President Trump

[uke2se]

He says he has no problem being president and running his businesses. No conflict of interest as he will be President.
I suppose he thinks what's good for his business must be good for America.

I'm sure he doesn't have a problem with it, but anyone who cares about democracy, corruption in government and the constitution should.

He's already shown that he intends to use the presidency to enrich himself. I honestly can't believe that the US population isn't up in arms over this. It's outrageous.

 

[uke2se]

My understanding is that Trump is under no obligation to put his business in a blind trust. Sure it's the usual thing to do (at least since LBJ) to either put your interests in a blind trust or, like Obama, to invest in mutual funds over which you as President have no direct influence. Then again it was usual to reveal your tax records and Trump simply refused to do that with absolutely no ill effects to his candidacy.

As regards impeachment, firstly there would need to be some desire to do it. As much as the GOP seem to squabble internally, when push comes to shove they toe the party line when it's important for them to do so (look at all those "Anti-Trump" GOP luminaries who fell into line once he had secured the nomination). Unless Trump did something so heinous that it threatened to ruin the reputation of the GOP (and with Teflon-Trump it's hard to imagine what that could possibly be) then there would be no appetite for impeachment from the GOP and no ability to impeach from the Democratic Party.

The most likely cause where there will be calls for impeachment IMO will be allegations that Trump is using the office of President to further his business interests. The trouble is that it's almost impossible to prove something like that unless he's caught funneling billions in government money - he's not that stupid IMO.

I would say that IMO there is approximately zero chance of impeachment of President Trump and because they're not vindictive crybabies, the Democratic Party will not be spending the next 4 or 8 years with the sole intent of getting him impeached.

This article cites the chief ethics counsels for the last two Presidents who disagree. They claim it would violate article 1, section 9 of the US constitution:

https://thinkprogress.org/electoral...collection_home_________0_________---4------0

 

[Stacko]

This article cites the chief ethics counsels for the last two Presidents who disagree. They claim it would violate article 1, section 9 of the US constitution:

https://thinkprogress.org/electoral...collection_home_________0_________---4------0

Impeachment is a political solution. It requires congress to be willing to do it. I'm not holding my breath waiting for a GOP controlled congress to care about ethics and rules.

 

[uke2se]

Impeachment is a political solution. It requires congress to be willing to do it. I'm not holding my breath waiting for a GOP controlled congress to care about ethics and rules.

It ought to be front and center on every newspaper and tv-news station. It ought to be drilled into the minds of the people who voted for this con artist.

 

[ponderingturtle]

I'm sure he doesn't have a problem with it, but anyone who cares about democracy, corruption in government and the constitution should.

He's already shown that he intends to use the presidency to enrich himself. I honestly can't believe that the US population isn't up in arms over this. It's outrageous.

Why would they be? Everyone knew he would act that way, so either they are OK with it or they are already against him.

 

[sunmaster14]

I wonder what his source is for that, but suspect that it's "his ass".

This paper is linked in Trump's twitter stream. My quick read is that a good estimate is that there are 20,000,000 non-citizen adults in the US, and at least 2% of them vote illegally. In 2008, polls of non-citizen adults broke 80%-20% for Obama, so perhaps we can assume something like 75%-25% in favor of the Democrat in a typical Presidential race. This would mean that illegal votes would favor the Democrat by approximately 200,000 votes net (20,000,000 * (75%-25%) * 2%). Getting to 3,000,000 net, as Trump claims, would require a concerted effort by the Democratic party to get non-citizens to the polls in, say, California. Certainly possible, but it's probably easier to just make strategic arithmetic errors when adding up votes.

 

[thaiboxerken]

So no actual evidence. Just "estimates" because Democrats sometimes win elections.

 

[Andy_Ross]

So no actual evidence. Just "estimates" because Democrats sometimes win elections.

Democrats winning is all the evidence they need.Trump never loses, he's always a winner. He won the University court case, he could have won the popular vote if he wanted to.

 

[Stacko]

I'm glad we were all so worried about proper email practices. Donald to meet with retired General David Petraeus, who literally pled guilty to mishandling classified information, to interview for him as a prospective Secretary of State.

 

[The Don]

I'm glad we were all so worried about proper email practices. Donald to meet with retired General David Petraeus, who literally pled guilty to mishandling classified information, to interview for him as a prospective Secretary of State.

Apparently a few emails (with no wrongdoing which would warrant prosecution) is far worse than security breaches which involved a plea bargain to avoid jail-time

“Other lives, including General Petraeus and many others, have been destroyed for doing far, far less,” Trump said at a rally in October. “This is a conspiracy against you, the American people, and we cannot let this happen or continue.”

It's like Bizzaroworld

 

[Spindrift]

It's like Bizzaroworld

It IS Bizzaroworld.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Apparently a few emails (with no wrongdoing which would warrant prosecution) is far worse than security breaches which involved a plea bargain to avoid jail-time.

"A few?"

33,000 emails that had been subpoenaed by Congress were first deleted, and then permanently destroyed using BleachBit and hammers.

The members of the soon to be convened Grand Jury may well consider that a brazen act of "obstruction of justice."

 

[The Don]

"A few?"

33,000 emails that had been subpoenaed by Congress were first deleted, and then permanently destroyed using BleachBit and hammers.

Yes, a few. The FBI reviewed the emails and came to the conclusion that a tiny proportion were classified, and an even tinier portion were classified at the time (as opposed to being classified in retrospect).

The members of the soon to be convened Grand Jury may well consider that a brazen act of "obstruction of justice."

Which one is this now ?

 

[NoahFence]

"A few?"

33,000 emails that had been subpoenaed by Congress were first deleted, and then permanently destroyed using BleachBit and hammers.

The members of the soon to be convened Grand Jury may well consider that a brazen act of "obstruction of justice."

33K is "a few" compared to say, 22 Million, yes?

 

[ponderingturtle]

33K is "a few" compared to say, 22 Million, yes?

But those millions were by republicans who are always held to very low standards.

If Petras had been a clearly republican general he would never have been in danger of conviction.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

But those millions were by republicans who are always held to very low standards.

You appear to be talking about the millions of emails Bush/Cheney wisely eliminated, rather than the millions of emails Crooked Hillary didn't delete, which I think is the topic.

If Petraeus had been a clearly republican general he would never have been in danger of conviction.

Cute, but false.

The Pentagon is internally non-partisan by external evaluation criteria. Internal binary oppositional opinion groups are divided on very different lines within the military. And a vast majority of military personnel are registered republican, due to traditional relationships and value sets which are now in flux.

 

[Belz...]

"A few?"

33,000 emails that had been subpoenaed by Congress were first deleted, and then permanently destroyed using BleachBit and hammers.

The members of the soon to be convened Grand Jury may well consider that a brazen act of "obstruction of justice."

That's an impressive number, but only when you assume that all of them are incriminating, when the actual number is zero.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Yes, a few. The FBI reviewed the emails and came to the conclusion that a tiny proportion were classified, and an even tinier portion were classified at the time (as opposed to being classified in retrospect).

"Tiny?"

Just wait until it is discovered that the 33,000 emails miraculously survived Crooked Hillary's clumsy attempt to hide her crimes -- the FBI (and half-a-dozen foreign governments) have probably had them all along.

I suspect those deleted emails will soon be sitting atop of Jeff Sessions' desk.

 

[Belz...]

"Tiny?"

Just wait until it is discovered that the 33,000 emails miraculously survived Crooked Hillary's clumsy attempt to hide her crimes -- the FBI (and half-a-dozen foreign governments) have probably had them all along.

I suspect those deleted emails will soon be sitting atop of Jeff Sessions' desk.

Amazing how accurate your predictions are, until they all turn out to be fantasies.

Doesn't it bother you that your counter-argument to the fact that very few e-mails were classified at the time of the alledged crime is that we should wait for a hypothetical to occur?

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Amazing how accurate your predictions are, until they all turn out to be fantasies.

You mean like Trump winning? Yeah, I sure called that one wrong. Bwahahaha!