Florida's closely watched Senate race between Rubio, Demings grows heated
October 30, 2022
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"Florida is where woke goes to die," according to the Sunshine State's governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, who has based much of his expected 2024 presidential campaign on being "anti-woke."
But a new poll from Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal is devastating to many of the policies being promoted and enacted by Governor DeSantis in his "free state of Florida," calling into question how he and other Republicans who embrace his ideas will fare on the national stage.
"Patriotism, religious faith, having children and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations are receding in importance to Americans," warns the WSJ, with some on social media pointing to a graphic that purports to capture how much America has changed in the past 25 years.
The importance of issues of patriotism, religion, having children, and community involvement have dropped dramatically across America. The one that has increased? Money.
One Democratic strategist calls it "eye-popping."
Money is also the only issue on which Democrats and Republicans both agree.
But the real siren for Republicans comes in answers to so-called "culture war" questions.
The gap between Democrats and Republicans, expectedly, is huge, but DeSantis – should he launch a presidential run – will confront conservative and independent voters (not to mention, of course, Democrats) who aren't as keen on, say, banning books, as he might like.
Asked, "Which of these concerns you more about schools today?," a whopping 61% chose "some schools may ban books and censor topics that are educationally important." Just 36% opted for "some schools may teach books and topics that some students or their parents feel are inappropriate or offensive."
And more than half the country (56%) say they have some or a great deal of confidence in public schools. Just one-third (33%) said very little or none.
DeSantis' attempts to radically reshape the concept of public education in Florida made another dramatic move last week, when the Republican-majority legislature passed a bill the expands the school voucher program to every student. It could decimate enrollment in public schools, which would also reduce the amount of federal funding public schools in the Sunshine State get. Expected to cost billions, it could also lead to expansions of private and faith-based schools.
Monday morning, surrounded by school children, DeSantis signed it into law.
And yet nationally, according to the WSJ poll, a plurality of Americans oppose school vouchers.
"Do you favor, oppose, or neither favor nor oppose states giving parents tax-funded vouchers they can use to help pay for tuition for their children to attend private or religious schools of their choice instead of public schools?"
37% oppose the vouchers.
34% support them.
Democratic strategist and former Hillary Clinton campaign national spokesperson Josh Schwerin lists a "few findings from the new WSJ poll that should scare Republicans relying on 'woke' attacks": "1) Tolerance is as important as money 2) Book banning is far worse than offensive content 3) Majorities think society has been about right or not gone far enough on range of DEI issues."
For those who look at Trump rallies, watch right-wing news, or listen to GOP politicians or influencers, the idea that another "red wave" is coming next year may seem real, but even the right-wing Wall Street Journal found that a plurality of voters (44%) identify as Democrats – and just 38% identify as Republicans. 18% call themselves independents without leaning one way or another.
Nearly half the country (47%) identifies as moderate.
One issue from the poll DeSantis and the GOP do seem to have support on is diminishing the rights of transgender Americans, who are under attack every day.
Despite increased anti-trans hate crimes, despite the 430 anti-LGBTQ bills filed this year alone (according to the ACLU,) a plurality of Americans (43%) say society has "gone too far" in accepting transgender people. Just one-third say society hasn't gone far enough.
But on other issues of equality, as Schwerin mentioned, nearly half the country (48%) say society has not gone far enough in promoting equality between men and women. And pluralities also say society has not gone far enough in accepting people who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual (37%), and businesses taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity (39%).
There's another statistic that also flies directly in the face of DeSantis and his "where woke goes to die" motto.
Two-thirds of the country say society has either not gone far enough has been "about right" on "Schools and universities taking steps to promote racial and ethnic diversity."
Just three in ten Americans (30%) say society has gone too far.
See the video and graphics above or at this link.
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At least three people are dead in the wake of a school shooting that took place in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, officers received word Monday morning of a shooting at Nashville's Covenant School, a private Christian school.
Upon arriving at the scene, police engaged the shooter and killed him.
However, BNO News reports that the shooter killed at least three other people before being killed by police, and the Nashville Fire Department says it is treating multiple people who were shot during the incident.
The identities of the neither the shooter nor the victims have yet been released and it is not known if those killed during the attack were students of faculty.
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Trump's lawyers caught up in 'infighting' as his legal situation grows more precarious: WSJ
March 27, 2023
With Donald Trump facing no less than four criminal investigations, as well as civil suits headed to court, his ever-changing team of lawyers has no leader and no coherent legal strategy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As the Journal's Rebecca Ballhaus, Alex Leary and Corinne Ramey are reporting, "the former president is employing his familiar scattershot tactics to meet the start of a potentially more precarious legal chapter," and that has former aides and legal advisers concerned.
Former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb summed up the president's current legal team travails, explaining, "He plays his own captain, and legally that is suicidal. His strategy, to the extent there is one, appears totally reactive.”
According to the report, the former president has encouraged "infighting" among his lawyers, many of whom don't know what the others are doing because of a lack of coordination of efforts when they aren't questioning each other's tactics.
"To counter those probes, Mr. Trump is relying on a scattered team of lawyers and advisers with little sign of a coordinated strategy beyond attacking investigators, seeking to delay proceedings and casting himself as the victim of a witch hunt," the report states before adding, "Mr. Trump has long encouraged infighting among his attorneys by playing them against each other, at times calling advisers to ask what they think of his legal team’s performance and calling other lawyers to ask them to join or replace members of his team."
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump's 'scary' embrace of Jan. 6 rioters called out by The View's Alyssa Farah Griffin
According to Cobb, part of the problem is turnover and another part is Trump's attorneys becoming enmeshed in his legal problems, putting their careers at stake.
“Nobody considering assisting the former president at this stage of the game can be unmindful of the extraordinary speed with which Trump turns lawyers into witnesses,” he admitted.
The report notes that Trump's tactics of attack and delay have come back to haunt him, with the FBI having to show up with a warrant at Mar-a-Lago after Trump foot dragging warranting its own investigation by special counsel Jack Smith.
"The actions of Mr. Trump’s attorneys have also been a central part of the Justice Department’s documents probe. One of them, Christina Bobb, told federal investigators that another lawyer, Mr. Corcoran, assured her that he conducted a thorough search of Mar-a-Lago before he asked her in June to certify that all records requested by a subpoena had been returned. The certification by Ms. Bobb was undermined two months later when the FBI searched the Florida compound and retrieved hundreds of sensitive and classified documents."
"Prosecutors have asked about the role of Mr. [Boris] Epshteyn in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, with questions suggesting an interest in whether he sought to influence witness testimony, according to people familiar with the investigation. Mr. Epshteyn and his lawyer have declined to comment on prosecutors’ interest," the report added.
You can read more here.
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