The Trump Presidency: Part 18

[newyorkguy]

I don't envy them the task of trying to characterize either Trump or Giuliani as a brilliant Machiavellian mastermind, puppeteering others in a clever scheme.

Don and Rudy? They put me in mind of a movie I once saw.

.

 

[Norman Alexander]

One of the ideas kicked around by Burnett and the president was shooting a new version of the Trump-branded Apprentice, tentatively titled The Apprentice: White House, and to produce it shortly after the president leaves office.

Hoping the show goes on the air the last week of January 2021!

At the rate things are disintegrating for Team Donny, it will be December 2019, no matter what Mitch "The Turtle" says (and he's starting to hedge his bets too).

 

[Aridas]

Yay!

In my part of the world the Democrats did very well --except around here they always do -- but despite being a lifelong registered Democrat this time around I voted a split ticket. I voted for the Republican candidate for a local office. I'm not friends with him but I am acquainted with him (through a local history society I belong to) and he seems like a pretty good guy. Quite an intelligent man, very personable and a true moderate.

He lost.

Unfortunate for him. Hopefully, the winner will end of doing a better job than he would have, though. Also, hopefully, his loss, along with the loss of so many others, will help the larger Republican Party return to sanity.

To poke at some other news, though...

Whistleblower attorneys fear for client's safety as Trump allies move to out him

Just in case you wanted confirmation about some of the stuff that they're facing, after the President has been calling upon his supporters to break the law.

Facebook fought to keep a trove of thousands of explosive internal documents and emails secret. They were just published online in full.

Some takeaways -

Facebook wielded its control over user data to hobble rivals like YouTube, Twitter, and Amazon.
Facebook executives quietly planned a data-policy "switcharoo."
Facebook considered charging companies to access user data.
Facebook whitelisted certain companies to allow them more extensive access to user data, even after it locked down its developer platform throughout 2014 and 2015.
Facebook planned to spy on the locations of Android users.

Moving on, though. Lest we forget how bad Pence is.

Mike Pence is abusing his office to funnel foreign aid money to Christian groups

Mike Pence is pushing to send foreign aid to Christian groups in countries like Iraq, with his pressure overruling non-political decisions by career staff and leading to the removal of one top U.S. Agency for International Development Middle East (USAID) official after some of Pence’s favored Christian groups were turned down for grants.

Yeah, Pence entirely deserves removal as well.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

At the rate things are disintegrating for Team Donny, it will be December 2019, no matter what Mitch "The Turtle" says (and he's starting to hedge his bets too).

Notice McConnell made a recent announcement that the impeachment will go on but Trump won't be convicted based on what evidence is currently out there.

Notice when Trump needs to sign the next continue the government funding bill.

McConnell doesn't have a certain reelection coming up. He's ahead but not by much.

What will McConnell do after a stopping the government bill is off the table?

 

[Trebuchet]

Yay!



In my part of the world the Democrats did very well --except around here they always do -- but despite being a lifelong registered Democrat this time around I voted a split ticket. I voted for the Republican candidate for a local office. I'm not friends with him but I am acquainted with him (through a local history society I belong to) and he seems like a pretty good guy. Quite an intelligent man, very personable and a true moderate.



He lost.

A RINO, then.

 

[timhau]

THe Trumps are a textbook example of the Noveau Riche.
They have to show off how rich they are at every opportunity,

... which makes the tax return secrecy all the more puzzling.

 

[The Great Zaganza]

Not really.
Trump's motto has always been: "If you can fake it, you don't have to make it".

 

[smartcooky]

In for a penny to de-rail this thread over to Rachel, in for a pound:

I don't believe its a derail, more a side track. In a discussion about the Trump Presidency (actually, any discussion about any president or politics) how the media react and respond, what they say and how they say it is both a valid and a natural part of the debate.

There are two different things with Rachel: one is short-term repetition, where she is apparently trying to make sure the listener has heard the subject, her point, or whatever; two is her mid-level narrative structure in which she circles the topic, or starts at A and moves to B, which is the main topic. The first drives me a little crazy, and I tolerate the second, although the second is great when she gives the historical context to her main topic, something no one else does.

While I agree to some extent, this is what makes her a master explainer. Its worth the wait to get the story coming together at the end... with impact.

 

[Aridas]

... which makes the tax return secrecy all the more puzzling.

It might make it more puzzling... except for the fact that he's had a long history of lying about how much he's actually worth. Except for the fact that he was raised with massive tax fraud being a normal things in his family. Except for the number of cases of rather obvious financial fraud that are already being investigated. Except for the... ehh, that's enough to poke at the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

It might make it more puzzling... except for the fact that he's had a long history of lying about how much he's actually worth. Except for the fact that he was raised with massive tax fraud being a normal things in his family. Except for the number of cases of rather obvious financial fraud that are already being investigated. Except for the... ehh, that's enough to poke at the tip of the iceberg.

It's a given he lies about what he's worth.

But there's more there. I'm surprised the IRS hasn't caught him cheating. But maybe they don't look deep enough to find money laundering and whatever his other schemes are.

 

[BadBoy]

THe Trumps are a textbook example of the Noveau Riche.
They have to show off how rich they are at every opportunity, Old Money regards that as incredibly vulger.

there's a paywall

 

[BadBoy]

At the rate things are disintegrating for Team Donny, it will be December 2019, no matter what Mitch "The Turtle" says (and he's starting to hedge his bets too).

But I thought the house (or the other house) wont actually find him guilty? This is all just show boating by the Dems to expose as much s@#t on him running up to the next election. I thought there was no way he will actually be impeached - or found guilty, or whatever the terminology is.

 

[BadBoy]

It's a given he lies about what he's worth.

But there's more there. I'm surprised the IRS hasn't caught him cheating. But maybe they don't look deep enough to find money laundering and whatever his other schemes are.

I thought about this and yes the IRS presumably would have nailed him before he was pres if there are irregularities.

No, I'm wondering if it will show (declared) income from places (like bad Russians) which may lend more weight to his Russian collaboration etc. It could show income from some very dubious sources. I assume the IRS doesn't care where the income is from, just that he paid all the Tax due.

I think though it's highly likely we will discover he was in fact so in-debt that he paid no tax at all. Wouldn't surprise me if he was far less rich than he makes out. Oddly I don't think it would hurt his base to publish if this were the reason as much as it is hurting him to keep his returns secret and all the rumors and theories it has generated.

 

[Ladewig]

But I thought the house (or the other house) wont actually find him guilty? This is all just show boating by the Dems to expose as much s@#t on him running up to the next election. I thought there was no way he will actually be impeached - or found guilty, or whatever the terminology is.

The House voted to start an investigation. After all the evidence has been gathered, the House of Representatives will vote on whether or not the Senate should hold legal proceeding (a trial). At this point, the majority of folks think that the Senate will not find him guilty.

But we haven’t seen all the evidence yet. Getting ahold of the tax returns and the revenue statements for the hotels might produce enough evidence that a few of the Republican senators will break ranks and vote for a secret ballot. If that happens then it’ll be much harder to make good predictions about the outcome.

Although Jeff Flake (R) has speculated that if there were a secret ballot, 30 Republican senators would vote him out of office.

 

[Aridas]

It's a given he lies about what he's worth.

But there's more there. I'm surprised the IRS hasn't caught him cheating. But maybe they don't look deep enough to find money laundering and whatever his other schemes are.

I'm not so surprised - on a couple fronts. 1) The IRS does make simple checks, but if you've got the money, it's not hard to hire people who know exactly what those checks are and how to... work around them. If it weren't for Mueller, for example, Manafort's massive fraud likely would not have been discovered. 2) Trump has regularly created shell corporations on top of shell corporations, making it something of a nightmare to actually go through his finances and make sure things all add up honestly. 3) Even when it comes to the audit of the President, it's worth remembering the whistleblower report of the White House exerting... wildly improper influence over that auditing. 4) The GOP's been sabotaging the IRS bit by bit for a while now - which means that the IRS don't have the resources to actually seriously audit and pursue very much of the rather significant tax evasion practiced by the very rich at all, currently. 5) Trump has been regularly fined for violations of money laundering laws in various establishments of his for quite a while, anyways. More could be mentioned, but that's a good start.

I thought about this and yes the IRS presumably would have nailed him before he was pres if there are irregularities.

Based on what?

 

[Belz...]

Watch it. The President is not playing a part in public. He's really that stupid.

 

[Belz...]

Dear Leader is talking to Mark Burnett about "The Apprentice: White House."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump...ark-burnett-are-discussing-their-next-tv-show

I for one wholly support this new plan for Trump's post-presidential career.

Folks, we've got our new GOP primaries, here.

 

[newyorkguy]

Bolton may not testify in the House investigation.

John Bolton, President Trump’s former national security adviser, did not show up for scheduled testimony. Mr. Bolton’s lawyer told the House Intelligence Committee that he would file a lawsuit in federal court if he were subpoenaed, a challenge that could take months to resolve. Democrats have instead decided to use his refusal as evidence that Mr. Trump is obstructing Congress. Link

 

[Armitage72]

It's a given he lies about what he's worth.

People said for years that Trump's talk of running for President was just PR, and he would never actually do it because releasing his tax returns would reveal that he's nowhere near as rich as his public image, and his ego couldn't stand it. Unfortunately he decided that he just wouldn't release them.

 

[The Shrike]

A RINO, then.

Correct, and also why he lost.

The root of the problem is the voters. The Party has made their bed with the Trump voters and decided that they can't win without full-throated endorsements of Dear Leader, because his brand of anti-intellectuallism, jingoistic sabre-rattling, xenophobia, racism, and owning the Libs is so enormously popular with those voters. One might even say that half of them belong in a basket of deplorables.