(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . From Resolute Square And Rick Wilson: "The Steamy Fantasies Of The 2024 Republicans." [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-23 For some of the best takes on today’s Republicans, you still have to listen to those who helped mold the fascist movement that calls itself the Republican Party, at least to those who have the self-awareness to say outloud, “ Good Lord! I’ve created a MONSTER!” I recommend this read by Rick Wilson on Resolute Square: The Steamy Fantasies Of The 2024 Republicans Bodice-ripper? Maybe not so much given Republicans' fantasies are more in the vein of "DirtyImmigantExpulsionFlights.com. Whatever they are, Rick Wilson says they can dream on. First, let me apologize for the images the headline evoked. I didn’t mean to put to mind visions of Mike Pence and Mother getting frisky or of Ron DeSantis panting and tumescent while surfing DirtyImmigantExpulsionFlights.com, but from the #2 slot (yes, it’s still DeSantis) to the kinda-sorta-serious mid-tier to the loons and losers who’ll pay the filing fees and roll the dice, the 2024 field a series of lurid fantasies about what this election will really be like drives the field. They, and yes, the media lining up to cover their coming shenanigans -- are operating in a political reality distortion field of the first order, a sleek bubble of delusion rushing headlong into ugly political disaster. Except for 2020, GOP fields are becoming more and more crowded with more and more ambitious men and women who think they have the secret sauce for the 2024 race against both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. One by one, their consultants will convince them to dip in a toe, then dive headfirst into the 2024 primary election pool. This is the quadrennial distraction for what is generally inevitable in Republican politics; the famous one wins. Translation: Trump is going to be the Republican nominee because he is already famous and a showman. I do like the “operating in a political distortion field of the first order.” But I digress. Anyway, Wilson goes through what Republicans and the media have refused to learn over the past eight years. I’d compare them to all those military generals of World War I who slaughtered their men indiscriminantly, but I think more thought went into those military disasters than what Republicans have “planned” to take on Trump. First up, money, money, money, and more money can propel any Republican goober to become president. Too bad this is not true in the Age of Trump. But the parasitic campaign professionals are pushing this same line to the likes of Ron DeSantis. Get a massive war chest to get your name recognition up! This is what it takes to defeat Trump! Witness just a few of the recent era’s candidates who started with a massive financial advantage and failed: Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rudy Giuliani, and…well, all of them. Hundreds of millions of dollars just…vanish. “We gotta hire this guy in Iowa and these people in New Hampshire, and one more media buy will get us…” If you’ve been to the big rodeo, you know the chart line for donations is linear, and the line for spending is logarithmic. All that money is spent to build name identification, which only one GOP candidate doesn’t need. Trump is the best-known politician in the history of modern America. The rest must climb the steep hill of getting-to-know you in places like Asscrack, Iowa, and Crankytown, New Hampshire through their limited media buys and endless retail politics. It won’t matter if DeSantis has a few Wall Street and hedge fund sugar daddies at the start. There’s never enough money. Ever, except for one man in the history of American campaigns; Donald Trump’s massive donor base is, well, massive. He’ll have the juice for the whole run. Emphasis is mine. I like the bit about Asscrack, Iowa. And who doesn’t know Donald Trump by now? Trump doesn’t need to spend all that ill gotten loot for name recognition. And he has a large enough fan base that all the other so called candidates have to envy. Speaking of Trump’s fan base. Wilson points out the obvious: They are all fuckin’ nuts who don’t want to hear about policy. Trump’s fans love him because he provides entertainment for them that is all about CRUELTY to THOSE THEY HATE! And Trump’s base is driven by hatred. And no one delivers that like Trump. Wilson goes on to compare Ron Desantis attempts at performative cruelty as, well… Ron DeSantis is a try-hard on this front, desperately pretending to hate the elites he spent his lifetime trying to become. His cosplay as KKKulture Warrior extraordinaire has mostly led to Florida schools banning books about that dangerous BLM radical Rosa Parks, but it just won’t fadge in the end. He’s got all the showmanship of a comptroller at a mid-market actuarial agency. Stuart Stevens agrees that Ron DeSantis has zero charisma. And when some of the wordsmiths of the GOP say Ron Desantis sucks at showmanship, you better believe them. But the media, of course, rejects this notion. They have decided that Ron DeSantis is going to be the Giant Trump Killer. The media and most Republicans are now believers in what Wilson calls “The Bank Shot” when it comes to taking out Trump. It’s the same non-sense that McKay Coppins wrote about: magical thinking that something will take Trump out. Trump will be indicted, or some challenger in the primaries will destroy him, or Trump is old and will die. Trump may get indicted, but when will that happen? And if it does happen before I die, a trial will not happen any time soon, at least not the way the court system works. And if Trump is indicted, it will make him more popular with Republicans not less. Republicans are all victims now. And if/when Trump gets hit with an indictment, he will be transformed once again into a symbol of a martyrdom for white grievance. All the racists who love white supremacy will see Trump as their leader being crucified by the woke mob. In a sane world, an indictment would literally kill a political career. But that was back in the Dark Ages before the rise of the Fox Channel. Now, Trump lunatics make the infected in The Last of Us look rational. Here is a reminder of the Trump lunacy: Trump dies? It could happen, but I wouldn’t count on that. There is an old country saying that “Some people are too mean to die.” And I don’t think any of those clowns who might run against Trump have what it takes to defeat Trump. If you don’t believe me, please read this article by Wilson. And as another reminder, this is the same thinking that existed during 2016. And all those “heavyweights” went down. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/23/2154508/-From-Resolute-Square-And-Rick-Wilson-The-Steamy-Fantasies-Of-The-2024-Republicans Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/