Will he become Jim Janus-faced Judas Jordan and run for president against Trump?

 Will he become Jim Janus-faced Judas Jordan and run for president against Trump?

By Hal Brown

Note to regular blog readers: I doubt I will be putting a new blog on today since due to upgrades    my Internet provider is working on all day I won't have any service.

After reading Heather Digby Parton's column about Jim Jordan I wondered why this vomit inducing congressman wasn't being talked about as a possible primary candidate for president.

Click above to read

I did a web search "Jim Jordan for president" and all I found was a letter in Cleveland.com.

Jordan decided not to run for the open Ohio Senate seat of the retiring Rob Portman in 2022.  There's no way this was because of a lack of ambition. I think he decided he'd rather wield incredible power in the House which he thought correctly that the GOP would control than be a freshman member of the Senate.

Jordan is power mad. I believe that as a staunch supporter of Trump he has no real loyalty to him, hence the alliterative title of this blog.  

I think the chances are slim to none that he'd hesitate to run against him in the primary if he saw an opening in what is sure to be a crowded field even when the long shots drop out.

While DeSantis and Trump compete for media attention with each other, Jordan will be all over the news for the next two years. He'll be center stage without trying while Trump, DeSantis, and anyone else trying to get media attention will be desperate to be booked for interviews. I wouldn't be surprised to see some of them, horror of horrors for most Republicans, on MSNBC.

Nobody has ever accused this congressman of being a shrinking violet. His belligerent personality is constantly on display in the media. We've seen his  scowling, sneering, or screaming mouth and his pointing finger ad nauseam. 

  I wonder if his right index finger is insured for a million dollars.  

He is sometimes called "Gym Jordan" because of accusations that as a wrestling coach at Ohio State he ignored and covered up allegations of the sexual abuse by the team doctor of some 150 athletes (reference). 

Jordan received a BS from The University of Wisconsin - Madison, a masters degree from Ohio State, and went on to get a law degree from the less than stellar Capitol University Law School. It is an ABA accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus. U.S. News & World Report listed Capital's full-time Juris Doctor program as "Rank Not Published" in 2018, but in 2022 it was ranked as tied for No. 147-193 out of 197 schools in Best Law Schools. (Wikipedia)

Call him Gym or not, I have never heard Jim Jordan called dumb. His deciding to get a law degree at a school that might have been easier to get admitted to than a highly ranked school might have been a smart decision.

Ron DeSantis seems positioned to be Trump's number one competitor although while the field has some other top contenders it is interesting to note that absent from this list is Jim Jordan:

Declared Candidates

• Nikki Haley, Former Ambassador to the United Nations
• Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States

Possible Candidates

• Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas
• Liz Cheney, U.S. representative from Wyoming (At-Large District)
• Chris Christie, Former Governor of New Jersey
• Bob Corker, Former Senator from Tennessee
• Tom Cotton, U.S. Senator from Arkansas
• Daniel Crenshaw, U.S. Representative from Texas (2nd District)
• Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator from Texas
• Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida
• Doug Ducey, Governor of Arizona
• Mike DeWine, Governor of Ohio
• Joni Ernst, U.S. Senator from Iowa
• Josh Hawley, U.S. Senator from Missouri
• Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland
• Adam Kinzinger, U.S. Representative from Illinois (16th District)
• Mike Lee, U.S. Senator from Utah
• Kristi Noem, Governor of South Dakota
• Mike Pence, Former Vice President of the United States
• Mike Pompeo, Former Secretary of State
• Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator from Utah
• Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator from Florida
• Ben Sasse, U.S. Senator from Nebraska
• Rick Scott, U.S. Senator from Florida
• Tim Scott, U.S. Senator from South Carolina
• Elise Stefanik, U.S. Representative from New York (21st District)
• Chris Sununu, Governor of New Hampshire
• Glenn Youngkin, Governor of Virginia

If it turns out that Jim Jordan does decide to run I will expect major prognostication points.

Update: 

I thought this was a joke:

It was real. Maybe it is an example of Jordan's idea of what's funny. It did get him in the media.

DeSantis and Mussolini" Thom Hartmann compares the two

DeSantis and Mussolini: Thom Hartmann compares the two

By Hal Brown

Above: Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler at Munich Station in Germany in September 1937, with DeSantis who happens to be walking in lockstep added by me. Scroll down to see how photo was made.

Below is the photo that was used to illustrate Thom Hartmann's Raw Story article 

America finally facing politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness and willingness to see people die

Above: It only took me a few minutes to add DeSantis to the photo.

Here's the comment I added to Hartmann's Raw Story + option essay:

Thank you for the important history lesson, Thom. The comparison between Mussolini and DeSantis is right on. The evils of Mussolini don't resonate with most Americans the way those of Hitler do, arguably because he didn't, from what I know of Italy, have an easy to demonize portion of his population to try to exterminate. Had one been in the place of the other I think Mussolini would have had his own version of the Holocaust. DeSantis is a straight on sociopath minus the grandiose narcissism and delusional thinking of Trump. It is chilling to think he could become president.  

Hartmann makes excellent comparisons between DeSantis and Mussolini. He also has examples of quotes from people sharing their stories of how DeSantis' policies hurt them. The article is on the subscription Raw Story +. 

Hartmann's main point can be summarized in this excerpt:

Historians and political observers have been predicting that America would get our very own Mussolini ever since the days of Barry Goldwater. And there’s been no shortage of candidates: bribe-taking Nixon; Central American fascist-loving Reagan; Gitmo torturing and war-lying Bush; and, of course, Trump.

But with Ron DeSantis, we may finally be facing an all-American politician who has Mussolini’s guile, ruthlessness, and willingness to see people die to advance his political career, all while being smart and educated enough to avoid the easily satirized buffoonishness of Trump.

Since the essay requires a subscription to read, here are a few bullet points for those who don't subscribe:

• Ron DeSantis refuses to expand Medicaid, even though 93 percent of the cost is covered with money from Washington, DC. It’s the principle of the thing, apparently: he’s one of 11 red state governors who believes that working poor people simply shouldn’t get health coverage. After all, they didn’t have the good sense to be born into a wealthy family!
• Violence, hate, bigotry, and cruelty are the four cardinal points of fascism. Compassion and concern for the greater good, for the poor and weak, for the victims of fate and accident have no place in the fascist world.
• George Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned us of the possible rise of politicians like DeSantis who would suggest other Americans are enemies of the nation’s values, who would exaggerate policy differences in war-like terms, and who would ascribe the most evil of motives and intentions to simple political opponents.
• Using rhetoric that feeds bigotry and hate against gay, lesbian, and trans people.
• Intimidating the college board so they strip the Black Lives Matter movement out of their advanced placement African-American Studies curriculum.
• Lying to asylum-seekers to get them on a plane to Martha’s Vineyard as a stunt to elevate his own political fortunes.
• And now as many as 2 million more Floridians will join the ranks of the uninsured in the coming months.

In giving examples of Mussolini-like things DeSantis has done, Hartmann inserts these lines eight times:

Quote of the day is from Mika Brzezinski 

"I mean, we're saying this with all seriousness and without trying to -- I mean, it's hard," she said. "You have to say it like it is. We have a stupidity problem on the Republican side, literal stupidity, or something worse then -- stupidity with a violent edge to it. I mean, they want to have loaded -- this is -- what has become of Republicans in Congress?" In 

'Headache-inducing' Lauren Boebert claim shredded by MSNBC's Mika

This relates not only to many members of Congress, particular those in the House Freedom Caucus, but probably more significantly and tragically to many of the people who voted for them and are eager to vote for Trump, DeSantis, or another far-right candidate. 

It has become, perhaps always has been, a third rail of American politics to disparage the intelligence of one's opponents lest you be considered an elitist. Whether it is true or not doesn't matter.

Here's another way to put it:

For my aprox. 200-300 weekly readers in Russia:

Лучшим веб-сайтом для чтения последних американских новостей является Raw Story. Я суммирую статьи на веб-сайтах, доступных только по подписке, а если вы подписаны на Raw Story +, на нем есть отличные эссе с мнениями.

Using InPixio

Is there anything left to say about the DeSantis culture war?

Is there anything left to say about the DeSantis culture war?

By Hal Brown

My version of the image below

This is a quote from Gov. Ron DeSantis: “I think we are showing that Florida welcomes debate and that the cure for an idea that you disagree with is to point out why that idea is wrong.” Really. I couldn't make that up.

Currently the governor of Florida is often pictured happily standing behind a sign that suggests he has his own definition of the word education.

.

Perhaps he can get his definition added to the dictionary.

DeSantis likes his podium signs:

Click above to enlarge

At least he stood behind a State of Florida seal when he made this hypocritical speech:

Click above to read article

Excerpt:

 A campaign about free speech on Florida college campuses – a hot-button issue across the nation – is being backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and public university presidents, who signed a resolution vowing to welcome all types of debate unless they promote “true threats or defamation.”

At the request of the governor, all 12 university presidents signed the resolution late last week. It says institutions will not “stifle the dissemination of any idea,” even when individuals find that speech to be “abhorrent.”

“It permits the freest expression of views before students, trusting to their good sense in passing judgment on those views. Only in this way can we best serve American democracy,” said John Thrasher, president of Florida State University, where DeSantis appeared Monday.

Once upon a time Florida was known as The Sunshine State. While Florida ranks last on the list of the 10 sunniest states I won't quibble about their use of this slogan. 

It was also known as the state where northerners went to die. Now it has become the state where eduction has been put on the critical list.

This photo was reproduced in various stories similar to this article and the one below:

The faces of the children recruited to stand behind him show they have no compression of why they are there. One could say this is a form of abuse.

Then there's this:

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced launching his new book titled The Courage to Be Free in February 2023, and the media was quick to slam the upcoming release, claiming hypocrisy because of Florida’s decisions on banning certain books.

The most recent news about the Florida governor and the presidential wannabe's war on Woke is his making school teachers liable for books in their classrooms deemed to be breaking Florida law. If convicted of the third degree felony he is making it having these books in their classroom libraries they could be imprisoned for up to five years. Examples of third degree felonies include aggravated stalking, theft of a vehicle or firearm, and trespass while armed. They also face losing their teaching license.

DeSantos is shoehorning what he calls "woke" into a law which emphasizes obscene and pornographic material:

847.012 Harmful materials; sale or distribution to minors or using minors in production prohibited; penalty.—

(1) As used in this section, “knowingly” means having the general knowledge of, reason to know, or a belief or ground for belief which warrants further inspection or inquiry of both:

(a) The character and content of any material described in this section which is reasonably susceptible of examination by the defendant; and

(b) The age of the minor.

(2) A person’s ignorance of a minor’s age, a minor’s misrepresentation of his or her age, a bona fide belief of a minor’s age, or a minor’s consent may not be raised as a defense in a prosecution for a violation of this section.

(3) A person may not knowingly sell, rent, or loan for monetary consideration to a minor:

(a) Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, videocassette, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts nudity or sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sexual battery, bestiality, or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors…

His announcement is making the news, for example in this article:

This article on Judd Legum's website Popular Information article includes reactions from Manatee County teachers. Here's an excerpt from that article:

The Parental Rights In Education Act prohibits all instruction on "sexual orientation or gender identity" in K-3 classrooms and instruction in other grades that is "not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate." But the law applies only to "[c]lassroom instruction by school personnel or third parties" — not library books. Similarly, the Stop WOKE Act is limited to classroom instruction. 

The teacher training approved by the Florida Department of Education, however, does not inform librarians that the Parental Rights in Education Act and Stop WOKE ACT do not apply to library books. Rather, librarians are told: "There is some overlap between the selection criteria for instructional and library materials." One slide says that library books and instructional materials cannot include "unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination." 

A subsequent slide provides a list of "unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination," which includes information about "sexual orientation or gender identity." It also includes a variety of topics related to race, including "Critical Race Theory" and material that might make someone feel "guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress" as a result of their race. The training instructs librarians to "err on the side of caution." 

...

This interpretation of the law runs directly counter to the arguments the DeSantis administration is making in court. In federal court filings, lawyers representing DeSantis insist that the Parental Rights in Education Act does not apply to library books. Nevertheless, the DeSantis administration, through its media specialist training, is encouraging a much more expansive interpretation of the law. 

I am not sure what to make of his exempting librarians from this aspect of his war on Woke. The law he is using is already on the books. If there was a similar law about libraries I suppose he might use that too. It's also possible he believes librarians and public libraries are insignificant. He may have been told how well organized the American Librarians Association is and was informed that a well-funded lawsuit would be leveled against him if he attempted to target them. I doubt that since he was willing to take on Disney. For him it isn't about winning or losing in court. It is about ginning up publicity for his war on Woke.

Is there a vaccine to inoculate America against the smart and sane fascist anti-woke Ron DeSantis?

Is there a vaccine to inoculate America against the smart and sane fascist and anti-woke Ron DeSantis? The hypocritical culture warrior, fascist, and overall  P.O.S.  just did a 180 on Covid.

By Hal Brown

Archives on Right >

Why I was banned from Daily Kos

Posting now on Mastodon - see right column there 

Preface: A big thanks to DonkeyHotey

The caricaturist who goes by the name DonkeyHotey (pronounced Don Quixote) has already provide writers with numerous illustrations for articles about the man who is looking like he will be the GOP candidate to president in 2024.

Click image to enlarge

I have used his caricatures numerous times as have many well known websites. Here's a story about his best 2021 caricatures. 

DeSantis is in the upper right corner

Note the illustration he posted on Dec. 11th on Who, What, Why of Trump here.

You can follow DonkeyHotey on the sites below:

flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/
https://whowhatwhy.org/author/donkeyhotey/
https://twitter.com/DonkeyHotey
donkeyhotey.com

@DonkeyHotey@mastodon.coffee

About DonkeyHotey

Today's story

Ron DeSantis is Trump without the stupid red MAGA cap to cover up is male pattern baldness. He has full head of hair. He still believes that to make America great it has to go back at least 100 years.

We know DeSantis will take any position, and change any of them, if he thinks it will help him achieve his political ambition to be president. Here's an example from the news today.

This was then: DeSantis recommends getting vaccinated

Today: 

Democrats can't do a damn thing about which Republican ends up running. Most of them who I've read or heard believe Trump would be the easier candidate to defeat. They can wish Trump would be the candidate, but the various iterations of the saying "if wishes were fishes..."  applies here.

It will be interesting where never-Trump Republicans will come down if the candidate is DeSantis. By now it is a political trope to say that DeSantis is an intelligent and sane version of Trump. He's not about to cozy up to the likes of Ye and Fuentes. He won't tweet barely coherent paranoid rants.

Pundits are not only saying he is more likely to win against Biden or any other Democrat should Biden not run than Trump, but polls support this: 

My impression from reading and listening to never-Trump Republicans is that most of them want to see a tradition conservative run rather than someone who is waging culture warfare and wants to be an anti-woke autocrat.

Nicholas Kristof was on Morning Joe this morning discussing his NY Times column from Dec. 10th Trump Struggles but American is Still Feverish.

Excerpt addressing whether the defeat of Trump endorsed and Big Lie supporting Republicans means the fever has finally broken:

But I may be wrong — and I worry that it’s premature to argue that the national fever has broken. We as a nation still face arguably the greatest peril since the end of Reconstruction, for three reasons.

First, remember that this extremism goes beyond Trump and even beyond the United States. Italy has just installed a far-right prime minister whose party has its roots in neo-fascism, a reminder that the fever persists globally.

Second, even when Trump broke bread with Holocaust deniers and then urged a suspension of the Constitution, congressional Republicans mostly looked the other way. When leaders of one of our major political parties struggle to defend the Constitution or condemn neo-Nazis, America still feels feverish.

Third and most fundamentally, our political dysfunction is driven in complex ways by a broader economic and social dysfunction and despair, one that we fail to grapple with effectively.

If DeSantis runs, and wins, I think it will demonstrate that like the chicken pox virus does, it went dormant in the body and then emerged as a horrible case of shingles. 

There's a vaccine, Shingrix, to deal with that. It requires two doses several months apart to be effective. If you have had it or know anybody who has, you are well aware of how bad it is.

If we extend this metaphor, and I haven't met many metaphors I'm not willing to extend if they make sense, we can say that America got the first dose of anti-fascist conspiracy theory destroying vaccine to deal with the disease of Trumpism. Now they need the second dose to prevent infection with DeSantisism.

Update:

By every measure, Ron DeSantis’ newest Covid gambit is a tragedy

If Covid-19 were capable of feeling emotion, it’d likely be delighted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' latest public health moves.

Excerpt: Imagine Covid-19, eager to infect as many people as possible, was able to hire its own lobbying team. Then imagine the dangerous contagion’s lobbyists, eager to help their client infect as many people as possible, began pressing politicians on what to say and do with regard to public health policy.

In this fanciful hypothetical, we could probably imagine what the politicians would be told to say and do by Covid’s lobbyists. Officials would be encouraged to, among other things, question the efficacy of vaccines, while rejecting the findings of public health authorities.

Or put another way, if Covid-19 could hire its own lobbying team, it’d be delighted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his latest announcement.

Addendum:

Thanks to A. my partner and percipient proofreader for reminding me of this.

There is one outcome we can hope for, though we can't to anything to make it happen. This is that Trump loses the primary, whether to DeSantis or anybody else, and decides to run as an Independent. His psychopathology strongly suggests he would do this. He doesn't have any loyalty to the GOP or anyone in it with the exception of his dwindling number of sycophants. 

Doing this keeps him in the public eye until Tuesday, Nov. 7th 2023 when he splits the vote assuring an easy Biden win. He can have his rallies and spew his hate speech and paranoia to his cheering cult.