Go for the Jugular, Ron

Ron DeSantis

Wake up, Ron. Does Florida governor Ron DeSantis really think the Trump cultists are going to abandon their guy and vote for him in the GOP primaries? They are more likely to vote for Hunter Biden than the Sunshine State’s Johnny-one-note “woke warrior.”

DeSantis has to stop pussyfooting around and go on the attack against the ex-president. He missed a golden opportunity on July 18 after news broke that the former president received a “target letter” from Jack Smith regarding his role in inciting the Capitol Hill riot.

Trump “should have come out more forcefully” on Jan. 6 said the guy who is running one of the worst presidential campaigns later. That’s it?

Things only got worse. DeSantis wound up later defending Trump against the “weaponized” Justice Dept. and FBI during a rally in South Carolina. Is he running for the VP slot on Trump’s ticket?

If DeSantis is serious about competing in the GOP primaries he should follow the lead of former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson.

"As a former federal prosecutor, I understand the severity of Grand Jury investigations and what it means to be targeted by such an investigation. Donald Trump has confirmed that he is a target of this investigation and will likely be indicted once again.

"While Donald Trump would like the American people to believe that he is the victim in this situation, the truth is that the real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our rule of law, and those Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to protect our Capitol.

"Anyone who truly loves this country and is willing to put the country over themselves would suspend their campaign for President of the United States immediately. It is disappointing that Donald Trump refuses to do so."

Bravo. Asa minces no words. Neither should Ron.

Since hardly anyone is paying attention to Hutchinson’s super long-shot presidential campaign, DeSantis should crib his statement on Trump’s indictment.

Let the bomb-throwing begin.

Jack Smith hits the big time. Milwaukee’s National Bobblehead Hall of Fame has issued a limited edition bobblehead of the special counsel probing Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol Hill riot and mishandling of classified materials.

Trump paid the New York native, who began his career in the Brooklyn DA’s office, the ultimate compliment, calling him a “deranged lunatic.”

Phil Sklar, co-founder/CEO of the museum, said he received many requests for a bobblehead of Smith. “The special counsel’s investigations are unprecedented and a bobblehead is one fun and unique way for people to commemorate these unique historic events,” he said.

Go figure. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who was Wall Street’s biggest ESG champion, has named Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, to his board of directors.

Adding the head of the world’s largest fossil fuels company isn’t exactly a page out of the ESG playbook.

Fink maintains that BlackRock will benefit from Nasser’s four-decade career at Aramco.

He credits Nasser for establishing Aramco as a “leader in the global energy transition, investing in cutting-edge technologies to address the challenges of balancing energy security and sustainability.”

That sure sounds swell but the reality is that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia owns a 90 percent stake in Aramco.

You can bet that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman isn’t exactly a big fan of global transitioning from oil and gas to solar and wind power.

Aramco produced 13.6M barrels of oil equivalents each day in 2022. That output added to global warming.

The company is engaged in some greenwashing. It has announced a $1.5B sustainability fund to invest in technology that can support a stable and inclusive energy transition.

That fund may score Aramco PR points but the it represents chump change for a company that earned $161B in 2022 and announced a fourth quarter dividend of $19.5B.

Nasser is going full speed ahead on the fossil fuels front. He has warned of the risk of underinvestment and unveiled the largest capital spending program ever in the aftermath of boosting capex outlays of $37.6B.

Does Fink expect Aramco to invest in offshore wind energy development.

Sustainability amplifiers… Edelman and the NYU Stern Center for Sustainability Business produced a study that claims effective sustainability messaging increases brand reach and relevance between 24 to 33 percent points compared to high-performance messages alone.

Researchers identified the top performing claims across nine brands and extracted trends to create data-informed best practices that marketers can use to unlock the potential of action-backed sustainability messaging to drive growth.

The report found that consumers react favorably to simple, jargon-free sustainability messages that connect directly to them, their family and the world immediately surrounding them.

Top performing claims are non-partisan. The strongest claims had no demonstrable differences across political affiliation, and were largely unified across party lines and age groups as well as other demographics and psychographics such as gender, income and education.

Best performing claims are those that directly impact people and their families. People just don’t want to hear about the scientific reasons behind a brand's sustainability.

Health claims perform very well. Consumers will buy products that are made without harmful ingredients to human health and claims such as "grown without harmful ingredients" or "made without chemicals harmful to humans/the environment.”

"Every leader thinking twice about sustainability on the grounds of it being 'divisive' needs to know this: If you communicate sustainability the right way, it will appeal across political affiliation, income, gender, education levels, and age groups," said Richard Edelman. “Sustainability is an amplifier and if brands embrace it, we can exponentially increase growth and trust."