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tRump's "victory" speech apparently was a real work of art, so I've read...he went on at length saying,

"Just a little note to Nikki. She's not going to win," he said. "But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes, and I can tell you five reasons why already—not big reasons. Little stuff that she doesn't want to talk about," he said.

But she would be under investigation within minutes. And so would Ron [DeSantis] have been, but he decided to get out."

Umm, OK...let's have a little preview of tRump fascism, shall we? And THIS after winning, ffs. Didn't find these lines in the NYT wrapup of NH, surprise-surprise!

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I'm beginning to loathe the NYT. They seem to be auditioning for State Propaganda Rag under the Trump regime. I cancelled my subscription a year ago and sent them a letter telling them exactly why. I wouldn't even wrap fish guts in their waste of paper pulp and ink.

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They are taking the "normalization" of tRump as just a candidate of one of the two major parties to extreme lengths, ignoring his message in favor of writing about his supporters, as if that's all one needs to know about the gobshite.

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I also have had almost enough. When my subscription runs out I won’t be renewing it. I can no longer handle a supposed “respected” journalistic media that posts every idiotic and salacious bit of gossip that Trump spews, all the while blazing headlines about how badly Joe is doing. And now that they have become the blind, deaf and dumb, cheerleaders for Israel posting every story they can find that purports to show how wonderful the Israelis are and how horribly they were treated on Oct 7 2023, while pretty much ignoring that entire genocide thing I’m done with the NYT!

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Would you get a partial refund if you cut the subscription now?

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No, there’s only another month left so I’m just going to let it run out if for no other reason than I enjoy doing the Wordle puzzle every day.

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You don't need a subscription to do Wordle, or Connections, or Spelling Bee

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Really? I thought you had to pay for that separately, no?

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I used to love the NYT! Their paper was perfect for lining the cat cages when I worked at the shelter! Lol

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https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle

I do Connections every day without a subscription.

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I will say that they have published some GREAT (scary) work on various conservative organizations and their goals.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/20/us/dei-woke-claremont-institute.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Pk0.TP7n.0TKVNK6yWVDd&smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR3QQSxCWrN6gT6GCS3Ow6LmeOUCJDUT36rtDfgtZBzz1A1W2GV-6VdP5L8

Nothing "normalizing" about that.

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As with any large reporting org, the main culprits are specific reporters. I'd say Nate Cohn is the worst, and the problem with that is he's their polling "analyst."

He's just awful.

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Jan 24·edited Jan 24

I really think they are just trying not to be seen as the Democrat version of Faux Snooze. I see it with the nightly shows as well. But Susan Linehan is right, they do some fantastic investigative research and exposés. Santos, Alito and Thomas, etc.

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The NYT didn't release anything on Santos until after the election.

And if I'm not mistaken, I believe they picked up the stories on SCOTUS after Popular Information reported on Thomas and Crow.

So as far as I'm concerned, they're playing a day late and a dollar short too often.

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They actually did expose many things first or exclusively, esp. with the apparent ethics dearth in SCOTUS, but today the article linked below was the last straw, so I cancelled. It describes Trump as a strong leader fighting for "Hard working Americans".

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/us/politics/biden-trump-presidential-election.html

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""How not to be seen"...priceless Monty Python sketch, full marks!

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Nothing like a veiled threat to a person that said she would pardon you, maybe she'll rethink that, she should rethink that...for many different reasons...vote 💙

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Jeff Tiedrich also got it right:

"Donald Trump let a girl — a brown girl, at that — take almost half his votes, and that could be a sign of a coming disaster for him this November."

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I guess you saw Tim Scott also throw himself at the feet of Trump. What an absolutely disgusting, self-deprecating display. The Republican party is now comprised of delusional voters and shameless representatives and politicians who kiss the ring of a depraved criminal who, on top of it all, smells bad.

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Tim Scott has gone all lawn jockey, and such a revolting display of craven supplication...feh!

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Stealing "all lawn jockey"

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You're welcome.

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After which he promptly announced his marriage proposal, so they can both be married to immigrants, a great VP talking point (ploy) for sure.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/01/22/tim-scott-engaged-girlfriend-mindy/72310752007/

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Beard? Not that there's anything wrong with that. Well, except for GOP hypocrisy that is.

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It's interesting that his suddenly announced "engagement " followed so closely the rumors about his possibly being " one of those".

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Whoa. Hadn't considered that angle, but after reading "Secret City" (by James Kirchick -- brilliant) I should have.

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Thanks for the recommendation - looks like a fascinating read.

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Oy vey!! I read part of this; I can’t stomach reading the whole thing.

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deletedJan 25
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With Herschel as his date, they were virtually inseparable, or was that literally virtual and over now?

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says the person with with 4 indictments and 91 charges.

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Jan 24Liked by Jay Kuo

Thank you! You give me some reasons for optimism.

I love what you said about Biden: “Biden will be there to remind us why we voted for him before. He’s the sane, boring, effective leader that got us through Covid, brought us out of recession into a strong economy, and held our alliances strong through war and against other grave threats from our enemies.”

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"Haley’s voters are now telling us clearly. They don’t want that guy."

Bingo! Now THAT'S a "takeaway" one won't find in the post-primary MSM writeup!

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“Then he added, “I don't get too angry. I get even.”’ That seems to be the tRump quote all MSM is publishing the day after the NH primary.

Again, the orange marmalade blob of protoplasm that passes for tRump’s brain has made word salad. The correct statement from him should have been “I get angry and I get even”.

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Whatever. These are the words of a mob boss, not of a wanna be president.

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Mob boss? Try seven year old.

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What is it that Steve Miller says in "Living in the USA?" Oh, yeah, Somebody gimme a cheeseburger! So I can throw it against the wall and scare the interns!

Note: Steve Miller is not to be confused with Gestapo Chief-in-Waiting Stephen Miller.

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I love Steve Miller Band. 😂 That will be in my head all day now. 👏👏👏

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Me too! The Stephen Miller band, however, plays bad trombones and marches around in a goose step.

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😂😂 You're so right. Stephen has ZERO rhythm!

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I saw Steve Miller Band many years ago. I loved them.

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Awesome... after all this conversation, I pulled it up on Spotify while I work. Forgot how great they are. Usually I'm head banging. 🤣

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Me too!!

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IIRC, that’s a line from Animal House.

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I keep waiting for the MAGA crowd to wake up or become so bored with the orange man that they shift. Sooner or later it might dawn on them that a jury is not part of the “deep state” but just regular folk like themselves who—once they see what Mr. Cheeto has done— are pretty adamant that he is guilty.

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It will never, ever happen with his base. They are mini Trumps, hanging on every word that drips from his Adderall fueled mouth. They are lost until they die

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I believe it was Mark Twain who said that it is easier to fool a man than to convince him he's been fooled.

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Well, it just happened with an in-law. Who’d been a bundler for a previous R-prez, & had voted for tfg in 2016 & 2020. While not voting for Biden in 2024, at least in-law’s decreting votes in tfg’s column.

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I don't consider every Republican who voted for him (even twice) to be members of the MAGA cult. It's good that ANY Republican abandons him, but if they aren't voting for Biden, they are still indirectly supporting fascism by not doing everything they can to prevent it

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Agree. But baby steps with this in-law. Snowball’s chance in a caldera for this in-law to vote for a progressive. We’re all happy that at least in-law isn’t voting for tfg this time.

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It's already happening with his base. That's why his base is shrinking.

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That and they are getting old and dying off!

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They’re a cult, a cult that adores authoritarians. They’re the enemies of anyone who prizes democracy above all. All Republicans, with very few exceptions, must be voted out.

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Look up Adam Kinzinger’s latest Substack piece on this - well worth the read.

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Thank you. I will! I admire his courage and protection of our Constitution (though he’s way too conservative for me). He’s very attractive, too (can’t help saying that).

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Unlikely. He makes it ok for them to be the worst they can be and publicly spew all the hateful crap they want to spew. That is a powerful magnet.

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I don't think they'll ever wake up, but I've been saying for a long time that more than a few Trump voters bought the TV image and voted for him for essentially entertainment-based reasons, and some number of them are just going to be bored by now.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Heather Cox Richardson mentioned this the other day in her politics chat! - Early primaries / caucuses happen in “low information” states where people are more apt to vote on name recognition rather than policies! Kinda skews the overall run.

Interesting concept!

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I doubt a shift but I detect a noticeable drop in enthusiasm. All that losing has grown too tiresome to put much emotional energy into it is my guess.

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Peggy: 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

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“Indescribably delicious.” That’s how it felt reading your take on last night’s results. Thank you for that desperately needed ray of hope.

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I second your comment! Especially after reading a few substacks depicting the dystopian future that is "inevitable".

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author

I may be an optimist, but I back up my optimism with data and evidence!

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Thank you, particularly for including the significance of Biden's win that is being ignored by MSM.

Nikki Haley has sound political smarts. There are several things that could happen before November that could take Trump out and give her an opening, IF she is still in the race. The donor class will make certain that she is.

I will be looking for a turn-key moment that suddenly capsizes Donald Trump. I believe that it will be sudden and devastating. It could be a stroke or a heart attack. It could be a large blob of feces suddenly appearing at the bottom of his pants cuff. It could be a rant that suddenly becomes undeniably insane raving. You have pointed out to all of us just how rapidly his mental deterioration is evolving. I only expect that to accelerate.

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I think you are right, & I can't wait for that moment of stark reality to happen, that would undeniably block trump from becoming president, that even his followers can't ignore! Bring on the popcorn!

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Not a matter of if, but when will Trump next stumble, and will someone right that falling down weeble-wobble, or will he just disintegrate in place, leaving a saponified clump of glop. Sorry, but he is in body and spirit this amorphous mess, best addressed by a mop, and yes, some Clorox

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If this happens after his nomination, the RNC will be in deep <expletive deleted>. Now who will be next? Nikki or ?.

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great comment--thank you!

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The visuals I'm getting from your statement are awesome. It goes well with one I use frequently, he's (they ) are lower than primordial ooze and waste our valuable oxygen.

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Logical, calm, sane analysis and conclusions. If only more of the MSM did the same.

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Jan 24·edited Jan 24

Over on Faux News, trumps former press secretary Kayliegh McEnany noted: "... 7 in 10 Nikki Haley voters said 'I would not vote for Trump'." Please note that Haley is no better than trump, and would pardon him for all federal crimes; nor does this mean democrats can "relax."

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Haley is objectively better than Trump, but not much better than having, say, Dick Cheney or Mike Pence. She’s terrible on many issues but so far okay on democracy, which is what we are struggling to defend.

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I would like to believe that, but the whole "2025 Plan" is going to make me mistrust any republican presidential candidate that doesn't reject it completely. She didn't endorse the plan, but also didn't discount it. Too many republicans are trying be a softer gentler trump, but there's no such thing as a softer gentler fascist.

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That's exactly where I'm at as well. Agenda 2025 enacts the same no matter the Republican president.

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Haley has absolutely ZERO to lose by going out and torching tRump during the SC primary runup...she's not going to make his VP cut, he's gone all in on insulting her, so Haley's campaign, for example, should produce a montage of tRump's greatest incoherence hits and run with it. Somehow I sense that Haley won't go the bended-knee, ring-kissing route, but go out flaming tRump...sure I could be woefully off-point on this, but one never knows.

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Jan 24·edited Jan 24

My guess is that Haley will stay in the race because 1) Koch is backing her so money isn't that much of an issue and 2) she and Koch expect Trump will not ultimately be the party's nominee due to his legal woes and she'll be poised to step in. Am I wrong? We already know Biden will wipe the floor with Trump, who would be his ideal opponent, but with Haley - how would he stack up? Would she be a game changer at all?

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I think you are correct here, but not sure how long she stays in if she loses by huge numbers.

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The core of trump’s base are die hard misogynists just like he is. Would they vote for a woman? I don’t think so. Of course, they won’t switch to Biden, either. My bet is that they would stay home or, more likely, write in trump’s name on the ballot.

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Jan 24·edited Jan 24

I dunno.... Haley has stated that she would sign a bill barring abortion nationwide. Surely that alone would be enough to appeal to the misogynists. Then again, she could be in the same boat as Ramasmarmy (mispelling intentional) if the base realizes she's not actually as white as her name change is meant to convince them she is.

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TBF- Nikki Haley's name change was not due to wanting to appear more white. Nikki is her middle name and she has gone by that since was a child. She took her husband's last name when she married, like the majority of married women (still) do in this country. Both of those things may have had the effect of Anglicizing her name, but it was not the goal.

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Okay.... but it doesn't change what the reaction could be from the racists in the MAGAt base. They've already stated they think Ramaswamy could be a Muslim/terrorist based solely on his name and ethnicity, not that the MAGAts understand the difference and I'm pretty sure that helped tank his campaign. I would imagine it could do the same to Haley if the right wing propaganda machine deemed it profitable.

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No, but I don't think WE should be putting that information out there-- the idea that she changed her name to be more mainstream or to deal with racists or whatever. She never changed her first name and her last name is simply her married name. If racists in the MAGA base want to start slinging around her more ethnic sounding birth name (and I expect Trump to do this-again - very soon) that's on them.

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I didn't imply that 'we' should. 'We' are not the right wing propaganda machine and I can't imagine anyone on the left compromising our values to do something like that.

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Can you even write-in in the general election? It may vary by state, but I would think that the slate of electors would have to be submitted before the election?

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I wasn’t sure, but a quick search says that most states allow write in votes for presidential elections.

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Just commented above that an in-law — who’d been a bundler for a previous R-prez, & had voted for tfg in 2016 & 2020 — will not vote for tfg this time. Won’t vote for Biden, either, so maybe a write-in vote for Haley, should tfg win primary?

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deletedJan 24
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We haven’t heard whole story. Just found out from single text. Since they live several states away plus are traveling a lot to warmer climes for winter, can’t drop in when in-law’s out to get details. Will be Interesting to find out more. Hope in-law holds to that decision.

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Jan 24Liked by Jay Kuo

Haley just proved how important "independent" voters are - and how much they think of djt!!

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That is where the election is won or lost, so I’m watching this with interest.

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Yes, its great to realize that the independent voters see TFG clearly through the MSM haze, and they don't wan't any part of him! Fantastic news! 🎉

Plus knowing Biden left TFG in the dust with just with a write in campaign is really awesome, too!! 😁

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I think we need to be careful of reading too much into NH one way or the other. There was a campaign by some Democrats to cross over and vote in the R primary, so many of these Independents may actually have been Democrats trying to bring Trump down a notch. And that worked quite well, apparently.

Also look at the absolute numbers. NH is small, and the combined vote count for Trump and Haley less than the population of Bakersfield, California.

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"Sane, boring, effective." YES! Thats exactly what I want in a President. Not an angry, deceitful madman. The folks who can still find it possible to support this obvious criminal will need to be deprogrammed when this is over. Great column today! ✌️💙

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NH Primary Results:

—Reagan’s 2nd - 86%

—George Bush’s 2nd - 81%

—Donald Trump’s 2nd - 86%

(The year Fraud Trump got crushed and flushed by Biden in November 2020!)

—Donald Trump’s 3rd - 54.6%!!!

Conclusion: the Orange Clown, liar, fraud, con, traitor Trump, America’s Presidential Accident and Disgrace, is going to get crushed and flushed in November 2024!

Fraud Trump - World’s Biggest Grifter, Con, Liar and Loser!

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But also:

- 2016 Bernie Sanders: 60.14%, Hillary Clinton: 37.68%

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But Trump is a quasi-incumbent. With one challenger.

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Jan 24Liked by Jay Kuo

Thank you for pointing out the Biden win in New Hampshire. I've worked on write-in campaigns and it's HARD to succeed. Note that the former guy's percentage was only a couple of points above President Biden's. When one considers that Biden didn't spend/campaign/visit N.H. and still pulled over 50% in a write-in campaign , I believe the support for our President is much stronger than the media likes to portray.

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I really think one of these prosecutors is going to find a way to a conviction before the election. So then what? I don't see Trump backing down. He'll still try to run, right? And if the Republican conventioneers (aka lunatics) have the audacity of hopelessness to push him aside, he'll just demand, from prison, that his minions fire up a write-in campaign.

So although some people are scared that Nikki Haley (for example) could take his place, I think he'll command too many votes and destroy the candidacy of whoever tries to replace him.

That is my optimistic scenario, and it's one Republicans would sorely deserve. This party deserves to dissolve into the armpit of history.

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author

My money is on the D.C. case.

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🎲 !!!

I don't have any money! Can I just pray?

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It would be... pleasant... if they would get-a-going with that. Once (if) SCOTUS dispenses with the stupid and annoying immunity appeal, how soon do you think they can get that one underway? I mean - by early summer ain't any too soon.

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deletedJan 24
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I think he'd run even if he wasn't desperate. But the clincher is definitely the fact that it's his only (remote) hope of staying out of prison.

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I don't think he cares about going to prison. He think s people like him just don't go to prison and he may be right. What he cares about is the millions of dollars he owes Putin, MBS and any number of Chinese bankers, which he will never be able to repay without selling American foreign policy and classified secrets. He's flat broke and he's not running to stay out of prison; he's running to stay out of the trunk of a car.

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Good thought. That may also be why he is in a panic about possibly losing his NY empire.

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I think his main concern about his NY empire is that people will find out that he doesn't have one -- that it's 100 percent money laundering for the Russian mob.

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Jan 24Liked by Jay Kuo

Brilliant news we need to hear. Thanks, Jay!

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