After Trump’s Historic Iowa Victory, No Path Forward For DeSantis and Haley

By John Kass

January 17, 2024

After former President Donald Trump’s hhuuuge, massive and historic victory in the Iowa caucuses, this truth shall be known:

The party is over for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, (R. Mitch McConnell). She has become quite unhinged.

Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina, has already suffered a hit when she balked when asked to acknowledge that slavery happened. But it did, even in South Carolina. And she told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade that the U.S. has never been a racist nation.

“No. We’re not a racist country, Brian,” Haley said in an interview. “We’ve never been a racist country.”

Never, ever?

She sounds like one of those lost female characters in a Tennessee Williams play.

And after getting trounced by Trump in Iowa, DeSantis, too, seemed seriously concussed, moving forward like a prizefighter content to block all punches with his nose.

I really don’t see a path forward for either of them.

The Republican presidential contest moves on to the New Hampshire GOP primary and the vote there next week. Haley counts on Democrats to vote for her. Even if she wins or makes it close in New Hampshire, she’ll get clobbered in her own state of South Carolina soon.

DeSantis had his one chance in Iowa and now he’s in single digits.

I like DeSantis and hoped he would be a good candidate, and perhaps in another time he would have been a conservative alternative to the corrupt left wing Deep State Kemalists of the pro-Iran, pro-China JoeBama crew.

I think DeSantis has a future in American presidential politics. I really don’t mind Haley personally, I don’t know her, but she’s a Kemalist,  so I hope she doesn’t bite and yes, I do detest her being a cheerleader of the the Republican War Party Neo-Con political wing. The Neo-Cons badgered former President George W. Bush into invading Iraq, and that broke the middle east into pieces. Now they want to satisfy Ukraine at the expense of American border security.

I broke with the Republican Party as a result the endless Combine wars, but it was Trump who opposed foreign adventurism and saved the GOP from itself.

The Bush establishment–including the Cheneys and Romneys and so on–never forgave Trump for showing the world how much blood they had on their hands.

What attracted me to DeSantis? He’s a true conservative. The media hated him when he dared stand up against the pro-trans lobby and the Disney Corp. That attracted me because I’ve worked in the media for 40 years. I know how corrupt corporate media has become. Who reads metropolitan newspapers in blue cities anymore? The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, but there are none such in the spineless media precincts of Chicago and Illinois.

The enemy of my enemy is not my enemy. But if you consider yourself to be a middle class patriotic American they hate you and consider you to be their enemy.

And DeSantis was undercut by the War Party that many call “Neo-Cons.” Actually they’re the establishment Republican wing of the bipartisan Combine–the same group that killed all opposition in Illinois and led the land of Lincoln into the toilet. Their mascot is a fanged creature called Adam Daniel Kinzinger.

I liked DeSantis for all those reasons and more, but after Trump won Iowa in historic fashion, DeSantis seemed unhinged.

“They spent almost $50 million attacking us,” DeSantis told his supporters. “The media was against us; they were writing our obituaries months ago. They even called the election before people even got a chance to vote.”

Blaming the media doesn’t help, Ron.

Corrupt corporate media hates you for who you are. And they hate all of us (meaning those of us who aren’t socialists) for what we are. I don’t think the leftist pundits get how much we despise them. We are their surly peasants and we hate them.

They know we won’t forgive the left for selling out our border. We won’t forgive them for selling our jobs to China. We won’t forgive Biden for naming parents as “domestic terrorists” for worrying about their own children.  We won’t forgive them the small towns that were destroyed by opioids.

The more they provoke, and try to control us, and “monitor” us, the easier it will be for us to reach for the “deplorable” tomahawks.

And once that happens, there will be no going back.

Meanwhile, Haley was trying to live on in her own desperate fantasy world, like some Neo-Con Blanche Dubois insisting that even though she came in third, it was a two-person race. Haley will need a big group hug from the Bushies and Never-Trumpers. And still it won’t bring her to reality or save her from humiliation in her own state.

“Nikki Haley takes third in Iowa Caucuses but says Iowans have made it a ‘2-person race’” mocked the Des Moines Register.

All this as China Joe Biden is mired like a dinosaur in the La Brea tarpits, waiting helplessly for Obama to pounce and replace him at the Democrat National Convention in Chicago, once Trump is locked in as the GOP nominee.

Is it that Obama will pull Michelle from a hat and be the first Democrat president since Roosevelt to have four terms? Not bad for a party whose mouthpieces accuse the Republicans of being “authoritarian.” I’m told all this won’t happen, that Biden is the party’s candidate.

Joe Biden is weak. Even the most witless Jacobin knows this.  Even Mayor Dimwit of Chicago knows it. Biden’s  job approval has never been lower.  His approval ratings are in the low 30s. And less than 30 percent think Biden has the required mental sharpness. Only 28 percent think he’s in decent physical health.

 

And all this has put the left wing corporate media in a very bad mood. So now, I suppose we might amuse ourselves with the media meltdown among the rabid left wing punditry at MSNBC and CNN over Trump’s victory. They clench their tiny fists in rage. Some must be contemplating the guillotine if Trump defies their prosecutors and wins.

While watching the NFL playoffs I kept switching to those lefty news networks and their round-table panel discussion of Jacobin hysterics and I wondered why Robespierre chose terror in his Reign of Terror.

Because it worked.

And if you listen to those panel shows screeching about “white Christians” and the basket of deplorable conservatives eager to vote for Trump, you could imagine the racist blonde bombshell Joy Reid screaming and lifting various bloody heads of the Republican middle-class during their Next Revolution.

Or Laurence O’Donnell, or Rachel Maddow or any of the simpering trolls there or on CNN. They are the dogs with the same snarling head. And those who disagree with them are by definition enemies of the state.

Or have you forgotten Biden speechifying ominously before that Red Wall threatening his opponents, including any Americans who might dare defy him?

“Maga Republicans do not respect the Constitution,” said Biden at that blood red wall with the blood red lights in his twisted speech at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.

“They do not believe in the rule of law… and they’re working right now as I speak, in state after state, to give power to decide elections in America, to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.”

Of course, as Americans learned later, China Joe Biden and members of the Biden Crime Family Inc. received millions of dollars from foreign sources, including their friend Xi Jinping of Communist China. The Bidens just love Xi Jinping, don’t they?

In Iowa at his own victory speech, Trump pledged to work with his opponents to help the cities. His old bombast was not present. He seemed trying to be, oh, what’s the word, presidential?

But they censored him on MSNBC and CNN anyway, because he dared bring up Biden’s political liability along the broken border, and so the liberal media censored Trump and would not let him speak to their viewers, who are Americans and rightfully concerned about border security.

Yet his Trump’s words were threatening to Biden and so his Kemalist posse of loyal media warriors tried to protect their viewers from hearing what Americans once called “the news.”

The leftist media seem terrified.

Every day it seems that fewer Americans bother to listen to their lies.

(Copyright 2024 John Kass)

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Comments 68

  1. John, Respect your opini0n, and you’re probably right. But I trust Donnie as much as I trust Biden. Am so sick of his mouth, and, more importantly his inability to hire good people, and to work with congress to make his agenda permanent. Have voted Republican since ’68. We’ll see what happens, but I just can’t put up with the b.s. anymore.

      1. To Larry, Todd, and Rebecca,
        I understand and don’t disagree. Trump is his own circus. He isn’t perfect and even has some bad policies (like tariffs but Biden has tariffs too). He’s not one of the Republican Establishment. He’s not one of the apparatchiks in the bureaucracy. He is certainly not a Democrat.

        Hence, if he does become the nominee and you don’t turn out and vote for him despite all his warts, you enable the Establishment, the apparatchiks, and the Democrats. They are coming for you and ONLY the very wealthy will be able to rise above it. If you are very wealthy, like a Ken Griffin, you will have to decide how much of your wealth you are willing to part with to remain relatively free, but if they really want you they will get you.

        Sure, I’d prefer DeSantis but he didn’t run a great campaign in Iowa. Vivek was wet behind the ears. There are others coming up in the Republican Party that will pick up the mantle and fight for the American Constitution, and implementing it the way it was written but they aren’t there now. There is only Trump.

          1. No Labels looks and Smells like Sold Out Manchin. He’s not running for the Senate again, because He can’t Win. Remember He sold His soul for the ” green new reduction act”

        2. Hmm, everyone knows Google doesn’t like profanity, not even from Kasso, yet he still pays $5 each month. So yes Trump isn’t as “perfect” as all of us, yet he loves America and puts us and it first! BLM started the downfall of America, riots, DEI nonsense, add trans nonsense (why is my age assigned at birth?). All the trashing of “White” people/culture that has given the world it’s best, basically do to the Christian Faith! The Leftists work hard to cheat in elections and just look at all Biden/media lies to make him walk on water! Since Trump seems to become the Republican candidate, we have No Choice but to vote for him. Unless you want Satan statutes in every State Capital in the nation. But let’s get to the truth: Scriptures are clear, always wars, rumor of wars, Israel hatred and attacked. Mass death foretold, land and sea. Earthquakes, fires everywhere. These will happen. Trump as POTUS keeps foreign enemies at bay. You complainers need to put that one thing at the first reason to support him, he’s Bold, Fearless, needs no financial gain, probably talks just like most of you complainers do. Trump has many qualities we wish we had, Gen Patton would agree, Trump is another Patton.

        3. I am undecided on any of the Republican candidates, why I may write in John Kass. The reality is that I live in Illinois and in the November elections Illinois will be won by the Democratic candidate. Kind of like taxation without representation.

    3. And we should put our trust in the political establishment players who cannot manage the mess they have created? Trump has bruises that taught him how to better deal with them.

    4. Agree, but for the sake of our country and our democracy we need to get the Democrats OUT. All three branches would be awesome, but we can’t take the chance of another closet progressive in the Whitehouse, skirting around the constitution with presidential orders to further ruin our country. We need to drain the swamp that is D.C.

      Democrats=Socialists

      It’s too bad that Trump is the only viable candidate running against the Socialists, but as such we owe it to our children and grandchildren to elect him in November. You don’t have to love the guy, just agree with his policies.

    5. Wouldn’t you rather have a Republican you can’t trust in the WH rather than Biden whom you say you also don’t trust?
      We need to rally on this one….stop worrying about personality traits and history of sexual follies.
      This election is Red or Blue….which are you going to be?….and it is only one of those two, there is no neutral position. Not voting Red..no matter who it is….is a democrat vote.

    6. So you don’t like his mean tweets and his ripping into opponents. So don’t vote for him and watch more of the same last three years on steroids.

      The goal of all the progressive left’s policies is to cause so much chaos that an ’emergency’ is declared and we are suddenly living in a country with the same political system as Red China – media under state control, one party rule, and the government assigning a ‘social score’ to every citizen that controls access to jobs, travel, and housing.

      So your choice (whether you like it or not). Mean Tweets or Red China

    7. John=
      I had the opportunity to spend 1,5 hours with Ambassador Haley 1 on 1. She is much better than you make her out to be. She’s very smart and tough. Not meely mouthed at all. Trump would be a disaster in that he would continue to tear the country apart when we need to find a common ground. Biden is a lost soul.
      Its a shame that we are going down an old path and expect different results,

      1. Ed, Haley never met a war she didn’t like. This is a fact the voters can’t ignore.
        This is a different path than 2020 and like it or not Trump will get the nomination. Hell, Haley won’t win in South Carolina.

  2. I live in lowcountry South Carolina, after fleeing from dying Chicago. Down here, nobody talks about Haley ad a contender. She is appreciated as a good governor a few years back, but down here, it’s all Trump. People are angry, and nobody pays much attention to the mainstream media. They pay attention to the ever-rising cost of groceries, and we know who to blame.

  4. “DeSantis seemed unhinged”

    DeSantis seemed like Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party after Johnson discovered that journalist were in-the-tank for Hillary and conducted every interview with him like a Project Veritas sting operation.

    Hopefully DeSantis can work on grooming a successor and leave behind the legacy of a ‘movement’ vs. a ‘personality’. It would be interesting if there was a pool of individuals who circulated between being governor and serving in the US Congress.

    It seems the process of electing a US president is about as conducive to good government as the process of selecting the emperor of ancient rome. We’re trending toward the same quality of monster.

    State governors may be the apex of what a competent, ethical politician can aspire to in the US. Hopefully they’ll continue to push the envelope (Abbott and DeSantis being good examples) and help we-the-people get around the machinations of national politics.

    Perhaps when journalism and how we interact with it gets fixed, we’ll be able to get back to a working national politics.

  5. I’m a DeSantis guy, too, John. I hope Trump will do the right thing and choose him to be his VP. Trump will have only four years in office this time and if he is as successful as he was in his first term (minus covid where he was at the mercy of the stealth Democrat healthcare bureaucracy) that would put DeSantis in the driver’s seat. We have to think about the next generation.

    I think that guy Vivek is angling for the VP spot and Trump may be considering it. That would be a mistake, almost as big as picking Haley. Trump needs to be, as you note above, “presidential.” I don’t think Vivek drives in that lane.

  6. By the time Michelle finishes her second term (and you know if she gets one, she’ll get two), it’ll be five Obama terms, after which they’ll probably hand us over to the WEF/UN conglomerate. Hate his guts if you want, Trump is looking like our only hope…

  7. Excellent assessment of where the Republican race is so far, John. Unfortunately many republican voters and earnest donors are looking for the “perfect” candidate. They expect someone out of central casting who looks and sounds like a Jimmy Stewart or a Ronald Reagan. Humans are not perfect. All you can ask for is honesty and someone who loves this country and its Constitution. Intelligence helps too. Please don’t NOT vote. Perfect is the enemy of good as they say.

    1. Joanne, here are plenty of good conservatives not looking for the perfect candidate. Yes, Trump loves the country, but he has demonstrated disdain for the Constitution, which is my big problem with him besides the circus he focuses on himself. That said, he may be the only option we get.

  9. I do not think our country needs another octogenarian in the oval office, including chaos-creating Trump. He’s no conservative, BTW. Is he better than Biden or any progressive Democrat? Yes, obviously so. And I’ll reluctantly vote for Trump if I must. That said, I’m not sure I fully agree that there’s no path for DeSantis. Trump’s legal problems are not all BS. That Florida case is problematic for him. The Republicans had better have a Plan B ready just in case Trump’s legal woes subsume him, because we know the Dems do have a substitute ready for Biden with Gov. Camera-Ready Newsom in the bullpen.

    1. Great column.

      Voters are angry about all the Washington establishment hamfistedness going on. This anger will give Trump the nomination. No telling what will happen between now and November. Will the Democrats lose their nerve and give someone else the nomination?

      In unrelated news, my No Chumbalone Zone hat arrived! Gorgeous!

  10. If you think 2016 was ugly just wait! The media and the democraps will stop at nothing to hold on to the White House and Congress. I hope we can survive the onslaught of hate.

  11. A few years ago, we had a choice of voting in DuPage county for an incumbent state senator who had been around too long, or a candidate who ran on a longtime political family name. The candidate with the old family name in my opinion was not experienced or educated enough for the position, but they won……….A few years later ,they pleaded guilty and spent some time away from family and damaged that family name. I guess my point is, to be left with poor choices on any level obviously does nothing to move our country or state to a better place.

  12. It’s almost ten months until the election. As someone who lived through the turmoil of the late 60s & early70s [worse divisions then now] I make these predictions:
    1. Both DeSanctis and Haley will ‘suspend’ their campaigns after S.C.
    2. Riots will hit big cities again this summer.
    3. There will be at least one attempted assassination of a major political figure and at least one attempted major terrorist attack [I hope none succeed].
    4. Trump will win the presidency with a GOP Senate but a [narrow] Democrat House, ie divided govt.
    5. The Supreme Court will make 2-3 transformative decisions but be racked by a major scandal.
    6. The 2030s will resemble the 1980s – much, much calmer.

  13. Well here’s a happy/hopeful thought . Michelle has never worked a day in her life and she’s not gonna start now : she will not be the rabbit from the D hat . And Barack is running the show as it is . If it’s not broke , don’t fix it . The Kalorama Kida are stashed throughout the Apparatus , from State to Homeland Security to FBI/CIA . There is no reason to remove Biden as he has worked so very well to be the sock puppet for Barack’s third and MB fourth terms. Whether the Republic survives the next four years is another issue

  15. I watched each debate. I listened to the candidates. After the first debate I had hoped that Haley would not garner support as she looked like a scared pathetic little child. I liked DeSantis and would have supported him. He was no superstar, but he would work. America once again was making us choose the lesser of all evils.

    I voted for trump twice. The first time with excitement. The second time to not have Joe Biden. I along with the rest of America can stomach Trump if he could just keep his mouth shut. We now know that he can’t do this. This election will be another shit show. There will be two “old” candidates asking to be the President of the United States of America. Our hands will be tied and we will be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. The Donald will be in that category and will be the one I’ll have to support. I am praying that his handlers will do their jobs and handle him this time. Perhaps a muzzle from Pets Supplies Us as an inauguration gift.

  17. I watched the returns from Iowa, on Fox and Newsmax. I did see some snippets from the unhinged left. Joy the homophobic one, Reid, Joyless Behar and the Morning Jerk were beside themselves. They will use every known lie to derail Trump.
    Is Trump the second coming of Ghandi? Hardly, but the guy loves America. The people know it and will vote accordingly. It is too bad that some in this thread will not vote for him because of his past. Everyone of the cases, charges, indictments are pure nonsense. That case in New York, the fraud trial is ridiculous. There was no victim. The law they site is nothing more than A Bill of Attainder, created for one person only. The judge in the case is about as sharp as Joe Biden. He has made so many bad decisions, the appellate court will throw it out with haste.

    Jack Smith has screwed up the documents case so bad, as he went after Trump and Joe Biden did the same thing, without the intrusion of Merrick Garland and Justice. If Trump is guilty, so is Biden. Once again, selective prosecution.

    The case in Georgia is orchestrated from the White House. The so called prosecutor, Fannie Willis’ boy toy has spent time in the White House getting his marching orders.

    The nomination of Donald Trump will be assured after South Carolina. All the legal problems will be dismissed or put on hold until after the election, then thrown out.
    Joe Biden will be the candidate and will lose and great people will be appointed by Trump. The country will start roaring back and maybe, just maybe the entire Biden crime family will end up in jail. One can only hope.

    1. Oh Harry, if only! I personally love your glass half full accessment!

      Voters need only to look at outcomes to realize that Trump needs to be elected. I do think however, he should admit his missteps during Covid to the American public. He obviously didn’t realize that the swamp was using the pandemic to gain power back. I think the American public could forgive these missteps if they are confessed and he professes never to let that happen again. Trump was naive when it came to the swamp/deep state. I don’t see that happening again. How’s that old saying go? Fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me!

  18. Γιάννη,
    At least Trump has a record on which to base my vote. My IRA wasn’t shrinking and we could afford to dine out once in awhile, and go to the grocery store after filling up our car with gas. Thanks to the new socialist party of Joe, can’t afford either, and my IRA is evaporating as well. Our electric and natural gas bills are eating us up. I may not love Trump either, but I was alot better off with him than with these brainless morons. Ron and Nikki just can’t seem to marshall the support (or loyalty) that Trump has been able to maintain for the past 3 years, in spite of all the annoyances thrown at him by the Marxist DOJ. At least we know this devil!!!

    1. So true…OUTCOMES people! You don’t need to love the candidate personally. Just assume they all hate us and vote for the candidate who will put out the current dumpster fire that is America.

  19. John, I see you’ve joined the camp of those expecting Biden to be replaced either during or after the convention. I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just not sure Biden will go along peacefully. But ‘mostly peaceful’ seems to be a Democratic theme.

    Right now the best I can hope for is a divided Congress, so that neither party can make rapid progress on its far left (Democrat) or far right (Republican) agenda. Nikki Haley seemed like the only middle-of-the-road candidate, and of course we all know what happens to someone who stands in the middle of the road, they get run down from both directions.

    My son expect a full-blown civil war in the next few years, I’m not sure he’s wrong, either.

  20. It was humorous to watch the exploding heads of the left wing media. How they decided what to air. I thought their job was report the news not decide what news is.
    I did at one point ask myself am I a white Christian? I believe in our lord and savior Jesus Christ. I believe and support our armed forces having had a long line of relatives including my late husband who served. He was a marine. He often repeated their motto. Unit Core God Country. So how can I not be?
    I must ask do white Christians not vote for Biden?
    The left as usual went to their bag of names to call those who voted for Trump in the Iowa caucuses. To me they’re running out of things to call them. Will they invent new names? Guess I’ll just have to pop some popcorn and wait. It’s become laughable.
    Thanks for a great column. I happily just renewed my subscription here!

    1. Ahh Linda, I will happily and proudly wear the badge of white Christian! I was born that way, but I guess in today’s upside down world I could tell people I was black, brown or whatever I choose to be!

      We were trying to figure out how CNN and MSNBC knew what Trump was going to say, and who gives them the right to tell us what is a lie or truth? As a rule, we tune in to one of these stations to see what the enemy will say. They are so self-righteous it is sickening. Apparently the first amendment means zippo to these media “personalities.” I hope their ratings are in the toilet after this. What they did really shows their true colors.

  21. John
    Your article is mostly right on. But do you remember the 2022 election. GOP got its ass handed to them. The DEMS have 2 powerful trump (no pun intended) cards: abortion and guns. Case closed. The Dems play this very well. Doesn’t matter who the Dems run for president, they will win. MICHELLE is a pipe (hashish) dream. Jumbo boy is the one waiting in the wings. He has the bucks and some connections. And, hey who doesnt love a rich fat man?
    Wealthy, white, woke, weighty (as in fat) women run the party. Just look at Illinois. Run and controlled by WWWWW.

  22. I learned a new word today (kemalism), and now my reading list has grown exponentially. Thanks?

    Not crazy about any of the contenders. Tired of the same pols doing the same things pols do, over and over, ad infinitum.

    Wouldn’t it be lovely to have an unashamedly God-fearing man like Mike Johnson running?

  23. DeSantis listened to the wrong people. In his book, he said he never forgot the people back home and THAT was his defining characteristic! Well, for those of us living in Florida, we feel like he forgot us when the donor money issued its clarion call of a siren song. The donors hoped to thwart the presidential run of the one president who gave us peace and a great economy–what’s important for those of us driven by ISSUES and NOT emotion of “orange-man-bad.”

    Many a dead Ukrainian wishes Trump’s “peace through strength” had survived the algorithms and funny business of elections in select states. But donors threw money at DeSantis, and it changed him. He will drop out after SC because he will lose Florida in a truly humiliating loss (which living here, I can tell you that we’ve been none too pleased with a year of Iowa’s 2nd governor). We will tell him with our votes how we–the “listless vessels” who “kiss the ring”–feel about his attacking us after he pursued a presidential run for–himself–all the while forgetting the previously acclaimed people back home.

    I’m left imagining what wonderful success he would have had, if he had listened to the people back home (people like me who elected him governor), had he endorsed Trump, been his right-hand man as the best governor in the nation, and gone on to be succession-planned for a 2028 run. He will not be Trump’s VP, having committed a cardinal sin of disloyalty to Trump’s base. He may salvage his career only to be a lobbyist…which requires none of the courage or wisdom to say No to money when it calls. Vivek will not be VP either but has enough loyalty remaining by how he handled himself to have a cabinet post in a Trump administration during which he can prove whether he’s the snake some see or the future of the GOP as others do. Trump’s VP will be someone who fills the 1 need Trump has: someone loyal to MAGA with enough knowledge of the military industrial complex to patiently and expertly excise the root of this weed from within the military without damaging the military itself. Don’t count on Trump choosing according to some old RINO mantras (e.g., must be a woman, a person of color, from the South, etc.) or even someone expected like Flynn. Trump will fill the need his ticket has in unexpected ways because he’s really hard to predict. My guess anyway.

  24. I’ve never in all my life seen such an awful pair of candidates like Trump and Biden. Shame on us and our broken political system. Can’t we do any better than these two buffoons? One more thought: assuming the Trump legal team is able to delay the inevitable convictions (he is, after all, plainly guilty of the charges pending in Georgia and D.C.), he could very well win the election. Never mind his agenda for the traditional first 30 days; the first 30 seconds are what count for him. He will pardon himself. And hopefully the prosecutors will find enough evidence to put away China Joe and his bagman, Hunter. How fitting a result is this?

  26. “The Neo-Cons badgered former President George W. Bush into invading Iraq,…..”
    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
    This keeps cropping up in conversation…and I’d like to hear your spin on what I understood at the time. Iraq was know to have weapons of mass destruction in their possession and we had discovered and confirmed that with aerial photography. The democrats of course wouldn’t stand for a word of it so the Bush administration turned over all their evidence the Hillary, John Kerry, Kennedy and any democrat who wanted the information.
    Those democrats then handed all that evidence over to their people to be checked out. Nobody came back to those democrats with any claims of falsehood, so they all voted to move in on Iraq. Not true?

  28. Today’s Chicago Tribune hit a new low in left wing diatribe. According to the editorial page, it is the Republican border states that have convinced the nation that we have a border problem.

  30. If the commiecrats are successful in ANY of their bullshit persecutions of Trump there’s a distinct possibility he won’t be the GOP nominee. If that happens, the candidate might end up being chosen at the convention. I’m personally backing Trump, but if he can’t run I’m looking at Haley, DeSantis and Ramaswamy to decide who’d be the best president. If Trump is able to run, which of those three (or none of the above) might make the best VP? I’ll bet this: if Trump runs the commiecrats stick with Biden because they believe he can beat Trump again. If Trump doesn’t run, Biden is dumped because ANY of the other three Republicans will blow him out of the water.

  31. I was super impressed when Nikki Haley went at Biden for his criticism of her. No one, least of all Joe Biden, lectures the South on the Civil War, or slavery. However, coming from a Southern State on the receiving end of it, one might expect her to detest war of any kind. Nope. So it’s this contradiction that makes her very dangerous as well.

  32. I’m convinced that when Biden loses in November they will “flip the script” and insist the election was rigged.

    Biden will have to be physically removed from the White House and “Dr. Jill” will have to be cuffed and perp walked to the Limo to Bellevue.

    Suddenly early voting and mail in ballots will be the devil’s tools.

    But you left out all the lefty “Women’s” magazines that ignored Melania for 4 years and applauded Dr Jill, dressed in 1958 flower print slip covers from my mom’s basement.

    Feh!

  33. Having listened to the comments, questions, interviews, pundits, “news” broadcasters and the like over the last 2 weeks especially – I’ve come to the conclusion that Trump’s VP choice is Ben Carson…..and I like the choice for a whole host of reasons. His calm demeanor, his superior intellect, his ability to articulate a sensible position on an issue without the bluster and the “arm-waving”, the respect he’s earned across the wide spectrum that is America, and his ability to look someone in the eye and call their bluff at most any preposterous statement the loony-birds make…..for that reason, and the need to protect the appointment process, re: the Supreme Court, Trump has to be ‘our guy’ as this election is playing itself out.

    The news media will do all in their power to continue to remind us why we don’t like him….truth be damned. Is he my pick as someone I’d like to be close friends with? Nope. But, we’re not electing a ‘friend’ (close or remote!) – there’s a job to be done, it is a big one, and right now the choice we have to preserve what’s left here is Donald Trump.

  34. John from Naperville. I won’t vote for Trump, never have (wrote in John Kasic both times) and I won’t vote for Joe Biden either. I will leave it blank and vote Republicans everywhere else and live with the fall out. I cannot vote for bad people knowingly.

  35. Good article, John, as usual.

    I also don’t see how either DeSantis and Haley will get the Republican nomination unless the Democrats can keep Trump off the ballot. He is too popular with the base.

    I like DeSantis, but he has run a poor campaign. I hope this doesn’t hurt him too badly politically as he is a great governor.

    I used to like Haley. I thought she was a good governor who did a nice job at the UN. She has been co-opted by the Bush/Cheney/Romney wing of the Republican Party. They are giving her campaign tens of millions of Dollars and she has changed her public positions to align with them.

    About 10 years ago I started judging politicians based on who supports them and who opposes them. If the Teachers Unions are backing a candidate, then I will oppose that politician. If you are supporting a candidate, I would probably support him or her. It is a little more complicated than that, but essentially that is it.

    I miss Charles Krauthammer. He was generally right about most things. Rand Paul and Thomas Massey are generally trustworthy and insightful, but I don’t trust many other public figures.

    I wish Trump wasn’t such a goof. While I agree with him on a number of issues, I don’t think he was a very effective President due in part to all of the investigations and charges. Now, most of them have turned out to be made up (Steele dossier). He also didn’t put together a good staff and let the agencies undercut his policies.

    Now, I like Vivek a lot. He is brilliant and incredibly articulate. If he is in Trump’s inner circle now, that might help Trump tremendously. The main-stream media ignored him completely in Iowa until there were actual results. They gave Asa Hutchinson more coverage with his .2% of the vote.

    I think Vivek is correct when he says the powers that be want to keep Haley in the race after she should drop out so that if the Democrats can get Trump off the ballot or sent to jail, the party can turn to her, so the choice will be between Haley and senile Biden, both of whom are under their control.

    Now, the alternative to Trump and Biden is probably RFK, Jr. He is also very smart and articulate. While he is a classic liberal on most issues, he believes in (1) free speech, (2) free choice on vaccines, (3) stopping government from lying to us, (4) not giving kids sex change drugs and surgery and certainly not letting the government give this treatment to minors without parents’ consent, and (5) not letting men who think they are women compete in women’s sports.

    These are just common sense positions that I bet a majority of US citizens agree with. It is amazing that the Democrats and the media condemn him as dangerous. I don’t know if I could vote for him because he will appoint judges who will push the Democrats’ agenda and the best thing that Trump did was appointing good judges. Assuming we still live in Illinois come November, my vote won’t count much. Maybe Kennedy would be a good person to vote for in Illinois when the Democrat isn’t worth voting for.

    Jamie Dimon had some interesting comments today. He said the Democrats should stop insulting the 75 million people who voted for Trump because most of them voted for him because they agreed with him on the economy and border security and tax reform and a few other issues. Again, just common sense, but it will probably get him cancelled. I wonder if he is planning on retiring anyway.

  37. This Kass column is more than typically JK-insightful. And the Comments, various as they are, amount to a rarely intelligent forum in contemporary thinking-impaired America.

    Such a forum of thinking people is forbidden at The New York Times, which gives marching orders to illiberal liberals. It would be pre-sanitized at MSNBC, where latter-day Stalinist pundits have a ready audience in their fellow-deranged.

    But depressing as the prospect of one more Mr. Reality TV vs. Mr. Magoo election is, we should count our blessings at johnkassnews. We can still count on reading inspired commentary like this: “(Haley) sounds like one of those lost female characters in a Tennessee Williams play.”

  38. Since when did getting 56,000 votes and picking up 20 delegates become a landslide victory? Perhaps I am a bit naive but I haven’t heard the fat lady sing just yet. What is continually frustrating about our primary system is how the course of history seems to hinge upon a handful of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. That said, should Trump lock this thing up, he has a long way to go with making amends to people who supported DeSantis and Haley. Alienating nearly half the Republican base probably was NOT a wise strategy.

  39. John: I mostly agree with you. But not on Ukraine. My question is if you would feel the same if Putin invaded Greece. Also a democratic west leaning country.

    Coincidently we had our dishwasher repaired today by a Ukranian who has been here for 1 year. He lived in the Eastern part of Ukraine when the Russians invaded. The stories that he was willing to tell me are far more horrendous than the ones that you occasionally tell about your Greek ancestors.

    Chamberlain was wrong about Hitler overrunning Europe and you are wrong about Putins designs beyond Ukraine.

    Respectfully,

    1. Putin did not get up one morning and say I think I will invade Ukraine. We pushed him threatening to make Ukraine a missile base for NATO. His invasion was purely preemptive–telling us Ukraine will not become a part of NATO. Zelensky runs a NAZI government with history of killing Russians starting in WWII allied with NAZI Germany. The Russians killed millions of NAZIs in WWII while losing 27 million of their people in the bargain. We owe them saving us from Hitler.

  40. Watching Biden recently, I highly doubt he will be the nominee. He is looking and acting frail and I think he will crumble under the demands of running for office.

    I am a DeSantis fan and would strongly back his nomination. If Trump ends up the nominee, I will vote for him reluctantly. I will not vote for a Democrat.

  41. Kinzinger. Pritzker. Durbin.
    All enemies of the people of Illinois.
    But we have forgotten Mike “Hearsay can be much better evidence than direct” Quigley (Il-5).
    Just as dangerous.

  42. John yet another excellent exposure and thrashing of our broken system and the fools who have run it into the ground. Thank you. As for Trump who started no new wars in his term and got the economy rolling, Tucker Carlson interviewing him a couple months ago asked him if he feared for his life, now that the Democrats despite two impeachments and dozens of fake indictments utterly have failed to kill him politically. He gave a kind vague answer but it must be on his mind in a country that decides political leaders using bullets. I pray he remains unharmed and is elected come November. We need him more than we know.

  44. Trump is absolutely correct when he says Republicans attack each other rather than unifying behind a Republican agenda. Jewish Democrats will hold hands with Ilhan Omar and the other Muslims in congress that hate them since it furthers their agenda. You see, it’s all about the party, not the people. Republicans who say they’re sitting this one out are ensuring the furtherance of our Socialist States of America. This election really is a battle for the heart and soul country as we see the Justice Department weaponized and unleashed on any dissent. This includes parents who oppose transgenderism introduced in school curriculum and opposition to Eco- cults. Democrats keep saying this election is about “saving our democracy” while they incarcerate political prisoners and routinely violate our constitution. Yes they’re absolutely correct. We need to “save our democracy” by voting Republican no matter who is the nominee no matter how distasteful you find the candidate. Time to wake the hell up. Another four years of this and you just might see soldiers stationed on every street corner. This would eagerly be acceptable to crime ridden urban areas like Chicago and New York. Covid was an instrument devised to keep Trump from being reelected. Trump’s polling right now show him winning by a landslide (again). The “Covid Crises” enabled a massive election fraud with mail in ballots and ballot harvesting operations. We are seeing history repeating itself. A so called “pandemic” won’t work this time so one can only wonder what’s next. Strap yourself into your seat and hold on. The rides just beginning.

  45. Slavery happened. Like it happened everywhere. It just was NOT the reason for the Civil War.
    Not even close. That’s what she said. More concerning is her coming from a State on the receiving end of it, she still advocates War and Nation building. Her family has not lived in South Carolina long enough

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