No, DeSantis isn't "winning" against Walt Disney World

RCMAC:

I did hear a quote from somebody (DeSantis?) directed at Vivek Ramaswamy saying that he’s unqualified and we can’t have a “rookie” as president

I heard that too. I don't remember if it was Meatball Ron or someone else saying it, but when pressed on the issue about how that was different than what happened in 2016, their only retort was "it's just different"

(I just looked it up and it was Pence)

Trump is such a menacing, hostile person that public displays of affection for Trump themselves come across as menacing and hostile. It's hard to explain to someone why that is the case now when it wouldn't have been for any other recent election, but you definitely feel it. Even this white, hetero male feels it; I can't imagine how members of minority or otherwise marginalized groups feel. Flying Trump flags and wearing MAGA hats isn't simply a way of showing support for one's preferred candidate.

Trump tried to steal the 2020 election while simultaneously accusing the other side of doing the same to him. He signaled his intentions to sew distrust in the system, claim election fraud, and refuse to accept a peaceful transfer of power, all the way back in 2015. In effect, Trump wishes to disenfranchise anyone who doesn't vote for him, so at this point anyone who supports him is okay with that. They're okay with my vote not counting. That feels personal in a way that Bush '04, McCain '08 and Romney '12 didn't.

sirloindude:

You would think that by now, the media would realize that they’re just turning Trump into a martyr.

This might be true, but there is a journalistic dilemma to consider (and to be clear, not all of "the media" are journalists). That a former president has been indicted on dozens of charges in absolutely historic. At the same time, there are important things going on that have nothing to do with Trump, but in terms of ranking importance to make a more informed electorate, what do you do? The source I generally look at most frequently is the NYT, and they've actually deemphasized Trump to an extent. Their front page rank is really dynamic, and Trump rarely stays at the top for very long. At the moment, the Spanish Women's Soccer scandal is at the top, earlier it was the implications of Russian dissent, and I can almost promise that by tomorrow Hurricane Idalia will be at the top.

The funny thing about MAGA merchandise is that it's not official in any way, and it's the opportunistic schmucks who are banking cash on this crap.

Oh, and on debates, I've always been annoyed that the format has generally left it to the candidates to fact-check each other. You've got an army of researchers at your disposal... call them out. Some moderators have done that when it was obvious (in 2020, there was plenty of that), but would we even have debates if they did this?

I find his response to the Jacksonville shooting at least somewhat indicative that he may have to shift to center more to stand out post debate, and leaving early instead of after for the hurricane... But we shall see.

Although obviously he has done jack for Insurance companies leaving, and giving 1 million to a HBU for security is drop in the bucket for the damage he has caused the state universities in recruiting and etc... not to mention the fallout from the AP bs.

And I am surprised Disney did't push for an earlier trial date then July of next year, but it is during the republican convention.

RCMAC:

bus that blasted patriotic music and was flying huge Trump flags (one of which said “Women For Trump” - a concept I couldn’t wrap my head around)

Women For Trump is actually the group the organized the "stop the steal" rally on Jan 6 that went sideways.

RCMAC:
Into the festival we encountered a sea of red hats and Trump shirts even on the kids.

Aaaaand here we have have actual grooming. Parents dumping their political stuff on their kids who otherwise would have zero interest in it. "Woke" Disney characters definitely can't compete with parents dressing their kids up political cult drag.

Women....

RayP1970:

I never understood the Trump merchandise thing. There weren't Obama stores. There were no W stores. Even Reagan didn't have hundreds of different types of merch. The MAGA thing just baffles me.

TRUMP was a brand before he even thought of running for president. (TRUMP Steaks. TRUMP University.) Trump doesn't even own many of the buildings with his name on it. He just franchises out the brand name.

Obama had the "Yes We Can" slogan, but Trump took the whole branding thing much further. The scumballs who sell unlicensed Disney merchandise, for example, are the same scumballs who make and sell unlicensed TRUMP merchandise.

The question I want answered is, do lawyers from the TRUMP brand ever send cease and desist letters to those who violate his IP?

I had a couple of anti-Trump tees that I wore a couple of times. They were rather innocuous with one that was red white and blue that said Not My President and another that said 86/45. So none that mentioned him directly. I wore the Red white and blue one with my Stars and Stripes boxer shorts to a big July 4th party. A vision to imagine, I know, but I received a lot of positive attention.
To answer Travis’ question part of me says Trump doesn’t give a s about copyright or brand violations as long as his name is out there. The more there is the happier he is about it. There’s a big bunch merchandise he doesn’t have to pay for. (Not that he actually pays for a lot of stuff anyway)

LostKause:

The question I want answered is, do lawyers from the TRUMP brand ever send cease and desist letters to those who violate his IP?

My answer is "probably". His lawyers were warning people using his mugshot photo for t-shirts and coffee mugs that if they use his image, they will come after them. This despite the fact that a mugshot is sort of public record. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And to add on to RCMAC's bit about the Anti-Trump shirt, we had put a sign in our yard for the 2020 election that said "Any Functioning Adult 2020". It was "stollen" about 2 days later, even though it had no reference to anyone and was actually kind of a slam to both candidates. The guy across the street had all sorts of Trump 2020 signs, flags and stickers and those were all perfectly fine. Guess we must have hit a nerve! :)

The mug shot wasn't a photo shoot. He's so narcissistic. LOL

RCMAC:

To answer Travis’ question part of me says Trump doesn’t give a s about copyright or brand violations as long as his name is out there. The more there is the happier he is about it. There’s a big bunch merchandise he doesn’t have to pay for. (Not that he actually pays for a lot of stuff anyway)

That's also where the media has failed. He's in the news almost every day. Free publicity, why debate?

LostKause:

TRUMP was a brand before he even thought of running for president. (TRUMP Steaks. TRUMP University.)

Funny you should bring up "Trump University". This was red flag #456 that he was nothing but a (famous) con-man. Complete scam, but when the lawsuits rolled in he pretended he had nothing to do with anything. I guess being a prof I'm particularly keen on that one.

Full disclosure; I was a sucker for Celebrity Apprentice. What could be better than watching Meatloaf (RIP) completely lose his **** at Gary Busey while playing a game?

Gets funnier every time.

Or Dionne Warwick calling Lisa Rinna a heifer, Nikki Taylor a hussy, or cussing Marlee Matlin for not knowing her music.

The Dionne Warwick Talk Show

Settlement.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03...index.html

I wonder if we will ever know the real story.

Can’t wait to see how he spins the “my campaign is over so I can cooperate with an important part of Florida again” message.

I suspect the real story is some form of: "Look, we know you are never going to hold national elected office. You know you are nver going to hold national elected office. And there are lots of Florida voters who like Disney. A lot. You've had your fun, and gotten what you can out of this, so let's get back to the business of making money."

Settlement Agreement:

https://www.politico.com/f/...7778d90001