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On Wednesday's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski urged Nikki Haley to "hang in there"—to stay in the race for the Republican presidential nomination till the very end. Mika's reasoning: stay in with the hope of setting up "an American race" with an "American candidate"—instead of "Russian idiot" Trump. We need "a real race for the presidency. An American race."Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

CNN's John Avlon has a habit that we've noted of cooking up a comment designed to focus attention on himself. But although he was on the CNN This Morning panel today, it was CNN host and commentator S.E. Cupp who grabbed the spotlight with a very vulgar line. [snip] "Maybe one of the only people who can sidestep the great emasculation of the GOP by Donald Trump is a woman. Maybe, just maybe, Nikki Haley has more balls than the rest of them."Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

What's up with these Morning Joe regulars who had cultivated something of a benign image suddenly turning nasty? Yesterday, we noted BBCer Katty Kay with a mocking laugh as she suggested to Charlie Sykes that they do a DeSantis post-mortem, "before we consign him to oblivion and forget his name." Today, it was Eugene Robinson's turn to turn mean. Though Robinson is an ardent liberal, he has something of an avuncular air about him. But both in his current Washington Post column, snidely entitled "The Nation's Gain is Florida's Loss," and on today's Morning Joe, Robinson took nasty swipes at...

In its second half-hour, today's Morning Joe eventually got around to the DeSantis news--and did so with a nasty smirk. Katty Kay kicked things off. You might imagine that BBCer Kay represents the more refined wing of the liberal media. But there she was with a mocking laugh as she suggested to Charlie Sykes that they do a DeSantis post-mortem, "before we consign him to oblivion and forget his name." Scarborough took it from there. His theme was that Trump is "Fat Elvis," the "sweaty Fat Elvis" of 1977, and that's what his fans want. Thus, they were not going...

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) seems to have disappeared from the airwaves in early primary states despite his commitment to stay in the 2024 race. After losing to former President Donald Trump in the Iowa Republican caucuses Monday, coming in a distant second, DeSantis does not have any ads running in New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Nevada, according to ad tracking services. Not only has his campaign apparently gone silent, but the various super PACs supporting his 2024 bid have also vanished from television in the early nominating states.

Thought someone should start a live thread about today's festivities.

Former President Donald Trump and Fox News have scheduled an Iowa town hall event on the same date and at the same time (Wednesday, January 10, at 9:00 p.m. ET) as CNN’s upcoming Republican presidential debate. For some insane reason, a few of the dummies running for the Republican presidential nomination have agreed to allow far-left CNN to host a debate in Iowa. File that under Why we lose. But now, just five days before the all-important Iowa Caucus on Saturday, January 15, Trump will deliver a two-fer. This Fox News town hall will not only steal attention away from...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in fourth place in the early primary state of New Hampshire and inching close to fifth, the latest Trafalgar Group survey found. They survey asked Republican primary voters — those who said they were either “very likely” or “likely” to vote — who they would support in the GOP primary if it were held today. Former President Donald Trump leads the pack with 45.1 percent support, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who came in 27 points behind with 18.1 percent support. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came in third place with...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire's secretary of state plans to announce the date of the first-in-the-nation primary Wednesday afternoon. Secretary of State David Scanlan has some options for when he can schedule the primary and comply with New Hampshire state law, which mandates that the presidential primary be held seven or more days ahead of a "similar election." If the primary can't be on a Tuesday, the secretary of state can call a special election for other days of the week. Scanlan has previously said that Saturdays are on the table if needed. Iowa has already set its caucus date...

Palmetto State voters are backing the Bamberg native over the Florida Governor. A new poll from the Palmetto State finds Florida’s Governor in a distant third place in the pivotal early Primary state. A CNN survey of 738 likely Republican voters conducted from Oct. 18 through Oct. 25 shows Ron DeSantis with just 11% support, far behind former President Donald Trump (53%) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (22%). While the good news is that other candidates are in single digits — including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (6%), Chris Christie (2%), and Vivek Ramaswamy (1%) — this survey is...

MIAMI (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he's arranged to send drones, weapons, and ammunition to Israel as it prepares for an incursion of Gaza in response to Hamas' attack. It's the latest official response DeSantis has taken to back Israel as he competes in the 2024 Republican primary.

Former President Donald Trump remains not only the dominant frontrunner in the Republican primary race, but he also maintains the status as the most favorable candidate.This week’s Morning Consult survey, released this week, found 80 percent of potential Republican primary voters viewing Trump favorably, compared to 19 percent who do not. Notably, Trump’s unfavorable percentage is actually lower than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s, as 21 percent have an unfavorable view of the presidential hopeful. Sixty-seven percent view DeSantis favorably, while nine percent have heard of him but have no opinion.Anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has garnered a 58 percent favorable view,...

Jack Poso 🇺🇸 @JackPosobiec Florida politico tells me this meme is being passed around Tallahassee, sent me a copy 2:05 PM · Aug 8, 2023

The super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida spent nearly $34 million in recent months, pouring money into voter outreach, advertising, polling, consultants and other expenses as his standing in the polls steadily slipped.[cut]Mr. DeSantis and his allies, however, are testing the limits of the campaign finance system. Never Back Down isn’t just supplementing the campaign’s work; it has taken over nearly every aspect of the DeSantis campaign — staging events that the candidate attends as a “special guest,” running a bus tour through Iowa and paying people to knock on voters’ doors to...

Free Republic POLL: 2024 Republican PrimaryWho would you vote for? Trump DeSantis Pence Haley T. Scott Christie Ramaswamy Hutchinson Elder Suarez

Over one-quarter of Republican voters – 27 percent – will not consider voting for Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis in the upcoming Republican presidential nomination race. Comparably, just 14 percent of Republican voters say they would not consider supporting Donald J. Trump.The data comes from CBS and YouGov, and sampled a hefty 2,480 U.S. adults between June 7-10th, with a 2.7 percent margin of error.Though considered by many to be Trump’s toughest opponent, Trump and DeSantis are almost as far apart from each other as DeSantis and Senator Tim Scott, who is polling third, 15 points behind DeSantis, with 42...

Trump differs from DeSantis in three important ways that are likely to deliver him the primary victory. The Republican primary is already in full swing. While a few second-tier candidates have joined the fray, including neoconservative Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and old school evangelical and former Vice President Mike Pence, the chief contest is between former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.Things are already heated. Some former Trump supporters now support DeSantis. Indeed, they have completely turned against Trump. The firehose of criticism reminds one of the refrains of a jilted lover. Perhaps these former enthusiasts...

... A Once-in-a-Century FigureTrump vs DeSantis has long been billed as a battle between heavyweights. But is that putting too much expectation on the Florida governor?... The polls show the hill DeSantis has to climb.Right now, RealClearPolitics polling averages show Trump with a massive 37% lead over DeSantis, sitting at 56.3% support of GOP voters. DeSantis has dropped to 19.4%, Pence at 5.6%, Nikki Haley at 4.3%, Vivek Ramaswamy at 3.6% and Sen. Tim Scott at 1.8. (The poll period was from 4/21 to 5/18, before Scott’s announcement.)Which gets to our major point:DeSantis Has to Win the Not-Trump Position FirstDeSantis’s...

… And so it will come to pass, as many refused to believe.Tomorrow, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will follow a sequence of events to launch the Sea Island billionaire strategy for a 2024 Republican nomination bid. This plan has been constructed for several years; that’s how I was able to predict the organization of the effort ten months ago and the exact date of the launch six months ago.The sequence of the launch also tells a story. The sequence of tomorrow is priority driven. Each group is assisting in the launch sequence based on their importance to the Ron DeSantis...

Conservative talk show host Dan Bongino said former President Donald Trump's performance during a CNN town hall was so good Wednesday night that he effectively wrapped up the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. "I'm going to say after last night, I don't know what you guys think, the primary is over," Bongino said during his opening monologue Thursday of "The Dan Bongino Show" podcast. "It's over man. ... Trump was in rare form last night and just lit CNN on fire to the point where CNN was questioning CNN at the end of the night." Bongino said the town hall was...