45th President of the United States, Donald Trump. (Vol 6)

[Gameface]

Seventy said:

I'm watching Pence closely.

Shouldn't be hard. He doesn't fking do anything!

[Labradorofperception]

minimoog said:

Cross-border rug trafficking has been a problem for decades. It's why rug addiction is such a problem in the US.

Byker28i said:

Deja Vu on the prayer mats anyone - roll out the same old lie from 2014...

https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/o...

That's how the addiction starts, prayer mats are a gateway rug.....

[Byker28i]

Labradorofperception said:

minimoog said:

Cross-border rug trafficking has been a problem for decades. It's why rug addiction is such a problem in the US.

Byker28i said:

Deja Vu on the prayer mats anyone - roll out the same old lie from 2014...

https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2014/o...

That's how the addiction starts, prayer mats are a gateway rug.....

Does trump not understand the importance of prayer mats? So they carry them all the way there to abandon them as a sign they were there?
Did they fall of they're technology advance fast vehicles he claimed they were using?

Did they have hols in them?

[Byker28i]

Nancy Pelosi's spokesman says that Pelosi was planning to fly commercial to Afghanistan but had to cancel this morning after "the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well and the State Department said it was too dangerous due to Trump revealing her trip.

[Byker28i]

esxste said:

Byker28i said:

Nice - another threat to Cohens father in law - more witness intimidation to add to the charge sheet

I think he's upset about Cohen, yet Michael Cohen is not a source for the story. Investigators learned from witnesses in the Trump Organization about Trump directing Cohen to lie to Congress long before they approached Cohen about it. They also have it all fully documented as evidence, tapes, emails etc

Can you remind me of the significance of Cohens Father in Law and why Trump's singled him out?

Trump has previously suggested that he has knowledge of damaging information about Cohen’s father-in-law. In a telephone interview on a Fox News program on Saturday, Trump slammed Cohen as a “rat” and said he “should give information maybe on his father-in-law, because that’s the one that people want to look at.”

When Pirro asked the name of Cohen's father-in-law, Trump came up empty-handed. "I don't know, but you'll find out, and you'll look into it because nobody knows what's going on over there".

Cohen's father-in-law, Fima Shusterman, reportedly loaned millions to a Chicago cab company owner, who was mentioned in the FBI warrants used to raid Cohen's home and office, the raid that trump described as a break in.

Shusterman, pleaded guilty to income tax fraud in 1993, but also owns a condo in Trump World Tower in New York. H

"He's in trouble on some loans and fraud and taxi cabs and stuff that I know nothing about," Trump said of Cohen in the interview.

[fblm]

Gameface said:

Why does Trump sign things with felt tips? His signature is always huge.

He can't find the presidential crayons?

[Countdown]

Labradorofperception said:

That's how the addiction starts, prayer mats are a gateway rug.....

[Gandahar]

As time passes you get the feeling that dirty politics and business in New York for 30 years competes against doing the same for 8 years on the world stage where the knives are sharper and there are more people who will not let it lie.

An interesting battle.

He still reminds me of that other redhead, Max Mosley, who even when on the ropes did not give in. Max and Donald are what is called the right man, people who think they are always right no matter any other evidence or opinion.

The problem is the US government is all geared towards give and take, that's why it was designed that way. Hence why we now have the longest government shutdown in history with no sign of letting up, because give and take is now a thing of the past, for good or worse.

Absolutely fascinating to watch from a distance....

[captain_cynic]

fblm said:

Gameface said:

Why does Trump sign things with felt tips? His signature is always huge.

He can't find the presidential crayons?

Like many things Trump does, its a dominance game. Thinks it makes him appear like an alpha male but in reality only highlights that he's very insecure about himself.

Gandahar said:

He still reminds me of that other redhead, Max Mosley, who even when on the ropes did not give in. Max and Donald are what is called the right man, people who think they are always right no matter any other evidence or opinion.

The problem is the US government is all geared towards give and take, that's why it was designed that way. Hence why we have the longest government shutdown in history with no sign of letting up, because give and take is now a thing of the past, for good or worse.

The thing with Trump is that he's had 40+ years of no-one telling him he's wrong, not when he's filed for bankruptcy or any other mistake he's made. He's surrounds himself with Yes Men, so he never knows when he's made a mistake, thus has never learned from them and will continue to make the same ones.

Now he's got powerful people telling him he's wrong and as a result of never having to face the real world, thrown all of his toys out of the pram.

Trump's problem is that he simply cant intimidate or bully the people telling him he's wrong, he thinks acting like a petulant child is going to fix things for him.

Edited by captain_cynic on Friday 18th January 16:17

Edited by captain_cynic on Friday 18th January 16:20

[Gameface]

Perhaps he's chanelling his inner John Hancock and hoping he will attain the same notoriety and enter the lexicon.

[Eric Mc]

Byker28i said:

Nancy Pelosi's spokesman says that Pelosi was planning to fly commercial to Afghanistan but had to cancel this morning after "the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well and the State Department said it was too dangerous due to Trump revealing her trip.

Traitor. No arguments now.

[MX5Biologist]

Gameface said:

MX5Biologist said:

Gameface said:

He'd be good presidential material actually.

He's everything Trump isn't.

An impressive military record did not help John Kerry, nor Bob Dole, or John McCain.

I wasn't basing my comment solely on his military record.

He's clearly got far more integrity, intelligence and decorum than the incumbent.

That might be (though that bar has been set pretty low), there are red flags about his judgement while Director of the FBI. But the article was really only about his career in the marines, which in the end, was just one small bit of his career, albeit perhaps influential on his character (or maybe not).

Strangely, considering that period, only two politicians in the US have risen to high office with military service during that period; Al Gore and George W Bush; both of whom enlisted (Bush was an Interceptor pilot in Texas, Gore was safely in the rear as a REMF). All of that generation are now in their 70s, and the period has passed by. Romney was in some sort of commune during that period. Ultimately, a service career is not a particularly important factor in getting elected. Policies come into it, rather than being some square jawed puppet (or angry millionaire). Surely the lesson learned is that not anybody can become President, or make a good President. The term Statesman is often tossed around, but what does that mean? It means someone who has political power through a special knowledge. Mueller might be good at investigation, a forensic eye to detail, he knows Law. He might also be flexible in his relationships; the role of FBI Director is a political role, and he retained the confidence of two different Presidents. But does he know how to make Law? Some express admiration of his role in Mafia trials. He was Assistant Attorney General during these high profile trials, including that of Noriega and the Lockerbie investigation; somewhat removed from the actual cases. Guess who else was an AAG; John Bolton.

Mueller is a technocrat; very good at his job, and should keep to that.

[Gameface]

So let's have your assessment of Trump's abilities and skillset if Mueller's is not up to scratch.

[arfursleep]

Byker28i said:

Nancy Pelosi's spokesman says that Pelosi was planning to fly commercial to Afghanistan but had to cancel this morning after "the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans as well and the State Department said it was too dangerous due to Trump revealing her trip.

any evidence of the leak of commercial flight details?

[Chimune]

Interesting summary of today's buzzfeed story from a US legal (ish) perspective

https://www.lawfareblog.com/latest-revelation-buzz...

[MX5Biologist]

Gameface said:

So let's have your assessment of Trump's abilities and skillset if Mueller's is not up to scratch.

Is Mueller a Presidential candidate now? I don't think he is, nor has he indicated any wish for elected office. He is over 70 now. I suspect his statements in support of Colin Powell and during the Snowden affair would come back to politically haunt him. Which is moot, because he is not a politician.

If its an assessment of how Trump performs against a Lawyer, then.....

Trump or Trump companies have been sued 3,500 times.

In 500 cases, the claims were dismissed.
Trump won in 451 cases
Trump lost in 38 cases
Of the other cases, at least 100 were settled out of court. So say 100-200 cases were settled.

So in ~2200-2300 cases, we have no idea how Trump or Trump companies performed.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/electi...

By all accounts, Trump is a pathological liar; that doesn't mean that he lies about everything, but rather than say "I can't remember", "I don't know", he'll make something up, and he'll be convinced he's telling the truth. So I suppose Trump's skill (or one of his skills) is in Front. I suppose knowing how to put a good Front on is necessary in getting banks to loan you money when you are broke. I suppose Front is needed when getting building plans through the regulators, or persuading non-union labour to finish his properties. How Front though does against forensic legal questioning is another matter. Not well I expect. Of the 451 cases he won or his lawyers won), how many were shock judgements? And how many of those did he have to furnish testimony?

On the face of it, he does well against lawyers in spite of that. But again, that is moot, as I suspect nothing will come of Mueller's investigations regarding Trump, that will result in legal action against him. Others might go down (and are going down), but it won't be him. And there is good reason for that to happen, because for Trump to be prosecuted would completely shatter American confidence, which is the aim of the alleged foreign conspiritors. Best not play their game. No one really heard from Nixon ever again, after he left office.He retired from public life, had a presidential library, died. For good reason.

[Eric Mc]

You seem to think that "settling out of court" counts as a "win" for the defendant. It rarely is. It's just a lesser lose.

[Gameface]

MX5Biologist said:

Gameface said:

So let's have your assessment of Trump's abilities and skillset if Mueller's is not up to scratch.

Is Mueller a Presidential candidate now? I don't think he is, nor has he indicated any wish for elected office. He is over 70 now. I suspect his statements in support of Colin Powell and during the Snowden affair would come back to politically haunt him. Which is moot, because he is not a politician.

If its an assessment of how Trump performs against a Lawyer, then.....

Trump or Trump companies have been sued 3,500 times.

In 500 cases, the claims were dismissed.
Trump won in 451 cases
Trump lost in 38 cases
Of the other cases, at least 100 were settled out of court. So say 100-200 cases were settled.

So in ~2200-2300 cases, we have no idea how Trump or Trump companies performed.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/electi...

By all accounts, Trump is a pathological liar; that doesn't mean that he lies about everything, but rather than say "I can't remember", "I don't know", he'll make something up, and he'll be convinced he's telling the truth. So I suppose Trump's skill (or one of his skills) is in Front. I suppose knowing how to put a good Front on is necessary in getting banks to loan you money when you are broke. I suppose Front is needed when getting building plans through the regulators, or persuading non-union labour to finish his properties. How Front though does against forensic legal questioning is another matter. Not well I expect. Of the 451 cases he won or his lawyers won), how many were shock judgements? And how many of those did he have to furnish testimony?

On the face of it, he does well against lawyers in spite of that. But again, that is moot, as I suspect nothing will come of Mueller's investigations regarding Trump, that will result in legal action against him. Others might go down (and are going down), but it won't be him. And there is good reason for that to happen, because for Trump to be prosecuted would completely shatter American confidence, which is the aim of the alleged foreign conspiritors. Best not play their game. No one really heard from Nixon ever again, after he left office.He retired from public life, had a presidential library, died. For good reason.

I see where you're coming from now.

[Byker28i]

arfursleep said:

any evidence of the leak of commercial flight details?

White House claimed they didn't. A WH official calls it "a flat out lie" that the admin leaked details of Pelosi's commercial travel last night, as her spox claims.
Trump did announce the trip, the destinations and encourage her to fly commercial, as per the letter tweeted by Sanders

[JonChalk]

Byker28i said:

White House claimed they didn't. A WH official calls it "a flat out lie" that the admin leaked details of Pelosi's commercial travel last night, as her spox claims.
Trump did announce the trip, the destinations and encourage her to fly commercial, as per the letter tweeted by Sanders

A quick google suggests only 6 (average) direct flights per day, so merely knowing it's commercial gives you pretty good odds of picking the right one, assuming you don't care about collateral damage or the consequences of picking the wrong one.

Plus, a reasonable amount of deduction / local knowledge / informers would narrow these odds significantly, such that risk of hiding the details of who's on it make it "worth the risk", from a certain view point.