Haley Won't Quit, Kornacki Crunches the Numbers, and the Durst Cousins Want Their Money Back

 To no one's surprise Donald Trump handily won the New Hampshire republican primary last night. After the issue was settled former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley drove Orange Jesus into a rage by refusing to quit the race. After it became clear Haley was sticking around, at least through the South Carolina primary, Trump took to a stage, called her names, hinted that she would have unnamed secrets exposed, and denigrated her choice of clothing for the evening. 

Well, what did you expect, he is, after all, Donald Trump.

While all this was happening the crowd of analysts on MSNBC were assuring viewers the Trump's victories in Iowa and New Hampshire were no big deal--that they had in fact exposed DJT;s weakness with the electorate. They all seemed a tad shrill in their optimism, sort of like people whistling past the graveyard. The only realist in the bunch was the network's resident numbers cruncher, Steve Kornacki.

The man at, "the big board," alone sounded the alarm by pointing out at this point in the campaign year Don Trump is leading Joe Biden, or in a statistical tie with him in every credible poll taken. That, he pointed out ominously, never happened in 2020. Four years ago Biden led Trump in every credible poll leading up to his election victory. The only person who saw it differently was Trump himself and he had to. It was all part of that establishing an alibi thing.

Then came the kicker. Kornacki pointed out those polls still weren't considering some third party entry into the race. He admitted that any third party candidate could throw the election into chaos which, as we all know, is right in Donald Trump's wheelhouse.  

Steve Kornacki isn't the only one who realizes how dire things could become if some outfit, like No Labels becomes involved in the 2024 race. 

The Durst Organization is headed up by cousins, Douglas and Jonathan Durst. They are real deal New York real estate barons with an estimated worth of $8 billion, or so. (That $8 billion presumably, unlike Don's operation, is real and fraud free) Back in 2016 they donated $145,000 to No Labels when it was first getting started. In those days the stated mission of No Labels was to seek ways to build a non-partisan consensus between democrats and republicans on legislative issues, typically which bent toward a more conservative solution. When the check was cashed there was absolutely no talk, or any plans to run a third party candidate for the White House.

Now that there is one, the cousins, Durst want their $145 grand back. The legal filing the other day states the Dursts are, "Bewildered, betrayed, and outraged, by what they call No Labels breach of contract with them. The lawsuit went on to say, "No Labels has shifted seismically from its original mission, and its donors like the Dursts who believed in the mission and financially supported it, should not have to stand idly by." In addition, it noted if the cousins had been, "given any indication that No Labels might pursue such a gambit the Dursts would have never funded the organization." 

In other words, we just wanted to get some legislation passed on the QT which would benefit us. We don't want any part of helping to install a fucking dictator who will end American democracy as we know it.

The election in November is going to be a close thing. In fact it is going to be breathtakingly close. Douglas and Jonathan Durst understand that. So does Steve Kornacki. It might not be what the rest of us want to think about right now, but it makes more sense than whistling past a graveyard.

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