Quote (Thor123422 @ 2 Feb 2024 08:20)
Not like DeSantis was ever going to win anyway. Mmmm hungwy oversized boots wearing silly man was never getting the nomination.
Probably true with the benefit of hindsight, but Dem strategists couldn't have known that in March 2023 when the first indictments came out.
Quote (Goomshill @ 2 Feb 2024 08:02)
After 2016 I sincerely doubt they're going with a pied piper strategy to prop up Trump again. They might have been that incompetent in the first round, they're not repeating it in round 3.
We can explain the prosecutions as sincere outbursts of authoritarian impulses, catering to a rabid wingnut base, the self-serving prerogative of individual political operators like fani willis or e jean carroll's benefactor reid hoffman. It makes the most sense as as a play to do the most obvious thing, make Trump less appealing to independents by trying to tar him with a criminal brush, or to simply try to disqualify him and outright rig the election. But it doesn't make much sense as reverse psychology to pump up Trump's base, and in all the scenarios that seems like their efforts backfiring.
In 2016, Democrats got caught on the wrong foot when they were stuck with a historically awful candidate in Hillary, and an unexpectedly spirited and strong primary challenge from Bernie which they struggled to fight off, causing motivation issues with their base.
They did successfully pull off this strategy (of enticing the GOP base to go with the more radical, less electable candidate) on countless occasions during the 2022 cycle and won almost all the corresponding races. Behind the scenes, Democrats shamelessly propped up election deniers and "radical MAGA-Republicans" after calling these groups a threat to democracy in public. This strategy netted them at least 2 Senate and half a dozen House seats.
With Biden falling apart more and more each day, Democratic strategists must without a doubt have feared that any palatable, replacement-level Republican would defeat him, so running against Trump is his best shot - half the country hates Trump with a passion, his mental and emotional state is also deteriorating visibly and he has a proven track record of shooting himself in the foot. They can't win on policy, so making the race a referendum on the two candidates' personality should improve their chances - and running against Trump increases the chances that it becomes a personality election.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Feb 2 2024 01:45am
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