed to bring tRump down but have so far failed to touch him, much less end his reign of terror!

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He could run from prison, in fact.

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The only glimmer of hope is that he'll lose again and for good.

If MTG is his running mate, we'll get rid of both of them.

Biden's accomplished so much that I hope he has even more voters.

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I was pleasantly surprised by one line in an article from a journalist who attended CPAC when they said MTG's speech was very poorly attended. It was a motley crew at that event. There were a lot of empty seats for all of them, Trump included. Unfortunately that does not mean the ones who stayed away won't vote for Trump. Still, it was nice their big-deal event wasn't all that.

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Trump is just a play-acting leader and a real-life con-man. He will never broaden his appeal enough to get re-elected. DeSantis, on the other hand, is a very real autocrat and already succeeding at creating an Orwellian world where freedom is defined as "freedom from indoctrination" and the State controls what we read, say, and think. He's the one to worry about. If Joe Biden was 20 years younger I'd feel much better about the next election,but its definitely a scary time for the country with fascists in ascendancy.

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I keep reading/hearing that de Santis has zero charisma, is so dismal at retail politicking that he'd be a bigger national loser than trump—which I don't get, given his avalanche reelection as governor.

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