The Trump Presidency – 2016

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Woke Ammon Bundy is a plot twist I didn't see coming.

Interesting stuff, and if he can come around hopefully other leaders of these movements can.

[Thomkal]

Well Mueller keeps the ways Manafort lied under seal. Michael Cohen is not so lucky and its the moment we've been waiting for I think:


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.155baeb0bd9a

[Thomkal]

So thoughts here-enough to impeach the president yet?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

So thoughts here-enough to impeach the president yet?

There's nothing that will get the GOP to remove Trump.

Well, nothing except increasing the top marginal income tax rate.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

There's nothing that will get the GOP to remove Trump.

Well, nothing except increasing the top marginal income tax rate.

No I don't think so either. But enough to get the Dems to start pushing for it when they take over the House?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by molson

There's a celebrity he's starting to look like, I can't put my finger on it.

I figured Trump would be an exception to that "the presidency ages you" phenomenon, but, he does look like shit there.

His sith mask is finally wearing away.

[Ksyrup]

I feel like his presidency has aged all of us more than him.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I feel like his presidency has aged all of us more than him.

+1

[Brian Swartz]

Shame on us if we allow it to do that.

On impeachment, Pelosi is on record as saying it has to be bipartisan. I think the smartest move for Democrats is definitely to wait for Mueller's report, then push for it. It's been justified from an apolitical sense for a long time, but politically there really wouldn't be much point in pushing for it now. Too many ways to attack the effort, and it's ultimately doomed to failure. Polling around the midterms showed impeachment actually has slightly less support than it did, say, a year ago. The only way it happens is if the electorate moves harder against Trump.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Shame on us if we allow it to do that.

On impeachment, Pelosi is on record as saying it has to be bipartisan. I think the smartest move for Democrats is definitely to wait for Mueller's report, then push for it. It's been justified from an apolitical sense for a long time, but politically there really wouldn't be much point in pushing for it now. Too many ways to attack the effort, and it's ultimately doomed to failure. Polling around the midterms showed impeachment actually has slightly less support than it did, say, a year ago. The only way it happens is if the electorate moves harder against Trump.

yeah Ted Lieu was on one of the networks today that's what he said, wait for Mueller's report before impeachment. Doesn't stop them from interviewing/subpoening some people at the start though.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by molson

There's a celebrity he's starting to look like, I can't put my finger on it.

I figured Trump would be an exception to that "the presidency ages you" phenomenon, but, he does look like shit there.

It's either old Nick Nolte or old Gary Busey. I can't decide which.

[thesloppy]

Whenever the name Nick Nolte comes up I am contractually obligated to mention that Nick Nolte is 77 and has an 11 year old daughter, because it blows my mind.

[cuervo72]

Again, I just love the contrast in headlines.

CNN
Friday was a very, very bad day for Donald Trump
On Friday, President Donald Trump (and the rest of us) got the most fulsome look into the inner workings of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation yet.

CNN
Burnett: Mueller drops a major bomb on Trump
video_youtube

Fox News
Federal prosecutors recommend 'substantial term of imprisonment' for Michael Cohen
Federal prosecutors on Friday recommended a “substantial term of imprisonment” for President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, saying his ...

Fox News
'No collusion' by Trump with Russia shown in new Cohen and Manafort court filings
New court filings Friday dealing with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and campaign chairman Paul Manafort fail to prove Trump-Russia collusion to elect ...

Bloomberg
Mueller Weaves Trump, Manafort and Cohen Ever Closer
Three sentencing memos paint unflattering portraits of the president's former campaign chairman and personal lawyer.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by stevew

His sith mask is finally wearing away.

Hah, good one!

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

yeah Ted Lieu was on one of the networks today that's what he said, wait for Mueller's report before impeachment. Doesn't stop them from interviewing/subpoening some people at the start though.

The House can do the impeachment but the Senate will have to process/confirm it and that won't come to anything so Trump is ultimately "protected" until 2020 comes around. However, I would welcome any wrong doings by Trump family members and other close associates.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Whenever the name Nick Nolte comes up I am contractually obligated to mention that Nick Nolte is 77 and has an 11 year old daughter, because it blows my mind.

Totally OT, but I have a good friend who married a guy 30 years older than her. She was 35 and he was 65. Her father remarried and has a younger kid, 6, from the second marriage. They were considering contacting Guiness to see if a 59 year gap is a record for brother in laws.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Whenever the name Nick Nolte comes up I am contractually obligated to mention that Nick Nolte is 77 and has an 11 year old daughter, because it blows my mind.

Like Baron Trump?

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Again, I just love the contrast in headlines.

CNN
Friday was a very, very bad day for Donald Trump
On Friday, President Donald Trump (and the rest of us) got the most fulsome look into the inner workings of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation yet.

CNN
Burnett: Mueller drops a major bomb on Trump
video_youtube

Fox News
Federal prosecutors recommend 'substantial term of imprisonment' for Michael Cohen
Federal prosecutors on Friday recommended a “substantial term of imprisonment” for President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, saying his ...

Fox News
'No collusion' by Trump with Russia shown in new Cohen and Manafort court filings
New court filings Friday dealing with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and campaign chairman Paul Manafort fail to prove Trump-Russia collusion to elect ...

Bloomberg
Mueller Weaves Trump, Manafort and Cohen Ever Closer
Three sentencing memos paint unflattering portraits of the president's former campaign chairman and personal lawyer.

The common thread to all of these is that they are not really fact-based, they are analysis masquerading as fact-reporting. They are stating conclusions in the headlines. Ironically, the only one of these that stands on its own is the Fox News Cohen headline, because that is true. But of course, Fox News is reporting those facts in an effort to bury the lede. But at least it's factual.

This is the problem with the media. Effing report facts, and move the opinion/analysis to a separate site. All of these "news" organizations are more worried about positioning the story and influencing thought than giving people facts and allowing them to draw their own conclusions.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by stevew

Like Baron Trump?

I suppose so. The rest of the Trump men get nothing close to sympathy from me, but that poor kid seems like he's still too young to have skin thick enough to get through all this chaos without getting major damage from the crossfire.

[stevew]

I just meant that 60 year old Donald Trump decided to have a kid, which is about as nuts as 66 year old Nick Nolte.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by stevew

I just meant that 60 year old Donald Trump decided to have a kid, which is about as nuts as 66 year old Nick Nolte.

Totally. To look at Nolte and Trump, I'm amazed that they can 'produce' anything from their nether regions, other than dust and misery.

I don't even know why I know this one, but actor Bernie Koppell (AKA Doc from Love Boat) is 85 and has two boys, one when he was 64 and one when he was 69!

[stevew]

I have an uncle that had a kid at age 17/18 or so, and then had kids all throughout his 4-5 marriages and currently has a 8-10 year old. Other than his pension being cut up in slivers like a CiCis buffet pizza, I just don't see what he gets out of having kids at age 55+.

[cuervo72]

Sex with younger women? Comes at quite a price though.

[stevew]

At some point whores are cheaper than child support.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by stevew

I have an uncle that had a kid at age 17/18 or so, and then had kids all throughout his 4-5 marriages and currently has a 8-10 year old. Other than his pension being cut up in slivers like a CiCis buffet pizza, I just don't see what he gets out of having kids at age 55+.

I need to learn his game.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by stevew

I just meant that 60 year old Donald Trump decided to have a kid, which is about as nuts as 66 year old Nick Nolte.

If you are in a position to and able to, more power to you.

[JPhillips]

Buzzfeed is saying Falwell Jr. and his wife had a threesome with a pool boy, Michael Cohen found out, and that's why Falwell endorsed Trump.

Makes the hiring of Hugh Freeze make sooo much more sense now.

[Ksyrup]

Apparently someone other than Jesus was able to handle HIS junk...

[Shkspr]

Unless he actually meant, "Jesús".

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Buzzfeed is saying Falwell Jr. and his wife had a threesome with a pool boy, Michael Cohen found out, and that's why Falwell endorsed Trump.

Makes the hiring of Hugh Freeze make sooo much more sense now.

I'm just waiting now to see what Michael Cohen has on Franklin Graham.

[Thomkal]

Jerome Corsi files a lawsuit against Mueller and is seeking $350 million dollars:


Conspiracy theorist sues Mueller alleging illegal leaks and surveillance - POLITICO


Just one question-doesn't he actually have to be indicted by Mueller first before he can sue him? I mean the only person who has said Corsi was going to be indicted was Jerome Corsi.



And after this is thrown out, I hope Mueller goes ahead and indicts him just for fun.

[Thomkal]

Butterfly sanctuary in Texas expects to be destroyed after lawsuits go all the way to the Supreme Court and was denied even though 28 federal laws were allowed to have been bypassed:


Butterfly sanctuary in Texas expected to be plowed over for Trump's border wall - CBS News

[Edward64]

I'm not sure what to think. Comey knew what Trump was like before election night and yet he sprung the Hillary surprise the week before. No one can say it cost her the election but think there is little doubt it impacted her some.

Why didn't he use "every breath we have to make sure the lies stop" then? Is this only after Trump fired him, derided him, made fun of him etc. Would he still say this if he was still FBI director (with a strained relationship with Trump)?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/09/polit...020/index.html

Former FBI Director James Comey asked American voters Sunday night to end Donald Trump's presidency with a "landslide" victory for his opponent in 2020.

"All of us should use every breath we have to make sure the lies stop on January 20, 2021," Comey told an audience at the 92nd Street Y on New York City's Upper East Side. He all but begged Democrats to set aside their ideological differences and nominate the person best suited to defeating Trump in an election.

"I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who their candidate should be," Comey told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, "but they have to win. They have to win."

Over the course of more than an hour, Comey repeatedly derided Trump's character, again likening the atmosphere around the President to what he saw in prosecuting mafia figures and suggested that Trump's tweets could eventually amount to witness tampering. Asked if Trump might be an unindicted co-conspirator in some of the crimes recently described by special counsel Robert Mueller, Comey said he didn't know, "but if he's not there, he's certainly close."

[PilotMan]

Comey doesn't mean shit. Whatever he has, I hope that there's at least some corroboration with someone else. His options may not have been good (before the election), but his choices swung the election. No question. I don't think there are but a couple of D's who really give a shit what he has to say. Same with Cohen. I just hope that we really do find the depths of the corruption that trump has lived his life in.

[Thomkal]

Russian spy Maria Butina has changed her plea and most likely has a plea deal. What might she have to say about the NRA, Republicans, and Trump I wonder? Not sure when the plea change takes place.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'm not sure what to think. Comey knew what Trump was like before election night and yet he sprung the Hillary surprise the week before. No one can say it cost her the election but think there is little doubt it impacted her some.

I'm going to say it cost her the election.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I'm going to say it cost her the election.

Nobody who was going to vote for Hillary Clinton in the first place was influenced by "oh no we found more emails and we just don't know what's on them."

Anybody for whom "emails sent on a private server" was a dealbreaker had looooong since made that choice.

What Comey did was take the attention of the news cycle off of Trump for a few days.

And the thing about Trump is, there was nobody who was on the fence enough that a year and a half of 'you have got to be fucking shitting me' hadn't moved the needle, but another 7-10 days would have been the bridge too far.

It was a little bit horseshit of him to publicly notify Congress that way after being reluctant to call attention to Russian meddling because he DIDN'T want to put his thumb on the scale, but I feel like Comey's actions amounted to piling onto what was already setting up to happen than an actual, tangible impact.

[ISiddiqui]

I mean she lost by a total of 100,000 voters in 3 states. Her poll numbers definitely went a bit south after Comey's announcement. So it definitely could have.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Buzzfeed is saying Falwell Jr. and his wife had a threesome with a pool boy, Michael Cohen found out, and that's why Falwell endorsed Trump.

Makes the hiring of Hugh Freeze make sooo much more sense now.

I'm fascinated with the National Enquirer stuff. Not so much with Trump, but with the whole business model. It seems like they just blackmail people into doing stories for their other publications or they'll release dirt. Like that guys safe has to be filled with some amazing stuff the world will never see.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Russian spy Maria Butina has changed her plea and most likely has a plea deal. What might she have to say about the NRA, Republicans, and Trump I wonder? Not sure when the plea change takes place.

And here are some of the details of the agreement, which will be finalized Wed afternoon in court. She's agreeing to plead guilty to conspiracy, and may be cooperating with authorities:


Maria Butina, accused Russian agent, reaches plea deal with prosecutors that includes cooperation - ABC News

[digamma]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Nobody who was going to vote for Hillary Clinton in the first place was influenced by "oh no we found more emails and we just don't know what's on them."

Anybody for whom "emails sent on a private server" was a dealbreaker had looooong since made that choice.

What Comey did was take the attention of the news cycle off of Trump for a few days.

And the thing about Trump is, there was nobody who was on the fence enough that a year and a half of 'you have got to be fucking shitting me' hadn't moved the needle, but another 7-10 days would have been the bridge too far.

It was a little bit horseshit of him to publicly notify Congress that way after being reluctant to call attention to Russian meddling because he DIDN'T want to put his thumb on the scale, but I feel like Comey's actions amounted to piling onto what was already setting up to happen than an actual, tangible impact.

The data tells us otherwise.

Clinton fell about 3 points in national polls from October 28 to November 5. As isiddiqui notes the election swung on a very small number of votes. Even if the comey effect was very small it’s hard to think it didn’t have a pretty significant effect on the specific outcomes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

If I remember correctly 538 had a nice piece on this.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by digamma

If I remember correctly 538 had a nice piece on this.

The Comey Letter Probably Cost Clinton The Election | FiveThirtyEight

Yes, anyone that doesn't acknowledge Comey likely cost Clinton the election has their head in the sand.

[JPhillips]

Despite the large Caravans that WERE forming and heading to our Country, people have not been able to get through our newly built Walls, makeshift Walls & Fences, or Border Patrol Officers & Military. They are now staying in Mexico or going back to their original countries.......

.....Ice, Border Patrol and our Military have done a FANTASTIC job of securing our Southern Border. A Great Wall would be, however, a far easier & less expensive solution. We have already built large new sections & fully renovated others, making them like new. The Democrats,.....

....however, for strictly political reasons and because they have been pulled so far left, do NOT want Border Security. They want Open Borders for anyone to come in. This brings large scale crime and disease. Our Southern Border is now Secure and will remain that way.......

.....I look forward to my meeting with Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi. In 2006, Democrats voted for a Wall, and they were right to do so. Today, they no longer want Border Security. They will fight it at all cost, and Nancy must get votes for Speaker. But the Wall will get built...

....People do not yet realize how much of the Wall, including really effective renovation, has already been built. If the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall. They know how important it is!

Grandpa is telling us about that time he built an awesome wall all the way across Mexico.

[Ksyrup]

I have nothing to go on but gut on this, but I get the feeling that Comey issued the letter in an effort to avoid Trump/Republicans slamming HIllary's election as illegitimate if she won and that info came out shortly thereafter. I think, like most everyone, that he assumed Clinton would win and wanted to clear the air before the election. And then, of course, the unthinkable happened.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Grandpa is telling us about that time he built an awesome wall all the way across Mexico.

So if I'm understanding.

The southern border is now secure and will stay that way?

But, I need money to secure it?

But, if I don't get it, the military will build it?

And we've already built a whole bunch of it?

But, we still need to build it?

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I have nothing to go on but gut on this, but I get the feeling that Comey issued the letter in an effort to avoid Trump/Republicans slamming HIllary's election as illegitimate if she won and that info came out shortly thereafter. I think, like most everyone, that he assumed Clinton would win and wanted to clear the air before the election. And then, of course, the unthinkable happened.

This is pretty much exactly what Comey said in his own reasoning about the timing of everything.

[kingfc22]

He's senile.

[Butter]

Yelling random shit for so long has worked, so why not keep going.

But I mean really, "large scale crime and disease". Disease? What a fucking asshole.

[kingfc22]

That was amazing.

A 72 year old man throwing a 15+ minute temper tantrum inside the Oval Office.

[digamma]

I mean I think we all knew that Trump could have built a three inch Lincoln Log wall and would sell it as the greatest wall since China's.

[Lathum]

So he is threatening to shut the government down if he doesn’t get the money for a wall that he promised during his campaign that Mexico would pay for. I simply can not understand how anyone can still support him.