We have a new development in the case of the Zieglers, the power couple from the Superfreak faction of the Florida GOP. Initial reports noted that Christian Ziegler claimed he had videotaped the sexual encounter which his unnamed accuser later alleged was rape. He said he taped it; deleted it; then finally uploaded it to Google Drive. A kind of odd chain of events. But that was his story. The first reports said police hadn’t been able to find it.

Now they’ve found it.

Tom Edwards, a member of the Sarasota County School Board, has called on fellow board member Bridget Ziegler to resign. There have already been a flood of calls for Ziegler’s husband Christian to resign as chairman of the state Republican party. But Christian Ziegler is the focus of a criminal investigation into whether he raped an as yet unnamed woman. Bridget Ziegler has not been accused of any crime. Her role in the scandal engulfing the couple is tied to her being an anti-gay, anti-trans crusader who had sex at least once with another woman, in a threesome with her husband. So hypocrisy, basically.

The number of Israeli military fatalities has been relatively low since October 7th. But just moments ago the IDF announced that Gal Eizenkot, son of war cabinet member Gadi Eizenkot, was killed today in Gaza. The elder Eizenkot is a former IDF Chief of Staff and the second ranking member of the opposition National Unity party headed by Benny Gantz, another former Chief of Staff. National Unity entered the current Israeli coalition government days after October 7th. And both Gantz and Eizenkot are members of the small war cabinet which is directing the war.

We knew going into this debate that the Republican presidential primaries are not real. Trump is the Republican nominee. I do think though that if Chris Christie had been the Chris Christie who showed up about half the time in this debate that would have been significant. He would have consolidated the admittedly very small Never Trump group within the GOP. That doesn’t matter a lot. But he would have raised some doubts among Republicans about what Trump’s first term was actually like and also forced more conversation about what Trump is promising in a second term. That would have been significant. It would have forced more stuff into the public conversation. It would have forced the other Republican candidates to address Trump’s craziness more clearly. It wouldn’t have defeated Trump. But it would have made a difference by breaking the GOP code of silence about Trump.

9:10 PM: I think Christie managed to connect there. He’s breaking through on the fakeness of the whole primary campaign and unwillingness of any of these people to attack Trump. He basically made smoke come out of DeSantis’s ears. But DeSantis is already roadkill. So hard to say how much it matters.

9:01 PM: “Europe is committing suicide” with immigration. Basically right out of the Great Replacement playbook.

8:44 PM: I haven’t seen any time counts but it seems like Chris Christie has spoken dramatically less than the other three. Just doesn’t have it in him. No fight. Had a couple sharp moments with Ramaswamy. But just flat.

8:31 PM: Kate and I will definitely do an instapod tonight if Christie and Haley murder Vivek live on stage.

8:30 PM: Christie already seems to be done attacking Donald Trump.

8:28 PM: Let’s just note that Haley seems to have floated the conspiracy that Iran launched the massacres in southern Israel to help Russia in Ukraine, and also Putin’s birthday! Weird.

8:25 PM: That’s the first time Christie has really done what he promised he’d do at the start of his campaign: take the argument to Trump. But it seems like he might already be done attacking Trump. Doesn’t seem to have the fight in him anymore.

8:15 PM: I’ve basically made my career covering stupid. But this kind of has me defeated 15 minutes in.

8:08 PM: Just being reminded of the fact that these four are the best the GOP could get up on this stage. It’s pretty remarkable.

8:05 PM: Not sure the 2022 collapse is a big applause line in a GOP debate?

8:04 PM: DeSantis has that weird hands down, dominated dog stance. Weird.

8:03 PM: The only thing of any consequence is whether any of these folks really try to take the fight to Trump.

7:55 PM: Let’s do this.

We can’t promise you it will mean anything. But we promise to make tonight’s fourth GOP debate entertaining. Join us for our live coverage!

When last we checked with accused rapist and confessed threesomer Christian Ziegler, Chairman of the Florida GOP, major Florida Republican party officials were all coming out and demanding he resign. On Monday the state party Vice Chair Evan Power announced he was going to call an emergency meeting for December 17th to deal with the matter. When I heard this I was surprised they’d wait that long to boot Ziegler. They clearly want him gone yesterday.

But they may have to wait longer.

According to Florida Politics, the state party has no mechanism for removing a party chair against their will. It seems the best they can do on the 17th is censure Ziegler or perhaps appoint someone to investigate his behavior.