Ron DeSwanson 🇺🇸🇮🇱

NEW: CBS News’ @JenniferJJacobs reports that Ron DeSantis is being floated as a possible replacement for Pete Hegseth. Under one scenario, DeSantis could be confirmed by the Senate during the lame-duck session and take over as Secretary of Defense when his term as Florida governor ends on January 5.

At this time I’d like to give a big thanks to @RealCandaceO, @TuckerCarlson, and @NickJFuentes for helping us surrender our nation to psychopaths.

Let's be honest: @marcorubio is literally the only person that gives Republicans a chance of winning in 2028. Everyone else will result in a 2026 redux in 2028, because they blindly follow Trump.

“I think Ron DeSantis is the big winner. I think he is the biggest winner right now... Byron Donalds won because Ron DeSantis crushed running the state of Florida the way that he did the last eight years.” @patrickbetdavid weighs in as Ron DeSantis’ odds surge to become the 2028 Republican presidential nominee.

Republicans are going to have a terrible night, and the simple reason why is that Trump has put up perhaps the worst *performance* this term of any president in a century or more. Remember that he entered with an actual mandate: the House and Senate, a popular vote victory and a swing-state sweep, and 6-3 Supreme Court. Democrats were afraid enough to vote for mild but real immigration restrictionist legislation in the Laken Riley Act. Everyone wondered how far the "Vibe Shift" would go. Trump managed to turn that into essentially zero durable wins whatsoever. He personally *hates* the very idea of legislation, the notion that he would have to spend time going back and forth with Congress, learning details and making compromises. So he simply didn't do it! He didn't make a compelling case for abolishing the filibuster. He didn't try communicating clearly to the public in support of popular bills to get to 60 votes. He just decided not to do it at all. So they passed an unpopular tax cut, some funding for ICE, and a sop to the crypto industry, and that was basically it. Least productive Congress in decades, due to the tastes of one man. Trump adopted one of the worst macro policies we've ever had: high deficits, high tariffs, and attacks on central bank independence. We managed to pay higher interest rates while still having high trade deficits AND weakening the dollar. Just a total failure. On immigration, perhaps THE signature issue, Trump essentially min-maxxed effectiveness and backlash. Instead of trying to leverage the political moment for new laws and a self-deportation agenda (that is, walling off the economy to remove the benefit of irregular presence in the US), he opted for a maximally aggressive approach. The administration spent attention, funds, legal manpower on stunts like deporting random people to Salvadoran prisons with essentially no due process. ICE and Border Patrol were encouraged to be aggressive and confrontational, which helped contribute to the shooting deaths of American protestors. It turns out, that's extremely unpopular! What about the approach of going after employers? The obvious vector? Trump hated that idea! He repeatedly has said he doesn't want to target businesses (especially farms) that use large amounts of illegal labor. This is just an incomprehensible position. Instead of charging a few dozen businessmen and removing the incentive for millions of illegal workers to be here, you arrest people off the street one by one at the cost of thousands of dollars in manpower per each, while their crying wives and kids post TikToks about it. Upshot on immigration: electoral strength turned into a crippling electoral weakness in exchange for deporting maybe 6% of the illegally present population. The tariffs were a total shitshow. Embarrassing rollout, no underlying theory of action at all. No targeted focus on key industries. Our country tariffed products we can't grow. We tariffed *inputs* of our own valuable exports. The schemes and amounts changed constantly, sending the stock market reeling and presenting scenes of chaos to the world. Trump's messaging throughout has been generationally bad. While facing nearly 2:1 unpopularity, he spends his days posting AI slop, saying he'll rename New Mexico or invade allies, among other bizarre remarks. He brags about a ballroom and a pool repainting while gas hits records. At no point has he ever attempted any kind of message discipline. Then there are the deeply unpopular attacks on rule of law, his "game-recognize-game" pardons for all manner of scammers and criminals, the crypto schemes that he and his family engage in, the evilly conceived and embarrassingly executed legal attacks on Comey, Jerome Powell, and others. With his monthslong stand on NOT releasing the Epstein files, he became maybe the first president ever to stake out a 99-1 issue on the 1% side. That's not even getting into Iran, DOGE, his candidate recruitment choices, or countless other things. Simply put: Trump has managed to royally screw up virtually every single facet of his presidency. It's been undeniable, voters have noticed, and there's really no escape from it. This is what the GOP base chose in early 2024, and this is the world they're living with now. Where they handed the reins of history to a fat, vain, washed-up old man and let him drive.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis: Some of these Republicans are saying, "Oh, well, the gas, don't worry. It's no big deal." Or they're trying to blame Biden. No, no. Listen, we've just got to be honest. Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people, and it's higher because of the Iran conflict. That's just the fact. If you can't admit that to voters, then you're gaslighting them, and they're not going to listen to you on other things.

Happy Opener, South Dakota! Foster and I wish you good luck in the field! Pheasant hunting is part of who we are, and it’s a tradition worth passing on to our kids and grandkids. As Governor, I partnered with landowners to start the Second Century Initiative, helping turn marginal land into wildlife habitat so the next generation can enjoy the same hunting traditions we grew up with.

BREAKING: White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is "transitioning out" of her role, a senior White House official tells @pdoocy . President Trump denies firing her, telling reporters, "No no. I want her to have a good life… she’s been brutalized by the media." Trump says he encouraged Zacharia to reconsider staying in the job just minutes before speaking to reporters, telling her, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to." @AmericaRpts

Rape cases are easy to prove. If the victim says she didn’t consent, that’s it-case closed. Perp’s *opinion* of a victim’s consent is irrelevant BECAUSE the victim alone owns her body & decides who touches her. Doesn’t matter what he thinks. Only matters what he does. #Cornell

The new trailer for the ‘HARRY POTTER’ series has been released. Releasing December 25 on HBO.

Every time you watch this show, 100 trans people will lose their lives. Please think about that for a moment 💔🏳️‍⚧️

Hayden Panettiere says she was 18 when a woman she trusted as a protector took her below deck on a yacht and physically put her in bed beside an undressed “very famous” man. “By the time I’d realized I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea.” “She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous.” “My hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, ‘This is not happening.’” “I bolted and hid wherever I could think of to hide on a boat. There was no jumping off and swimming away.” “When you really find somebody that you trust, you hold on to them for dear life. So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling.”

BREAKING: Anthony Fauci invokes his 5th Amendment right not to testify at Senate hearing on Covid. nbcnews.com/politics/congres…