The Trump thread: All things Donald

[Athos_131]

D.C., Maryland begin seeking Trump financial documents in case related to his D.C. hotel

#Resist

[Athos_131]

U.S. stocks are battered in one of their worst days of 2018 as U.S.-China trade deal appears to sputter

Tariff man is having a bad day.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Rudy Giuliani falsely blames Twitter after typo points to anti-Trump website

Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and mayor of New York, mistakenly posted a link to “G-20.In” last Friday when one of his tweets left no space between a sentence ending in “G-20” and the next one starting with “In.” An Atlanta-based designer quickly bought the domain and created a website that read “Donald Trump is a traitor to our country.”

So Giuliani inadvertently posted a link to a website that didn't exist until he tweeted it out on Friday. He did not appear to understand the mistake and used it to add to growing claims that Twitter is biased against conservatives and Trump supporters.

Only the best people.

#Resist

[psiberzerker]

"Only the best people."

#Resist

LOL, yeah.  From America's expert on judging character, Donald "Your fired" Trump.  If you ever get appointed, don't unpack your stuff, and get comfortable.  

"Only the best people," as long as they last...

[Lois]

Only the best of those that think I'm great. Trump

[Katiebee]

I commented on a Facebook political news channel. The conversation went in about how Trump was losing support of veterans.

I said “currently the military seems to have lost a bit more of their acceptance of Trump. The approval rating for Trump in the military is down to around 43%. Lower rating of approval amongst the officer Corp than that.

Anyone who says about a Purple Heart, “I always wanted one of these.” Is not someone who has any affinity for the military or veterans.”

Someone posted to my comment taking me to task about the Purple Heart, how it was given for blood. To which I replied:

“I know that. My father is an infantry veteran. He always has called the Purple Heart a consolation prize. One that you are thankful you are present to receive in person, but one you would truly prefer not to have gotten. My father has met two Medal of Honor recipients and worked with a third. He told me that none of them “wanted” a medal. They did their job, they were glad they made it home.

Someone who “wants” a medal is not someone who deserves it or even understands the cost. Trump doesn’t understand the cost.”

[Athos_131]

How Donald Trump Shifted $1.1M Of Campaign-Donor Money Into His Business

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Saudi-funded lobbyist paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s hotel after 2016 election

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Rex Tillerson on Trump: ‘Undisciplined, doesn’t like to read’ and tries to do illegal things

Perhaps the most damning quote came when Tillerson talked about how Trump as president regularly attempted to do things that violated the law.

“So often, the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it,’ " Tillerson said, according to the Houston Chronicle, “and I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law.’ ”

Tillerson also appeared to take a shot at Trump’s chief method of communication, Twitter.

“I will be honest with you: It troubles me that the American people seem to want to know so little about issues — that they are satisfied with 128 characters,” Tillerson said.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Trump calls Tillerson ‘dumb as a rock.’ Tillerson says Trump asked him to sidestep the law.

“Mike Pompeo is doing a great job, I am very proud of him. His predecessor, Rex Tillerson, didn’t have the mental capacity needed. He was dumb as a rock and I couldn’t get rid of him fast enough. He was lazy as hell. Now it is a whole new ballgame, great spirit at State!”

Alrighty then.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Federal prosecutors recommend ‘substantial’ prison term for former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen



It reads as if Individual-1 committed a felony.

#Resist

[Athos_131]

The Mueller Investigation Nears the Worst Case Scenario

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[Athos_131]

The Wooing of Jared Kushner: How the Saudis Got a Friend in the White House

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[Athos_131]

Russians interacted with at least 14 Trump associates during the campaign and transition

#Resist

[Lois]

Who will replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff?  Another Fox News personality? Maybe even Sean Hannity? Headly Lamar? Or someone equally ridiculous. What do you think?

[Jed_]

Who will replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff?  Another Fox News personality? Maybe even Sean Hannity? Headly Lamar? Or someone equally ridiculous. What do you think?

What a dilemma, someone smart enough for the job yet stupid enough to take it?

He’ll have to promote from within, within his own family I mean.

[Elizabeth]

Who will replace John Kelly as Chief of Staff?  Another Fox News personality? Maybe even Sean Hannity? Headly Lamar? Or someone equally ridiculous. What do you think?

I wonder if Ronald McDonald is free......??

Love,
Liz

[Athos_131]

All the ludicrous defenses Republicans offer on the Russia scandal

Let’s look at some of their defenses:

Why should we bother investigating this stuff? Can’t we just forget about it and move on? Here’s what Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the incoming leader of House Republicans, told Fox News on Monday:

It looks like what [Democrats will] focus on is just more investigations. I think America is too great of a nation to have such a small agenda. I think there are other problems out there that we really should be focused upon. And my belief is, let’s see where we can work together — let’s move America forward.


McCarthy, you may recall, justified the seventh congressional investigation of Benghazi in 2015 by saying, “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”

Everybody makes mistakes, right? This defense implicitly acknowledges that Trump broke the law, but argues that everybody does it:

The beat goes on re: Trump and the GOP. "These guys were all new to this at the time," Sen. John Thune, R-SD. "Most of us have made mistakes when it comes to campaign finance issues. In many cases, campaigns end up paying fines and penalties."

Thune begins here with a proxy version of the George Costanza argument: “Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell ya, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon…” Really, what candidate hasn’t constructed a scheme to pay hush money to porn stars and Playboy models and concealed it from the public and the authorities?

The second part of Thune's argument, one Trump himself has also embraced, is that this was just a minor violation of complex campaign finance rules that everyone runs afoul of now and again. Even Barack Obama did!

But while Obama’s 2012 campaign was fined, that really was over paperwork issues, such as missing filing deadlines near the end of the race. There was never any allegation of intentional lawbreaking. In contrast, Trump and Cohen took a series of steps to conceal what they were doing, indicating that they knew it was potentially criminal.

They agreed (and we know this because Cohen taped the conversation) that Cohen would set up a shell company to hide the source of hush money payments to Trump’s alleged mistresses. When Cohen paid Daniels for her silence, Trump reimbursed him in installments with funds that were “characterized in Mr. Trump’s records as legal fees” (and if Trump deducted those payments from his taxes, he could be guilty of tax evasion). The fact that Trump lied about the payments is also a pretty clear indicator that it was more than just a paperwork whoopsie.

Michael Cohen is a liar, so Trump is innocent. “As long as Cohen’s a liar, I shouldn’t give much credibility to what he says,” says Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). “Jesus loves him, but everybody else thinks he’s an idiot,” says Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). “He’s obviously a sleazeoid grifter. And if I were a prosecutor, I wouldn’t base a prosecution on evidence given to me by Mr. Cohen.” They didn’t specify what they think Cohen is lying about, perhaps because there’s so much documentary evidence of the scheme.

Why aren’t we talking about the things Trump did that weren’t illegal? Another common technique is to isolate some fact about the broader story, insist that it’s mundane and conclude that therefore there were no crimes anywhere. So Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says, “I don’t know what’s illegal about trying to build a hotel in Russia,” as though we can separate that from the possibility that Trump and those around him may have offered favors such as eased sanctions in exchange for the advance of his business interests.

Nah nah nah, I can’t hear you. Here’s what Sen Orrin G. Hatch told CNN’s Manu Raju:

Asked if he had any concerns that Trump was implicated, Hatch told CNN: “The Democrats will do anything to hurt this President.” Informed it was alleged by federal prosecutors in New York, Hatch said: “OK, but I don’t care, all I can say is he’s doing a good job as President.”


Whatever Trump or anybody else did, it wasn’t collusion. This is a convenient argument, because “collusion” is not a legal term and has a somewhat flexible meaning, which is why you can say anything wasn’t collusion. Meeting with Russians to try to get dirt on your opponent as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump”? If they didn’t slice their palms and shake hands in an eternal blood oath, it’s not collusion.

Trump is innocent, says Trump. This may be the definitive statement of the president’s strategy, and one we’ll be hearing a lot:

"Totally clears the President. Thank you!"

#Resist

[Athos_131]

Michael Cohen sentenced to three years in prison for crimes committed while working for Trump

[psiberzerker]

I like that!  Woo!