The Trump Dump!

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CaptainFluffyBunny
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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2041

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2042

Post by Kirbmarc »

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote: The wall is a stunt. Border agents didn't want it, it will do environmental damage, and be a costly eyesore and a black mark on our relations with Mexico, a important trading partner. It is arguable how much good it will do in deterring illegal immigrants. It was something Trump could say that simple-minded people could visualize and understand.

I have friends, long-time friends that work as border agents. I am not against securing our borders, but I am against costly and stupid stunts like the wall. I am against inhumane treatment of anyone, be it POWs or families crossing the border. I am especially against petty jingoism and crass idiocy. The Republicans had the big three and nada on immigration reform. They just wanna look tough to impress the gullible. It appears to be working.
Trump isn't going to have the wall built. He likely never really wanted to. It's a political football to impress his fanbase. He'll have some fences built and call them a wall, then whine that the Evil Dems haven't allowed him to go any further.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2043

Post by free thoughtpolice »

BY LT. Gen. Michael T. Flynn (R) - 11/08/16 05:46 PM EST
Unbiased source, that at the same time he and his goofy son were pushing the Pizzagate conspiracy.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2044

Post by free thoughtpolice »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2045

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »

Kirbmarc wrote:
CaptainFluffyBunny wrote: The wall is a stunt. Border agents didn't want it, it will do environmental damage, and be a costly eyesore and a black mark on our relations with Mexico, a important trading partner. It is arguable how much good it will do in deterring illegal immigrants. It was something Trump could say that simple-minded people could visualize and understand.

I have friends, long-time friends that work as border agents. I am not against securing our borders, but I am against costly and stupid stunts like the wall. I am against inhumane treatment of anyone, be it POWs or families crossing the border. I am especially against petty jingoism and crass idiocy. The Republicans had the big three and nada on immigration reform. They just wanna look tough to impress the gullible. It appears to be working.
Trump isn't going to have the wall built. He likely never really wanted to. It's a political football to impress his fanbase. He'll have some fences built and call them a wall, then whine that the Evil Dems haven't allowed him to go any further.
Nah, he's fairly serious about it, from what I've heard. He thinks it will be part of his legacy, when his real legacy is going to be a very sticky set of precedents and some legal stuff that will delight future historians. Nixon's legacy is gonna look far better in contrast. Especially if they don't fix healthcare fast, and the death of the ACA plunges the markets into chaos.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2046

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2047

Post by Old_ones »

Steersman wrote:
Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:01 am

"arguably, you sold your country out"? I can argue that 2+2=5 but that doesn't mean it's right. And WTF is the judge doing by saying that? Isn't he supposed to be judging on the basis of facts and cogent arguments? Sure would like to know what Flynn has specifically been charged with, and what was the evidence that was put on the table in support of those charges.
This really isn't rocket science. Flynn copped to lying to the FBI when he was asked about his dealings with foreign nationals. If a person pleads guilty to a crime that tells you a couple things: 1) there was enough evidence that a grand jury decided to issue an indictment for that thing 2) A judge reviewed the evidence and found it satisfactory, and found that the defendant was "of sound mind" and had adequate legal advice provided to understand his options. You can also often infer that the defendant is potentially liable for more than they are pleading to (because there is little strategic advantage to pleading guilty if you aren't making a deal with the prosecutor). So there is really no point in arguing from incredulity about whether there are "facts and cogent arguments". All of that was presented to a grand jury months ago, and when Flynn and his lawyer looked at the prosecutor's case, they decided that they had a small enough chance of arguing against the evidence that Flynn should just spill his guts and hope for leniency instead. It's not clear to me that all the evidence is out yet, since it relates to other people who are being targeted by the Mueller probe. My understanding is that all court filings eventually become public domain, so you'll be able to see the evidence for yourself once the probe is wrapped up.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2048

Post by free thoughtpolice »

The last of Trump's generals, Mattis has handed in his resignation, likely because of the Syria thing and possibly because of other noises about disengagement in the area.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2049

Post by MarcusAu »

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote: Nah, he's fairly serious about it, from what I've heard. He thinks it will be part of his legacy, when his real legacy is going to be a very sticky set of precedents and some legal stuff that will delight future historians. Nixon's legacy is gonna look far better in contrast. Especially if they don't fix healthcare fast, and the death of the ACA plunges the markets into chaos.
Future people have already made an assessment of his legacy in the future...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_gwnFSFzv0

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2050

Post by Sunder »

To the continued surprise of no one North Korea will not be scaling back its nuclear program after all.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2051

Post by free thoughtpolice »

Kim is a smart cookie, not a stupid cookie. You can be sure that China won't be enforcing any sanctions and probably not Russia either.
Trump just had sanctions removed on Russian aluminum in spite of Putin committing piracy against Ukraine and retains sanctions against Mexican and Canadian deal in spite of us signing a revised trade pact.
Trump is really a brilliant deal maker. He capitulates to his enemies and his adversaries and screws over his allies and major trading partners.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2052

Post by free thoughtpolice »

That should read "tariffs against Mex..."

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2053

Post by Steersman »

Old_ones wrote:
Steersman wrote:
Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:01 am

"arguably, you sold your country out"? I can argue that 2+2=5 but that doesn't mean it's right. And WTF is the judge doing by saying that? Isn't he supposed to be judging on the basis of facts and cogent arguments? Sure would like to know what Flynn has specifically been charged with, and what was the evidence that was put on the table in support of those charges.
This really isn't rocket science. Flynn copped to lying to the FBI when he was asked about his dealings with foreign nationals.
That now qualifies as "selling your country out", as treason? Kind of looks like the part and parcel of the over-use of words - like "nazi" or "misogynist(!!11!!)" - leading to a general reduction in their utility. You might take a gander at:
We all need to cool it with the ‘treason’ talk
By Seth Lipsky

One positive thing could come out of the fiasco of the sentencing hearing for Gen. Michael Flynn — a national teaching moment in respect of the meaning of “treason.” ....

I don’t wish to put the gloss on Flynn. What a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency was thinking when he hired himself out to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey is beyond me. As is his thinking when he took a fat fee to give a speech at a banquet in Moscow, where he sat next to Putin.

Sleazy as they are, neither act gets anywhere near the constitutional meaning of treason, which is levying war against the United States or adhering to our enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

Speaking at a banquet of a rival like Russia, however ill it means us, or serving as an agent of a lousy “ally” like Turkey, doesn’t cut it. Which is why what happened at Tuesday’s hearing was so shocking.

The hearing was set by a US district judge, Emmet Sullivan, to sentence the general. He had pleaded guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI about what he said to the Russian ambassador in late 2016. ....

This reminds me of a Ronald Reagan joke about the fellow who, after he, his horse and dog had been injured in an accident, told the cop that he never felt better in his life.

Turns out that first the officer had shot the injured horse to put it out of its misery and proceeded to shoot the dog for the same reason. Only then did the officer ask the injured man, “And how do you feel?” ....

The judge started denouncing Flynn’s work for Turkey. “You were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president!” Sullivan yelled.

Yet Flynn had ceased his work for Turkey two months before he became National Security Advisor. ....
As I said earlier, Flynn may have been remarkably naive about our putative ally and fellow NATO member Turkey - see they're rejecting the sanctions on Iran - as Erdogan's Islam is hardly less odious than Gulen's. But rather a stretch to even suggest "treason" for simply dealing with a NATO ally - even apart from the supposed fact that Flynn wasn't actually "national security advisor" at the time.
Old_ones wrote: If a person pleads guilty to a crime that tells you a couple things ... It's not clear to me that all the evidence is out yet, since it relates to other people who are being targeted by the Mueller probe. My understanding is that all court filings eventually become public domain, so you'll be able to see the evidence for yourself once the probe is wrapped up.
Kind of looks like that "evidence" is a bit "coloured" if not tainted by the judge's bias. Though he hardly looks to be the only guilty party on that score.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2054

Post by Old_ones »

Steersman wrote:
Old_ones wrote:
Steersman wrote:
Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:01 am

"arguably, you sold your country out"? I can argue that 2+2=5 but that doesn't mean it's right. And WTF is the judge doing by saying that? Isn't he supposed to be judging on the basis of facts and cogent arguments? Sure would like to know what Flynn has specifically been charged with, and what was the evidence that was put on the table in support of those charges.
This really isn't rocket science. Flynn copped to lying to the FBI when he was asked about his dealings with foreign nationals.
That now qualifies as "selling your country out", as treason? Kind of looks like the part and parcel of the over-use of words - like "nazi" or "misogynist(!!11!!)" - leading to a general reduction in their utility. You might take a gander at:
We all need to cool it with the ‘treason’ talk
By Seth Lipsky

One positive thing could come out of the fiasco of the sentencing hearing for Gen. Michael Flynn — a national teaching moment in respect of the meaning of “treason.” ....

I don’t wish to put the gloss on Flynn. What a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency was thinking when he hired himself out to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey is beyond me. As is his thinking when he took a fat fee to give a speech at a banquet in Moscow, where he sat next to Putin.

Sleazy as they are, neither act gets anywhere near the constitutional meaning of treason, which is levying war against the United States or adhering to our enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

Speaking at a banquet of a rival like Russia, however ill it means us, or serving as an agent of a lousy “ally” like Turkey, doesn’t cut it. Which is why what happened at Tuesday’s hearing was so shocking.

The hearing was set by a US district judge, Emmet Sullivan, to sentence the general. He had pleaded guilty to a single count of lying to the FBI about what he said to the Russian ambassador in late 2016. ....

This reminds me of a Ronald Reagan joke about the fellow who, after he, his horse and dog had been injured in an accident, told the cop that he never felt better in his life.

Turns out that first the officer had shot the injured horse to put it out of its misery and proceeded to shoot the dog for the same reason. Only then did the officer ask the injured man, “And how do you feel?” ....

The judge started denouncing Flynn’s work for Turkey. “You were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president!” Sullivan yelled.

Yet Flynn had ceased his work for Turkey two months before he became National Security Advisor. ....
As I said earlier, Flynn may have been remarkably naive about our putative ally and fellow NATO member Turkey - see they're rejecting the sanctions on Iran - as Erdogan's Islam is hardly less odious than Gulen's. But rather a stretch to even suggest "treason" for simply dealing with a NATO ally - even apart from the supposed fact that Flynn wasn't actually "national security advisor" at the time.
Old_ones wrote: If a person pleads guilty to a crime that tells you a couple things ... It's not clear to me that all the evidence is out yet, since it relates to other people who are being targeted by the Mueller probe. My understanding is that all court filings eventually become public domain, so you'll be able to see the evidence for yourself once the probe is wrapped up.
Kind of looks like that "evidence" is a bit "coloured" if not tainted by the judge's bias. Though he hardly looks to be the only guilty party on that score.
Bias?! You fucking numbskull. Sullivan is responding to the evidence he has in front of him. This is the end of the trial when Flynn gets sentenced, not the beginning when he is presumed to be innocent. It's completely right and proper for him to have formed an opinion about Flynn's conduct at this point. Flynn has only pled to one charge - lying to the FBI - but the other shit he was up to (i.e. corruptly working for foreign governments while employed at the highest echelons of the US government or trump transition team) can still be an aggravating factor. That's the sort of thing judges determine at this phase of a trial. Sullivan is warning Flynn that he takes a dim view of Flynn's past conduct, and he has every right to hold that opinion. It's his fucking job for fuck's sake.

With respect to the talk about treason - Sullivan asked about it because he wanted to know if prosecutors had considered that charge, and he made it clear that his asking wasn't to be construed as an opinion that they should have considered it. To have "sold your country out" is not legal jargon and does not have to be synonymous with a charge of treason. Personally, I think it's an apt descriptor for anyone who would work in an administration that conspired with a hostile foreign power (Russia) for electoral assistance on the condition that they got sanctions lifted. I think all of these people are fucking traitors in the colloquial sense (I don't give a shit about the technical definition - that's for prosecutors) and I hope the lot of them end up financially ruined and with serious jail time for this. I wouldn't have any sympathy if some of them ended up dangling at the end of a rope. I don't give a fuck when Flynn was engaged in his illegal covert talks with Erodogan.

If any of your bluster has legal merit (it doesn't) I'm sure the defense attorneys will be on top of it. Or maybe you want to call them up and offer your services so that you can help them file an appeal on the grounds that the judge was biased against the defendant by a guilty plea, and evidence that he committed additional felonies.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2055

Post by Sunder »

Another non-surprise: Trump now tweeting blame at Dems for the shutdown...when he was on TV claiming responsibility for it himself just days ago.

I wonder which of those two things more people saw...

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2056

Post by free thoughtpolice »

Anyone have psychic predictions about Trump in the New Year?
Will he badmouth Kelly and Mattis?
Make Sherrif Joe Arpaio head the DOJ?
Steven Segal for secretary of defense?
Justice Ginsburg will have been revealed to have been kept animated means for some times now, and as she isn't technically alive Trump Will have her replaced with Judge Jeannine Pirro from Fox News.
Mueller will accidentally fall out of a highrise window after suffering a heart attack.
I look forward to your predictions.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2057

Post by Old_ones »

free thoughtpolice wrote: Anyone have psychic predictions about Trump in the New Year?
Will he badmouth Kelly and Mattis?
Make Sherrif Joe Arpaio head the DOJ?
Steven Segal for secretary of defense?
Justice Ginsburg will have been revealed to have been kept animated means for some times now, and as she isn't technically alive Trump Will have her replaced with Judge Jeannine Pirro from Fox News.
Mueller will accidentally fall out of a highrise window after suffering a heart attack.
I look forward to your predictions.
I'm just speculating, obviously, but I think the economy is going to start tanking this year and the long knives are going to come out for Trump. The economy is showing signs of weakening, and Trump's erratic actions are only going to exacerbate that. The Republicans in congress have been door mats for Trump, but right now they are afraid of primary challenges because he is still popular with republican voters. If his popular support tanks because of a recession (and every president's popularity tanks in a recession) they have no reason to back him up, and they might even benefit from making him a scapegoat. I honestly don't think there is a lot of love for the guy in the senate - I think there is a lot of self-interested calculation. Its instructive to look at the way the GOP treated W in 2008, for an analogy. He was a sitting president and didn't even speak at McCain's convention.

I also think a lot of republicans take ISIS pretty seriously, and are fuming that Trump is suddenly pulling out of Syria without asking for anyone's advice (except for maybe Putin's). I don't think most of the republican party actually likes the way trump runs his foreign policy, and at a certain point, this could motivate some of them to turn on him (Lindsey Graham I'm looking at you).

Another factor is the blatant corruption. The legal issues are getting so big and distracting that they are going to be hard to ignore. With the number of investigations going on we are shaping up to have a year of nonstop corruption stories and possibly a big crisis if one of the many prosecutors after trump hits some of his family with indictments.

So I'm going to make a bold (possibly stupid) prediction and say that Trump gets forced out of office in 2019. This might happen by impeachment, by behind the scenes pressure leading to resignation, or maybe by a 25th amendment action (probably the least likely of these scenarios). If it doesn't happen in 2019 then it's because the republicans are still all in with trump, and want to face the 2020 election with a platform of overt corruption, influence peddling to foreign governments, and possibly a failed economy. Alternately, it could be because the Democrats have decided that they will do better in the 2020 election if they are running against the party of Trump, and don't want to help the republicans jettison him.

It should be an interesting year regardless.

:popcorn:

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2058

Post by Sunder »

It's just a matter of waiting for Republicans to rip off the band-aid. Because it's not getting any less painful as the glue continues to set, and they don't have any other way out. Torn between their financiers and the rabid base, the party is all but guaranteed to fracture.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2059

Post by Sunder »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2060

Post by Kirbmarc »

Old_ones wrote:
free thoughtpolice wrote: Anyone have psychic predictions about Trump in the New Year?
Will he badmouth Kelly and Mattis?
Make Sherrif Joe Arpaio head the DOJ?
Steven Segal for secretary of defense?
Justice Ginsburg will have been revealed to have been kept animated means for some times now, and as she isn't technically alive Trump Will have her replaced with Judge Jeannine Pirro from Fox News.
Mueller will accidentally fall out of a highrise window after suffering a heart attack.
I look forward to your predictions.
I'm just speculating, obviously, but I think the economy is going to start tanking this year and the long knives are going to come out for Trump. The economy is showing signs of weakening, and Trump's erratic actions are only going to exacerbate that. The Republicans in congress have been door mats for Trump, but right now they are afraid of primary challenges because he is still popular with republican voters. If his popular support tanks because of a recession (and every president's popularity tanks in a recession) they have no reason to back him up, and they might even benefit from making him a scapegoat. I honestly don't think there is a lot of love for the guy in the senate - I think there is a lot of self-interested calculation. Its instructive to look at the way the GOP treated W in 2008, for an analogy. He was a sitting president and didn't even speak at McCain's convention.

I also think a lot of republicans take ISIS pretty seriously, and are fuming that Trump is suddenly pulling out of Syria without asking for anyone's advice (except for maybe Putin's). I don't think most of the republican party actually likes the way trump runs his foreign policy, and at a certain point, this could motivate some of them to turn on him (Lindsey Graham I'm looking at you).

Another factor is the blatant corruption. The legal issues are getting so big and distracting that they are going to be hard to ignore. With the number of investigations going on we are shaping up to have a year of nonstop corruption stories and possibly a big crisis if one of the many prosecutors after trump hits some of his family with indictments.

So I'm going to make a bold (possibly stupid) prediction and say that Trump gets forced out of office in 2019. This might happen by impeachment, by behind the scenes pressure leading to resignation, or maybe by a 25th amendment action (probably the least likely of these scenarios). If it doesn't happen in 2019 then it's because the republicans are still all in with trump, and want to face the 2020 election with a platform of overt corruption, influence peddling to foreign governments, and possibly a failed economy. Alternately, it could be because the Democrats have decided that they will do better in the 2020 election if they are running against the party of Trump, and don't want to help the republicans jettison him.

It should be an interesting year regardless.

:popcorn:
I agree that if there's an economic crisis and GOP base abandons Trump he is toast. I don't think he would resign if pressured, though. I think he would drag on and on the process, fighting and bickering all the way, until he'd have to be removed from office.

I don't find it likely, or even good, that this will happen, though. The crisis would have to be catastrophic to reduce the support for Trump among Republicans. While the GOP establishment doesn't like Trump's foreign policy the Republican base is very much in favor of it. The perception is that the Syrian war has gone on too long, that ISIS is basically finished, and it's time to go home.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2061

Post by Kirbmarc »

My prediction for 2019 is that Trump will limp on towards 2020, becoming more and more deranged as he has to deal with legal trouble, accusing everyone of having betrayed him and conspiring against him, and trying to do meaningless virtue-signalling for his fanbase. There's probably going to be some kind of economic stagnation/crisis but unless it's a real catastrophe and happens really quickly it won't reduce Trump's support that much.

I think that the Trump administration will carry on being a circus until the 2020 elections, then Trump will very likely lose the 2020 election by a large margin to any Democratic candidate who's not Kirsten Gillibrand (and Gillibrand will likely do very badly in the primaries).

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2062

Post by Kirbmarc »

Sunder wrote:
The Kurds are rightfully pissed:
Trump is likely letting the Kurds be slaughtered by Erdogan. Putin and Iran are fine with that. The Kurds, as always, have no friends but the mountains.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2063

Post by Kirbmarc »

The US should have sided with the Kurds consistently from the starts instead of supporting the Salafi militias. But they can't, because Turkey is a NATO ally despite being actually more in favor of the Salafi theocrats and ready to make peace with American enemies if he gets the chance to kick the Kurds to the curb.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2064

Post by Sunder »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2065

Post by d4m10n »

Kirbmarc wrote: My prediction for 2019 is that Trump will limp on towards 2020, becoming more and more deranged as he has to deal with legal trouble, accusing everyone of having betrayed him and conspiring against him, and trying to do meaningless virtue-signalling for his fanbase. There's probably going to be some kind of economic stagnation/crisis but unless it's a real catastrophe and happens really quickly it won't reduce Trump's support that much.
My prediction is that he will limp on towards 2020 until we encounter a distinctly sharp crisis, at which point even GOP congressmen will peel off. The crisis may happen to coincide with behind-the-scenes incentivization to cut a resignation-for-nonprosecution deal (of the Spiro T. Agnew variety) with federal prosecutors. This may well cause DJT to start shooting off the sort of orders which make the 25th Amendment look like an appealing option, even to those currently empowered to carry it through.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2066

Post by Sunder »

Mattis resigns. Trump thanks him for his nice resignation letter. Someone finally reads it to him and explains what it meant. He gets pissed and now fires the guy effective a month before he was due to quit. If Mattis were as thin-skinned and pissy as Trump, there'd still be plenty of time for him to quit even sooner.

I don't think he makes it past February.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2067

Post by free thoughtpolice »

I think Trump will be gone by this time next year. If as expected Mueller will issue some sort of report in the next month or 2 that won't be the end of it.
There are other jurisdictions after him too so between that and the new power that the dems have it seems likely that the repubs will realize they need to not wait to the last minute to ditch him.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2068

Post by Old_ones »

Kirbmarc wrote:
I agree that if there's an economic crisis and GOP base abandons Trump he is toast. I don't think he would resign if pressured, though. I think he would drag on and on the process, fighting and bickering all the way, until he'd have to be removed from office.
I mostly agree with you here. I don't think Trump is the kind of person who would ever resign of his own volition either to spare the country the trauma of an impeachment, or to spare himself the humiliation.

What might change the equation, though, would be a particular kind of conversation he could eventually find himself having with Pence and McConnell. The two of them would sit him down and explain that the Senate has the votes to remove him, review the charges that he is likely to face in the various investigations against him, and finish with the stipulation that Pence will not consider any pardons for the president unless he resigns. Pence then suggests that if he resigns he need not worry about any legal jeopardy from the federal government.

Trump likes to pretend he is a tough guy, but he's actually a coward. IMO he would almost certainly cave if this kind of strong arm tactic were applied to him. I think a standard impeachment is somewhat more likely than this kind of scenario, though, because I'm unsure if Pence would ever be willing to go along with it. Strong-arming trump into a resignation might make for a tidier removal than an impeachment, but it might also require a greater degree of consensus among republicans that trump needs to go.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2069

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »

free thoughtpolice wrote: Anyone have psychic predictions about Trump in the New Year?
Will he badmouth Kelly and Mattis?
Make Sherrif Joe Arpaio head the DOJ?
Steven Segal for secretary of defense?
Justice Ginsburg will have been revealed to have been kept animated means for some times now, and as she isn't technically alive Trump Will have her replaced with Judge Jeannine Pirro from Fox News.
Mueller will accidentally fall out of a highrise window after suffering a heart attack.
I look forward to your predictions.
I would be willing to bet that Trump grows increasingly erratic. That is a pretty safe bet.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2070

Post by Kirbmarc »

Old_ones wrote: I mostly agree with you here. I don't think Trump is the kind of person who would ever resign of his own volition either to spare the country the trauma of an impeachment, or to spare himself the humiliation.

What might change the equation, though, would be a particular kind of conversation he could eventually find himself having with Pence and McConnell. The two of them would sit him down and explain that the Senate has the votes to remove him, review the charges that he is likely to face in the various investigations against him, and finish with the stipulation that Pence will not consider any pardons for the president unless he resigns. Pence then suggests that if he resigns he need not worry about any legal jeopardy from the federal government.

Trump likes to pretend he is a tough guy, but he's actually a coward. IMO he would almost certainly cave if this kind of strong arm tactic were applied to him. I think a standard impeachment is somewhat more likely than this kind of scenario, though, because I'm unsure if Pence would ever be willing to go along with it. Strong-arming trump into a resignation might make for a tidier removal than an impeachment, but it might also require a greater degree of consensus among republicans that trump needs to go.
He'll kick and scream all the way through, and will trigger all kinds of crisis if he has to. Nixon also had to be forced by the Supreme Court to hand over the infamous tapes, and Trump is far dumber than Tricky Dicky. Yes, he's a coward, but he's also a narcissist AND an idiot. Never underestimate wounded pride and massive stupidity.

Also I don't think Pence or any other Republican will have the balls to stand up to Trump unless Trump becomes VERY unpopular even with the Republican fan base (which I find unlikely unless there's a horrible economic crisis). They know that their party is the Party of Trump by now and that the neo-conservative movement is dead and buried. If they ditch Trump and Trumpism their party is basically over, so it'd take a huge change in the Republican base to motivate them.

For now Trump's approval rating is still around 85% among Republicans. That's a lot. His approval rating is non-existent among Democrats and dismal among Independents, but the Red Team still loves him, more than they liked Dubya.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2071

Post by Sunder »

Republicans just need to pick a new rising star and start churning their propaganda outlets saying "Hey, this guy is everything we thought Trump was going to be, for reals this time! And actually don't forget Trump's an ex-Democrat so it's not so surprising he's let us down."

Thing is while Republicans do have message discipline once the party line has been decided, as far as I can see there's a dearth of actual leaders willing to create the party line. They all seem to be a bunch of chickenshits constantly side-eyeing each other waiting for someone to do something and fucking nobody will.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2072

Post by Old_ones »

Kirbmarc wrote: For now Trump's approval rating is still around 85% among Republicans. That's a lot. His approval rating is non-existent among Democrats and dismal among Independents, but the Red Team still loves him, more than they liked Dubya.
This is the most perplexing thing about trump's presidency so far. I can't wrap my head around how republicans can look at the way this guy acts and approve of it. I guess one conclusion we can draw is that republicans only give a fuck about corruption if its a Clinton who seems to be corrupt.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2073

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


free thoughtpolice
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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2074

Post by free thoughtpolice »

Hoe hoe hoe. Santa doesn't exist you little retard. Merry Trumpmas.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4793619/dona ... -children/
In one conversation, Trump asked a 7-year-old named Coleman, “Are you still a believer in Santa?” He listened for a moment before adding, “Because at 7, it’s marginal, right?”
No doubt Trump is in a cheery mood this Christmas, what with putting many federal worker's paychecks in jeopardy. It must be a bit like the good old days when he used to stiff his workers and sub contractors.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2075

Post by Kirbmarc »

free thoughtpolice wrote: Hoe hoe hoe. Santa doesn't exist you little retard. Merry Trumpmas.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4793619/dona ... -children/
In one conversation, Trump asked a 7-year-old named Coleman, “Are you still a believer in Santa?” He listened for a moment before adding, “Because at 7, it’s marginal, right?”
No doubt Trump is in a cheery mood this Christmas, what with putting many federal worker's paychecks in jeopardy. It must be a bit like the good old days when he used to stiff his workers and sub contractors.
The funny part is that lots of Trump fans believe in stupid shit that is as believable as Santa Claus, and they're adults. Perhaps he was checking to see if the kid was smart enough not to vote for him one day? :bjarte:

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2076

Post by Brive1987 »



“Jupiter” requires a remarkably low hurdle. I wonder what the low to mid 40s would buy you?

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mag ... 0425023042

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2077

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »

Sunder wrote: Republicans just need to pick a new rising star and start churning their propaganda outlets saying "Hey, this guy is everything we thought Trump was going to be, for reals this time! And actually don't forget Trump's an ex-Democrat so it's not so surprising he's let us down."

Thing is while Republicans do have message discipline once the party line has been decided, as far as I can see there's a dearth of actual leaders willing to create the party line. They all seem to be a bunch of chickenshits constantly side-eyeing each other waiting for someone to do something and fucking nobody will.
There may come a turning point where Trump loses his ability to sink Republican candidates that speak out against him. Right now his base is nearly immovable, and saying what would ordinarily be sensible things will earn the wrath of Trump and his fanbois. They're in a tight spot; they know Trump is crazy and some of his policies are gonna bite them in the ass, but nobody dares say anything unless they're retiring. If the economy tanks, which is looking more likely than not, they will have a hard time not owning that.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2078

Post by Sunder »

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote: There may come a turning point where Trump loses his ability to sink Republican candidates that speak out against him. Right now his base is nearly immovable, and saying what would ordinarily be sensible things will earn the wrath of Trump and his fanbois. They're in a tight spot; they know Trump is crazy and some of his policies are gonna bite them in the ass, but nobody dares say anything unless they're retiring. If the economy tanks, which is looking more likely than not, they will have a hard time not owning that.
His personal base is not leaving him until they find someone Trumpier. The only chance Republicans have is to create such a person and then start the smear campaign of Trump as RINO.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2079

Post by free thoughtpolice »

Sunder wrote:
CaptainFluffyBunny wrote: There may come a turning point where Trump loses his ability to sink Republican candidates that speak out against him. Right now his base is nearly immovable, and saying what would ordinarily be sensible things will earn the wrath of Trump and his fanbois. They're in a tight spot; they know Trump is crazy and some of his policies are gonna bite them in the ass, but nobody dares say anything unless they're retiring. If the economy tanks, which is looking more likely than not, they will have a hard time not owning that.
His personal base is not leaving him until they find someone Trumpier. The only chance Republicans have is to create such a person and then start the smear campaign of Trump as RINO.
I nominate Rand Paul. As a a pure believer of the perfection of the invisible hand of the market and the Reagan pronouncement that the government is not the solution, it is the problem.
Here is my opinion. This idea that large countries should have small enough government that you can drown it in a bathtub is just stupid. The tea party crowd and many of the people that identify as libertarians have been able to spot problems, always easy, but don't have solutions.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2080

Post by Old_ones »

free thoughtpolice wrote:
Sunder wrote:
CaptainFluffyBunny wrote: There may come a turning point where Trump loses his ability to sink Republican candidates that speak out against him. Right now his base is nearly immovable, and saying what would ordinarily be sensible things will earn the wrath of Trump and his fanbois. They're in a tight spot; they know Trump is crazy and some of his policies are gonna bite them in the ass, but nobody dares say anything unless they're retiring. If the economy tanks, which is looking more likely than not, they will have a hard time not owning that.
His personal base is not leaving him until they find someone Trumpier. The only chance Republicans have is to create such a person and then start the smear campaign of Trump as RINO.
I nominate Rand Paul. As a a pure believer of the perfection of the invisible hand of the market and the Reagan pronouncement that the government is not the solution, it is the problem.
Here is my opinion. This idea that large countries should have small enough government that you can drown it in a bathtub is just stupid. The tea party crowd and many of the people that identify as libertarians have been able to spot problems, always easy, but don't have solutions.
I think one facet of the madness is that the GOP hates government so much that they don't want their anti-government bathtub drowner to actually come from government. A more appealing option than Rand Paul (who has been a senator) might be some other right winger who is willing to say crass things about democrats and minorities but hasn't ever held elected office. Ted Nugent might be a good option.

Of course anyone who has the "outsider" appeal is going to share some of Trump's problems w.r.t. being ineffective because of inexperience, and not understanding how government actually works. I'm sure Nugent could get the base excited by talking about slashing spending while at the same time brandishing an AR-15 and admonishing Obama to "suck his machine gun" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... af0f97fe1b) but I doubt he would actually be less of a headache for the republican establishment than Trump.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2081

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »



It's beginning to look a lot like collusion..🎶

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2082

Post by free thoughtpolice »

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... -democrats
President Trump early Thursday resumed his feud with Democrats on Capitol Hill over funding for a border wall, claiming that most of the hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or forced to work without pay due to a partial government shutdown are Democrats.
Although they probably weren't as many dems before Trump started working their magic.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2083

Post by free thoughtpolice »

CaptainFluffyBunny wrote:

It's beginning to look a lot like collusion..🎶
The denial- with the 3 stooges voice over. Sure to become a classic if this Prague thing turns out to be true.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2084

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2085

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »

Trump Lies to troops about pay raise.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source= ... 5973272432
And exposes troop locations. What a guy.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a ... raise-lie/

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2086

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2087

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »



His gut is better than most people's minds. Or at least bigger.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2088

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2089

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2090

Post by d4m10n »

Kirbmarc wrote: For now Trump's approval rating is still around 85% among Republicans. That's a lot. His approval rating is non-existent among Democrats and dismal among Independents, but the Red Team still loves him, more than they liked Dubya.
Old_ones wrote:
Mon Dec 24, 2018 6:55 am
This is the most perplexing thing about trump's presidency so far. I can't wrap my head around how republicans can look at the way this guy acts and approve of it. I guess one conclusion we can draw is that republicans only give a fuck about corruption if its a Clinton who seems to be corrupt.
If you zoom into the data in the table entitled "Average Job Approval Ratings of Presidents, by Political Party" from Kirb's link to the Gallup report, we can see that what is happening is a process of increased party polarization (including both positive and negative partisanship) which has been going on ever since the Reagan/Bush era. Each team stands behind their own guy more and more (and the other guy less and less) for the last few decades.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2091

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »


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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2092

Post by Old_ones »

To be fair, he still technically has a GOP congress*, and has for his entire presidency, including the last two months. He might be trying to blame his lack of votes for wall funding on the Democrats, but he just shut down the government because he failed to get the votes for his wall in an entirely Republican controlled congress.

So this is not only about Trump's priorities, but also about the fact that if congressional Republicans are going to run a huge budget deficit, they'd much rather do it by further enriching extremely rich people, than by funding his wall. He might have sold the wall to the pions, but a lot of the congressional republicans aren't buying. He's just a useful idiot to help them get their usual tax cuts and conservative judicial nominees. They don't care about his stupid ideas, because they have a mental age over twelve, and also because he isn't a skilled enough negotiator or politician to make them care.


* I say technically, because most of them are gone for the holidays and won't do him much good at this point.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2093

Post by Kirbmarc »

Old_ones wrote: To be fair, he still technically has a GOP congress*, and has for his entire presidency, including the last two months. He might be trying to blame his lack of votes for wall funding on the Democrats, but he just shut down the government because he failed to get the votes for his wall in an entirely Republican controlled congress.

So this is not only about Trump's priorities, but also about the fact that if congressional Republicans are going to run a huge budget deficit, they'd much rather do it by further enriching extremely rich people, than by funding his wall. He might have sold the wall to the pions, but a lot of the congressional republicans aren't buying. He's just a useful idiot to help them get their usual tax cuts and conservative judicial nominees. They don't care about his stupid ideas, because they have a mental age over twelve, and also because he isn't a skilled enough negotiator or politician to make them care.


* I say technically, because most of them are gone for the holidays and won't do him much good at this point.
I don't even think that Trump actually ever wanted to get the wall built. It was a political stunt right from the start. He's likely going to point out that some fences were built (many of which existed before his administration) and then whine that the Evil Democratic Deep State didn't let him "finish the job".

The GOP base loves Trump. The lobbyists/corporate donors, not so much, but they loved the fact that he had the numbers to pass a huge tax cut and to deregulate some sectors by cutting on EPA rules. The party as a whole is going to become deeply unpopular if they ditch Trump, but no real economic power wants the wall or the equally idiotic trade wars.

In general right-wing populist leaders are great at promoting themselves, at getting people to vote for them, but they suck at delivering any real kind of political change. Trump's anti-immigrant and isolationist message won over the GOP fan-base easily after the neocon disasters and by selling the narrative that immigrants are to be blamed for everything, but I don't think that he or his cronies ever planned to actually go through with the most expensive and hardest parts of their platform.

Also it's possible that, just like abortion, "the wall" is nothing more than virtue-signalling, and that actually building a wall, just like actually outlawing abortion, might have hurt the Republicans electorally, by depriving them of a key element of their narrative of being the oppressed underdogs fighting for what's right against the Liberal Establishment.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2094

Post by Old_ones »

Kirbmarc wrote:
In general right-wing populist leaders are great at promoting themselves, at getting people to vote for them, but they suck at delivering any real kind of political change. Trump's anti-immigrant and isolationist message won over the GOP fan-base easily after the neocon disasters and by selling the narrative that immigrants are to be blamed for everything, but I don't think that he or his cronies ever planned to actually go through with the most expensive and hardest parts of their platform.
Interesting factoid - Donald Trump won a lower percentage of the vote in 2016 (46.1%) than Mitt Romney did in 2012 (47.2%), John Kerry did in 2004 (48.3%) and both Gore and Bush beat his percentage in 2000 (48.4% and 47.9% respectively). Trump beats all of these candidates in raw count, but that is because, in general, more people are turning out every election. Clinton in 2016 beat both Bush and Kerry's raw score in 2004. The real story of the 2016 election isn't that Trump surfed in on a wave of popular fury - that was Obama in 2008 - who beat McCain by 7.2% and roughly 10 M votes. Trump eked out a win despite losing the popular vote by 2.1% or 2.9 M votes. He won an unlikely victory by selling his snake oil in the right geographical areas, while having the benefit of rat-fuck candidates like Jill Stein to draw off disaffected Hillary voters. He also benefited greatly from Russian propaganda which falsely insinuated that Hillary had rigged the primary (her electoral wins made it mathematically impossible for Sanders to win by mid May) and managed to spread lots of innuendo about her corruption based on a lot of hot air from illegally hacked emails. Clinton was not a good enough candidate to overcome these challenges - she is unlikable and power hungry - and left leaning voters will often shoot themselves in the foot and protest the wound afterward rather than vote for someone they don't like.

Trump is not good at getting people to vote for him by historical standards. He won because Clinton wasn't good enough at getting people to vote for her to overcome Trump's structural advantage in the Electoral collage. He's good at keeping the support of country bumpkins, as these people are the only ones who continue to approve of him by a wide margin (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tr ... t-so-much/) and keep his approval rating in the low 40s where it has been most of his presidency.

Sources for the numbers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Unit ... l_election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Unit ... l_election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Unit ... l_election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Unit ... l_election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Unit ... l_election
Kirbmarc wrote: Also it's possible that, just like abortion, "the wall" is nothing more than virtue-signalling, and that actually building a wall, just like actually outlawing abortion, might have hurt the Republicans electorally, by depriving them of a key element of their narrative of being the oppressed underdogs fighting for what's right against the Liberal Establishment.
I don't know for sure, but I think Trump actually wants his wall. Its a "solution" to the immigration problem that is entirely in keeping with the MO of his career - to put his name on giant buildings to make his penis feel bigger.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2095

Post by CaptainFluffyBunny »

Yeah, I thin Old_ones is right-the wall is his legacy, and to give the cunt credit, he does want to keep his campaign promises. He sees the wall as his legacy, and a tangible accomplishment. It's a symbol to those that don't understand real border security.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2096

Post by Sunder »

The wall is a virtue signal and maybe some Republicans would like to keep running on it, but I suspect its relevance as a symbol has peaked and is declining fast.

Republicans don't actually want the wall. They don't want it because it's bar none the least effective way to spend a border security dollar, and they don't want it because they'd have to cut a deal with Dems, and Dems actually see an opportunity to get something they want, like a DACA solution. There's basically no exchange in which Republicans come out on top because they're trading something for nothing. So they're not eager to make the deal. And they keep trying to create outs for Trump to back away from the shutdown, throw up some fencing, and claim victory, and the big galoot is too stupid to play along. It's top drawer farce by a bunch of incompetent clowns.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2097

Post by Old_ones »

Here is a set of predictions and reasoning for Trump related developments that a former Republican congressperson is putting forward. Some of his predictions agree with my own thinking and he has some reasons for them that I didn't think of previously. The way it is written is kind of weird, but it's possible to follow.
1) Donald J. Trump’s presidency will not survive 2019;

2) The downward trajectory of every aspect of his tenure indicates we are headed for a spectacular political crash-and-burn — and fairly soon;

3) His increasingly erratic and angry behavior, his self-imposed isolation, his inability and refusal to listen to smart advisers that he hired, all are leading him to a precipice;

4) Meanwhile, the global and U.S. economies are softening in great part because of the unnecessary and ill-conceived trade war he launched against Canada and our European allies; if he wanted to conduct a legitimate trade war against China, wouldn’t it have made more sense to have trading allies such as Canada and Europe with us, instead of making them our adversaries?

5) Consumer confidence is declining and the American economy will slow noticeably in 2019. A recession is right around the corner, heading into 2020;

6) The volatility in the stock markets threatens to weaken Trump’s support among the GOP donor class, which will translate to GOP senators pulling away from Trump in short order;

7) Legally, Trump is in peril from not only from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation but also from separate investigations being conducted by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York into Trump’s life and business dealings;

8) Fox News hosts are beginning to question the Trump administration’s actions on air, showing cracks — albeit, small cracks at the moment — in Fox’s heretofore 100 percent fealty to Trump;

9) These cracks will expand into chasms as news and entertainment mogul Rupert Murdoch calculates Trump’s prognosis and decides he doesn’t want his Fox News network to go down the drain with Trump;

10) Fox recently lost several days in a row to MSNBC in the ratings race — and Fox host Sean Hannity has lost 20 percent of his nightly audience since the midterm elections;

11) Without Fox approving Trump’s agenda, his support will decline from the 40s into the upper 20s;

12) The Mueller investigation will come to an end in 2019;

13) Mueller will shock everyone with what he has discovered, and the result will be much worse for Trump than anyone has anticipated;

Snip
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house ... es-in-2019

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2098

Post by free thoughtpolice »

Old_ones:
I agree with most of that. Some of the timing may be a bit off? My fear is that Trump and co. are able to stall for long enough that the incentive to prosecute them goes stale and he gets away with it.
If so, bad news for the rule of law not only in the US.
13)Investigations have uncovered years of sleaze. Hopefully his core of support wakes up.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2099

Post by Old_ones »

free thoughtpolice wrote: Old_ones:
I agree with most of that. Some of the timing may be a bit off? My fear is that Trump and co. are able to stall for long enough that the incentive to prosecute them goes stale and he gets away with it.
If so, bad news for the rule of law not only in the US.
13)Investigations have uncovered years of sleaze. Hopefully his core of support wakes up.
Hard to say. One possibility that disturbs me would be that things carry on more or less as they have without any real change in dynamics in Washington. Trump keeps being hit with bad news and bad allegations, the economy stagnates but doesn't shrink, and Trump keeps steadily damaging and abusing the executive branch. In this scenario nothing that happens is bad enough to precipitate any real action, Trump's approval stays steady, and the Republicans continue to view him as a necessary evil (or whatever it is they think about him).

I think in this case Trump still loses the 2020 election, because he has only kept about 80% of Republicans happy, and I think he's lost everyone who is an Independent or Democrat who might have supported him. The third party candidates won't have any significant draw in 2020 in my view (just as Nader didn't in 2004 when lefties were really motivated to get rid of Bush). Trump got about 46% of the vote in 2016, and if he repeats that performance in 2020 with a united and motivated opposition, he is going to get trounced almost as badly as John McCain did against Barack Obama in 2008. If he ends up with less support than that (as I'm suggesting) then he is really in trouble. The Democrats just have to make sure they stuff Hillary Clinton somewhere, so that she can't narrowly win the nomination and trigger a repeat of 2016, where 15 - 20% of voters would rather vote for anyone else on the planet than the two major party candidates they have to choose from.

I think Trump has done enough to piss law enforcement off in this country (especially at the federal level) that he will be prosecuted unless he manages to secure a pardon. If he gets one from Pence after being removed from office, or a misguided Democrat who wants to "heal the country" a la Gerald Ford, then the Feds won't be after him, but he could still find himself on the hook for state crimes. It would be kind of anticlimactic to see him walk for all the dirt related to collusion with Russia, only to go to the NY state pen for a short time for using the Trump foundation to evade state taxes, or other petty white collar crime. That might be what happens though.

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Re: The Trump Dump!

#2100

Post by free thoughtpolice »

If and when he is prosecuted it seems likely Trump will throw a giant tantrum and attempt to do do something destructive. If he could throw a tantrum about the wall and shut down the government and threaten to close the Mexican border and cancel NAFTA what is stopping him from doing something really vindictive on the way out?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/opin ... -2019.html
Trump doesn’t recognize, understand or respect institutional authority. He only understands personal power. He sees every conflict as a personal conflict in which he destroys or gets destroyed.

When the indictments come down, Trump won’t play by the rules. He’ll seek to delegitimize those rules. He’ll seek to delegitimize our legal institutions. He’ll personalize every indictment, slander every prosecutor. He’ll seek to destroy the edifice of law in order to save himself.

We know the language he’ll use. It will be the anti-establishment, anti-institutional language that has been coursing through the left and right for the past few decades: The establishment is corrupt, the game is rigged, the elites are out to get you.

Locked