The Miami Herald points out that Governor Desantis’ efforts to eliminate the rights of LGBT people have not fared well in the courts. However, he will appeal all the decisions he has lost to higher courts in hopes of finding bigoted judges who agree with him. He is s petty, vengeful man who has pledged to control the courts and the Justice Departnent if elected President and make them instruments of his war on WOKE
Multiple federal court decisions have frozen key portions of Ron DeSantis’ campaign against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in recent weeks, complicating the Florida governor’s efforts to present himself as a conservative champion with a track record of winning cultural battles over LGBTQ causes.
In the last week alone, the DeSantis administration faced setbacks in three legal battles over LGBTQ rights. Judges rejected state efforts to block transgender adults’ access to gender-affirming care under Medicaid, bar transgender children from accessing puberty blockers, and ban minors from certain types of live entertainment at restaurants – legislation widely interpreted as a proposal to target drag shows.
DeSantis’ agenda has hit other roadblocks, with judges blocking portions of his plans to control teaching and training on gender identity in schools and workplaces. The governor also faces ongoing litigation over his efforts t0 ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams of their declared gender and to restrict access to school books, including those with LGBTQ themes.
His pressure on private industry has faced challenges, as well, with Disney — one of the state’s largest employers — suing the governorclaiming he overstepped his power in taking punitive action against the company over its opposition to policies the company viewed as hostile to the LGBTQ community. DeSantis is pushing for the federal trial to start after the 2024 presidential election. In the meantime, Disney will host a major LGBTQ conferencein Florida this September that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is this what Hawvid Law training buys you?
Unpresidented legal losses?
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He’s now promising to abolish the IRS.
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And Education and Commerce and Energy
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Sounds like he attended the Donald Trump school of presidential campaigning: be the guy who says the most outrageous ___t.
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Trump actually may sound more reasonable lately than Rhonda Santis. Not sure it’s accurate but if it’s even a close call that’s really saying something.
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IKR?
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Trump is more reasonable than DeSantis. To me. Trump is all about himself. DeSantis wants power so he can crush Blacks, Gays, and anyone else whom he hates. Trump is a narcissist; DeSantis is a disciplined fascist.
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Diane My guess is that DeSantis wants to get rid of the IRS because that’s the most fervent wish of the royal rich among us–whose support is HIS most fervent wish. CBK
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I saw the IRS thing and I was like, this guy is now officially just another wacko. Strong Rick Perry vibes. This is the right-wing equivalent of “Abolish ICE.” Except it’s even more insane.
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And Energy and Commerce! Utterly blooming nuts
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DeFascist May persuade the average low-information voter that eliminating the IRS means no more taxes.
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One day we will hear that DeSantis sexually assaulted a young male campaign worker or downloaded underage gay porn.
Anybody want to take that bet. Or after Matt Schlapp ,Ali Alexander,Dennis Hastert, and,and, and … , do I have to offer better odds.
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DeSantis is finding that his culture war issues that have catapulted him in Florida have failed to propel him in Iowa, and, hopefully, elsewhere. He is quickly becoming a fascist joke. He has no charisma, and his speeches make him sound like chronic complainer instead of a national leader. What is does have is an enormous war chest from right wing extremists. DeSantis has lots of skeletons in his closet as he is also corrupt. The left needs to exploit these weaknesses.
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Bloomberg had much more money than DeSantis and it wasn’t enough to make him a contender.
My hope is that the more DeSantis campaigns and makes hatred his platform, the more he cancels himself out. He seems to think that hating gays will clinch the nomination for him, but even Republicans have gay family members.
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I agree that DeSantis is petty and vengeful. I abhor his authoritarian tactics. However, none of these are Gay and Lesbian rights issues. This is a list of Transactivist issues that even many trans people disagree with.
As I have discussed before on this blog, many children are getting access to puberty blockers which affect bone density, brain development, healthy bodies, sex organs and the ability to experience orgasms. Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, and the UK have all regulated access to puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries in young people to very tightly regulated experimental research only, as the evidence base is quite weak on childhood transition. I stand with detransitioners who are struggling to get their messages out about how poorly they were served by the gender affirming model as it is currently practiced and unregulated in the United States. Here is a Twitter thread that links the YouTube videos of the several brave detransitioners who gave testimony in Florida to make sure that these experimental and unregulated procedures do not happen to other young vulnerable people. As you may note, the majority of detransitioners are female, many of whom are gay and had comorbidities such as depression, anorexia, or autism, which were not addressed when doctors rushed to medicalize their temporary discomfort in their pubescent bodies.
As far as trans people participating in sports, no one has any problem with this, however, they must play in their biological category. It
is not fair or safe for women and girls to compete and be overpowered physically by male bodies. The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) was recently created to fight back against these new “inclusion” policies that are taking away prizes, scholarships, and spaces for female athletes. We must recognize the psychological harm on female athletes being overpowered physically by male bodied athletes, and we must not condone male physical dominance to be displayed and celebrated against women and girls in any form. If trans women do not want to create a new sports category or compete against biological men, we need to ask why not.
On one more issue, that of bringing children into drag shows. I don’t know how many of you have ever been to a drag show, but I have been to many and I count drag artists among my friends. I worked as an ecdysiast for seven years in my twenties. Drag shows are not much different from strip shows. Is there any room for a moderate and informed response about taking kids to drag shows by strippers and drag performers ourselves? I love drag shows because they are illicit and both sexy and sexist parodies of women and gender- very adult concepts. I never imagined drag shows would be appropriate for children. Do we want children to understand women to be the way that male drag queens imagine them? Drag queens are extremely exaggerated mock ups of women- overtly sexualized, big breasts, big hair, excessive make-up. I like hanging out with drag queens at sultry nightclubs, but NOT with children. These shows are 18/21 and older for reasons! Florida Drag Queen Kitty Demure explains exactly why drag shows are not for kids: https://youtu.be/fMSZdI2KVko
Gay satirist Andrew Doyle also explains why drag shows aren’t for kids here: https://unherd.com/2022/08/drag-shows-arent-for-children/
I hope I have left you with a few ideas from those of us who are fighting to get vulnerable voices platformed by mainstream media. I leave you with one more interesting discussion on these issues with investigative journalist, Glenn Greenwald. I appreciate how Greenwald, a gay man himself, discusses how gay rights platforms have been monetarily encouraged to seek a broader application of issues that are very divisive and may even be harmful for gay rights themselves. The interview with Greenwald begins at minute 12. https://youtu.be/PmvrOTRGYSg
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Sasha,
I recently attended my very first drag show. It was a drag Queen bingo party. Any child could have attended. It was a silly, happy, goofy show.
You do your cause no good by exaggerating. Drag queen story hours at libraries are completely innocent. Parents bring their children. Why do you want to take away parental rights?
Should children be banned from seeing “Some Like It Hot” or “Tootsie” or “Mrs. Doubtfire?” Drag is thousands of years old. Women were not allowed to perform in the stage until the 19th century. Before then, men dressed as women.
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Great job Sasha, poor Diane would bring her 7-10 year old kids to these sick shows if she could. If it wasn’t for Trump there would be no Desantis , sole reason Desantis climbed and won. Globalists and RINOS like Paul Ryan, BUsh’s, cheneys. soros etc want Desantis, guess what Trump is going to easily win.
https://www.lucianne.com/2023/07/02/i_was_a_confused_teenage_boy_who_had_transgender_surgery_to_become_a_woman_aged_19_it_destroyed_my_life_four_years_later_im_back_being_a_man_110626.html
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Josh, my children are 61 and 56.
My grandchildren range from 10-30. They have seen far racier shows on Broadway than the drag show I attended.
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Hi Diane! If drag shows were goofy performances fit for children on par with Tootsie, there would be no issue, other than for a few extremists. My parents took me and my girlfriends to see Tootsie for my birthday when I was in middle school and it was great! But, Tootsie and male actors donning female attire for female roles is not the same as drag shows. As I mentioned I have been to many drag shows and as a former performer myself, I count among my friends several drag artists. Drag shows are almost always for adults, with adult themes, and heightened sexuality being key. We tip our sexy drag artists with dollar bills in their g-strings and between their cleavage and their twerking butts. Flashing the audience is par for the course. Silly sexy fun for adults, not for children. If I come out to New York, I will personally guide you through the world of drag. Or come see me in San Francisco! I encourage you to read and listen to the gay men I posted above who are telling you exactly what I am telling you. You can easily google children and overtly sexualized drag shows to find several examples of bad parenting and questionable drag artists. The more the left dismisses words of caution about bringing children to drag shows by bringing up Tootsie and female roles played by men, the more we show our complete naivety. Where’s the nuance and consideration for the opinions of many of us in these communities telling it like it is?
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As Wanda Sykes said, “when I see a drag queen with an AR-15, that’s when I’ll worry.” This is a manufactured crisis. Drag queens and drag shows have been around forever. Why are they suddenly a source of terror?
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Drag shows and drag queens have been around forever. Why are they suddenly a source of terror?
Nailed it, Diane. They aren’t. This is a manufactured problem, Reich-wingers stirring up a moral panic over nothing in order to keep the base at a fever pitch.
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I expect google can find all sorts of examples of bad parenting and questionable entertainers performing when a minor is present. Laws against such things diminish all citizens’ civil liberties. That’s why they should be imposed very sparingly—only when they pass “strict scrutiny.”
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DeSantis also wants to end birthright citizenship. This, ofc, is a protected Constitutional right.
The ONLY explanations for such a stance are racism and an appeal to racism.
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From the few pieces I’ve read about DeSantis vs Biden in the 2024 general election, the polls mentioned in those pieces say DeSantis leads Biden by a slim margin, and he could beat Biden, but Trump cannot beat Biden by a wide margin.
Still, the same polls say DeSantis cannot beat Trump in the Republican Primaries. If Trump ends up the front runner and runs for president again, all that means is a much younger DeSantis will be back to try again in 2028, as long as he keeps his hold on the fascist loving MAGA voters that control the Republican primaries with their votes.
If Traitor Trump manages to stays out of prison and loses in 2024, will he try again in 2028? Even though that is not his intent, Trump may end up being our greatest weapon to defeat the fascist movement in the U.S.
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I tried posting earlier, but I think it was too long. I’ve broken down my comments into 3 parts.
Comment #1
I agree that DeSantis is petty and vengeful. I abhor his authoritarian tactics and I hope he suffers political death. However, none of the issues brought up here are Gay and Lesbian rights issues. This is a list of Transactivist issues that even many trans people disagree with.
As I have discussed before on this blog, many children are getting access to puberty blockers which affect bone density, brain development, sex organs and the ability to experience orgasms. Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, and the UK have all regulated access to puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries in young people to very tightly regulated experimental research only, as the evidence base is quite weak on childhood transition. I stand with detransitioners who are struggling to get their messages out about how poorly they were served by the gender affirming model as it is currently practiced and unregulated in the United States. Here is a Twitter thread that links the YouTube videos of the several brave detransitioners who gave testimony in Florida to make sure that these experimental and unregulated procedures do not happen to other young vulnerable people. As you may note, the majority of detransitioners are female, many of whom are gay and had comorbidities such as depression, anorexia, or autism, which were not addressed when doctors rushed to medicalize their temporary discomfort in their pubescent bodies.
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Comment #2
As far as trans people participating in sports, no one has any problem with this, however, they must play in their biological category. It is not fair or safe for women and girls to compete and be overpowered physically by male bodies. The Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) was recently created to fight back against these new “inclusion” policies that are taking away prizes, scholarships, and spaces for female athletes. We must recognize the psychological harm on female athletes being overpowered physically by male bodied athletes, and we must not condone male physical dominance to be displayed and celebrated against women and girls in any form. If trans women do not want to create a new sports category or compete against biological men, we need to ask why not.
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Comment #3
On one more issue, that of bringing children into drag shows. I don’t know how many of you have ever been to a drag show, but I have been to many and I count drag artists among my friends. I worked as an ecdysiast for seven years in my twenties. Drag shows are not much different from strip shows. Is there any room for a moderate and informed response about taking kids to drag shows by strippers and drag performers ourselves? I love drag shows because they are illicit and both sexy and sexist parodies of women and gender- very adult concepts. I never imagined drag shows would be appropriate for children. Do we want children to understand women to be the way that male drag queens imagine them? Drag queens are extremely exaggerated mock ups of women- overtly sexualized, big breasts, big hair, excessive make-up. I like hanging out with drag queens at sultry nightclubs, but NOT with children. These shows are 18/21 and older for reasons! Florida Drag Queen Kitty Demure explains exactly why drag shows are not for kids: https://youtu.be/fMSZdI2KVko
Gay satirist Andrew Doyle also explains why drag shows aren’t for kids here: https://unherd.com/2022/08/drag-shows-arent-for-children/
I hope I have left you with a few ideas from those of us who are fighting to get vulnerable voices platformed by mainstream media. I leave you with one more interesting discussion on these issues with investigative journalist, Glenn Greenwald. I appreciate how Greenwald, a gay man himself, discusses how gay rights platforms have been monetarily encouraged to seek a broader application of issues that are very divisive and may even be harmful for gay rights themselves. The interview with Greenwald begins at minute 12. https://youtu.be/PmvrOTRGYSg
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1.I will keep my mouth shut for the moment on laws about access of minors to trans medical treatment. Need to do more research. My general leaning is that this is an issue for medical professional organizations. Legislation could well have the particular side effect we’ve seen with abortion restriction—subjecting those with non-routine pregnancy problems to dangerous practices not conforming to standards of medical care. I would want to see reliable stats backing up every claim you make about this. Also text of laws on the related laws in Euro countries, if they are actually laws.
2.As for laws requiring trans to play with birth gender only, give me a break. Here’s an excerpt from UT govr Spencer Cox in his letter explaining his veto:
“75,000 high school kids participating in high school sports in Utah.
4 transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah.
1 transgender student playing girls sports.
86% of trans youth reporting suicidality.
56% of trans youth having attempted suicide.
Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about… Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few.”
The letter contains many other salient points, you should read the whole thing: https://governor.utah.gov/2022/03/24/gov-cox-why-im-vetoing-hb11/
3.As you point out, drag shows already limit admission to 18-21 & above. I am against legislating such minutia on businesses, period. The incidence of children present at drag shows, on the rare occasions it may happen, is not an appropriate topic for a state legislature. Legislating morality needs to be kept to a bare [pun intended] minimum.
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Well said, Ginny!
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From the USCCB website about the web designer SCOTUS case-
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of N.Y.
“This case was never about discrimination. It was about moral disagreement…Together with other faith groups, the USCCB filed an amicus brief in support of Lorie Smith.”
The signers in order of appearance on the document include the USCCB, Colorado Catholic Conference, General Council of the Assemblies of God, the General Conference of 7th Day Adventists, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse. (The president of Samaritan’s Purse is Franklin Graham.)
The executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference was formerly with the Koch network and EdChoice.
Catholic power brokers usurped government function and have positioned Catholic organizations as the nation’s 3rd largest employer. More Americans should be warned about the anticipated consequences.
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In no surprise, two other groups submitting amicus briefs for Lorie Smith were the Koch’s Cato and AFP.
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Since I had nothing better to do, I went ahead and watched the entire video. Here’s my take on all this info. It was a reasonable conversation, with some points made by someone who clearly has both a history and perspective on the LGBTQ movement. The amount of time devoted by the host to the crime and/or sin of nude bike riders at parades (but, but, but..The Children!) was IMO laughable, like people don’t know what we are packing under our clothes. Oh, and kids never see anyone nude on YouTube, and it’s really up to the parents). But there is quite an effort to make some kind of distinction between your average nude person (which shows up at our local Bay to Breakers each year), and nude gay people; the confirmation bias is all over this conversation. That terrible chant? (See, see, they really are coming for your kids, I just knew it!). You know that pesky satirical thing? Along with critical thinking? Do you really believe that, or is confirmation bias once again rearing its ugly head? Note that there were 300,000 estimated attendees at the parade. Why do you think the media fixated on the terrible, horrible, cherry-picked “controversial” parts? Why indeed? Because it generates clicks and $$$. In the end, whether one agrees with some of the “extreme” (?) actors in the parade making things “bad” for the movement, it is a movement that continues to suffer legalized discrimination (something which they did not even discuss in the video). Regardless of how the populace feels about the movement (Mr. Greenwald’s take is that most people are okay with it), red states continue to focus on harmful legislation for political points (bathroom bills, health care, sports, names). The latest Supreme Court decision that allows discrimination against LGBTQ using the veil of free speech is just another huge step backward. In the end, it doesn’t matter how you or I feel about it. It isn’t our business to tell others what to do, how to act, or who to love.
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Hi Oakland mom! You and I have been in the trenches fighting school privatization and charter schools for many years together in the Bay Area. As I stated, the discussion with Greenwald begins at minute 12. The beginning part is interesting and spends too much time talking about nudity in the Pride Parades. Of course there is nudity, it’s a parade that celebrates a sexuality. I’ve worn pretty sexy outfits myself marching in the parades and as a spectator. As far as naked men, they are in the Castro, at Baker Beach, and in the parades. Bring your children if you don’t mind it.
I am far more interested in the type of institutional capture that Greenwald discusses, a capture that is forcing more extreme views, such as the state forcing childhood transitioning on people as if this represents progress for LGBT rights. See AB957 that is making its way through the CA legislature which will allow judges to give custodial rights to the affirming parent, and take away the rights from the parent who doesn’s agree that the young boy who plays with dolls is born in the wrong body and needs puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries to make the young person conform to outdated gender roles.
Greenwald’s discussion is how power corrupts and has even corrupted the LGBT Movement itself into working against its own best interests. While puiblic opinion was much more open and embracing of gay marriage and the right of gay and trans adults to live as they choose, more extremist views are now taken on by the LGBT structures such as the Human Right’s Campaign and GLAAD to continue soliciting donations. Such extremism is now damaging overall public opinion and the rights won by the gay movement in the last 10 years.
Quoting Greenwald:
What has happened is that the gay and lesbian movement, now the LGBTQI2+ moviement . . . has really become a movement of power. Every institution of authority practically is on the side of this movement. They have the banks behind them, corporations behind them, the president hangs the LGBT flag at the White House. It has become a movement that has the support of almost every sector and as a result it has become a bullying movement. Just like any power corrupts people and corrupts movements, I believe that’s what happened with the LGBT movement as well, where it is no longer sufficient to say, “let us live our lives the way we want,” it has now become we’re going to force you to live your life the way we want. We’re going to force you to teach your children things that you don’t believe in. We’re going to force you to affirm ideas that you don’t actually believe and we’re going to tolerate no dissent. Any dissent at all to our agenda we’re going to interpret as some kind of hate crime or something that deserves violence because we’re so convicted and so righteous in 0our movement that anybody who dissents from any part of our agenda is automatically somebody who deserves punishment. And to watch this kind of bullying mentality prevail that really is this kind of characteristic of mob justice. We have all the force on our side, we have all the power. We see these two people over here in this corner and one person over there in that corner who’s speaking ideas that we dislike and now we have to go destroy them. That is something I find extremely alienating and very very contrary to the movement to which I had previously felt an affinity.
On the Human Rights Campaign declaring a state of emergency for LGBT rights, deeming that today it’s worse for LGBT than the 80’s and 90’s:
I mean it’s laughable. It’s so preposterous. That said, it is true that the war that the LGBT movement is now waging on the core animating principles that were responsible for its success in the first place, namely the idea that adults have the right to live their lives however they want. The way it’s deliberately now expanded into talking about people’s children and what should happen to children, even suggesting that people who have children who are confused about their gender or dysphoric in their bodies have the legal responsibility to provide them with medical care that will change their bodies permanently and if they don’t that can be accused of child abuse and have their children from them by a state that has decided that they know better for what those people’s kids than those parents do themselves or just increasingly playing with the fire of talking about “we’re coming for your children.” That video from 2021, the San Francisco choir, the gay choir . . . was all about we’re coming to take your children. Of course it wasn’t about we’re pedophiles and we’re coming to molest your children, but it was playing on that fear deliberately which is something you know you do not do if you’re a minority group trying to persuade people. We spent a lot of time trying to uproot that stereotype because it’s based on so much instinctive impulses. I have kids now. I’m a father. I’m a parent. I understand how visceral the impulse is to protect your kids from anybody you think is going to endanger them or threaten them or put them in any kind of harm’s way. So when you have a movement that is [no longer about adults], but about children and prepubescent teenagers and teenagers and are chanting, “we’re coming for your children” and increasingly wage war on the idea that people have the right to live and let live, but instead are saying, “no, we don’t believe in that any longer. We want to force you to live in accordance with our vision.” What’s happening now is that even the gains that have been won are now starting to be threatened because the culture war has been reopened.
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Sasha– Your characterization of CA SB957 sounds like it was taken from social media, rather from text of bill as amended so far. We saw the same kind of nonsense circulating about related WA SB5599 (which passed).
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A pro-Desantis group put out this video, which can only be described as hate speech. It APPROVINGLY associates DeSantis with the American Psycho and The Wolf of Wall Street. Oh, and oiled-up bodybuilders.
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Bob the idiot supposedly running this country, has stock market in shambles, open borders tons of child sex trafficking, war starting because of him, inflation out of control, energy prices a mess, he cant even spell LGBTQ he cannot walk or talk and this is the moron you support. If I put Trump and Bidens accomplishments without their names associated 100% people choosing Trump. Go back to watching joy reid and pbs lol.
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First, a president does not “run a country.” A country is an extraordinarily complex entity, and some part of what happens there is a result of presidential decision and actions. Second, the year-to-date return on the S&P 500 was 16.93% at the end of June. Third, we don’t have “open borders.” That’s simply ludicrous. So is the notion that Biden is starting a war. If you are referring to Ukraine, that war has been going on for over a year, and Russia is losing. And so on down this ridiculous list. Trump accomplished the deaths of over a million Americans from Covid, the alienation of all our major allies, the propping up of dictators worldwide, several lost elections for Repugnicans, the loss of national security data to our enemies (doubtless), and several concurrent illegal attempts to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States. And your boy is going to prison, Josh. It’s just a matter of time now.
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The Trump maladministration could have been a LOT worse, but more responsible people around him simply refused to carry out a great many of his utterly insane directives, such as withdrawing from NATO, shooting innocent asylum seekers, and sending in the military to beat up and kill BLM protestors.
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Bob
1. RUSSIA is winning and will not lose , wrong there as you been wrong plenty
2. Trump will not be in jail
3. covid was not on trump, he was xenophobic for closing border though right?
4. Obama, clinton, bush, and biden already sold state secrets and gave billions to iran and uranium so wrong again
5. awwww antifa and blm GOT BEAT UP FOR BILLIONS THEWY CAUSED.
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