Donald Trump has been unable to lie his way to control of a Free Press through the uneducated over-use of short near-illiterate jabs via social media and rabble-rousing pep rallies — and control of intelligence organizations such as the FBI and various courts via appointments. So we seem safe from a dictatorial blackout and one-sided war that Putin has been able to sell in Russia — although Trump seems determined to get the country under his self-serving thumb before he dies of dementia like his father. He still seems to have support from a cadre of those who choose to blame any shortcomings of all-out gun-toting freedom on others.

An item by Ron Dicker of Yahoo News May 25 began: Former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich suggested Wednesday [May 24] that Donald Trump communicates better than Ron DeSantis ― but it didn’t come off as complimentary to many. “One of Trump’s great advantages is he talks at a level where third, fourth and fifth grade educations can say, ‘Oh yeah, I get that. I understand it,’ Gingrich told host Laura Ingraham on her Fox News show.”

The comment drew mockery from online critics. “The fact that [Trump] speaks to the children says everything you need to know about the educational level the Right is shooting for,” one person on Twitter wrote. “I don’t see where that’s good for somebody that’s running a country,” another commented.

I was still chuckling when I began a story in the same morning’s Seattle Times (“DeSantis bid . . .”) by Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon and Anthony Izaguirre. This article noted that DeSantis, as Florida governor, had signed, and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law — which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ in Florida public schools for all grades.

More recently, he signed a bill banning abortion at six weeks, which is before most women realize they’re pregnant. And he removed an elected prosecutor who vowed not to charge people under Florida’s new abortion restrictions or doctors who provide gender-affirming care.

DeSantis also signed a law thus year allowing Florida residents to carry concealed firearms without permits . . .

Later, I picked up the June 5 issue of The New Yorker magazine and read the comments of editorial writer Benjamin Wallace-Wells, who said in part: “DeSantis, who is still far ahead of the rest of the GOP field [other than Donald Trump] is 44, and if he were to win, would be the second-youngest president ever elected [Donald J. Trump Jr., by comparison, is 46].

“More significant, his brand developed almost entirely during the Trump era in a stepping-stone manner, built on the laissez-faire approach to the pandemic, his campaign to suppress the teaching of racial and gender themes in schools and to punish teachers who defy him, for his backing of permissive gun laws, his aggressiveness towards immigrants and trans people and his ban on nearly all abortions after six weeks . . .”

Meanwhile, according to current Internet news articles, anti-LGBT+ laws put in place by Florida Governor DeSantis have triggered a “mass migration” out of the state.

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Trump's campaign has jabbed at Ron DeSantis over his changing pronunciation of his last name. Going back to 2018, DeSantis has flipped on whether he says Deh-Santis or Dee-Santis. "If you can't get your name right, how can you lead a country?" a Trump campaign spokesperson said.
Former President Donald Trump's campaign is taking name calling quite literally.

According to the Internet: Donald Trump's ancestors changed the family surname from "Drumpf" to "Trump," but the timing of that change isn't clear.