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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Florida Judge Rules That Residents Have a Right to a Smarter Governor

The Constitution “does not grant you the right to govern a state like a blithering idiot,” the judge said.

(By Andy Borowitz, New Yorker)

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But DeSantis, a Yale and Harvard Law grad, is not a blithering idiot. Rather, he is someone who knows how to pander to an electorate including enough blithering idiots to keep him and his party in power. Governmentally, If Floriduh were not one of the fifty States, it would be just another Central American Banana Republic.

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Harvard has fallen mightily in my estimation as it “educated” DeSantis, Kayleigh McEnany, Jared Kushner and Steve Brannon, among others! SHAME ON HARVARD LAW, I say.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/10/19/shroff-harvard-trump-administration/

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A degree does not equal smartness. I'd say those folks are doing some major brand damage to Hahvaard.

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AMEN, Charlie!

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This.

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When I was at B-School, I soon learned that there were some students there only to figure out how to extract. I expect the Law School is similar.

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It’s really not fair to blame Harvard. Barack Obama went to Harvard Law, too! I’m grasping in a way, still can’t believe the stupidity of the followers of these misinformation spreaders. They have truly become lemmings as they March toward their covid deaths.

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Both of my parents were Harvard graduates--my father with a PhD, my mother, who could have gotten a PhD with a month's more work but didn't because she'd decided to switch fields from econ to psych, got a bachelor's. Both were good people.

I do think Harvard should avoid admitting people who lack a sense of decency, like deSantis, Kushner, Bannon, et al.

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What did your mom end up doing after getting her bachelor’s degree?

Just wondering.

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David expands on the point I was making. SOME students are in it for unsavory preparation. I do, however respect Barack Obama's choices; he did attend Columbia and lived in my neighborhood.

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What does extract mean in this case?

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I interpret it to mean exploit any situation to their own gain.

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Financial extraction is a particular exploitation. It is a common term on Wall Street. (See:Yves Smith Book "ECONned" 2010)

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Some get there on there on merit. Others by family connections and family donations.

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This San Francisco State graduate used to really RELISH firing wannabe "writeurs" with Ivy League degrees and tell them to their faces they were talentless semi-literates. More than a few walked out of the office crying - which when I knew I had gotten through their entitlement.

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HA! My daughter graduated from SF State! Then into USF for her masters.

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I wish they could/would take back the diplomas of those on the basis of promoting stands that are Idiotic, malicious, endangering of life, and flat out lies.

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With that as the basis, I'm afraid that most Americanos would find themselves with only high-school diplomas.

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If a rotten kid gets some higher education, I wouldn't expect a good kid to emerge. We can't blame Harvard for being unable to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

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Who's blaming Harvard?

Although it's no Columbia.

(Disclosure: All the men in my family attended Columbia professional schools and love pizza.)

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I think they should try to weed out these sorts of people before admitting them. Sh!ts should not get the influence that goes with having a high class education. Among the non-famous people that didn't deserve a Harvard education: One of my friends, now a very old woman, was formerly married to a famous and somewhat controversial American. Her granddaughter went to Harvard, where she met a fellow student who swept her off of her feet. My friend wrote up some memoirs, and was interested in finding someone to edit them. The granddaughter recommended her boyfriend. At some point, the two of them split up, and the now ex boyfriend absconded with a digital copy of the memoirs.

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one cannot educate the uneducable, as my father would have said :-) ... it does seem to be a sad truth

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My granpa used to say, "You can educate a fool but you can't put brains in their head."

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Or, as the famed philosopher Jeff Foxworthy has said, "you can't fix stupid."

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Poor character precedes the academic schooling. You can boost Harvard back up a notch noting that HCR went there.

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As they say, 'you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear' :- )

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As did her classmate Tony Blinken.

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Harvard's origins were in non-competitive selection for entry, and still are to a large extent. Admission was granted based on family status. John Adams, who had a low family standing, had to ride his horse around to prominent families to get recommendations and financial support.

Likewise, final class standing at the end of the four year curriculum was based on family standing. One's actual performance at Harvard had zero influence on class standing until the 20th Century when grades began to matter.

However, even today, Harvard ensures that enough dumb, white males from prominent families enter Harvard with poor grades and zero SAT scores to keep their endowment growing.

Hence, Harvard and Yale often accept the likes of George W. Bush, Donald J. Trump, Jared Kushner, etc.

None of the above three names would have been able garner entry into even their local community college based on performance.

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Bravo, Kaivan Shroff.

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I wonder if Yale and Harvard shouldn't be in some way embarrassed by their association with a blithering idiot. Wouldn't they want to save their reputations by rescinding his degrees? Oh right, then they would have to rescind George Bush's and a host of other graduates who've proven to be unworthy.

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Ambition without scruples has nothing to do with education but often generates generous endowments in lieu of repentence for ill-perceived "sins" ....not to mention a place for similarly lacking in values offspring.

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Another example of the admonition to follow the money.

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The traditional Ivy League colleges, and the Seven Sister schools as well, were hallmarks of American culture and higher education back in the days when whiteness, wealth and waspiness were the American image and the top rung of the ladder of opportunity. Fortunately, that is not true any longer.

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While it may not be factual, it is still truth in the minds of too many who hold power.

To quote Celia Green, "The human race's favorite method for being in control of facts is to ignore them." (The Decline and Fall of Science, 1976)

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I kept hoping Wharton would rescind TFG’s diploma. I’d always believed the school set high standards.

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HE DIDN'T GO TO WHARTON!!!

TFG was allowed to transfer to the University of Pennsylvania, but his grades were too low for the (then) lower standards than now to gain admission to Wharton, though he was allowed to AUDIT classes at Wharton.

He was recalled by one of the Wharton professors thus: "Donald Trump was the dumbest fucking student to ever walk into my classroom!"

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One more fraud upon another, an another… and…

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It took a little "pull" from Daddy to get him into Wharton as a transfer student. His record there is not available, but it doesn't appear he was among those honored at his graduation. Trump put in his time there and little more. When as president, he awarded economist Arthur Laffer the Medal of Freedom, he commented on studying the man's work while at Wharton. Laffer's theories, which are as phony as the 45th president was, came out after Trump's graduation! Just another lie from the guy who wrote the "Fart of the Deal."

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See my note above. He audited classes at Wharton, but was not an admitted student, being "the dumbest fucking student who ever walked into my classroom!" in the words of one Wharton professor.

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"Third World America" is how a friend of mine describes living in Mississippi. Floriduh is about the same. Maybe with more golf courses and condos.

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I spent a week in Mississippi, and it felt like the third world. The neighborhood we stayed in had no paved roads, no mail service (residents had to drive to another city to their P.O. Boxes), and some of the houses were partly under water from a recent storm that had flooded a river. And everyone that lived there was Black. It was heartbreaking. And I was younger and less aware of my own weird nice white racist tendencies. Still, it was shameful that that was also America.

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Listen to the late Nina Simone singing 'Mississippi Goddam' which you can find online.

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you can go straight to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ25-U3jNWM

Below, someone has pasted in the lyrics.

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Thank you.

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Jack, thank you, thank you! I was going to college in Birmingham in 1964 when she performed at Carnegie Hall. She’s my kind of woman!

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That song stays in your head. And the version I have is live at Carnegie Hall I think. The courage she had!

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For those who haven't listened to the song Nina Simone sang in 1964, here are the lyrics:

Mississippi Goddam

Nina Simone

This song was first performed and recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1964, a turbulent year in the Civil Rights struggle.

[Spoken Introduction]

The name of this tune is Mississippi Goddam

And I mean every word of it

[Verse 1]

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

Can't you see it

Can't you feel it

It's all in the air

I can't stand the pressure much longer

Somebody say a prayer

[Chorus]

Alabama's gotten me so upset

Tennessee made me lose my rest

And everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

(This is a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it, yet)

[Verse 2]

Hound dogs on my trail

School children sitting in jail

Black cat cross my path

I think every day's gonna be my last

Lord have mercy on this land of mine

We all gonna get it in due time

I don't belong here

I don't belong there

I've even stopped believing in prayer

Don't tell me, I'll tell you

Me and my people just about due

I've been there so I know

They keep on saying "Go slow!"

[Refrain]

But that's just the trouble

"do it slow"

Washing the windows

"Too slow"

Picking the cotton

"Too slow"

You're just plain rotten

"Too slow"

You're too damn lazy

"Too slow"

The thinking's crazy

"Too slow"

Where am I going

What am I doing

I don't know

I don't know

Just try to do your very best

Stand up, be counted with all the rest

For everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

(I bet you thought I was kidding, didn't you)

[Verse 3]

Picket lines, school boycotts

They try to say it's a communist plot

All I want is equality

For my sister, my brother, my people, and me

Yes, you lied to me all these years

You told me to wash and clean my ears

And talk real fine just like a lady

And you'd stop calling me Sister Sadie

Oh but this whole country is full of lies

You're all gonna die and die like flies

I don't trust you any more

You keep on saying "Go slow!"

"Go slow!"

[Refrain]

But that's just the trouble

"Too slow"

Desegregation

"Too slow"

Mass participation

"Too slow"

Reunification

"Too slow"

Do things gradually

"Too slow"

But bring more tragedy

"Too slow"

Why don't you see it

Why don't you feel it

I don't know

I don't know

[Chorus]

You don't have to live next to me

Just give me my equality

Everybody knows about Mississippi

Everybody knows about Alabama

Everybody knows about Mississippi, goddamn

[Spoken Outro]

That's it!

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And here we are in 2021 - still nowhere near done.

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I love it. I had not seen nor heard of this song before yesterday. I watched to the end. Watch her stand up at the end. See her face? The defiance and the commitment. That’s what we need now!

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Ummmm, that’s what we have now, Ted. If you could have seen my face yesterday, you would have seen that and more. And I see it in your posts daily!

Salud!

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I listened to that yesterday morning. Someone here had linked it. Wow.

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We are becoming a third world country, what with the shredded social safety net. Hopefully the Dems can fix this, and that enough GOPers will realize who's helping people that we'll stay in the majority.

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David, the Dems started it. "What?" you say. Those Dems from the Civil War onward switched parties to become Dixiecrats and then today's Republicans.

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I've read extensively about the Civil War. The Ron Chernow book, Grant, was particularly informative about the aftermath of the Civil War and the Dixiecrats.

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My comment applies to the time period beginning with Reagan.

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And, Texas would be part of Mexico.

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It very well may happen. Some geopolitically-oriented theorists foresee a stronger Mexico, in about another century, recapturing from a hopelessly divided United States the land they feel rightfully belongs to them encompassing Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

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My fantasy is the secession if the West Coast states to form a new country with Mexico and Canada. World’s third largest economy. Close to second. I usually call it Canada++ but Mexico++ would also be fine. Or some other name. New Mexico is also welcome. Maybe Arizona. No Texans, though. Too many obnoxious blowhards.

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Texas has a lot of good people - it's just that the GOP has managed to redistrict them into apparent silence (from the outside). On the inside, there is a lot of blue life!

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Yes, I know. Have a brother among them, and Lawrence Wright, who knows what he’s takling about, says Texas would be blue now if the Latino electorate voted at the same rate as they do in California (but with the new suppression laws, that’ll never happen). Regardless (or “irregardless” as W, the village idiot and former chief blowhard would say), the blowhards are just too obnoxious to bear. No Texas in Mexico++. Ironic, I know, but that’s what happens when the loudmouths hold the floor.

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Canamex, Mexica, Mexida,

Canado, Pacifica?

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Yes. NYC welcome. That would get us close to second largest economy, not far below China.

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Well at least linguistically, the cultural shock would be minimized.

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And of course, California as well. Read the writings and prognostications of George Friedman on this subject.

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Yes. I know Friedman's work well. I live one State over and here in Southern AZ we refer to ourselves as citizens of Baja. If we could, we'd lobby to negate the Gadsden Purchase. But, then there is this matter of Sen. Synema - I'm not too sure the Mexican folk would want her as a representative.

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Did you know that when California became a state, a law was created that made it mandatory for the teaching of both English and Spanish in California schools. It may still be on the books, but I doubt Spanish is a mandatory subject. That is a shame for all Americans not to know at least two languages.

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Any many can't speak our own national language well or correctly. We are educationally lazy people.

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When I taught high school in Tustin, CA, 1990s - 2003, the school had a student population that spoke about 35 different languages. Most of them spoke English, many of them spoke a different language at home, and some of them needed classes in English as a Second Language. It was interesting getting to know a little about the various cultural backgrounds of students who came into my classroom.

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Language carries the culture. If we can't use it correctly, the culture fails. Researchers at Standford even note that the way you speak or tweet can betray your political affiliation. “Understanding what different groups of people say and why is the first step in determining how we can help bring people together. This research can also help us figure out how polarization spreads and how it changes over time.” https://news.stanford.edu/2019/06/25/analyzing-tweets-republicans-democrats/

How we speak forms us as a person and predicts our behavior.

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When I was in elementary school in the Bay Area, we started classes in Spanish in 5th grade. There may have been other choices available, but I was in Spanish class because it just made sense to study a language I could use every day in my community.

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Also California, southwestern Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

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Although it all belonged for many hundreds of centuries (at least) to the indigenous people of the Americas. My impression, however, is that ownership of land was a concept introduced by Europeans.

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Interesting thought.

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Of course Texas and most of the other western states were part of Mexico.

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It is now.

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Jack, you are spot on about DeSantis, and others like him, not being blithering idiots but adept practitioners of various political cons and slights of hand to keep their base stupified and numb to reality.

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Would you buy a used car from DeSantis?

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You're kidding me, right? I wouldn't buy squat from DeSantis! You mistake me for someone else I think😉

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No! No! I know you wouldn't. It was a wink-wink, nudge-nudge, knowhatimean?

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😆! I know that I was being cantankerous!

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Morning Jack. He is not a blithering idiot in only that he knows how to follow his instructions from and pander to the Heritage Foundation and the bullhorn bullsh*t reaching his ears from Mar-a-Lardo.

As far as knowing how to pander to the electorate? Idiot. He forgot about a very large swath of the electorate.

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Not a large enough swath, apparently, and with the voter suppression measures the Republican legislature is busy strengthening, Florida will continue to be governed by a viciously cruel kakistocracy for the foreseeable future. Probably far beyond the foreseeable future.

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We shall see. Following his no mask debacle? The swath increases.

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Kakistocracy - had to look that one up. I assumed it was related to 'cack-handed', as in clumsy, or crappy. But kak (meaning 'worst') works just as well.

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And in French slang, "ka ka" means shit.

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I would still say he *is* governing like one, in his ignorance of the consequences. But if you don't like "Blithering Idiot", how about "Vile Poltroon"?

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That works, too.

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His IQ and education might indicate otherwise, but his actions appear to denote that he is an evil blithering idiot, regardless.

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How about Florameaula or Costa Stupido?

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Costa Stupido

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Is it fair to use a Spanish appellation? Actually, not being a Floridian, I don't know how appropriate that would be - perhaps the right-leaning bent of second or third gen Cuban-Americans makes that a fair choice?

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He could lose Florida as Gov,in order to win the presidency. I think this is what he is calculating.

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Interesting theory, but the same factors which might cause him to lose in Florida in 2022 might cause him to lose nationally as well. But I am not so certain he will lose in 'Floriduh,' a State which elected him as well as Rubio and Scott and where the Republicans play dirty, backing shadow independent candidates with the same last name as Democratic legislative candidates to siphon off votes ... which works for them.

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Rethuglicans dirty tricks. Fitting Roger Stone lives there.

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Reptile climate.

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I wonder if iDJT will campaign for him though, given his disdain for the gov. That, and his need to vanquish all rivals.

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Ted, How would that work? If he loses Floridah in 2022 doesn't that do major brand damage nationally. Can't win his home state kind of thing?

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what other Gov and senators lost a state election and used their loss, to springboard nationally?

He’s all about keeping the National Trumppets agitated and thus donating. It could work with continued gerrymandering and voter suppression in swing states. This terrifies me. We have to consider it, in order to prevent it.

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With a very strange demographic pyramid.

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