Editor's Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation's longest running and most popular weekly column.
That nagging thread attached to Governor Ron DeSantis' hopes of becoming president seems to be unraveling. MAGA folks are all saying "I told you so" – a tad prematurely, perhaps, but it could be that former Ambassador Nikki Haley will have the last word when it's all said and done. Heartlanders? They found other topics of insane political interest, including a new TikTok craze. It's that most wonderful time of the year.
The Rapid Descent of DeSantis
After all the Florida governor's finagling to be both a sitting elected official and a presidential candidate, DeSantis is perhaps seeing the writing on the wall. Even the Never Back Down PAC backed down and canceled all 2024 media reservations in Iowa and New Hampshire. "There's your sign," as comedian Bill Engvall might say. But what only gets published in the trades, such as pulling $2.5 million in DeSantis ads, wasn't the first clue the man might not make it to the finish line.
Never Back Down has been awash in chaos as people jumped ship: Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, Chief Executive Chris Jankowski, and PAC Communications Director Erin Perrine frittered away. Jankowski blamed his dysfunctional colleagues, saying, "Given the current environment, it has become untenable for me to deliver on the shared goal, which goes well beyond a difference of strategic opinion." One major DC news outlet penned an article that outed a bunch of DeSantis people as backbiting. That prompted strategist Jeff Roe to post on X, "I can't believe it ended this way. I'm so proud to have worked alongside these men and women at NBD 24/7 the past nine months to save the country," Roe stated before adding a stinger. "Good luck the next 28 days and wake up. I'm so sorry I can't be there with you."
But the real sign is that DeSantis trails Trump, Haley, and now even Chris Christie in New Hampshire. Being a quiet policy wonk and statesman does not fly, it seems, in the rough and tumble American political climate.
As Judy Lynd in Marshall, IA, writes: "I guess the rest of America isn't yet sick enough of this nonsense."
Tick, Tock, TikTok
A new TikTok fad has the Boomers queasy at the thought of Gen Z running the show. "2024 Tax Strike" went viral in December. The geniuses behind this movement claim if we all stopped paying taxes, banks would collapse, wars would stop without any more funding, and no one would owe anything to anyone. Ah, Utopia. But one young'un found her voice and pointed out that all those posting this nonsense lacked critical thinking skills: "Ya'll do realize that tax dollars are what's feeding you and your kids. You get that, right?"
But others wished them well in a prison cell, and Monty Potter in Illinois blessed them: "Good luck, Zoomers."
No One Likes John Fetterman
For a political party that resurrected a near-to-death US Senate candidate simply to stay in power, it appears Democrats have grown tired of John Fetterman. "What I have found out over the last couple years is that the right, and now the left, are hoping that I die," Mr. Fetterman, who suffered a serious stroke during his campaign, claimed this past week. "There are ones that are rooting for another blood clot. They have both now been wishing that I die."
Fetterman's crime, it seems, is to go against the party bosses. He supports Israel, which gave him the uncool moniker "#GenocideJohn" that now flows freely on X. Let's say the gentleman from Pennsylvania is off script – and for the Dems, that just won't do.
Ben Crisp pointed out how healthy Fetterman now appears: "It looks like he regained a little too much brain function. He is now useless to Democrats. They will now haul him off to the shredder."
Well, hopefully, that can wait until after the Holidays. Merry Christmas to our Fly Over folks who tune in, turn on, and read From the Back Forty.
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