Cont: The Trump Presidency VI

[Skeptic Ginger]

Except for the possible vulnerability to blackmail?

Not to mention what might be discovered when one looks at the money laundering involved routinely with these LLCs and disguising where payments originate.

I would be shocked if all these guys (Trump, Cohen and Manafort) aren't about to be caught hiding income from the IRS. Isn't Manafort already charged with tax fraud?


Yep: Manafort, Gates indicted on new tax and bank fraud charges.

No way Cohen And Trump haven't been doing the same thing.

 

[Cl1mh4224rd]

It's really odd that so many people think they heard Wolf insult Sanders' appearance, when in fact it was a compliment to her appearance attributed to a well-deserved insult to her integrity. The only explanation I can think of is that many people think they heard what they expected to hear, and many others who didn't really hear what was actually said simply accepted those criticisms, because that's what they would expect, too. So, really, it's kind of a "backhanded insult" to Sarah.

Anyway, I don't think Wolf needs to apologize for calling Sanders and Conway liars. #resistTheNewNormal

I agree - this is sadly the best explanation. People are pissed at a comedian because they think that comedian expressed their own shallow views of Sanders. They assume that the comedian wouldn't be talking about her dishonesty and lack of integrity because most people have thrown that out the window to survive or prosper in the world of Trump.

I see it as something even simpler, but only slightly: any reference to the appearance of an "opponent" in an otherwise aggressive exchange is automatically assumed to be negative. There appears to have been no thought given to Wolf's actual words by the people criticizing her for going after Sanders' appearance (assuming they didn't mishear Wolf's words, as some here have admitted).

 

[acbytesla]

I completely agree with you.

Remember when President Kennedy and his brother Bobby were tag-teaming Marilyn Monroe? I mean come on, the woman was smoking hot -- a lot hotter than their wives were. Hey, I really respect what they did to her. Oh, didn't she end up committing suicide? Well, whatever.

Also, remember when President Clinton took Monica into the oval office and taught her how to play hide-the-cigar? So what if she was average looking and over-weight, still better than having to climb Mt. Hillary. I respect that choice.

So yeah, I have nothing but admiration and respect for our past Presidents.

Im not talking about what they did behind closed doors. You think JFK and Clinton were the only ones that had affairs while in office? You'd be wrong.

If the worst think I said about Trump was that he slept around that would be one thing. But EVERYTHING about Trump is disgusting. From how he treats and talks about women to the simple fact that he has no respect for anyone other than himself. That he has the gall to say everyone else is lying even when clearly they are not. To his non stop lying. Everyone lies occasionally, but with Trump it's a diahrea of lies.

The fecal fabrications that flow from his fat face is a phenomenal flood.

 

[thaiboxerken]

LOL, remind me again why I should care that a bunch of snowflakes and world class hypocrites were upset about someone speaking the truth when they expected a trained monkey act.

They cry when they are called out on their lies. It is right-wing persecution syndrome, they see persecution everywhere but ignore their own actions of persecuting everyone that isn't a white, heterosexual, male.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Im not talking about what they did behind closed doors. You think JFK and Clinton were the only ones that had affairs while in office? You'd be wrong.

If the worst think I said about Trump was that he slept around that would be one thing. But EVERYTHING about Trump is disgusting. From how he treats and talks about women to the simple fact that he has no respect for anyone other than himself. That he has the gall to say everyone else is lying even when clearly they are not. To his non stop lying. Everyone lies occasionally, but with Trump it's a diahrea of lies.

The fecal fabrications that flow from his fat face is a phenomenal flood.

There is also the hypocrisy of the Right. They feign outrage over affairs any Democrat has but give standing ovations to Senators who hire prostitutes to fulfill a diaper fetish. They give Trump a pass on his many affairs while preaching to everyone about family values.

Also, Trump's handling of his affairs in illegal ways should be a big deal, but isn't to the GOP.

 

[newyorkguy]

This president doesn’t lie anymore than any other...

That's a lie.

...until the Republican leadership has the guts to stand up and say it would be better not to have a Republican party than to have a party that caters to the village idiot, uh, there’s gonna be no end in sight...

The village idiot is now our president!

 

[surrogate]

That's a lie.



The village idiot is now our president!

Nope, village idiots usually have some redeeming qualities, unlike DJT.

 

[newyorkguy]

What, him worry?

.

 

[Arcade22]

This president doesn’t lie anymore than any other.

That's a lie and you know it. Shameful display!

 

[Arcade22]

In the 466 days since he took the oath of office, President Trump has made 3,001 false or misleading claims, according to The Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president.

That’s an average of nearly 6.5 claims a day.

When we first started this project for the president’s first 100 days, he averaged 4.9 claims a day. Slowly, the average number of claims has been creeping up.

Indeed, since we last updated this tally two months ago, the president has averaged about 9 claims a day.

Our interactive graphic, created with the help of Leslie Shapiro and Kaeti Hinck of The Washington Post’s graphics department, displays a running list of every false or misleading statement made by Trump. We also catalogued the president’s many flip-flops, since those earn Upside-Down Pinocchios if a politician shifts position on an issue without acknowledging that he or she did so.

Trump has a proclivity to repeat, over and over, many of his false or misleading statements. We’ve counted at least 113 claims that the president has repeated at least three times, some with breathtaking frequency.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-made-3001-false-or-misleading-claims-so-far/

For every questionable claim, half-truth and outright lie that any previous president ever stated Trump would easily manage two orders of magnitude more.

Lets face it: if you support Trump you are almost by necessity a dishonest liar. One cannot claim that one supports Trump but doesn't approve of him lying since his constant lying, combined with a complete willful disregard for facts while believing in complete nonsense based upon unsound notions, is so central to his person that they cannot be held separate from him.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Well, in other circumstances, I'd have to concede the point. But with Trump? Only the piss tape would suffice for blackmail.

The point is, though, that the existence of the Daniels NDA establishes that Trump is susceptible to blackmail about sexual matters.

When the pee tape story broke there were plenty on the left who were saying that it wasn't credible as a story because Trump wouldn't care. He'd boast about it instead. That always seemed a silly argument to me, given that we're talking about a man with such a fragile ego that he pretended that a typo was actually a coded message, but I don't doubt the sincerity of the people who made it. Now there's direct evidence of Trump paying money to someone in order to keep quiet an embarrassing story about his sex life. It's about as comparable a story as we're likely to get, and it falls on the side of "he can be blackmailed about this kind of thing".

 

[ponderingturtle]

Well, in other circumstances, I'd have to concede the point. But with Trump? Only the piss tape would suffice for blackmail.

Well as russia is known for releasing sex tapes of opponents and he might well have attended sex parties who know exactly what they all have?

 

[ponderingturtle]

Im not talking about what they did behind closed doors. You think JFK and Clinton were the only ones that had affairs while in office? You'd be wrong.

Yep there is Johnson who said he had more women by accident than kenedy ever had on purpose and regularly showed off the size of his own Johnson.

 

[pgwenthold]

There is also the hypocrisy of the Right. They feign outrage over affairs any Democrat has but give standing ovations to Senators who hire prostitutes to fulfill a diaper fetish. They give Trump a pass on his many affairs while preaching to everyone about family values.

Also, Trump's handling of his affairs in illegal ways should be a big deal, but isn't to the GOP.

Yep.

I've said it many times. This isn't about Trump. This is about his supporters, and their willingness to accept what he does.

Just look at the polls asking how important it is for the president to be of high moral character. During the days of Obama and before, it was generally strongly supported across all demographics, and, of course was sky high among republicans and evangelicals. But in the days of Trump, now, all of a sudden, republicans and evangelicals largely DON'T believe that high moral character is important for the president!

They threw their standards right out the window.

 

[pgwenthold]

That's a lie and you know it. Shameful display!

The problem with Trump is that he lies about things that are stupid to even lie about. About crowd sizes and crap like that.

You can't believe him if he tells you what he had for breakfast. Why would he lie about it? Who knows, that's just what he does.

 

[quadraginta]

Well, in other circumstances, I'd have to concede the point. But with Trump? Only the piss tape would suffice for blackmail.

At this point, having seen what we have seen regarding the willingness of Trump supporters to disregard (or even brag about) anything disgusting or despicable that Trump has or may have done, I am not convinced that even this "pee tape" would have any effect on them.

I don't think anything would. Trump has become the chunk of driftwood they cling to in this flood of their own making. Letting go would be to concede that. To admit that to themselves.

It isn't hard to understand their reluctance in admitting to themselves that they are responsible for the presence of this travesty of a president in the White House.

The problem isn't that they have to concede that Trump is stupid. They have to also concede that they have been stupid. Remarkably, persistently, willfully stupid.

One of the biggest reasons that most successful con jobs are successful is that the pigeon is too embarrassed to ever admit that he had been taken for a ride.

This is one of Trump's greatest political strengths among the people who voted for him.

 

[slyjoe]

At this point, having seen what we have seen regarding the willingness of Trump supporters to disregard (or even brag about) anything disgusting or despicable that Trump has or may have done, I am not convinced that even this "pee tape" would have any effect on them.

I don't think anything would. Trump has become the chunk of driftwood they cling to in this flood of their own making. Letting go would be to concede that. To admit that to themselves.

It isn't hard to understand their reluctance in admitting to themselves that they are responsible for the presence of this travesty of a president in the White House.

The problem isn't that they have to concede that Trump is stupid. They have to also concede that they have been stupid. Remarkably, persistently, willfully stupid.
One of the biggest reasons that most successful con jobs are successful is that the pigeon is too embarrassed to ever admit that he had been taken for a ride.

This is one of Trump's greatest political strengths among the people who voted for him.

All excellent points.

Regarding the highlighted, in some ways they have. Trump supporters are found to say:

Whites are discriminated against more than Blacks or Hispanics.
Christians are discriminated against more than Muslims.
Men are discriminated against more than women.
Women are too easily offended.
Women seek to gain power by getting control over men.
Black people in the U.S. have certain advantages because of the color of their skin.
Racial problems in the US. are rare, isolated situations.

 

[alfaniner]

Is the frog boiling yet?

The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that arise gradually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

 

[Upchurch]

"It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled."
-- Mark Twain, maybe.

 

[varwoche]

There's a lot of talk about "tribalism" in political discourse in general, and concerning anti-Trump'ism in particular. I don't deny that tribalism exists, but -- we're off the rails here. This isn't ordinary. The foundations of democracy are under attack by a wannabe autocrat, and the party in control isn't willing to do a damn thing about it.

During Hitler's rise (yeah I went there, deal with it) can you imagine criticizing his detractors for tribalism?

At this point, Trump cultists (aka supporters) deserve the harshest scorn from any and all non cult members. We can argue about the form/efficacy of the scorn, but that's a different matter.