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The Ultimate Primary Battle: Trump Vs DeSantis, Florida Presidential Primary, Tuesday March 19, 2024!

The nation is one year away from the ultimate primary battle–the struggle to win the Florida Republican Presidential Primary between two Floridians: former President Donald Trump and Florida second term Governor Ron DeSantis.

While the possibility exists that Trump, if indicted, might be forced out of the race, and that DeSantis might flop in earlier primaries and caucuses before Tuesday March 19, 2024, at this point, it seems highly likely that the battle between the two Floridians will occur, and may decide who is the Republican Presidential nominee in 2024!

And a third candidate, one of a large group, could surprise, and emerge and be the frontrunner in the race.

With both Trump and DeSantis being unwilling to back Ukraine against Russia, a Republican who backs the importance of sustaining Ukraine and the NATO alliance, could suddenly emerge.

It is important to keep in mind that NEVER at this point of a Presidential campaign, has anyone who went to become President, been seen as the likely winner in the past century, so suprises could occur!

March 19, 2024 will be a very big day, as Arizona, Illinois, Ohio and Virginia will also be voting in primaries!

Potential For Democrats To Gain Multiple Senate Seats In Midterm Elections Of 2022

The potential now exists for the Democrats to gain multiple Senate seats in the Midterm Elections of 2022!

With six Republicans Senators retiring, at least three of those seats could go to the Democrats, along with three Republican Senators running for reelection having troubles in their reelection campaigns.

Pennsylvania with John Fetterman; Ohio with Tim Ryan; and North Carolina with Cheri Beasley, all have a good shot to win what have been Republican seats.

Additionally, Florida with Val Demings and Wisconsin with Mandela Barnes could see the defeat of Marco Rubio and Ron Johnson. And the longest serving Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley, running at age 89 for another six year term, also has a tough race from retired Admiral Michael Franken that should not be ignored.

Four Democratic Senators have major challenges to keep their seats—Mark Kelly in Arizona; Raphael Warnock in Georgia; Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada; and Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.

Also, Mike Lee in Utah has a strong independent, Evan McMullin, trying to defeat this loyal Trumpite, and Democrats are backing him.

Rand Paul in Kentucky has a strong African American opponent in Democrat Charles Booker, and the defeat of Paul would be welcome, but unexpected.

In Missouri, Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine will try to stop Republican Eric Schmitt, another tough race without an incumbent, but Schmitt favored to win.

The possibility of up to a 4-5 seat gain for Democrats is in the cards, if the present trend in polls continues!

Lunatic And Incompetent Republican Candidates Abound For 2022 Midterm Elections!

The Republican Party has, and is in the process of nominating candidates for public office, who are clearly lunatic and incompetent.

No wonder national Republican leadership is alarmed, and why Democrats are raising much greater amounts of campaign funds and leading in many polls.

So we have Pennsylvania with very dangerous Gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano, who consorts with white supremacists and antisemites; and Dr. Mehmet Oz, running for the US Senate, who has made a fool of himself, and undermined his television reputation, and is not even a resident of Pennsylvania, rather New Jersey.

And we have Georgia, where former football star Herschel Walker, running for the US Senate, has been caught in lies about his past, and makes totally loony statements, making one wonder if he suffers from brain damage from his football career.

And we have author J D Vance in Ohio, running for the US Senate, who is shown to have changed all his views from five years ago, and now says abused women should not leave their husbands or live in boyfriends, but just stay in the horrendous relationship with their children, a statement that makes one wonder as to Vance’s sanity.

And in Maryland, the candidates for Governor and Attorney General on the Republican side, Dan Cox and Michael Peroutka, are showing they are totally outside the mainstream in alarming ways!

And there are still primary contests to come that are potentially alarming, particularly if Eric Greitens, former disgraced Missouri Governor, ends up as the Republican nominee for the US Senate!

The Ohio, Pennsylvania, And Georgia Senate Races Will Test Trump Influence

With the conclusion of the Republican Senate nomination battle in Pennsylvania, the next five months will determine what influence Donald Trump has on the makeup of the US Senate in the 118th Congress (2023-2024), and whether the Democrats can retain the Senate and gain more seats.

In Ohio, J D Vance, who used to be a moderate, is contesting for the open Senate seat of Rob Portman, retiring, against Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan.

In Pennsylvania, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who used to be a moderate, is contesting for the open Senate set of Patrick Toomey, retiring, against Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman.

In Georgia, former Football player Herschel Walker, who has no real signs of intellectual ability, is contesting for the Senate seat of Democratic Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock, an all African American race, but one with a pastor in the tradition of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr, and like King, formerly pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

The three Republican nominees, were they elected, would join with the most horrendous Republican Senators already in the chamber, including Ted Cruz of Texas; Rand Paul of Kentucky (if he wins reelection); Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (if he wins reelection); Tom Cotton of Arkansas; Josh Hawley of Missouri; Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; and Mike Lee of Utah (if he wins reelection). Of this group, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have already run for President in 2016, and Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley are also potential Presidential candidates in 2024.

Horrendous Trump Endorsed Nominees For Senate: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio

Donald Trump has been endorsing Senate nominees, trying to have an impact on the upcoming Senate races, with the US Senate presently evenly divided 50-50.

With this unusual tie situation, even one Democratic seat switching with Trump support would put the Senate into Republican hands, and the horrors of Mitch McConnell again becoming Senate Majority Leader.

Trump has chosen horrendous nominees, as in Pennsylvania with Dr. Mehmet Oz; in Georgia with former football player Herschel Walker; and in Ohio with author JD Vance.

All three are lacking in decent credentials, and all three would be an embarrassment if elected to the US Senate.

Democrats need to work hard to defeat these three nominees, and keep the Georgia seat, and gain the Pennsylvania and Ohio seats.

Georgia has the Reverend Raphael Warnock trying to keep his seat; while in Pennsylvania, there are three contending Democrats running for the open seat; and in Ohio, Congressman Tim Ryan is the favored Democrat.

The Lunacy Reigning In The Republican Party In Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Alaska

The Republican Party in many states is going total lunacy, as they work at praising Donald Trump and continuing to promote the “Big Lie” about the Presidential Election of 2020.

In Texas, the move is on to create the greatest restrictions on voting rights, which might force legislative Democrats to leave the state in order to prevent action.

Also, total whacko Allen West, the former head of the Texas Republican Party, after earlier being a nightmare in Florida politics, including one term in Congress a decade ago, is now challenging right wing governor Greg Abbott for the gubernatorial nomination in 2022, as if Abbott is not far enough to the Right!

Additionally, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held a gathering this weekend, including Donald Trump ranting and raving about the election being stolen.

In Oklahoma, Senator James Lankford, a solid conservative but not extreme in rhetoric, has been condemned by the state Republican party chair, and is now facing a primary to kick him out, totally off the wall!

And in Ohio, with Senator Rob Portman, a mainstream conservative retiring next year, the battle is on between extremist right winger Josh Mandel, who swears total loyalty to Donald Trump, and now the entry into the race of author and activist JD Vance, who had been very critical of Trump in 2016, but now swears loyalty to Trump, and says all Republicans must “suck up” to Trump, demonstrating that he is a total coward and phony with no basic principles except to advance his desire to be a United States senator!

Finally, in Alaska, Senator Lisa Murkowski was rejected by a vote of the state Republican Party, who endorsed her challenger, Kelly Tshibaka, but Murkowski overcame a similar situation in 2010, and ran as a write in, overcoming a Tea Party candidate, so do not count Murkowkski out.

The 2020 US Census Has Surprises, As Announced Today

It is ironic that this author wrote about the 2020 Census yesterday, not aware that precise information would be given out today, Monday.

And there are a few surprises.

The total population of the US is over 331 million people, up from about 309 million in 2010.

Texas will gain only two seats, not three, and Florida will gain one seat, not two.

Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon and Montana will gain one seat each.

Arizona, thought to be likely to gain a seat, will not do so.

New York loses one seat, but only because of a shortage of population by the small total of 89 people!

Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California, and West Virginia will lose one seat for each state, with California losing representation for the first time ever!

Minnesota and Rhode Island, expected to lose one seat each, avoided such a loss.

So now, with Montana gaining a seat, there will only be 6 states with one statewide House member—Alaska, Delaware, Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

This is the second slowest population growth in US history, after the 1930s.

And the trend of the South and West gaining at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest continues as it has for many decades.

When Census Figures Come Out Later This Year, It Will Affect Multiple States

The 2020 Census figures will come out in a few months, and will affect multiple states in Congressional representation in 2022 and beyond, as well as the Electoral College.

A number of the larger populated states will continue to lose representation and electoral votes, as they have faced for several decades.

This includes New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, but also California is likely to lose a Congressional seat and an electoral vote for the first time ever in America history. Also, West Virginia, Rhode Island and Minnesota are likely to lose a seat and an electoral vote.

The states which will gain include Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Montana, with Texas and Florida gaining the most.

Montana will move from one statewide House seat to two, while Rhode Island will move from two seats to one, so Rhode Island will join Vermont, Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming as the seven states that have only one House member for each state.

No Donald Trump Highway, Library, Holiday, Or Any Other Honor!

The Crazy season has begun, now that Authoritarian Fascist Donald Trump, who provoked the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, is thankfully out of office, and not the constant news item he was five plus years after he announced his Presidential campaign in June 2015.

So now in Florida there is a proposal to name the US 27 Highway, Donald Trump Highway, and to have a Donald Trump Presidential Library in Palm Beach County, where Mar A Lago, his resort, is located.

Also, in Ohio, there is a proposal to make Trump’s Birthday, June 14, which is already Flag Day, a state holiday in his honor.

All of these preposterous ideas should be vetoed, and a Presidential Library and Museum for a criminal, responsible for promoting so much harm and damage, is an outrage!

Any documented material of the Donald Trump Presidency should be owned by the US Government, and none of it should be made available in any way, particularly national security matters, to the former President or his family members!

We need the truth, the unvarnished truth about this monster, to come out, not a landmark established to “worship” him as if he was a God!

One must understand, it is one thing to name places, buildings, holidays, after our greatest public leaders, so to have honors for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, and others is fine.

But do we name places, buildings, holidays after Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, or Richard Nixon?

The answer is obvious!

Joe Biden On Road To Presidency, But Without Democratic Senate, A Major Handicap For Success!

Joe Biden is on his way to the Presidency, but sadly, he will not have a Democratic Senate, as the situation now stands.

So this is a major handicap for success of a Biden Presidency.

Mitch McConnell won reelection, and seems almost certain to remain Senate Majority Leader, unless both Georgia seats up for election, not likely to be decided until January, go to the Democrats, which seems highly unlikely! Also still up in the air is Alaska and North Carolina, but it does not look good for the Democrats at this writing, and Michigan Democrat Gary Peters is losing his race at the moment.

Donald Trump will mount legal challenges, but it seems certain that Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States, although not under the hoped for landslide that did not develop, as Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas went to the Republicans, leaving Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina still in play in the Electoral College, along with Nevada still not final for Biden at this point. But happily, Arizona and Wisconsin switched from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020!

Biden could gain 270 electoral votes in the next day or two, if and when Nevada, Michigan and Georgia put him over the top! And Pennsylvania and North Carolina are still possible!