america's karen

Casey DeSantis can try her #bebest, but she will never be Melania Trump

Casey DeSantis is continuing with her efforts to cast herself as the next Melania Trump, even as her husband slips further and further in the polls in his hopeless bid for the Republican nomination for president.

The homophobic wife of Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis just announced a new partnership with the New College of Florida and the Florida Department of Children and Families called Hope Florida, an initiative that aims to help people transition off public assistance programs by offering them jobs and scholarships.

Per the program’s website:

Spearheaded by First Lady Casey DeSantis and implemented by the Florida Department of Children and Families, Hope Florida utilizes Hope Navigators to guide Floridians on an individualized path to prosperity, economic self-sufficiency and hope by focusing on community collaboration between the private sector, faith-based community, nonprofits and government entities to break down traditional community silos, in an effort to maximize resources and uncover opportunities.

Now, we think helping people get back on their feet is great! And it’s certainly nice to see Mrs. DeSantis use her platform for this purpose rather than to attack LGBTQ+ people, kids, and their families, like she did for most of the summer.

But several people are already pointing out how her new initiative sounds very similar to former first lady Melania Trump’s “Fostering the Future, a Be Best Initiative”, which has a similar goal of helping teenagers transition from foster homes and into adulthood by offering them jobs and scholarships.

Casey has talked about her fondness for Melania several times while on the campaign trail. Most recently, she tried saying she considers the moniker “Walmart Melania”, given to her by the Daily Beast, a profound compliment.

“They’ve also called me Walmart Melania, which by the way, being in the same sentence with Melania, I consider that a major victory,” she told former NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, who now hosts a show on something called “First TV”, a no-name network that also features notable right wingnuts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Spicer.

And earlier this month, during a campaign stop in Iowa, Casey described being compared to Mrs. Trump as “a win.” Also, she loves Walmart! So really it’s a double win!!

“If I’m in the same sentence with Melania, that’s a win for me,” she said, adding that she does, indeed, “shop at Walmart because you know how quickly our kids grow out of clothes when they’re six, five, and three.”

“I go there and shop all the time!”

Oh, and then there was that time she tried ripping off Melania’s infamous “I really don’t care, do u?” look by sporting her own “Where woke goes to die” leather bomber jacket.

As for Melania, the New York Times reported in July that she was “curious” about Casey, who she’s only met briefly a handful of times over the years.

“In private, [Melania] has expressed curiosity about Casey DeSantis, the wife of Mr. Trump’s chief rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida,” The Times wrote, citing interviews with “associates, campaign aides and friends” from Melania’s inner circle.

A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll released this week finds DeSantis’ support has taken a nosedive in recent weeks. While Donald Trump remains the frontrunner from the party’s nomination, pollsters found Nikki Haley’s support up 11%, and DeSantis’ down 12%, a steep decline from the 23% support he received earlier this year.

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