Trump 30: Donald Trump and the Deathly Comb-Over

[JenniferJuniper]

19 minutes ago, Destiny said:

Yikes. which means he will replace with someone who will fire Mueller.

Seems it may be the plan.  Couple of panelists on AC are saying he can install someone on temporary basis without Congressional approval and this individual can then "clean house" and shut down the investigation.  

We'll see soon enough.  Mueller has clearly been gaining steam and Trump probably doesn't have much to lose.

[MarblesMom]

On 4/9/2018 at 12:51 PM, Audrey2 said:

The sad thing is, he knows that the farmers will vote for him anyway.

He might want to hear what people on the prairie are saying.... used to be a R-vote, without a doubt.   People around here are so done with him, and I rarely start a political discussion around here.... it is just flying around everywhere.

[fraurosena]

5 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Trump probably doesn't have much to lose.

Quite the contrary, my dear @JenniferJuniper. Methinks the presidunce is acting like a cornered cat because he has everything to lose.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

5 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

He might want to hear what people on the prairie are saying.... used to be a R-vote, without a doubt.   People around here are so done with him, and I rarely start a political discussion around here.... it is just flying around everywhere.

Good to know, because when I look at tRump pupularity my heart sinks.

[JenniferJuniper]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Quite the contrary, my dear @JenniferJuniper. Methinks the presidunce is acting like a cornered cat because he has everything to lose.

Nah, he's already lost everything and he knows it.  That's why he's even considering the nuclear option.  The only thing left is the illusion that he's a billionaire.  He's really just a broke loser living on credit and he's terrified the world will find out.  

[formergothardite]

6 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

The only thing left is the illusion that he's a billionaire

Out of all the terrible skeletons tumbling out of his closet, I think being revealed as broke scares him the most. The world knowing he is nothing but a sham of loans and debt would be the ultimate humiliation for him. 

[Gobsmacked]

21 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

If this is a witch hunt then perhaps we need to consider that Trump might actually be a witch.

A nasty warlock. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"We’ve seen this movie before. It ended with impeachment."

Spoiler

We’ve seen this movie before.

It would seem but a matter of time before the president of the United States is asked a question under oath and gives a false answer. A lie, in other words. In the prequel, starring Bill Clinton, impeachment followed.

When the FBI, after a referral from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, raided the offices and hotel room of Trump attorney Michael Cohen , the thud of the other shoe dropping sent ripples along Pennsylvania Avenue, down the Mall and over the Potomac River into Northern Virginia, where more than a few veterans of earlier political wars probably grimaced at what could come next.

No one should feel good about what’s happening now.

This isn’t to say the raid wasn’t necessary or proper — it was ordered not by Mueller but by the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. But it shows that we’ve reached a point that apparently made it necessary. The timing, given world affairs, couldn’t be worse.

As President Trump himself pointed out amid lamentations of a witch hunt, “We’re talking about a lot of serious things.” Indeed, we are, especially as concerns the dire humanitarian situation in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad reportedly executed a chemical attack on civilians, including children, near Damascus.

Trump is caught in a double bind with potentially disastrous consequences either way. To not take military action, as he has said he would, risks his being seen as weak or indecisive. Remember President Barack Obama’s flimsy red line. To engage Syria militarily risks everything else, further worsening relations with Russia, which vowed last month to retaliate against the United States should it attack Assad’s forces, within which Russian troops are embedded.

Closer to home, Trump risks the plausible perception, given history and his often impulsive decision-making process, that he would strike to create a distraction from the personal chaos surrounding him. Back to the prequel, you’ll recall Clinton’s 1998 missile strikes in Sudan, where a pharmaceutical factory was destroyed, as well as simultaneous strikes in Afghanistan. According to U.S. intelligence, the Sudan facility was part of Osama bin Laden’s empire and was believed to be a chemical weapons site, which turned out not to be so.

Thus was born the wag-the-dog theory that Clinton was creating a distraction from his tortures at the hands of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, who was investigating the president’s alleged relations with Monica Lewinsky. According to the Clinton administration, there was only a small window of time when the missiles could be launched effectively, which just happened to be on the very same day of Lewinsky’s appearance before Starr’s grand jury. Wrote Christopher Hitchens at the time: “What was the rush? . . . Clinton needed to look ‘presidential’ for a day.”

Recall, too, that Starr’s original mandate was to investigate an allegedly questionable land deal in Arkansas known as “Whitewater.” But, well, one thing led to another, and you know the rest. Sexual relations did take place in the Oval Office, but Whitewater was a bust. And the 9/11 Commission concluded that the rationale for the bombings had been credible given information at the time. My, but history does seem to enjoy repeating itself.

As for the alleged Mueller “break-in” — Trump’s characterization — the perps were FBI investigators, not burglars, who came equipped with a warrant approved by a judge. Also, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein personally approved the raid, even though he wasn’t required to do so.

Of this much one can be fairly certain: The agents knew what they were after and were convinced that Cohen wouldn’t voluntarily hand it over. Whether Cohen’s $130,000 payment to the porn actress Stormy Daniels can be shown to have been an illegal “campaign donation” — or that he violated banking laws — remains to be seen. But he’s now in the grip of the Justice Department — and possibly Mueller — and soon it could behoove Cohen to become a witness in the special investigation.

It has been observed that most movies end with a repetition or variation of the opening scene. Increasingly, this plot seems to be foreshadowing a day when Trump, exposed and possibly impeached, is shown going back up the down escalator — alone, perhaps, but glad to be home.

 

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Nah, he's already lost everything and he knows it.  That's why he's even considering the nuclear option.  The only thing left is the illusion that he's a billionaire.  He's really just a broke loser living on credit and he's terrified the world will find out.  

I think we're having a semantic disagreement here 

Materialistically you are correct. He really is a spectacularly bad business man, who's managed to squander almost everything (if not all) of his inherited millions. There's not much left to lose there. 

However, I believe he perceives that he might be going to lose his reputation, his brand. And he sees his brand as an extension of himself. He is his brand. If he loses that, he will lose himself. And in that sense he really does have everything to lose.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of naked self-interest"

Spoiler

“It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”

— President Trump on news that
the FBI executed a search warrant
on his lawyer Michael Cohen

SCENE: Philadelphia, July 1776.

The pungent aroma of low tide and warm privies hung in the humid air. An exhausted Thomas Jefferson looked up from his desk as John Adams stepped through the doorway.

“Adams!” he cried. “Just the man I need to see. I’m having a devil of a time summarizing precisely what we stand for.” Jefferson clutched a paper and began to read. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, blah, blah, etc., etc. — okay, here it is: Among these are life, liberty and . . . ”

“And?” Adams asked.

“Well, it needs to be something about nondisclosure agreements,” Jefferson replied. “But should I limit it specifically to hush money for covering up affairs with porn stars?”

“I think that’s what we all stand for,” Adams said.

“It doesn’t really sing, though,” the red-haired Virginian fretted. “Also, is it too narrow? What about six-figure payments from Ukrainians? What about close relatives scouring the world for cash to bail out their foolish real estate deals? I mean, we don’t want future generations to think it was all about the porn stars.”

“I see the problem,” Adams said, furrowing his lawyerly brow. Then he brightened. “What if we take a more general approach? Life, liberty and the pursuit — ”

“Pursuit! Yes, that’s good,” Jefferson cried, scribbling furiously.

“ — of gratification.”

The pen froze. “That sounds so crass,” Jefferson said.

“Of ego?” Adams offered.

“How about self-interest?” Jefferson parried. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of self-interest.”

“Naked self-interest?” asked the man from Massachusetts. “Sometimes an adjective is nice.”

“But there’s the crassness problem again,” said Jefferson.

The writing partners fell silent, forlorn. Then a creaking of floorboards announced a visitor, and they looked up to see the wise and rumpled figure of Benjamin Franklin at the door. Motioning him into the room, they quickly explained their dilemma.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen!” the old man said with a chuckle when they finished. “Money, sex, deceit, ego: What are all these but the elements of a truly happy life? We stand for happiness, my friends. The pursuit of happiness!”

EXEUNT

Unlike some past presidents, Donald Trump doesn’t talk a lot about the abstract ideals that bind Americans together. When he speaks of history, he is more interested in what he sees as past failures and weaknesses. Stupid wars. Idiotic trade deals. So I suppose it was nice to hear him appeal, in these divided times, to the notion of common values.

But was he moved to extol our American principles by the rise of Big Brother authoritarianism around the world? Or by the hackers and hit men dispatched to Western soil by the gangster government of Russia? Or by the gassing of Syrian children?

No, what moved the president to vehemently defend “our country” and “what we all stand for” was the conclusion, by Justice Department officials he himself appointed, ratified by a federal judge, that the president’s personal lawyer likely possessed evidence of criminal acts and could not be trusted to produce them under a subpoena.

Trump would like us to believe that this extraordinary step is part of a “witch hunt” by his political enemies. That the special counsel, deputy attorney general and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York conspired to extract a search warrant from a U.S. District Court judge targeting private communications of an attorney for the most powerful person in America — their boss — with zero justification. “They broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys,” is how the president put it, as though federal agents conducting a lawful search were common burglars.

Apply the sniff test: All these people are putting their carefully managed careers on the line over nothing?

As Americans try to sort out what’s going on here, they should pay close attention to the statement issued by Michael Cohen’s lawyer after the FBI search. Attorney Stephen M. Ryan said nothing about a witch hunt or break-in. Nor did he maintain that his client has done nothing wrong. Nor did he suggest that the investigation is groundless. His only objection was that Cohen is cooperative and would have complied with a subpoena, making the search of privileged communications unnecessary.

As for Trump, he’s having trouble hiring and retaining lawyers willing to say even that much.

The president surrendered the privilege of dodging scrutiny when he took the oath of office, if not long before. There are no questions that the American people are not allowed to ask of our leaders, no lies we aren’t allowed to unravel, no authorities we can’t hold accountable. Let the truth come out. We’ll decide for ourselves. It’s a principle we all stand for.

 

[AmazonGrace]

MAGA: must appear guilty always

 Uh did he just confess to obstruction of justice again?

[JenniferJuniper]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

I believe he perceives that he might be going to lose his reputation, his brand. And he sees his brand as an extension of himself. He is his brand. If he loses that, he will lose himself. And in that sense he really does have everything to lose.

The brand is nearly completely gone already.  (I helped a fellow customer stuff left over Ivanka Trump dresses under the racks at Burlington Coat Factory last weekend.  No idea who she was but we had a bit of fun.)

I think the reputation he's really concerned about is that of a wheeling, deal-making genius billionaire whose got an amazing good brain.  A really good brain.  We know none of this is true, but much of his stupid base saw him on the reality show on the teevee and they believed he was so brilliant, such a good businessman that he'd sweep into Washington and fix everything that was wrong in their lives.

He's just a broke loser.  If the world finds this out he'll dissolve into a puddle of nothingness like the Wicked Witch.  

Hmmm...maybe this is a witch hunt after all...

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, JenniferJuniper said:

He's just a broke loser.  If the world finds this out he'll dissolve into a puddle of nothingness like the Wicked Witch.

This is true. My husband had a conversation with a friend last week and the guy is sure Trump is a billionaire. If it comes out that Trump is worth nothing even some of his base will start questioning him. His whole image and brand is built on him being filthy rich, when it is revealed this is not true, he won't have anything left. 

[fraurosena]

Chuck Shumer called out the presidunce on his remarks about the Cohen raid.

 

[Destiny]

Onward here: