Posted on 11/18/2023 10:35:26 AM PST by backpacker_c
Bob Vander Plaats, an influential evangelical leader in Iowa, is widely expected to endorse Ron DeSantis in the presidential primary.
But now, with Donald Trump dominating the field, he is poised to back a candidate who is running 30 points behind the frontrunner here — testing not only the clout of his own endorsement, but the willingness of evangelicals to abandon Trump.
Earlier this week, CBS reported that DeSantis told fundraisers he expects Vander Plaats’ endorsement within a week of the summit, which the DeSantis campaign denied.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
family leader is the organization that desantis paid $95k to, to help gain favor for his campaign.
And no hardcore vocal desantis supporter pushed or even mentioned the event and livestream that family leader held yesterday with desantis, haley and ramaswamy...
Which indicates the desantis supporters don't really care about desantis, they care about nevertrumping...
btw, saw this on realclearpolitics, which linked to this article here for November 18 articles...
Vander Plaats is the cornfield Jesse Jackson. I have nothing against Governor DeSantis, but Vander Plaats is a card carrying grifter.
In 2018, he published an opinion piece in The New York Times titled “Cruelty at the Border Is Not Justice” in which he characterized the Trump administration family separation policy as “unconscionable” and “inexcusable.”[21]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Vander_Plaats
Vander Putz is about to get a lesson in humility
And info on the $95k payment is documented in various media, like here
The DeSantis campaign, a super PAC linked to him and a nonprofit group supporting him together paid $95,000 in recent months to the Family Leader Foundation, an Iowa-based nonprofit led by evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, according to campaign finance reports and a document prepared by an Iowa state lawmaker who was helping the Vander Plaats organization raise money for a July 14 presidential candidate forum.The document and the amount spent by DeSantis and his allies are previously unreported.
Vander Plaats and his group are leaders in the state’s Christian conservative movement, which has enormous political influence in Iowa. Roughly two-thirds of the state’s Republican caucus-goers in 2016 identified as evangelical, according to pollsters Edison Media Research.
He leads an evangelical group but he is not a pastor and doesn’t lead a church. He is a retired high school teacher who has lost every election he has run in.
We’ve all read about black “churches” being an arm of the Democrat party. Well, Vander Plaats is running the white cornfield equivalent to that for the Republican party.
“How Vander Plaats wants to be a king maker by endorsing desantis”
Vaderpants, I guess, will have to learn a HARD LESSON, considering that most Evangelicals voted for Trump in the past 2 elections.
Thanks for the information and details...
Media seems to talk him up like he is an influential person with his group, and that he could move the evangelical vote in the state with his support and endorsements.
Bob’s endorsement won’t mean much here in Iowa in my opinion .
People will make up their own minds.
Out of staters are making this a much bigger thing than it is. In my opinion .
You only hear about him when there is a presidential election. Every 4 years some out-of-state campaign chump deposits a big chunk of money into his bank account and he endorses them in return.
He is the cornfield Jesse Jackson.
There was a time where I supported DeSantis based on some observations out of florida, but there is no way in heck I’d vote for him now. He’s at 6% and Trump is at 60%. He’s too stupid to call it off
He’s a phony. He opposed Steve King. He opposes Donald Trump. He’s pro-illegal immigration. Total GOPe globalist with a thin veneer of religiosity.
Remember the last time:
The Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats gathered Republican White House hopefuls in Des Moines, then gave Tucker Carlson the microphone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/us/politics/republicans-iowa-tucker-carlson-ukraine.html
You are correct. BVP’s influence is wildly overstated by the MSM and their believers. Even Gov. Reynolds anticipated endorsement of DeSantis is not going to help him, and likely hurts her.
More importantly for Iowa, anything close to shady tactics will bring on even more demands for an end to Iowa’s ‘first’ status. No candidates will accept a stacked deck in the first deal.
It’s appears that reynolds huge, game changing endorsement of desantis has amounted to squat...
desantis and reynolds were at an event to open a 2nd office for the desantis in urbandale.....
And all I have seen is 1 generic news story about the event happening, and a photo of desantis next to the campaign bus...
But nothing of the crowd...
Pretty telling that there’s a lack of enthusiasm and no crowd turnout
Iowans understand that Gov. Reynolds anticipated endorsement of RDS is just a personal feud with Trump. Hurts her reputation a bit, but not enough to jeopardize her reelection if she desires it.
She might actually fulfill her promise made last spring to avoid an endorsement now that a potential endorsement has been floated. Reynolds and Iowa have nothing to gain backing RDS before the caucuses.
“In 2018, [Vander Plaats] published an opinion piece in The New York Times titled “Cruelty at the Border Is Not Justice” in which he characterized the Trump administration family separation policy as “unconscionable” and “inexcusable.”
Screw this low-discernment bitch. He also supported Rick Santorum (2011) and Ted Cruz (2015). Not exactly gifted in the prophetic, this one.
Betcha by next year he’s all in on the abortion/gay/tranny movement.
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