Flyover Folk Weigh the Presidential Options Beyond Trump

Editor’s Note: From the Back Forty is Liberty Nation’s longest-running and most popular weekly column. Capturing the truth each week from heartlanders in flyover states, LN gives voice to the hard-working Americans otherwise ignored by the coastal elites.

Heartlanders, worn out over transgender actresses on their beer cans, opted to look to the future and decide who makes the most sense as the 2024 presidential contender. With his current woes, former president Trump was not making up much of the discussion on social media, in pubs, or in coffee shops. Instead, Governor Ron DeSantis felt the rush in New Hampshire. Former Vice President Mike Pence is straddling the fence, and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is ready to sit at the Resolute Desk and figure out how to whack an entire agency within the Department of Justice.

Courting New Hampshire

Unannounced but seriously weighing his presidential odds, DeSantis swung by the biggest GOP fundraiser of the year to prove what a great leader he is for Florida, seeing if that translated nationally. But, of course, he also may have been just poking the Trump bear who is finding ways to irritate the Mickey Mouse slayer. Many people are on board for either, including Fran Stewart of Lakeville, WI: “I like DeSantis. He has done a great job as governor. I’m a Trump backer but would definitely vote for DeSantis.”

Regardless of his motive, the governor pointed out that since he took office, Republicans now outnumber Democrats by 454,918 registered voters. Right in the middle of explaining how this happened, two women stormed the stage yelling, “Jews against DeSantis!” The gals got a little close before being escorted out of the door. But DeSantis took it in stride:

“You got to have a little spice in the speech. You got to have a little fun. Why you’d want to pay the ticket just to get in to do that, I don’t know, but different strokes for different folks.”

Pence on the Fence

Speaking to Ainsley Earhardt on Fox & Friends, the former vice president wasn’t giving an inch on his decision-impaired waffling. Pence insisted he’s bounced around, and folks seem to think he would make a great candidate after serving Indiana and the US for so many years. Yet like the current Democratic president, Pence is on the fence but hinted there could be an announcement of some sort relatively soon:

“We’re receiving that encouragement and — and I believe that you’ll have a clearer idea of what the Pences will decide in weeks and not months. And I promise to keep you informed of our decision.”

In Tyler, TX, Monica Strauss Spilker spiced up the conversation a tad bit when she said: “A man of such weak resolve that he has to keep his wife at his side at all times, so he won’t stray into some stranger’s bed. For Pence, gutlessness is a way of life.” And Beverly Grenier in Plymouth, MI, went more political: “He shouldn’t waste his money. He is all about the political palm greasing and not the people.”

Presidential or Whackadoodle?

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is finally being taken seriously by conservatives. This past week, he released a 25-point plan he dubbed “America First 2.0.” It breaks down by federal agencies what should stay and what should go to decrease government.

“There’s the category that should have never existed in the first place, like the Department of Education,” Ramaswamy explained to Breitbart News during an exclusive tour of the Granite State with the candidate. “Then there’s agencies who perform a function that needs to be performed, but whose culture has become so toxic, whose bureaucracy has become so ossified that the only answer left is to shut them down and create something new to take its place. I put the FBI in that category.”

It was the FBI comment that lit up chat rooms and platforms. In North Carolina, Ed Saint Sing noted, “The more I hear from him and about him, the more that I like him.” And Cathy Weeks in Sand Point, ID, agreed: “A lot of folks feel the same way.”

Linda Shorter Keyton added: “Maybe he’s the guy?”

Ramaswamy continued explaining to the Breitbart reporter, “This is a total reform, a gutting of the managerial bureaucracy in the federal government. A career politician like Ron DeSantis is not gonna get that done.”

Well, we all know the governor likes a little spice.