In 2016, Virginia’s Ken Cuccinelli was one of the lead voices behind the never-Trump pro-Cruz effort.  Cuccinelli was the main floor voice trying to lead a revolt against Donald Trump at the 2016 GOP nomination convention.

After President Trump won the nomination, Cuccinelli became a fake MAGA supporter in order to retain influence in Republican politics; however, he was always of a never-Trump disposition despite President Trump letting bygones be bygones for the Cruz folks.

Now we enter 2024 and Ken Cuccinelli, a political grifter of the most extreme variant, goes back into never-Trump mode in support of Ron DeSantis and launches a Political Action Committee to support the Florida Governor. [LINK]

[Twitter Link]

…[…] The Trump campaign isn’t alone in preparing for a delegate fight. Other prominent Republicans, including Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general and a top delegate expert, have been discussing amendments to the delegate rules, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Cuccinelli declined to comment, saying only that he was not publicly committed to a candidate. (March 4, 2023)

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It’s a local Florida story and multi-faceted. However, for the bigger national audience the issue that should be considered is that Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republican party took $9+ million in campaign contributions from state energy providers, then approved the biggest electricity rate hikes in Florida history.

Additionally, and more obscure in the outcome, the Public Service Commission (Public Utility Commission, or PUC), after being filled with DeSantis appointees, informed the electricity providers they no longer needed to report the number of residents who were disconnected from utility service due to nonpayment.

One could make the intellectual and political argument, the scale of disconnection -which is quite alarming- would be averse to the interests of Governor DeSantis seeking a higher office.

Like much of the country, electricity rates in Florida have skyrocketed with the increase in natural gas prices.  However, unlike much of the country, most Florida residents have only one option for electrical utility power.  The rate of disconnection in Florida amid lower income and working families is far greater than almost any other state.  Florida is quickly becoming a class-driven society with haves and have-nots.

FLORIDA –  […] In November 2021, Florida’s Public Service Commission (PUC) issued a memorandum allowing  electric utilities to stop disclosing their shutoff data. The memorandum, which reversed the commission’s September 2020 decision to collect the data to track the pandemic’s effects on utility customers, came after DeSantis stacked the board with his appointees. The move came less than a month after commission members approved the largest electric rate hike in Florida’s history, resulting in a 20 percent increase in costs to residential ratepayers.

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The latest YouGov poll [raw data here] shows why FL Gov Ron DeSantis is about to make the biggest political mistake of his career by launching a challenge against Donald Trump.

If you listen to the professional media pundits who give, and attempt to sway, opinion – and if you listen to the statements from the professional Republican class that wants to remove Donald Trump from the party, you will hear this general talking point:

“The Republican Party needs to appeal to a younger, more ethnically diverse audience to maximize the ‘big tent’ size of the party.”…

There are many current variations of this talking point, but generally speaking this ‘big tent new Republican Party‘ message is what you hear from the Karl Rove, Nikki Haley, Chris Sununu, Mitch McConnell, Ronna McDaniel and the entirety of the cocktail class Republican circuit.  It is a common talking point amid all the professional pundits.

However, to point out the nonsense of their argument, if we take them at their word, what we find in almost every Republican poll demographic Donald Trump’s biggest base of support is younger, less wealthy, working class voters of every ethnicity.  As outlined in the YouGov Poll cited, Donald Trump literally brings to the GOP exactly what they claim to want.  Yet these professional Republican voices use their talking point to frame a narrative against Trump.

Check out the data against the GOPe talking point.  As we have previously discussed, the younger the voter the more support for Donald Trump.  The support for Donald Trump also increases with Hispanic voters.  It is only in the very wealthy white voters where you find support increasing for Ron DeSantis; this is the exact opposite of what the professional pundits claim in print and broadcast media.

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Comrade ‘crackers‘, there were moments in the before time when many people, most believing the narrative engineering from the professional political media, thought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be a voice for freedom and democracy.  However, those thoughts dispatched quickly when the actions of the former comedic actor showed a deep red totalitarian underbelly and opposition parties were made illegal, the state took control over all media and even religion was deemed adverse to the interests of the state.

History indeed rhyming, as the ‘new Ukranian democratic norms‘ merged with the totalitarian fiats and timing around the pandemic.

Perhaps we should not have been surprised given that Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the entire European Union were quick to exploit the opportunity COVID-19 created.

Essential citizen definitions quickly promoted, digital identifiers manifested, vaccine passports rushed to assembly, bar and QR code scans for human activity created gateways for permission granted by the state.  Meanwhile unregistered movement was restricted, quarantine camps set up and mandatory vaccine compliance was the law.

So, we travel 5,000 miles west from Ukraine, arrive in the sunshine state of Florida circa 2022/2023 and watch as State government takes control over private industry, new laws dictate rules upon local school boards, proposed laws now discussed to ban opposition parties, state officials inserted into newly created government agencies as monitors to regulate commercial activity, and then suddenly something within the latest development under Governor Ron DeSantis starts to rhyme with Ukraine.

FLORIDA – […] Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would require any blogger writing about government officials to register with the Florida Office of Legislative Services or the Commission on Ethics.

Yes comrade crackers, the skin of the state is so thin to criticism that words create harm against public officials and must be regulated.  Permission to criticize must now be requested and registered with the state government or face financial penalties.

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In his opening monologue tonight, Tucker Carlson notes the danger of weak people taking on positions of leadership.  Their weakness provides the opportunity for those in actual control of the offices to wreak havoc without consequence.  WATCH:

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According to Jacksonville 4 News Governor Ron DeSantis spent last weekend “huddled behind closed doors at a south Florida luxury hotel for a “Freedom Blueprint” retreat with more than 100 donors, elected officials and conservative influencers.”  According to the report from those present, “Laura Ingraham hosted a fireside chat with DeSantis on Sunday.” 

You would think this ongoing network and relationship would need a mention, perhaps even a disclaimer, if the Fox News pundit was going to follow up with additional promotion of the same candidate.  Alas, as more people become familiar with the tactics of the professionally Republican, what ends up being highlighted is the transparent effort to manipulate the viewer.  WATCH:

https://youtu.be/lsFqpBZ3Y94

Factually, I’m tired of the lies and manipulations.  It is difficult not to loathe these creatures now.

Ms Ingraham continues her hypocritical false front as a conservative. {GO DEEP} This weekend the multinational lobbying group Club for Growth, headed by David McIntosh, are assembling a strategy session with big Wall Street donors to organize the multi-candidate roadmap for Ron DeSantis.

(Via CBS) – A GOP source familiar with the closed-door donor retreat by the conservative Club for Growth confirmed to CBS News that the group is hosting a closed-press donor retreat for 2024 hopefuls during the same time as CPAC this week. 

Club for Growth’s annual retreat will be held at the opulent Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, just three miles from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. However, Club for Growth, which has been public about looking to move the GOP past Trump, did not invite the former president to the retreat. 

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Fox News has a big sad today.

CONTEXT – After months of promoting Ron DeSantis to become the 2024 GOP nominee, which includes the efforts of Rupert Murdoch (and family) via a multimillion-dollar Harper Collins book deal for the Florida governor; lengthy friendly interviews with DeSantis on every program; a full feature infomercial running on Fox News to present him to the national audience; attendance by key program pundits at DeSantis donor events and campaign organization meetings; weeks of specific messaging coordinated with board member Paul Ryan – and the consulting efforts of Karl Rove with the DeSantis operation; they are just not able to move the needle.

With the DeSantis book launch officially taking place today, Fox News Corp sends Brian Kilmeade to Florida to assist the DeSantis operation.  Producers used the entire Fox and Friends morning programming to support the intent and Ron DeSantis’s ‘big day’. [See Long Video Here]  However, when Brian Kilmeade broadcasts live from the Metro Diner in Ponte Vedra beach to promote the DeSantis narrative, the diners at the venue did not go along with the anticipated narrative. {Direct Rumble Link}

What follows in the live broadcast becomes a hilarious exhibition in how media-driven astroturf propaganda runs directly into the reality of the situation.  It really is quite funny to see the escalating desperation of Mr. Kilmeade as he asks whether the audience supports Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis for the 2024 GOP nomination and cannot find anyone who puts DeSantis first – even the lady wearing the DeSantis T-shirt supports Trump first. WATCH:

But wait, it gets better….. Even more funny.

Corporate Fox News is not going to give up, they had this whole production scripted.  Karl Rove who is a key consultant in the managing and branding effort, is left retreating to the narrative that DeSantis doesn’t need to do anything yet. {Direct Rumble Link} Watch below:

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Here’s a question I have.  I am looking forward to your opinion. I have my own.

In the Trump -vs- DeSantis storyline the following data points are generally agreed:

♦Approximately 75% of the Big Con “INFLUENCERS” (Big $) and punditry Support Ron DeSantis
♦Approximately 25% of the Small “Influencers” (Small $) and Indy punditry Support Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, amid the voting base the inverse is true:

♦Approximately 25% of the conservative, working-class, base voters support Ron DeSantis
♦Approximately 75% of the conservative, working-class, base voters support Donald Trump

Reconcile this inversion.  What does it mean?

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Fox News is running an hour-long campaign infomercial to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis winning the 2024 GOP primary nomination.  Inside the political messaging, Jeb Bush gives his full-throated endorsement. {Direct Rumble Link} WATCH:

Based on current available evidence, the announcement of a 2024 presidential bid is a mere formality, likely to surface later in 2023, as all the background datapoints reflect the strategic and financial team behind Ron DeSantis have been positioning an announcement since late 2021.   One visible datapoint has been his campaign office, specifically his then spokesperson Christina Pushaw, reaching out to a group of Florida influencers and organizing a meeting on January 6, 2022.

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Around July 2022 was when CTH first noticed the visible fingerprints of a coordinated GOPe strategy toward the goal of presenting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the acceptable Republican candidate to remove the threat of the America First MAGA movement.

At first, I didn’t say anything, preferring to watch and check the data points to see if they all aligned in this one visible direction.  However, as soon as the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago took place and DeSantis went into a bunker, it became obvious there was a working plan in place {Go Deep}.

From that early August moment forward, the background pretenses became increasingly obvious. The rebranding, the new communication team, the national launch, the funding mechanisms, the Rupert Murdoch funded book tour, the social media and Big Con media effort… all of it flowing in one direction.

Once this recognition was made, then hindsight could be applied.  How long had this been planned?  The early review was simple, there was a January 6, 2022, assembly of ‘conservative influencers’ arranged by Christina Pushaw sometime in late December 2021.  However, since then a deeper look would reflect the strategy was in place likely going back to when Pushaw first joined the DeSantis team.

With trillions at stake, the anti-America First insurance policy that DeSantis provides is worth billions to the club that stands behind him.

FLORIDA – (Reuters) – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will host an event for top donors and social-media influencers this weekend, the latest in a flurry of moves that suggest he’s ramping up to battle former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.

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