Pun Salad

Our (totally invalid) table shows that Ron DeSantis grabbed a lot more phony hits over the past week, widening his lead over Secretary Pete. And I can't fathom Governor Gavin Newsom's presence in the phony cellar; I mean … look at him, people! And he's top dog in the phoniest state in the union!

In our slightly more realistic look at the betting market, our girl Nikki Haley is threatening to drop below our inclusion probability threshold (2%), Come on, Nikki! Without you, it would be down to a choice between Don or Ron on the GOP side!

Well, there's always "Other". Who shows up at EBO, as I type, with a 10.9% chance of being Your Next President.

Warning: Google result counts are bogus.

• Jim Geraghty's headline is less than convincing to me: Biden’s Age Can No Longer Be Ignored by Democratic Elites.

  There's a long list of troublesome facts that Democratic elites ignore. What's one more?

  It probably makes a survey sound less useful and reliable if you call it “the Yahoo poll,” but Yahoo News published another round of eye-popping numbers about Americans’ views about the president’s age:

  Nearly 7 in 10 registered voters (68 percent) now say President Biden is “too old for another term,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — and more Democrats agree (48 percent) than disagree (34 percent) with that assessment.

  The survey of 1,516 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Feb. 23 to 27, underscores the central challenge facing the oldest president in American history as he gears up for a likely reelection bid — and the difficult position his age is putting his party in.

  For Democrats, the problem is not Biden’s performance in office; they overwhelmingly approve (77 percent) rather than disapprove (20 percent) of how the 80-year-old is handling the job.

  There is a quiet struggle in Democratic circles to grapple with the fact that their desired scenario, the one they’re all working so hard to bring to fruition, ends with an 86-year-old president in the Oval Office in 2028. Eighty-six!

  Geraghty also includes a good anecdote about shooting episodes of the recent Star Trek series, Picard, and how they deal with the age issues surrounding Patrick Stewart, who's only a couple years older than President Wheezy.

• And in our "It's New To Me" department, a Washington Examiner story from a few months back: Trump rips 'fat,' 'phony,' 'whiny' DeSantis as he aims to clear 2024 GOP field.

  Former President Donald Trump offered a stunning rebuke of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as polls show the latter posing a significant obstacle to the former's 2024 plans.

  

  Trump shared his opinions about his former ally to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, whom he spoke to in an on-the-record capacity three times as part of the research for her new book: Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America. Haberman shared details of those conversations in an article for the Atlantic published Sunday, in which the former president claimed credit for DeSantis winning the GOP gubernatorial nomination back in 2018.

  The 45th president called the Florida governor “fat,” “phony,” and “whiny" when Haberman asked about him during a meeting late this summer at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. It is not clear if Trump offers additional disparaging remarks about DeSantis that are documented in the book and not the Atlantic article.

  Projection, much?

  Amazon link to the Haberman book on your right. Trump had previously called Maggie a "Hillary flunky" and a "third rate reporter".

• Geraghty quotes Yahoo, so I suppose I can too. Their recent totally unbiased news headline: Trump Flips Out At 'Fake' Fox News For 'Promoting' Ron DeSantis.

  Former President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on Fox News on Monday, accusing the network of downplaying his popularity over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

  “FoxNews is promoting Ron DeSanctus so hard and so much that there’s not much time left for Real News,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The new Fox Poll, which have always been purposely terrible for me, has ‘TRUMP Crushing DeSanctimonious,’ but they barely show it.”

  “Isn’t there a big, beautiful, Network which wants to do well, and make a fortune besides? FAKE NEWS!” he added.

  The article is by Josephine Harvey, who is (apparently) paid (by Huffpost) to monitor Trump's flip-outs on Truth Social (from Australia). Her specialty seems to be in echoing clever slams emitted by the likes of Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. Thank goodness for Josie, because otherwise people would have to watch Jimmy, Seth, et al. on their own and decide whether they were funny all by themselves.

• 

  But Ex-president Bone Spurs wasn't the only one dumping on our phony leader this week. Governor Ron's campaign book came out this week (Amazon link at right), and PolitiFact is all over it with a fact check.

  I see your eyes rolling out there. And I hear you saying: "Politifact, really?" But let's take a look at their best shot. Here's DeSantis:

  Some [Floridians] were thankful for keeping Florida open during the coronavirus pandemic. Others were thankful for keeping their kids in school.

  Politifact's rebuttal:

  In the book's early pages, DeSantis revels in his record of snubbing public health recommendations to curb the spread of COVID-19. But he largely omits the closures of schools and businesses that happened under his watch.

  In April 2020, there were seven states that had not issued stay-at-home orders to their residents; Florida wasn't among them. On April 1, 2020, DeSantis issued an executive order directing all Florida residents to "limit their movements and personal interactions outside of their home." The order expired April 30, 2020, and Florida began a phased reopening in May.

  

  Though he carved out an exception for religious services and some recreational activities, DeSantis didn't exempt in-person classroom instruction. DeSantis' Department of Education issued a March 13 recommendation that Florida schools close their facilities for an extended spring break before lengthening the closure through the end of the school year in early June.

  "Although COVID-19 has been a huge disruption for Florida students and educators, Florida teachers have done a fantastic job leading the nation in distance learning," DeSantis said April 18, 2020. "Our number one goal is to ensure the safety and security of students and to provide a great education."

  Schools reopened in person in August 2020. DeSantis' office cited that move as evidence of his claim.

  To be fair, Politifact should have noted that, although DeSantis's summary of his pandemic policy was a little rosy, Florida was far less lockdown-friendly than many other states. Leading to items like the Amazon product at your right.