Renzatic on 26/3/2019 at 03:41
I think we may have to give Trump credit where it's due. He played everyone like a bunch of fiddles.
Was there enough circumstantial evidence to justify an investigation? Yeah, I'd say there was. Trump knew what he did or didn't do. He could've just said "I didn't do it, let them waste their time" like every other political who's been under investigation has all but stated. Instead, he pitched a fit. Screamed witch hunt. Made himself out to be the victim of a grand conspiracy. Every other day, he'd talk about Mueller, and his 13 angry Democrats. He'd mention fine lines. Threaten to fire him. It made him look suspicious as shit, and he kept stoking those fires. And we all ate it up. What innocent person does that, we said. He's acting like he has something to hide. Mueller must be on to something.
..and here we are. All the public bitch fits from Trump. All the controversy he stirred up. All the angst he generated. For what? He's innocent of collusion. Now his base is even more stoked up, his opposition looking stupider in comparison.
Donald Trump may not be a good president, but he's far from stupid. I once said that he's the ultimate reality TV president. That wasn't quite right. He's more a ringmaster, and the entire country is his circus. The guy knows how to put on a show.
Starker on 27/3/2019 at 04:55
Lord Dampnut takes another swipe at Obamacare, this time through courts:
Quote:
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration broadened its attack on the Affordable Care Act on Monday, telling a federal appeals court that it now believed the entire law should be invalidated.
The administration had previously said that the law's protections for people with pre-existing conditions should be struck down, but that the rest of the law, including the expansion of Medicaid, should survive.
If the appeals court accepts the Trump administration's new arguments, millions of people could lose health insurance, including those who gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid and those who have private coverage subsidized by the federal government.
Nicker on 28/3/2019 at 06:01
Quote:
He's more a ringmaster, and the entire country is his circus. The guy knows how to put on a show.
I don't think there was any deep thought in Trump's plan. No script for the show. I think he's a clown with yuge golden, horseshoes up his ass.
I don't think he dodged the Mueller report as cleanly as he pretends and sooner or later the taxes will get him. You don't commit financial fraud that often or blatantly, without consequences. Not even the Teflon Donald.
My concern is how much more damage he will do to the USA and the world before the ax falls? How much more comfort and aid he will offer the enemies of western civilization, how much more damage he can do to the environment, how many IQ points will he shave off the collective intelligence?
Renzatic on 28/3/2019 at 06:08
Quote Posted by Nicker
I don't think there was any deep thought in Trump's plan. No script for the show. I think he's a clown with yuge golden, horseshoes up his ass.
He plays most everything by the seat of his pants, though he's savvy enough to know that if he kept screaming "WITCH HUNT! NO COLLUSION! 13 ANGRY DEMOCRATS" throughout, it'd play to his favor no matter which way he went. If he was found guilty, then his base would've rallied around the Deep State angle, a conspiracy to take down a lawfully elected president. Since no evidence was found directly pointing towards colluding with Russian interests, well, that's what he's been saying all this time!
Trump has spent practically his entire life courting and jousting with the media. He knows how the game is played, possibly better than anyone else currently in DC. Until everyone else acknowledges this, and changes their tactics accordingly, he'll keep steamrolling them in the news.
Starker on 28/3/2019 at 06:48
Er, we don't know that no evidence was found. So far, all we have is the word of a Lord Dampnut appointee that there's not sufficient evidence of coordination and criminal conspiracy in the report.
demagogue on 28/3/2019 at 08:15
We also have the word of some Fox commentator that the report is over 700 pages long and chock full of evidence of conspiracy and obstruction of justice and that Barr's summary has a misleading spin to say the least. I guess time will tell. It's so open to spin, I'm not ready to trust anything I don't read myself. I sincerely hope it all comes to light someday, and not too far off.
heywood on 28/3/2019 at 12:58
Even if Barr's summary is correct and the publicly released report is heavily redacted, I'm sure there will be enough nuggets in there to keep the topic going until election day 2020.
Pyrian on 28/3/2019 at 13:33
One thing that I think bears noting is that Democratic politicians by-and-large have not been relying on Trump's legal problems at all. Nancy Pelosi has consistently downplayed the possibility of impeachment, the various primary candidates are barely mentioning it, and so on. The party is focusing on policy in general and health care in particular, and Trump's legal action against Obamacare could end up sinking him - doubly so if it succeeds and millions of people abruptly lose their health care plan shortly before the election.
The focus on Trump's legal problems is driven elsewhere; left-wing partisans, the media, and the continuing fact that news about Trump drama just sells views. Trump remains a constant "media darling" in terms of quantity (which IMO is how he upgraded from a fringe laughingstock candidate in the first place), even when the news isn't necessarily as important as the "boring" but important policy details that Democrats are always harping on.
demagogue on 28/3/2019 at 13:53
I read one of those threads where people who have met Trump before recalled their stories. They're insane, of course, & all too credible -- propositioning a 16 year old model, his daily phone-screaming tirades, refusing to consider buying Latin American art because "he doesn't want to be reminded of poor people", getting regularly slapped in public as a kid by his dad, his romantic relationship with Roy Cohn that's at the center of so many things in his life... Well who knows?
Anyway, one consistent punchline that gets mentioned over and over is that he really can't handle not being the center of attention and goes literally bat shit unhinged, or more so than usual, if he's ignored. When I got that message, that made me think that's part of Pelosi's long game here. An impeachment hearing is giving Trump the drama he's craving. Just pretend he doesn't exist & focus on policy, the one place you know he can't go, and he might become a lame duck of his own making.