Winners, Losers and Links
Winners
Vivek - He says the red meat lines the base wants to hear. It’s easy. Just say the lines. No one knows how’d he do much of this but saying that he will is easy to do.
DeSantis - He looked stiff and awkward at times, but compared to the rest of the crowd, he sounded competent and isn’t a has been. Still, he should have waited for ‘28. Imagine a fall of ‘23 where that first awful debate happened the same week of Trump’s mugshot and fourth legal battle and DeSantis was not in the race. People would be clamoring for him and he wouldn’t have the last 6 months of fumbling and flailing tied to him.
Democrats in ‘28 - They may not even have to fortify the election.
Losers
GOP Voters - Future after Trump looks like a return to 2014 with few changes.
Immigration Restrictionists - DeSantis and Vivek mentioned securing the border, but whatever donors want, donors get and little voter, no donor will please you.
Fox News - Someone (Tucker) is going to set up a means to host a debate outside of Fox’s control. The questions were teed up to reinforce Democrat priorities. Misplaced focus does not help.
Links
Signs that Military recruiting is struggling.
Germany looking to ban the AfD or at least sabotage it per EU democratic norms.
Are there still lessons to learn from Vietnam?
Funny discussion of Planet Bass Nationalism.