Ron DeSantis's fall from the GOP primaries is one of the most dramatic political stories in recent history | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Politics

Ron DeSantis’s fall from the GOP primaries is one of the most dramatic political stories in recent history

Published

 on

Open this photo in gallery:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to the media in the spin room after the fifth Republican presidential primary debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 10.CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA/Getty Images

For months he was a sparkler, a presidential candidate who seemed to light up the Republican political skies, a big-state governor who, like the patriotic fireworks of that name, seemed to have brilliance, strength and remarkable staying power.

But both the problem and potential of Ron DeSantis, who on Sunday withdrew from the race, was that he also resembled the Sparkler, the name that scientists using findings from the James Webb Space Telescope 11 months ago gave to a newly discovered galaxy that looked eerily like a young version of the Milky Way Galaxy.

It turns out that the sparkle fizzled from the Florida Governor precisely because he looks like a young version of the most prominent star in America’s own Republican political galaxy, former president Donald Trump, whom he endorsed in his withdrawal remarks.

And so while Mr. Trump and his pre-eminent challenger, former governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina, were barnstorming New Hampshire in advance of Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary, Mr. DeSantis was hardly visible, a faraway flickering figure who had lost nearly all of his star power.

How Mr. DeSantis fell to Earth is one of the most dramatic political stories of the new century.

“God bless Ron, but he’s done,” New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Ms. Haley, said in an interview Friday night. “He’s out of staff, he’s out of money, there’s no ‘there’ there.”

Suddenly the campaign of Mr. DeSantis resembled nothing so much as a black hole, which NASA describes as “a gravitational field so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.” He’s been absent as his rivals campaign here in the venue of the first presidential primary as he took his campaign out of sight of Granite State voters, primarily to campaign in South Carolina. His hope, now abandoned along with the rest of the effort: embarrass Ms. Haley in her home state and then replace her as the principal alternative to Mr. Trump.

The strategy, which lasted but 48 hours, came less from Star Wars than from the Korean War, General Douglas MacArthur’s daring 1950 gamble to take his understrength forces and mount a surprise offensive behind enemy lines. Gen. MacArthur’s gambit reshaped the conflict on the Korean Peninsula – but it did not lead to a clear victory for a military operation that eventually included 30,000 Canadians, more than 500 of whom perished.

Mr. DeSantis’s prime disadvantage in New Hampshire was that he offered a Laura Secord-style assortment of policies and rhetorical bombast that was nearly indistinguishable from that of Mr. Trump. Voters’ reaction here: He’s a shiny new, sparkly figure, worth a look to be sure, but without the personality, the magnetic appeal, the entertainment value of the original item.

“Why go for Diet Trump when you go for Full Strength Trump?” said Andrew Smith, the University of New Hampshire political scientist who heads the UNH Survey Center. Its latest poll, released Sunday, shows that Mr. DeSantis, who exactly a year ago led Mr. Trump by 43 percentage points to 39, now has sunk to a mere 6 per cent.

“DeSantis tried to be Trump without the Trumpiness,” Mr. Smith said, “but the Trumpiness is the fun thing that the Trump people love.”

At a packed rally in a Manchester hockey arena Saturday night, Mr. Trump had his own brand of fun deriding Mr. DeSantis, saying, “I think he’s gone.”

For months of hard campaigning, Mr. DeSantis did his best, working hard at spiffing up his image; in that regard, think of him as Pierre Poilievre of the Florida peninsula. But by the time he displayed a more approachable, less forbidding style, Ms. Haley, with a more pleasing mien and more moderate political profile, catapulted ahead of him.

The irony is that Mr. Trump, who claims success for Mr. DeSantis’ election as governor, predicted as much seven months ago when he said, “Soon I don’t think he’ll be in second place. So I’ll be attacking someone else.” All week, the former president trained his attacks on Ms. Haley, describing her as a “globalist” and the favourite candidate of Democrats.

Last week The Wall Street Journal called on Mr. DeSantis to “leave the race and give Ms. Haley a chance to take on Mr. Trump one on one.”

Mr. DeSantis’s errors were manifold. His emphasis on abortion – and his approval of Florida’s six-week abortion ban – fell flat among Republicans who saw that abortion politics had been poison for them in the 2022 midterm congressional elections; that’s why both Mr. Trump and Ms. Haley decided to soft-pedal the issue, especially here in a state friendly to abortion rights. He ardently identified with evangelicals in Iowa without recognizing that New Hampshire was the most secular state in the nation and that voters here pay no heed to preachers.

And while Mr. Trump, who has been the largest presence in American media for nine years, has defied the old chestnut that familiarity breeds contempt, Mr. DeSantis discovered in New Hampshire that absence breeds derision. Referring to his second failure to show up at an event at the local Red Fox Bar and Grille, the boldface lead headline in Thursday’s Conway Daily Sun was: “DeSantis no-show in Jackson, again.”

In New Hampshire as in the broader nomination battle, Mr. DeSantis began hearing a constant loop of the soundtrack from the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit, for he has a “long way to go and a short time to get there.”

Increasingly, it appeared that for Mr. DeSantis, the long way to go may be four years away. Indeed, he began talking about voters telling him they wanted to vote for Mr. Trump this time – but for him in 2028.

For Mr. DeSantis, a onetime outfielder who once was the Yale baseball captain, the message of his 2024 campaign in New Hampshire matched the credo of the Boston Red Sox, beloved throughout the Granite State and whose fans waited helplessly and despondently for 86 years for a World Series championship. The message? Wait ‘til next year.

Source link

Politics

Trump is consistently inconsistent on abortion and reproductive rights

Published

 on

 

CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump has had a tough time finding a consistent message to questions about abortion and reproductive rights.

The former president has constantly shifted his stances or offered vague, contradictory and at times nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s election. Trump has been trying to win over voters, especially women, skeptical about his views, especially after he nominated three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the nationwide right to abortion two years ago.

The latest example came this week when the Republican presidential nominee said some abortion laws are “too tough” and would be “redone.”

“It’s going to be redone,” he said during a Fox News town hall that aired Wednesday. “They’re going to, you’re going to, you end up with a vote of the people. They’re too tough, too tough. And those are going to be redone because already there’s a movement in those states.”

Trump did not specify if he meant he would take some kind of action if he wins in November, and he did not say which states or laws he was talking about. He did not elaborate on what he meant by “redone.”

He also seemed to be contradicting his own stand when referencing the strict abortion bans passed in Republican-controlled states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump recently said he would vote against a constitutional amendment on the Florida ballot that is aimed at overturning the state’s six-week abortion ban. That decision came after he had criticized the law as too harsh.

Trump has shifted between boasting about nominating the justices who helped strike down federal protections for abortion and trying to appear more neutral. It’s been an attempt to thread the divide between his base of anti-abortion supporters and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.

About 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to restrict them in statewide votes over the past two years.

Trump also has been repeating the narrative that he returned the question of abortion rights to states, even though voters do not have a direct say on that or any other issue in about half the states. This is particularly true for those living in the South, where Republican-controlled legislatures, many of which have been gerrymandered to give the GOP disproportionate power, have enacted some of the strictest abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Currently, 13 states have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while four more ban it after six weeks — before many women know they’re pregnant.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups and their Republican allies in state governments are using an array of strategies to counter proposed ballot initiatives in at least eight states this year.

Here’s a breakdown of Trump’s fluctuating stances on reproductive rights.

Flip-flopping on Florida

On Tuesday, Trump claimed some abortion laws are “too tough” and would be “redone.”

But in August, Trump said he would vote against a state ballot measure that is attempting to repeal the six-week abortion ban passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

That came a day after he seemed to indicate he would vote in favor of the measure. Trump previously called Florida’s six-week ban a “terrible mistake” and too extreme. In an April Time magazine interview, Trump repeated that he “thought six weeks is too severe.”

Trump on vetoing a national ban

Trump’s latest flip-flopping has involved his views on a national abortion ban.

During the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a national abortion ban: “Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.”

This came just weeks after Trump repeatedly declined to say during the presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris whether he would veto a national abortion ban if he were elected.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said in an interview with NBC News before the presidential debate that Trump would veto a ban. In response to debate moderators prompting him about Vance’s statement, Trump said: “I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness. And I don’t mind if he has a certain view, but I don’t think he was speaking for me.”

‘Pro-choice’ to 15-week ban

Trump’s shifting abortion policy stances began when the former reality TV star and developer started flirting with running for office.

He once called himself “very pro-choice.” But before becoming president, Trump said he “would indeed support a ban,” according to his book “The America We Deserve,” which was published in 2000.

In his first year as president, he said he was “pro-life with exceptions” but also said “there has to be some form of punishment” for women seeking abortions — a position he quickly reversed.

At the 2018 annual March for Life, Trump voiced support for a federal ban on abortion on or after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

More recently, Trump suggested in March that he might support a national ban on abortions around 15 weeks before announcing that he instead would leave the matter to the states.

Views on abortion pills, prosecuting women

In the Time interview, Trump said it should be left up to the states to decide whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor women’s pregnancies.

“The states are going to make that decision,” Trump said. “The states are going to have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.”

Democrats have seized on the comments he made in 2016, saying “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions.

Trump also declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone, claiming that he has “pretty strong views” on the matter. He said he would make a statement on the issue, but it never came.

Trump responded similarly when asked about his views on the Comstock Act, a 19th century law that has been revived by anti-abortion groups seeking to block the mailing of mifepristone.

IVF and contraception

In May, Trump said during an interview with a Pittsburgh television station that he was open to supporting regulations on contraception and that his campaign would release a policy on the issue “very shortly.” He later said his comments were misinterpreted.

In the KDKA interview, Trump was asked, “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?”

“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump responded.

Trump has not since released a policy statement on contraception.

Trump also has offered contradictory statements on in vitro fertilization.

During the Fox News town hall, which was taped Tuesday, Trump declared that he is “the father of IVF,” despite acknowledging during his answer that he needed an explanation of IVF in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.

Trump said he instructed Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to “explain IVF very quickly” to him in the aftermath of the ruling.

As concerns over access to fertility treatments rose, Trump pledged to promote IVF by requiring health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for it. Such a move would be at odds with the actions of much of his own party.

Even as the Republican Party has tried to create a national narrative that it is receptive to IVF, these messaging efforts have been undercut by GOP state lawmakers, Republican-dominated courts and anti-abortion leaders within the party’s ranks, as well as opposition to legislative attempts to protect IVF access.

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Saskatchewan Party’s Scott Moe, NDP’s Carla Beck react to debate |

Published

 on

 

Saskatchewan‘s two main political party leaders faced off in the only televised debate in the lead up to the provincial election on Oct. 28. Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe and NDP Leader Carla Beck say voters got a chance to see their platforms. (Oct. 17, 2024)

Source link

Continue Reading

Politics

Saskatchewan political leaders back on campaign trail after election debate

Published

 on

 

REGINA – Saskatchewan‘s main political leaders are back on the campaign trail today after hammering each other in a televised debate.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is set to make an announcement in Moose Jaw.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck is to make stops in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

During Wednesday night’s debate, Beck emphasized her plan to make life more affordable and said people deserve better than an out-of-touch Saskatchewan Party government.

Moe said his party wants to lower taxes and put money back into people’s pockets.

Election day is Oct. 28.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version