The Trump University Scam
Wow. Trump University was a straight-up scam. No nicer way of putting it. Scam. Con. Scheme. https://t.co/9g8nZoYNp5
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) February 26, 2016
The article linked by Charles C.W. Cooke in the above thread has to be read to be believed. The New York Attorney General once said of Trump University: ““We started looking at Trump University and discovered that it was a classic bait-and-switch scheme. It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university.” The piece quotes one lawsuit against Trump as saying:
The free seminars were the first step in a bait and switch to induce prospective students to enroll in increasingly expensive seminars starting with the three-day $1495 seminar and ultimately one of respondents’ advanced seminars such as the “Gold Elite” program costing $35,000.
At the “free” 90-minute introductory seminars to which Trump University advertisements and solicitations invited prospective students, Trump University instructors engaged in a methodical, systematic series of misrepresentations designed to convince students to sign up for the Trump University three-day seminar at a cost of $1495.
Well, but a lawsuit can allege anything, right? Except that The Atlantic got hold of the “university” playbook and wrote a piece about it in March 2014. That piece, to me, shows that the allegations of the lawsuit had merit:
The playbook makes Trump’s school seem like not so much a school of higher learning as a meticulously choreographed sales event. Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump University turns out to be more “Trump” than “University.”
The playbook, prepared for Trump University seminars in Texas in 2009, might be summed up in one word: sell. Or as the playbook puts it on page 23, “Sell, Sell, Sell!” The playbook posits a “Minimum Sales Goal” of $72,500 per seminar, meaning that the seminars leaders needed to convince at least 20 percent of attendees to sign up for three-day seminars costing $1,495.
Under the heading “Registration Goal & Procedure,” Trump U. staffers are instructed to “Welcome attendees and build a Trump-esque atmosphere,” “Disarm any uncertainty,” and “Set the hook.” The hook in this case consists of selling seminar attendees on increasingly costly additional courses, culminating in the “Trump Gold Elite” package, for a cool $34,995. Pricey, yes, but the playbook notes that the list price of the Trump Gold Elite package is $49,415, a savings to students of 29 percent. Even before Trump University students had made their first real-estate transaction, they had managed to get themselves a deal, of sorts.
. . . .
The playbook says almost nothing about the guest speaker presentations, the ostensible reason why people showed up to the seminar in the first place. Instead, the playbook focuses on the seminars’ real purpose: to browbeat attendees into purchasing expensive Trump University course packages.
Here was Trump’s sales pitch, in which he told a credulous-looking boob that the instructors would be “hand-picked” by him:
National Review:
But according to the New York complaint, none of the instructors was “handpicked” by Trump, many of them came from fields having nothing to do with real-estate, and Trump “‘never’ reviewed any of Trump University’s curricula or programming materials.” The materials were “in large part developed by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and seminar and timeshare rental companies.” Furthermore, Trump’s promises that the three-day seminar ($1,495) would include “access to ‘private’ or ‘hard money’ lenders and financing,” that it would include a “year-long ‘apprenticeship support’ program,” and that it would ‘improve the credit scores’ of students were empty.
And here are some of the victims:
A playbook obtained by The Atlantic states: “If a district attorney arrives on the scene, contact the appropriate media spokesperson immediately.”
As Tuttle drolly concludes: “Sounds legit.”
This man is a grifter. A huckster. He tells you he won’t provide his tax returns because he has been audited for 12 years, or 2-3 years, or 4-5 years, yet provides zero proof in the form of (say) audit notifications. He pronounces “II Corinthians” as “Two Corinthians” and says he has nothing to ask God forgiveness for, and tells you that he is perhaps being audited because he is such a strong Christian.
If you’re supporting this man after hearing this, I don’t know what to say. Usually, people taken in by grifters mostly harm themselves, so if they don’t listen to your entreaties to stop being scammed . . . well, they have only themselves to blame.
But here, your being a chump sucker hurts my children. So I will tell you frankly: I resent you. I resent you for not taking this seriously. I resent you for treating the presidential race as a big reality show created to entertain you. If I could force you into a small country ruled by Trump, to get you out of my country, I would.
If you can force this man on me and my family, our political system and our society has failed. It is time to start over.
Unbelievable.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:12 pmP.S. Chris Christie can go fuck himself.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:20 pm“If you can force this man on me and my family, our political system and our society has failed. It is time to start over.”
The problem is, “this man” was and is Barack Obama. Two terms of BO have indeed brought us to the point where we need to start over.
If electing Trump is what it takes to blow up the status quo than so be it.
Light the fuse and let’s get on with it.
Mark Johnson (a64489) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:32 pmIs there an OT-VII level you can reach after you go Trump-clear?
Jack Klompus (c648b4) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:32 pmWhat makes you think Trump will have any interest in “blowing up” the work of BO once he’s in control of it?
CayleyGraph (353727) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:34 pmAnyone who believes Trump will blow up the very system he has been financially supporting is a fool.
Trump IS a special interest.
Trump IS a lobbyist.
Trump IS a political agent.
More worrisome, as the videos above uncover, Trump is first and foremost a salesman. He has no scruples, no morals, no principles, and will say and do anything he believes will advance his brand towards the goal.
Sean (221079) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:41 pmBecause the commenter who said that is a mark. He’s trying to figure out if he can still sign up for the Trump Gold Elite package at Trump U.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:43 pmI didn’t mean that as a pun, but there it is.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:43 pmIf, indeed, there are sufficient fools enough to nominate Trump, on top of the fools who will be nominating HRC, the proof is in: America is over and not worth saving.
We must go Hamiltonian if Trump is nominated. Let the folks get what they deserve, good and hard. It will only be then that a new country can be created. Be it through Article V, or simply through some dystopian times, there will be a real fight. If Trump is somehow elected, the true enemies will not be seen and the required fight will be out off further still.
The hopes for a future even resembling the historically great current realities are already blown to smithereens. There is no chance of it. The question is the nature and severity of the coming times.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:45 pmThe changes need to be systemic.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:47 pmIf you can force this man on me and my family, our political system and our society has failed. It is time to start over.
I thought the party line was Trump would get crushed in the general election.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:48 pmI don’t get the “vote for Trump because he’ll blow it up” mindset. If you WANT someone that will stand in the oval office, open the window, and flip the bird towards the capital building then you vote CRUZ. You vote for the man that upsets senators so much they call him names and dream of an Aaron Burr scenario. Cruz is the only guy left in this race that will upset the apple cart, and can do so with Conservative principles you can trust and SCOTUS nominees you can support. And if Article 2 is the reason you’re not supporting Cruz, then shut up about wanting the burn it down scenario.
Sean (221079) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:50 pmEd from SFV,
America is always worth saving because it is where we live.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/26/2016 @ 6:59 pma little bit manic:
http://www.steynonline.com/7480/getting-it
narciso (732bc0) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:02 pmLines are being drawn here, and they will never be undrawn. This is about traitors and patriots, fascists and freedom fighters, good and evil. We will never ever forgive you. Choose well.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:02 pmSean, they want to blow it up because losers always want to blow it up. Why not? They’re losers.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:03 pmPatterico, what makes you think Trump will have any interest in following up on Tuesday what he said on Monday? Frankly, I’d doubt he could pass an Alzheimer’s test.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:05 pmI said that first, Kevin.
I read the whole article at NRO. Trump U was just like his campaign. Lies, puffery, and bait and switch.
nk (dbc370) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:09 pmTrump has been a Leftist liar for decades. He still is a Leftist liar. Anyone who supports Trump is a fool, and the destruction of the US is on their heads. And it is idolatry what ropelight and the liar papertiger are practicing. Idolatry, pure and simple. Put them all on a little island with King Trump. And then blockade it.
John Hitchcock (0997d2) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:11 pmJust a request, please:
I am a Christian, but fairly new to the game. I had an NDE a few years back, and it rocked my world to the foundations. I’ve read all the Scriptures, cover-to-cover. I studied and searched an found a church that called to me. Though doing so nearly cost me my family, my home and everything I had, I was baptized into that church in November of 2014. I risked a lot, and have found a place that I can call home.
So what does this have to do with anything?
Well, I took Latin, years ago in high school, 3 years. and when I see II, it reads to me as “two.” And every time I see II Corinthians, it reads in my mind as “Two Corinthians.” And every time someone mocks Trump for saying that, it feels like a slap to the face.
There are a million reasons to doubt Trump is the right man for the job. There are a million more to believe that he is insincere in the things he promises.
We don’t need to even consider his faith, or lack thereof, in making a judgment as to his qualifications for President. We have 60-odd years of words and deeds that we can use for that purpose.
I believe it is up to God to determine the sincerity of his faith, but if you insist, there is ample evidence in his life to be used. You don’t need to mock him on the basis of what boils down to “tom-ay-to v. tom-ah-to.”
And for the record: I find Trump amusing as an entertainer. I think he’s more qualified for the position than Obama, though that’s a low bar to clear. I suspect Trump the businessman is significantly sharper than Trump the entertainer, who has been on display throughout the campaign.
But that doesn’t mean I support him for President.
If I had my perfect ballot in November, the “R v. D” would be Cruz against Sanders. Why? Well, it would give the people of this country the sharpest contrast we’ve seen in our lifetimes between Constitutionalism and Socialism. My faith in the American electorate has been somewhat shaken over the past seven years, but I still have enough faith to think we would choose the “right” path, pun intended.
And if not…Let it Burn.
arik (02de93) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:29 pmBy the way, those of you who want to “blow it all up” I gotta ask: “How many bodies are acceptable to you?”
Because while you MAY be able to start over (not a sure thing) not everyone can. People who are 50 or 60 or 70 are increasingly unwilling to paw through the wreckage of their lives, and most of them will never recover.
Are we talking about Germany 1945? The guy who orchestrated that promised to make HIS country great again, and did so for a time. Are we only talking about USA 1935? A terrible time for many. Many folks who had thought they had secured a retirement found they had nothing as many banks and insurance companies had collapsed.
Only the truly insane or sociopathic want “it all to burn down.” And all I can say to them is ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:39 pmarik – Trump is the one who is attempting to deceive with his protestations that he has “read the bible” more than the others.
If your post was aimed for Pope Francis, I am with you.
Yet and still, it is Trump who is clearly the most deceptive among the remaining GOP 5 and it is a conscious choice on his behalf. These are objective truths. He deserves ridicule anytime he stands on his faith insistently.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:40 pmHere is why I judge Trump and his claims of faith, arik. It’s not hard:
Without repentance and forgiveness, we’re not really talking about Christianity.
Dana (86e864) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:50 pmEd is right, this is more about Trump’s sincerity and the truthfulness of his sudden conversion than it is about making fun of his interpretation of the Roman numeral system.
Sean (221079) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:50 pmIt’s just more evidence that Trump will exploit anything and anyone to win.
Dana (86e864) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:51 pmEd – My point is merely that making judgments based on the way he says “Two Corinthians” is kind of petty. As I said, that’s the way I say it in my mind, when I read it. There are myriad reasons to question his sincerity, if that’s your desire: It’s that one nitpicky reason that doesn’t make sense, and feels more like mockery than valid criticism.
I grew up without a tradition of Bible study. Religion in my house was a battleground between my parents, and somehow, my brother and I ended up with almost none. I didn’t find what I was looking for (in fact, didn’t know I was looking for it) until later in life. I am mostly an autodidact in my studies: Most of my learning is from reading and research. I didn’t learn how most of the stuff was pronounced until I started attending church, and I still have some idiosyncrasies that would drive a seminarian crazy.
That particular mockery feels more like (Sunday school) Class snobbery than legitimate criticism.
arik (02de93) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:52 pmI’d suggest judging this case solely on the merits, and disregarding what NY Atty General Eric Schneiderman has to say.
The Atty General, during the probe, was seeking campaign contributions and other favors from Trump.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/editorial-ethics-copout-trump-schneiderman-article-1.2346596
Please note I am not saying Trump is in the right here regarding Trump “university”. Just that there’s an issue with the state Atty General. Bear in mind, this isn’t an either-or case; both Trump and the State Atty General could well be in the wrong (Trump on fraud, the state atty general on corruption).
Arizona CJ (da673d) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:52 pmRecently a NY Times columnist “joked” about Trump being assassinated, but it is really quite likely someone will try.
The man is incredibly divisive, threatening all his opponents with retribution, threatening trade wars (which almost always lead to real wars) with friend and foe alike, and ignorant to the point of a badge of honor. He says things like “whatever” when told of constitutional limits to power, and apparently thinks judges pass legislation. The thought of him as President invokes fear, disgust, horror, and, yes, thoughts of violence in a way that Obama never did.
I would be utterly surprised if there were not several credible attempts on his life every week were he the nominee. The Secret Service will be busy.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:53 pmThere are many individuals in the let if burn camp that honestly want to destroy the country as is in order to bring about a more originalist dream of the Republic. So, calling them all losers is a bit of a logical leap in my mind. Not that I disagree with your gut reaction, some are tired of losing and just want someone to flip over the game board and punch the other player square in the nose.
Sean (221079) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:53 pmDana: it’s also more worthwhile to make the case on his statements that he never asks for forgiveness than on the way he says II Corinthians.
Like I said, I know it’s not intended as a slap at MY faith, but it still kind of stings.
arik (02de93) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:55 pmarik – it’s Trump’s own professed faith that most of us fail to see materialize in his daily actions.
Galatians 6:1 – Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Trump’s actions is not that of a brother in Christ, but of a man of the world. His pronunciation of II or 2 is immaterial if only to serve as notice to other Christians that his intentions may not be what they appear, and that we should keep a watch.
Sean (221079) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:57 pmThat was not the entirety of the point. Read all the way to the part where he claims to be audited because of what a strong Christian he is.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:57 pmThis is the man who says he was audited 12 years straight because of what a strong Christian he is.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:59 pmWhat Dana quoted is ABSOLUTE PROOF that Donald Trump is not a Christian. But, like everything else, Donald Trump has to be the biggest, bestest at everything. If Donald Trump could con another 100 votes out of claiming he knows more about the Bible than Billy Graham, he would, in a New York Minute. There is nothing desirable or honorable about Donald Trump. And all his followers are idolators.
John Hitchcock (0997d2) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:02 pmso some poorly considered words, are grounds for assassination, that’s an interesting standard,
narciso (732bc0) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:03 pmlike I say I don’t trust anything that comes through schneiderman, or his analogue on the coast,
Kevin M,
Just as there are lots of people with assets who are too casual in deferring another 4 years to left wing lunacy, there are lots of 25 year olds with 40 years of ‘working’ to look forward to in order to make up lost income and depreciated value in their stock portfolios.
But they don’t ‘get’ that retired people and people who may still be working but have probably already peaked in their income ability simply can’t afford (pun intended) to endure another 4 or 8 years of piddly growth.
It’s been several years now with zero-ish interest rates, and that’s literally like a de facto tax on the savings accounts of retired people.
The ‘blow it up!’ faction is so silly. They don’t understand how fragile civilization is. Too many younger people romanticize revolution. Yet all those ‘smoke ’em if ya got ’em’ hippies of the late ’60s grew up to be yuppies in the 1980s, driving Volvos and wearing penny loafers. Look at Bill Ayers and his lovely bride Bernadine…they live in a really nice home in Hyde Park. Who woulda thunk it?!…in other words, hopefully, the “blow it up!” crowd will grow out of it. Especially once they get tired of living in a noisy apartment and once their wife reveals she’s pregnant. Those types of obliations tend to focus the mind—just like the prospect of the hangman’s noose does! (LOL)
The stock market crashed in October 1929, yet it really wasn’t until following WW2 that the country got its economic groove back. That’s a long time to wait.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:03 pmPatterico:
There are actually three points made there: I’m just trying to say the case is made just as easily and fully without the first.
You’re a prosecutor: If I were a juror, the bit about “Two Corinthians” would have stuck in my head and rattled around a bit, sapping my attention, and I would most likely not have heard the second and third arguments, which are far more persuasive.
arik (02de93) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:04 pmarik
Thank you for joining us.
I agree with your point that there are many more substantial things to worry about,
. I didn’t learn how most of the stuff was pronounced until I started attending church,
But that is the point here, Trump claims a long history of serious church attendance, and he pronounces something as if he has never heard it before.
Are there any church traditions out there that routinely pronounce it “Two” Corinthians?
I was not raised with any religious/spiritual “training” either, though my coming to faith was more the result of the “mundane” emptiness of “why am I here” than any dramatic crisis, NDE or otherwise.
I am reminded of when I listen to audio books (Miracles by Metaxas) read by someone with no church/religious background who likewise read a word that they have never heard. (I think it was “Fie-lie-pians”, i.e., Philippians).
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:05 pmRight. I am not religiously observant these days, but was raised in the Episcopal church and attended church every week as a child. If you do that, you can memorize the Nicene Creed (or at least recite each paragraph if given the first couple of words) as well as many other prayers. And you hear readings from the epistles. You don’t make the mistake Trump did (and then blame it on someone else).
arik, you don’t have the same background Trump claims to have. This is about his lack of honesty.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:10 pmThe man is incredibly divisive, threatening all his opponents with retribution, … He says things like “whatever” when told of constitutional limits to power, …
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 7:53 pm
Sounds like someone else we know,
which is why I have said Trump is like Obama but without the leftist ideology.
megalomania, narcissism, and utter disregard for the law are not any better when the person is not a leftist
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:11 pmThere are many individuals in the let if burn camp that honestly want to destroy the country as is in order to bring about a more originalist dream of the Republic.
This is like one of those Bond films where Blofeld wants to start a nuclear war so he comes out on top after the rubble bounces. What on God’s green earth convinces anyone that the huddled masses are suddenly going to take up the Libertarian mantle that they have studiously ignored for so long? Or do they plan on imposing freedom with guns?
It’s just so incredibly nutty that anyone who is planning on this is psychotic and needs serious counseling. FAR more likely is that they turn to a military government to root out all the wreckers and hang them.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:11 pm#5 , #6, et al:
Trump may wind up a total disaster, but then that is what Obama has been and Bush Jr to a lesser extent, and Slick Willie for 8 years.
Wake up and smell the coffee, the America that we knew even 30 years ago NO LONGER EXISTS!
Mark Johnson (a64489) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:13 pmbut I appreciate arik’s point,
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:13 pmand I appreciate that it bothers him more than most because of the specific circumstance of his latin education
there are some things, some specific songs, etc, that really grate on me because of very specific references that mean nothing to others.
If Trump attended church, he would be used to “Second Corinthians”. That’s how the reading is announced. If he asked a campaign consultant for a “Christian talking point” for the Evangelicals and got it in writing, without really knowing what it was, then he would say “Two Corinthians”. It’s not complicated.
nk (dbc370) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:15 pmMD,
Obama is the reverse of Trump, but not in degree. I have no doubt that Obama knows that judges don’t actually pass legislation, what the Triad is, and plans on leaving office Jan 20th. You cannot say any of that about Trump.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:15 pmMD.
From what I understand, “Two Corinthians” is very common over in the U.K., where a suave, sophisticated urbanite like Trump fancies himself would likely have picked it up.
I’m not trying to suggest he isn’t a serial liar, though: He sounds like he’s telling “Chuck Norris” jokes, only he’s talking about himself. “Donald Trump doesn’t demolish buildings. He just glares at them and the buildings demolish themselves.”
arik (02de93) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:16 pmMark,
After the disaster of Obama and the middling performance of W, we really cannot afford a fukkwit like Trump. We need to stop digging, not get really HUGE shovels.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:17 pmtherein lies the real problem, the ethical and moral core of the society has been uprooted, in the schools, through the media, a generation ago, even the laymen were familiar with biblical reference, it was where lincoln learned his cadence,
it is striking that nearly all the major subprime players have been untouched by convictions, it seems schneiderman is not interested in that,
narciso (732bc0) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:18 pmarik – in a purely academic sense, I stand with you that an instant and final declaration as to DT’s faith based in “Two Corinthians” would be one of ignorance and would be flatly wrong.
However, as a data point which well matches a litany of others as to the overall words and deeds of the man, it is a powerfully clarifying piece of information.
We are well past the point where DT deserves any benefit of doubt as to his moral character. He is, indeed, a con artist with a virtually insatiable desire for power and money. He is an actual infidel in marriage.
There are few true Christians, in my opinion, so blind who would or should see this man and trust.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:23 pmJust as there are lots of people with assets who are too casual in deferring another 4 years to left wing lunacy, there are lots of 25 year olds with 40 years of ‘working’ to look forward to in order to make up lost income and depreciated value in their stock portfolios.
Did you know that it wasn’t until about 1990 that anyone had access to employee 401(k) plans? It wasn’t until 1981 that IRA plans let folks set aside $2000 for retirement? There are a lot of people now retired who never had any good way to save except for Social Security, or a house if they were affluent. Today, 25-year-olds have stock portfolios in retirement plans at Schwab. And they seem to think it was that way for everyone, always. Not so,
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:27 pmWell said, Ed.
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:28 pmZero Pinocchios.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:29 pmI don’t care if Trump claims Two Corinthians or Second Corinthians. By itself, it’s a big whatever to me. But, when you put that together with his claims about being a lifelong Christian, regular church goer (“I love my church.”) and not needing to ask God for forgiveness, then it becomes clear that even Christiany is just another vote-getting bluff. The pattern isn’t hard to see.
Dana (86e864) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:29 pmarik
that’s interesting about the UK
I’ll just say that Chuck Norris jokes are true, though
Kevin M.,
their knowledge base and ideologies are very different,
but each of them feels they are above the petty concerns of others, the rules that constrain others, and both think they are the smartest in the room, if not about topic “X”, they know how to pick the best expert in subject “X”
his behavior would Alkinskyite without knowing who Alinsky was
Trump may not know what the nuclear Triad is,
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:29 pmObama knows and tries to weaken it
so what is the difference?
That is my point.
The old guy’s answer to “Let it burn”: Let it burn later.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:30 pmDuring the George W Bush years when there was a lot of debate about the wars on talk radio, the left wing seminar callers would often call talk show hosts and claim that they’d served in uniform right before launching into an anti-war screed.
Hugh Hewitt would ask such callers basic info, such as which branch they served in, which batallion, where they did basic training, etc.
And for those callers who claimed to have been deployed in Iraq, he would ask them which theatre, and maybe another follow-up question to establish their bona fides. Not as a way of invading their anonymity, rather as a way of confirming the experience they claim.
Truth is, anyone can call up and claim to be a vet, and Hewitt wanted to delineate between the guys who actually did serve vs the ones who are just saying so in order to give more weight to their anti-war position.
I remember a few times when he appeared to have caught left wing seminar callers in hyperbole. They couldn’t directly answer where they had done basic training—that sort of trip up.
That’s kind of an analogy to the “2 Corinthians” slip up by Trump. If you’re a “strong Christian,” you should be able to identify SECOND Corinthians without having to tap out. By the same token, the long time baseball fan doesn’t get tripped up when asked to describe what a double-play is. I’m sorry, I mean when asked to explain what a TWO-play is! (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:31 pmI’m feeling like we are missing the point a bit
yes, we have reason to believe that if Trump was a knowledgeable and faithful a Christian church goer as he claimed, he would know how to say “II Corinthians” in usual American English.
But, arik’s main point was that we could ignore that entirely and have a whole lot of other things to point at
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:35 pmwhich is true
If Trump attended church, he would be used to “Second Corinthians”. That’s how the reading is announced.
I don’t attend church, I just am aware of what I read and hear, and I KNEW THAT. Which is the real problem with Trump — he is the most intellectually lazy person to contest the Presidency in my lifetime and probably ever. The level of willful ignorance and outright stupidity he displays is mind-boggling. I refuse to vote for a presidential candidate whose IQ is at least 50 points less than mine.
Then again, he is proving Mencken correct, so there’s that.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:37 pmI had a friend who always said “city center” instead of “Center city”, which I guess was because of the years he spent living in Scotland,
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:38 pmso I do see how someone can have an unusual expression,
who knew, his jr high Sunday school teacher might have been a Latin teacher and said “Two” Corinthians…
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:27 pm
Good point. Yet, for most of these yung’uns, I fear it (their portfolios) will not avail when the rules will be changed and the implicit promise of solvency rudely awakened. I hope to be in possession of my Eternal reward before that happens.
also, Kevin, I appreciate your good advice, but once in a while, I have to engage in an insanely high-risk bet. I’ve decided I can live without $5k. I’ll waste it on shares of MNKD. Al would have approved.
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:38 pmTrump may not know what the nuclear Triad is,
Obama knows and tries to weaken it
so what is the difference?
That is my point.
How about a guy who knows and wants to strengthen it? I guess with Trump there’s the Drunkard’s Walk kind of chance, but they called Reagan ignorant and he could have written several fairly good books about the Triad.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:42 pmMatthew 7:16 – By their fruit you will recognize them…
It’s rather simple, Trump is not a Christian. There is nothing in his life that bears spiritual fruit. Sounds harsh, but it’s a fact.
Sean (221079) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:43 pmfelipe,
If you want a bet, here’s a Trump-mania bet: invest in US stocks thought to be severely challenged by Chinese imports. Sunpower. Cree. That kind of thing.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:44 pmPolitico (cached link; no links for bullies):
Patterico (86c8ed) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:45 pmThe points about 2nd Cor are well taken, but I am with Dana.
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:45 pm2nd Corinthians….. actually 2nd Letter to the Corinthians. (some say 2nd Letter of Paul to the corinthians.) but what I found most interesting: Here is a man who shows his grandma’s bible. shiws the inscription on the inner page. Got to say I was not impressed. Book looked unread: no broken/worn binder.Probably sat on a shelf unread since it was in grandma’s possession.
jb (8a9f1d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:46 pmBuilding materials and associated transportation facilities in proximity to the Mexican border might be worth a look.
ropelight (24b805) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:49 pmjb, you sound like an exegete I know.
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:50 pmrope, you sly dog, you!
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:51 pmHow about a guy who knows and wants to strengthen it?
All for it,
but we haven’t been talking about one of those on this thread, not sure where we are missing each other.
Yes, Dana
(repetition again) Years ago there was a poll by Gallup that said some great number in the US claimed to be Christian, like 75% (to give a crude number for the point), but like only 40% of people thought that there was such a thing as objective truth,
to repeat a famous quote,
Those words do not mean what some people apparently thought they meant.
But hey, I grew up thinking I was a Christian because I believed there was a God and I wasn’t anything else.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:51 pmSo, in Mr. Trump’s world, “1 John” is for guys, “2 John” is the ladies, and “3 John” is transgendered?
navyvet (c33501) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:51 pmHank Williams had a darn good song called Dust on the Bible. Likely on You-tube.
ropelight (24b805) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:52 pmall of this, and nk hasn’t yet told us how it really should be read…
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:53 pm(arik, nk is Greek…)
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:50 pm
That is, to say, we Catholics try not to “be in your face.”
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:54 pmMD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:53 pm
I know, right?
felipe (56556d) — 2/26/2016 @ 8:56 pmIt would be something like: “The reading is from St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians. Let us be attentive.”
nk (dbc370) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:09 pmI wanted to go to Trump U so bad but they hated my essay 🙁
happyfeet (519b2a) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:14 pm#68 felipe.
Who knows?
By own opinion — for myself mind you — is that if you are going to say you are of a particular faith, it is probably a good idea to read the book the faith is based on. Says right there in my bible when I read it: “the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians” or “1st letter of John”. Then I read the book a second and third time. But also, when you sit in a pew, and the readers go up for 1st reading or a 2nd reading, this is how it is introduced. You either know the customs and/or you have read the book. If not, you are blowing smoke.
In Inglorious basterds, the english spy asks for 3 beers and puts up his hand signalling 3….. but not the way a German would do it….. and he is outed immediately by his own action.
jb (8a9f1d) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:14 pmnk,
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:15 pmshirley, you know that is not what we meant…
Ask and it shall be given unto you. Here’s a video but the reading is from Hebrews. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZGCmd67_I
nk (dbc370) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:18 pmThe NY AG is a mendoucheous twatwaffle. And Trump is a fraud.
JD (34f761) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:20 pmThanks, nk
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:23 pmnow I can rest in peace, for the night
see, it’s not so hard to reach common ground.
narciso (732bc0) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:26 pmPithily summarized. Thank you.
arik (924f55) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:27 pmi feel so sorry for people what paid monies to Trump University and felt like they didn’t get a good value
*big uggies*
happyfeet (831175) — 2/26/2016 @ 9:45 pmIf the poor deluded fools hand Trump the nom, “Shana Haba B’yerushalayim .”
Next year, in Jerusalem.
It’s amazing what some people will believe if they think it means More For Them.
Eric in Hollywood (5ff8bf) — 2/26/2016 @ 10:17 pmHow is it that in Anno Domini MMXVI (see what I did there?) anyone still thinks that that fucking guy’s name on a product denotes quality? Everything about him is utter garbage, and tacky garbage to boot.
JVW (76b707) — 2/26/2016 @ 10:36 pmStarting with the cheap Mexican Armani knockoffs.
Eric in Hollywood (5ff8bf) — 2/26/2016 @ 10:44 pmDonald Trump is to business as Paris Hilton is to acting.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:04 amThankfully, there is no sex tape.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:04 amI could not believe this country elected obama, twice. And now we have to deal with this phony baloney trump.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:44 amYes, Burn this flucker to the ground.
I would teach all your loved ones how to shoot to kill. Trump will send people to take your property. Be armed and dangerous, because trumps goons are.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:59 amIt’s a lot more than one utterance. It’s a lifetime pattern of manipulating, controlling and ravaging. Historical patterns often repeat; look at the one and only thing that stopped Huey Long.
Luke Stywalker (765d4e) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:13 am“So I sent a message off to Gov. Christie and he called me right back and I told him what I’d heard, and he said ‘No, no, I would never do that,’” McQuaid recalled. “[Christie] told me to tell the other guy to ‘take his head out of his a**’ for saying he would support Trump.”
Wanna bet that Corpulent Christie did not get a call from Obama promising him
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:31 ama used pair of Springsteen’s underwearSpringsteen backstage passes if he would support Trump?#PatrickFreyForPresident
I will not vote for Donald Trump is he wins the Republican nomination. Rather, I will write in the name of our esteemed host. Why? Patterico is a good man, and a strong conservative. It’s obvious that no write-in candidate would ever win a national election, but if conservatives disgusted by the possible nomination of Mr Trump were to agree on one write-in candidate, someone otherwise unexpected, we could show just how much we disapprove of the candidacy of Mr Trump.
It is the ‘someone otherwise unexpected’ part which impels me to write in our host’s name, rather than a write-in vote for Ted Cruz, his preferred candidate, or Carly Fiorina, whom I supported. I can still hope that either Senator Cruz or Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the only other remaining Republican candidates with a ghost of a chance of beating Mr Trump, can somehow pull it off and win the nomination, and that I could proudly vote for the Republican nominee in November, but at least at the moment, such seems unlikely.
On RedState.
The conservative Republican Dana (1b79fa) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:31 amCongratulations Patterico! #PatrickFreyForPresident
crazy (cde091) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:08 amNew York’s version of Kamala Harris brings charges against Mark Rippetoe because he teaches an unaccredited non transferable three day seminar on power lifting.
Some of the people Rippetoe trained later claim to be injured using the Rippetoe method. They gather together to bring a lawsuit which the court throws out.
“But Mark Rippetoe doesn’t have accreditation to teach fitness in the State of New York!” says the New York AG.
“You should have brought him up on that charge.” says the Judge.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:10 amScott Rassmussen on the national Zeitgeist:
http://rightwingnews.com/column-2/why-trump-is-winning/
Again Conservatives, and used of those present done loosely, love to fight decades-old battles.
Lose one again, mmK?
DNF (755a85) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:13 amIn other news today, Joe Montana, beloved ex-quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, is being sued by former students of the Joe Montana method quarterback training seminar.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:19 amWhile many were satisfied with the quality of the training, some few of the graduates of the course failed to win a Superbowl and now want their money back.
So the last chart plotting volatility versus hi/low spread fairly persuasively predicts May:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-26/peak-stupidity-where-we-go-here
I should have my short hedges in by then and otherwise have a third in cash with some small balance transfers to pay down off my meager cash flow.
Hope the rest of you are even better placed. Your 401K equity mutual funds will never return to today’s level.
DNF (755a85) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:28 am#97 DNF,
The idea of an outsider Donald Trump who is fighting for the little guy may be appealing, but the actual Donald Trump is not that guy.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:31 amHe’s angry that manufacturers outsource jobs to China and Mexico, but that’s precisely where the Donald J. Trump Signature collection is made. That’s just one example, but it’s a pattern of Trump calling out people for stuff he actually does.
He even donated to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Sounds like he was trying to curry favor with the insiderest-insiders in all of Washington DC.
100. You have a good chance of being right, not that it matters, which is my point.
Cruz’ only chance is to unify forces with Trump. Any way you want to look at the outcome, a Rubio nomination is a mortal blow given circumstances in 2017 and following.
DNF (ffe548) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:38 amI fear republicans are experiencing the kind of political realignment democrats did as they followed Obama to the far left. Their anger and disenchantment led them to ignore all the obvious warning signs the rest of us saw so clearly. The perception that Trump gets it, hates all the right people and is ruthless enough to win at all cost seems to be propelling his candidacy despite the fact that the rest of us see him as the immoral charlatan that he is. Just as with Clinton and Obama Trump’s followers are so in love with their guy and the idea of winning they just don’t care. God help us.
crazy (cde091) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:43 amSchneiderman, had a long visit with the President at the White House, just before bringing this lawsuit, yet still insists this was no stunt.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:46 amCNN video.
102. The term ‘republicans’ does not pertain, a good deal of Trumps support is from the non-voting 50% who seem this primary season to be energized.
You are preaching to those who will never attend to sermonizing.
DNF (ffe548) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:47 amPeople v Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC (pdf)
Revolves around New York State (d) imagining they hold property rights on the word “university” .
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:50 amIf Trump University doesn’t bother you, then you probably love the way K-12 education teaches Amerucan history.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:52 amAmerican. Careless proofreading.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:54 amWhat becomes of the disaffected
Asking to be fed and petted
And some strangers to blame
Cause their job skill are so lame
They will soon be brokenhearted
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:04 amWhen their hope in Trump’s departed
For us it can’t be too soon
Cause the badgerhead’s a goon.
Jimmy Ruffin, yes!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:10 amIf Trump were to shoot someone down in the street as he once joked about, his enablers would protest that it’s merely an unfortunate case of the victim getting in the way of the trajectory of the bullet.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:10 amDRJ, I don’t think you know enough about Trump University for it to bother you.
Read that court case. There was no defendant. The “statute” Trump Entrepreneur Initiative is in violation of didn’t exist until after the AG went looking for something to get Trump on.
The Governor did his own version of executive order to allow Schneiderman to have a case at all.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:12 amYou have a valid point, crazy. It’s a friggin’ cult. I like Cruz (as my second choice, liked Fiorina) but by the time the Pennsylvania primary hits my vote for him may mean nothing. I’ll only say that if Trump wins the Republican nomination I have been convinced by Dana, Patterico and John Hitchcock that no self respecting conservative, Christian or American could vote Trump so I’ll be doing a write in. Should Trump be nominated it will be the first time in my voting life there was no lesser of the two evils. Also my first write in. Dana at The First Street Journal suggests writing in Patterico. All I know is I’m not voting for Trump and I’m not forting for that grifter socialist or the geriatric commie.
Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:15 amI know you have your head firmly lodged where the sun don’t shine CS.
Right is right. Kamala Schneiderman is a Democrat hitman pretending to be an officer of the court.
Just like that lush in Austin. Just like Ronnie Earl.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:16 amIt’s not my fault Democrat’s elect crooks as a preference.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:24 amAt the Club last night a bartender arrived with his girlfriend. They just came back from getting their brand new Trump tattoos. His on the arm hers on her thigh. He also got “Making America Great Again” under the visage. oy!
Rev. Hoagie™® (f4eb27) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:35 am@ ropelight: When I asked you after the Houston debate whether you were proud of Trump, you answered me, but less straightforwardly than I would have hoped. You wrote:
I believe Americans should be proud of the candidate for whom they choose to vote. Your standard — “not ashamed of [Trump]” — is a spectacularly low bar.
I’m pretty sure you’re proud of George Washington and Ronald Reagan, to pick a pair of heroes you & I share.
I’m ashamed of Donald Trump. He is an embarrassment. As someone who’s made a career in the world of business myself, someone who knows first-hand (from representing them in their crises) the entire range of businesses from Fortune 50 companies to a mom-and-pop welding shop, I wince to think of how unfair it is to every legitimate businessperson in the United States, past, present, or future, that those who aren’t so familiar with the business world will think Donald Trump is representative of it. I feel the same way in my many other respective capacities — for example, as a conservative, a Republican, an American, a white person, a male, a person who’s old enough to remember the JFK assassination, a person with thinning hair, and a person who was sharing the same air in the city of Houston this week.
You & I agree that he’s vulgar. If you don’t conclude, after thinking about it further, that you’re ashamed of his vulgarity, if nothing else, in every capacity or status that you and Trump might share.
You also agreed with me, reasonably enough, that no POTUS can override the First Amendment. Since the unanimous SCOTUS decision in New York Times v. Sullivan in 1966, the First Amendment has been recognized to limit state libel and slander (collectively “defamation”) claims, whether those claims are based on common-law or statute or a mix, whenever a public figure is involved. You couldn’t get a single vote — not even from Mr. Justice Scalia’s ghost — to overrule that case. It’s been settled law for a half century now. The Dems are even now engaged in some sort of kabuki theater about amending the Constitution to limit the First Amendment’s protection of political speech as recognized in Citizens United, but that, of course, will never even get reported out of committee, much less passed by either chamber by the required margins, nor ratified by the requisite number of states.
Trump made these promises yesterday at a rally in Fort Worth (ellipsis by CNN):
So will you also concede that Trump’s promise to “open up the libel laws” is therefore an impossible boast?
He obviously knows about NYT v. Sullivan, since he’s had his own frivolous defamation claims thrown out on that exact basis before, and he’s calling for a change in the libel laws. This boast wasn’t, therefore, based upon a mistake. Rather, it is a deliberate falsehood — yet another deliberate lie intended to deceive American voters.
I don’t think you’re deceived. But aren’t you the least bit ashamed of Donald Trump for telling this particular deliberate lie?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:44 amEep, sentence fragment. It ought to have read, to ropelight:
If you don’t conclude, after thinking about it further, that you’re ashamed of his vulgarity, if nothing else, in every capacity or status that you and Trump might share, then I must doubt your honesty with yourself.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:47 amExcept that Trump U has nothing to do at all with a standard K-12 education. Trump U was a lie perpetrated not so much to make money, but to stroke an ego. Say whatever you want about the state of general education in America today, massive self-aggrandizement coupled with outright fraud is not part of it.
I guess I can see where this is so appealing to the Trumpeters. This is the man you want for President? Really?
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:47 ampapertiger,
There was a defendant — Donald Trump — who was found personally liable for operating a for-profit investment school without the required license.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:49 amYou’ve given me an idea. I’ll travel to New York and sue Esteban because I bought his guitar package and didn’t get a record deal.
Oh I can play the thing. It’s just the record deals never came through.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:49 amWhen Obuma was elected, the hope was that he would be so bad (which has been the case) that it would substantially weaken the Democrat brand that electing a democrat in the foreseeable would be extremely difficult.
However, electing another democrat such as trump will destroy the republic and the republican party forever,
Joe - From Texas (debac0) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:50 amI don’t support Trump, and I think the way public schools teach American history is as much of a joke as Trump University.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:51 am@ Hoagie: Regardless of how this election turns out, any guy with a tattoo of Donald Trump’s face anywhere on his body is limiting himself to future sex partners with an extremely sick kink. But maybe that’s what they want.
And I could not be paid enough money to induce me to do the minimum googling that would surely be all which is necessarily to confirm my fear that Rule 34 applies to Trump. You would have to subject me to the full Clockwork Orange treatment to make me witness that.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 8:55 amReading Beldar’s last post (116), I’m simply wondering what Trump does when somebody like Putin says something mean about him. Not the United States, but him personally. Where would he file his suit? UN World Court?
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:00 am@ papertiger (#120): You are sublimely blind to irony.
Yes, papertiger, someone would be a sucker if he or she thought that buying Estaban’s guitar package (whatever that might be) would guarantee a record deal.
So, too, would someone be a sucker if he or she thought that spending $35k on Trump University would make them into a rich real estate investor.
Your comment mocks suckers like that.
You’re a sucker if you vote for Trump based on his claim that he alone can Make America Great Again.
We call that: IRONY. You are blind to it.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:03 amGo for it, dude. Be sure to let us know how that turns out. In the meanwhile, I’ll be looking in on the suit here in San Diego.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:03 amTrump University is the Common Core of Higher Education.
arik (924f55) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:04 amOh, I know you don’t. And yah, they’re both jokes. Just two different kinds of jokes. One is sad-funny and the other is really obscene.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:05 am@ Bill H: I was pointing out here the other day, after his ridiculous cease-and-desist letter to Ted Cruz (over a TV ad composed entirely of Trump’s own words on national TV, insisting that he’s for partial birth abortion, very pro choice, etc.), that Trump obviously hired a lawyer who’s never even read the First Amendment.
But I suddenly realized: That’s how Trump plans to get Mexico to pay for the wall. He’ll hire that same schmuck to send collection letters to Mexico: “This Debt is Now More Than 90 Days Past Due! Please remit $12 Billion Dollars Immediately or face legal action in court!”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:06 am2.P.S. Chris Christie can go fuck himself……
agree….
Did anyone else happen to see the FOX azz kissing Hannity’s hour long interview last night with Ted Cruz….Hanity is such a hack for his paycheck….. Anyhoo-….Cruz was awesome…. as the only real man for the JOB. He even spoke of Barack in kind as he took it to him….
That’s the thing with Cruz he can take it to his enemy with a smile and walk away from the war without a scratch or breaking a sweat.
The town hall interview was one of Ted best….Hanity The Shill…. interrupted Ted with breaking news that Crispy Cream gave Trump a bear hug just like he did BO…..
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:08 amI could try to one-up you and say that Trump U is sortal like a Faber University for real estate, but the drunks and misfits at Animal House got something out of it.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:09 amWhatever the merits of this case, it’s another bit of ammunition against Trump in the general. The Clinton campaign will be making commercials about it.
Gerald A (7c7ffb) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:10 amI’ll bet they send it in a window envelope with pink paper, so that all Mexico’s friends and neighbors will know Mexico is getting collection letters. They even might start calling Mexico at work, or trying to mess up Mexico’s credit rating at TransUnion.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:12 amMakes me wonder if the reply will have Vincente Fox’s by now infamous statement.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:13 am@ Gerald A: As Cruz pointed out during this weeks debate in Houston, Trump may have to be on the witness stand in July in California, being cross-examined under oath, with a judge who can compel him to answer (or go directly to jail), on live television worldwide.
You think the O.J. trial got national attention?!? Hah!
And hey, that’s just one of many hundreds of civil lawsuits that Trump — individually, not just his companies, because every time his companies get sued for fraud or other intentional misconduct, so does he, and it’s a rare business dispute that doesn’t include fraud claims these days — has going against him at any given time.
Trump views lawsuits exactly the way the Mafia views contract hits. It’s a cost of doing business. You cover them up, you make a lot of threats, occasionally you follow through on one, occasionally someone gets the drop on you and you have to buy them off, etc.
You think Trump, the casino magnate, doesn’t know a guy who knows a guy? If I spent 90 seconds on YouTube I could probably find video of Trump making exactly that boast/threat.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:17 amhttp://politibrew.com/politics/4249-last-night-s-hannity-special-with-ted-cruz-watch-it-here
the Cruz Hannity interview is posted here if you want to see.
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:19 amCourse syllabus from Trump University, “How to Become a Millionaire”:
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:20 amI stopped rooting for Trump U after the NCAA stripped them of their thrilling last-second victory over Ohio State when it was discovered that Trump U’s placekicker was actually an ineligible player from Poland.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:24 amIf it wasn’t for crimaliens Trumps golf courses would never get mowed. Is that in chapter 11 of his book?
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:27 amBeldar wrote:
In the past, I have proudly voted for Ronald Reagan, twice, the elder George Bush, twice, and the younger George Bush, twice. I have dutifully voted for Robert Dole and John McCain and Mitt Romney, though not exactly happily. But to vote for Donald Trump? I just don’t see how I can do that.
Let me put it bluntly: when you walk in shit, some of it sticks to your shoes.
The Dana who votes Republican . . . but wil not vote for Donald Trump (1b79fa) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:29 amIsn’t it cute how papertiger tries so hard to conflate the intentional systemic fleecing of people who, for whatever reason, TRUST the Trump brand, to people are are simply disappointed with a service.
From what I read Trump U is a LOT closer to Scientology than to people who go to baseball camp and fail to make The Show.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:32 amMr H wrote:
Maybe he’ll think it’s all part of his ‘reality’ series and scream, “You’re fired!” at Vladimir Vladimirovich, and somehow think that’ll work.
The Dana who has some self-respect (1b79fa) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:33 amBeldar – I think there’s a long history of politicians lying, and I think a lot of people simply *assume* that politicians are lying; there’s a joke, after all, about being able to tell when a politician is lying because he’s moving his mouth.
What absolutely astonishes me – and, to tell from his reaction on stage Thursday night, Sen. Rubio – is how *blatant* Trump’s lies are.
aphrael (3f0569) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:35 amIf Trump were to shoot someone down in the street as he once joked about, his enablers would protest that it’s merely an unfortunate case of the victim getting in the way of the trajectory of the bullet.
And then they’d post little notes about other famous people who had hit jaywalkers with their cars. All of a kind, see?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:37 amHey, cement mixer, where you been?
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:38 am133 … with a judge who can compel him to answer (or go directly to jail) …
I thought (assuming he pleads the fifth) that the result would be the jury is instructed to assume the worst.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:39 amTrump keeps telling us that the Trump U case is a civil trial, papertiger keeps talking about “The “statute” Trump Entrepreneur Initiative is in violation of” which would seem to indicate a criminal case.
Who’s lying, Trump or papertiger? Or maybe both cases are going on, and this an attempt to cover up a loser civil case with a bogus criminal case?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:41 amTed Cruz was asked by Sean Hannity (in the video clips from the Nashville town hall in which Cruz spoke for an hour, thank you jrt (#135)!) to explain why Trump is doing so well:
Crowd goes wild.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:42 amaphrael, I’m going to search for that gotcha video where a news station shows a New York auto repair shop owner a video of him actually slitting a radiator hose so he could then sell a new one to the customer, and the scammer starting off by denying and then going on to la-di-dah a la Trump. That is my view of New Yorkers, seared, seared into my memory like that Christmas in Cambodia in 1967 when Nixon was President.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:43 amIt would make for better television if he tells one of his subordinates to do the deed, and do it NOW.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:46 amIf you haven’t yet donated to the Cruz campaign, please do so. Walk the walk.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:47 amI’m ashamed of Donald Trump. He is an embarrassment.
You are far too kind. Donald Trump is a Democrat’s caricature of a conservative: rude, self-involved, greedy, sociopathic, racist, sexist, old, ignorant, fairly stupid and bimbo-crazed.
There is a reason that Trump resembles future Biff Tannen so closely — he’s Spielberg’s take on Trump, right down to the Tower.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:49 am@ Mr. Shearer (#144): Yes, that’s a nice point, and I concede it not only freely, but thankfully.
If he refuses to answer and asserts no constitutional privilege, the judge will have him cuffed and led off to jail.
But there is no privilege against civil self-incrimination. That only applies to criminal jeopardy.
So the Republican nominee would stay out of jail by confessing on world TV that he has a crime so bad to hide that he must plead the Fifth Amendment. You’re probably right, Mr. Shearer, that that’s how the scenario would indeed play out. I appreciate the correction.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:52 amI’ll be looking in on the suit here in San Diego.
That might be fun. It would be interesting to see what happens when Trump starts screaming “LIAR! LIAR!” as the judge is talking.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:52 amMr. Trump will make America great again he’s like Iron Man without the bum ticker
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:53 amMakes me wonder if the reply will have Vincente Fox’s by now infamous statement.
I suspect the reply will be closer to “Nuts!”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:54 amBecause people are furious. They’re so frustrated with Washington. And I get that voting for Donald Trump is, for a lot of people, is telling Washington, “Go jump in a lake!” I get that. And his rhetoric is loud and angry.
And for people that want to say, want to scream at Washington, the loudest, angriest voice gives voice to that.
But he is telling us he is going to go back on what he’s saying. He’s saying it over and over again. Donald Trump said, “I can be a totally different person after I’m elected. I can be” — this is Donald speaking — “the most politically correct person on earth.
We’ve all been saying this: people are responding emotionally to Trump. And he just keeps skillfully tapping into that anger and frustration, playing his supporters like knee-jerk automatons that don’t want to go any further than “I am really angry” stage. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter if anything that follows is sound, rational, or even feasible. And clearly it doesn’t even matter if what follows after he throws out the latest angry, red-meat offering is truthful, factual, or hypocritical. He’s already got them snared.
It’s a cult of celebrity. Trump is a billionaire, he rides around in a private jet, he has so much money, he doesn’t know what to do with it, he has an incredibly glamorous wife, he lives in the upper reaches of Manhattan, etc. He is living a version of the American Dream that so many dream about but have next to zero chance of attaining. He’s a living, breathing reality show come to life for the masses. What could be sexier in our modern culture?
Dana (86e864) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:55 amI’m watching Marco Rubio developing a powerful thirst from smacking Trump about the head and shoulders down in Kennesaw, Ga.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:01 amBTW, If I understand what he suggested in debate, Trump’s plan to get the Wall paid for is to threaten to exit NAFTA, causing the Mexicans incredible economic pain (and incidentally increasing pressure on people to come north). He figures they’ll buckle before we have to send tanks to capture Baja or whatever Nationalist goal seems best to him.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:02 am@ Kevin M (#145): I haven’t looked into this deeply; DRJ or others probably have, and will hopefully correct me if I’m wrong. But FWIW: My impression is that there was some sort of consumer protection proceeding brought by New York State on behalf of consumers who said they’d been tricked and defrauded, in part because they believed that the use of the word “University” implied legitimacy, facilities, and accreditation that the actual business enterprise utterly lacked. Part of the resolution of those proceedings included a forced change of the name to no longer include the misleading word “University.” I don’t know what other relief or changes the settlement included, but DRJ’s certainly right that Trump, in his individual capacity, was held responsible in that litigation. Although brought by the state, I think it was civil (fines & injunctions) rather than criminal (jail), and it’s no longer pending.
However, there are also still-pending parallel private fraud cases — also civil, but seeking money damages — in several different states (this was a national scam), in which lawsuits Trump and various of his involved companies and affiliates are being sued. It’s in one of those that Trump has been scheduled as a trial witness in July.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:02 amThe local media here is very San Diego-centric. If there is a connection, however tenuous, it gets played. Which means I know that would get air play here. Over and over and over.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:03 amCruz and Rubio should leave Trump gutted like a catfish just where they found him.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:04 amCan’t resist, sorry if it’s overkill, but:
Mr. Shearer, the fact that there is no civil privilege against self-incrimination explains exactly how I make my living every day.
I feel about cross-examination like Louis Armstrong felt about his trumpet. I’m not claiming I’m that good, but I love it that much.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:04 am“Nusse? Was meint Nusse?”
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:05 amA humble suggestion about Super Tuesday:
Five men enter, two men leave. Although I doubt that Caron or Kasich will (and suspect that Trump is secretly funding them).
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:05 amIncrease the tax on money being wired out of this country to Mexico by Mexicans living here… Increase it to 15% at a minimum… Enforce criminal penalties on employers who hire illegals… Should be many other tactics that could be taken.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:09 amKevin M – ah, so he’s going to bully them. It’ll be *great* for international relations to have a bully as President.
aphrael (3f0569) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:12 amI do NOT like taxing people for taking their money out of the country. Terrible precedent. Some day, perhaps as soon as next January, a lot of people may be wanting foreign nest eggs, in places like Switzerland. Saying “oh, this is just for dirt-poor Mexicans” does not greatly endear it to me, as many of them are legal US residents.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:12 am138.If it wasn’t for crimaliens Trumps golf courses would never get mowed. Is that in chapter 11 of his book?
That’s the thing with Trump….. He knows how to build a golf course and a hotel that gets used by his 1% friends, but lets level the legislation needed to erase Obama from our states to Cruz.
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:16 amI’ll share something else with you folks. It will likely have already occurred to several of you who are lawyers or legally sophisticated, but probably not to others.
If I imagine myself in the shoes of any lawyer in the entire world who’s suing Donald Trump or his companies right now — and, again, there are hundreds of such lawsuits pending even as I write this, in jurisdictions friendly and un-, in courtrooms with TV cameras — then my current settlement demand ratcheted up the day he announced for POTUS, and it’s been skyrocketing in a geometric progression every day since. My motivation is maxed; my clients are licking their chops. I’ve got leverage over a billionaire who might be the GOP nominee for POTUS. Even if I’ve got what would otherwise be a weak case, as long as I can get it to the point where I can take Donald Trump’s oral deposition, there’s an excellent chance I can make him say something that will make me and my clients very rich indeed.
Because he’s a bigmouth who regularly overpromises and breaks his word, he gets sued constantly, and he does fight hard and long, and he overwhelms a lot of opponents. But he also settles, regularly, and always secretly. Whether it’s a big skeleton or a small skeleton, there’s some kind of skeleton in all of those closets.
There must be thousands of past lawsuits that Trump has paid to settle, relying on a contractual confidentiality clause.
But those are only contracts. No one goes to jail for breaking a contract. Trump’s only remedy if someone were to violate their contractual confidentiality obligations would be to sue them for damages. You can’t get a court order putting the genie back in the bottle or unringing the bell once it’s public. Heck, George Soros would probably give you a damages indemnification if you’d just go ahead and breach your promise to Trump.
The tax returns are only the tip of only one iceberg, folks.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:19 amaphrael,
In the immortal words of Yosemite Sam: “I carry a big stick, and I use it too!”
But exiting NAFTA would also mean that (given the Obama/EPA/Brown destruction of CA’s Central Valley agriculture) many fruits and vegetables we now expect to get year-round would again be unavailable much of the time, and far more expensive when they were.
But at lest there would be all those fruit-picking jobs available for Americans! What? Oh.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:21 am“Saying “oh, this is just for dirt-poor Mexicans” does not greatly endear it to me, as many of them are legal US residents”
Stopping the flow of ILLEGALS entering the country is the goal. Mexico is not our friend or ally. Mexicans – in general – do not like or respect the U.S.A., much less our laws.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:24 amLegal weeds: Getting to the point where you can take Trump’s deposition isn’t a sure thing, nor even easy. It’s called an “apex deposition,” and in both state and federal civil courts, you have to make an extra strong showing that you have a genuine need for the testimony, that it’s likely to be relevant and material, and that you can’t explore the topic adequately through testimony from subordinates; you have to have worked yourself up the chain. Lawyers in big cases fight about this kind of thing all the time.
BUT: Big-mouthed CEOs who take credit for everything good that’s ever happened and are the public face and name of their companies do quite a bit of your work for you as you work your way up to an apex deposition.
There aren’t very many depositions of Trump available online; that tells me, for sure, that he has to have practiced a pattern of settling and sealing (through formal court order or, more likely, private contractual confidentiality orders) the proceedings in which he has been forced to give a deposition, and/or he’s settled a lot of cases on weaker terms as soon as he’s been ordered to testify, but before he actually has to show up (i.e., he effectively buys his way out of testifying).
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:25 amI’ll share something else with you folks. It will likely have already occurred to several of you who are lawyers or legally sophisticated, but probably not to others.
There’s the flip side of that, of course. Let’s call it the “Paula Jones effect.” He could wee claim to have all these cases suspended for his term of office since a president cannot be expected to fend off all these money-seeking ankle-biters, can he? His amen corner would fill the papers with op-eds (those that can write).
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:26 amYou need to employ a many-faceted strategy to do this, including e-Verify, criminal penalties for employers of illegals, active deportation of visa-overstays, enforce the laws that are already on the books.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:27 amThe Trump University episode was most eye opening.
Donald Trump was a victim of the meme in our culture that all people are—more or less—equal on the inside and can do anything anyone else can do, if only they can be educated right.
Unfortunately, Donald and others are learning that this isn’t true: genetics matter when it comes to performance; lineage matters a lot.
Fortunately, the Donald has excellent genes. This, Donald Trump’s impressive genes working as the national leadership, will be great for the security, social, and economic wellbeing of the country</a>.
Trump for President! 2016, 2020, 2024
Skeptical Gal (021774) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:30 amMake the strong case that can be made on how this illegal immigration problem suppresses and stagnates wages, impacts the ability of our citizens to find gainful employment, adversely impacts public education, healthcare, quality-of-life, and our civil society.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:31 amI had a bizarre conversation with a high school friend (who is very, very, very conservative) this morning – her basic take was that if liberals like me are freaking out about Trump, that’s all the more reason to like him … and that ultimately she’s in favor of Trump because politicians have failed so why not try something different?
aphrael (3f0569) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:33 amTrump’s jeans are made in India, I think.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:34 amI know a gal named Jean. She has good genetics. Her sister’s pretty hot, too.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:40 amcause of your fetal whining
as your country’s declining
trump is what you deserve
with your gay hating
as freedom’s abating
trump is what you deserve
with your middle east flailing
while america’s failing
trump is what you deserve
with your sleazy paul ryan
while liberty’s dyin
trump is what you deserve
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:40 amis a good singing i wish i’d taken piano lessons more seriously
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:40 amIt’s not a real university. It’s like Dave Ramsey’s “financial peace university” which is just seminars. No one ever considered it a real university, until now.
Jcurtis (9a271b) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:41 amIf you want to end illegal immigration, the answer is to eliminate welfare. Not just reform it, but eliminate it!
The illegals come here to take jobs, and there are jobs available for them because good American citizens can survive without having to work. If we eliminate that choice, if it is a case of either work or starve, Americans will take those jobs, and there won’t be any for the illegals.
Donald Trump won’t say that, and I doubt Ted Cruz would either.
The Dana who knows how to solve the illegal immigration problem (1b79fa) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:44 amWelfare reform, at least, Dana… but yeah, there’s that.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:47 amTed Cruz is a charmless dogma junkie
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:47 amSaw Kasich interviewed this am. His statement was that he would win the Ohio primary and go on to win the nomination.
That is what he said.
I do find it disappointing that people are endorsing Trump.
MD not exactly in Philly (deca84) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:48 amWhat is up with Duncan Hunter??
163 Enforce criminal penalties on employers who hire illegals… …
Unfortunately this isn’t so easy as the law doesn’t prohibit hiring illegals. As I understand it as an employer you are required to ask prospective employees whether they are legally allowed to work in the US. If they say yes and offer any of a number of IDs (some of which are easy to forge) then (unless the ID is obviously fake) you are required to believe them and cannot inquire further (this may have changed with E-verify, I don’t know how that fits it). As a result unless an employer is a total idiot (which they sometimes are) it is difficult to get criminal convictions.
So any candidate who promises to crack down on employers who hire illegals isn’t really being serious, what is needed first is a change in the employment law to make hiring illegals a crime (in more cases).
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:52 amHis statement was that he would win the Ohio primary and go on to win the nomination.
That is what he said.
You would think delusion would disqualify him
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:54 amKevin M,
I agree with Beldar there is more than one Trump University proceeding, including claims by students in California and claims in New York by the New York Attorney General that Trump University violated a state statute (that requires licensing of profit investment entities). New York also claimed that Trump University was a fraudulent bait-and-switch scam and other claims. The court dismissed all but one claim, a $40M fraud claim, that in April 2015 the judge ruled would go to trial. I do not know the status of that case.
Thus, there was a claim in NY for violation(s) of a NY education statute that Trump lost. It might have been an administrative violation that imposed fines, not a criminal case. In addition, there are ongoing fraud and other civil claims in different courts by the NY AG and by individuals in California.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:54 amTed Cruz is a charmless dogma junkie
Well, yes, but he’s an HONEST charmless dogma junkie who is capable of listening to new facts and on occasion changing his mind. Such as on H1-B visas.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:55 amDRJ,
I understand, but papertiger kept talking about statutes being whipped up as if this was some kind of ex post facto crime being charged, while Trump kept saying it was all civil. Now I see that papertiger was the one being misleading, not Trump.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:58 am175 … her basic take was that if liberals like me are freaking out about Trump, that’s all the more reason to like him …
That’s how most people think.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:00 am176.I had a bizarre conversation with a high school friend (who is very, very, very conservative) this morning – her basic take was that if liberals like me are freaking out about Trump, that’s all the more reason to like him … and that ultimately she’s in favor of Trump because politicians have failed so why not try something different
………………………………..
you have yourself one stupid friend there…. whether she thinks she is conservative or not…. There are also a ton of democrats, as we have seen in these open primaries voting for Trump.
Trump is a right leaning democrat but he is a democrat. Not a republican!
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:01 am“If you can force this man on me and my family, our political system and our society has failed. It is time to start over.”
I had the same thought, back in 2008. Then, in 2012, the American electorate doubled down. Having had four years of Barack Obama, they declared themselves pleased. Making it clear that what the majority of our fellow citizens want, is a government that will plunder the Makers to feed the Takers. The majority of our fellow citizens having come to regard themselves as Takers.
At this point in our nation’s history, being a “conservative” means voting for Hillary Clinton. People who want to live in a Constitutional Republic are reactionaries, not conservatives. So, yeah. Time to start over. Now, how do you propose to go about that? Trump is a lying sack of shit. But if it comes down to Trump vs. Clinton, as seems increasingly likely, are you prepared to vote for Hillary?
Jerome (f0ac8d) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:02 am188 Well, yes, but he’s an HONEST charmless dogma junkie who is capable of listening to new facts and on occasion changing his mind. Such as on H1-B visas.
New facts or new polls?
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:03 amI’m sure liberals are freaked out by rabid skunks, too. Hey, all the more reason to like rabid skunks.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:04 amThis Duncan Hunter Jr is the son of the Duncan Hunter who ran for President in 2008. He’s now the Congressman from the same district east of San Diego.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:05 amApparently the New York judge denied Trump’s motion for summary judgment in November 2015. The case will either settle or go to trial.
Also, here is a link to an overview of the two pending lawsuits in New York and California.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:05 amThat we have a vast underclass of functional illiterates, and an “educated class” of willful illiterates is why we face Trump v. Hillary as the potential for our next leaders.
The active, productive class of working people have too much to do to keep their place and care for their families, than to pay deeper attention than the idiocy the media present to us – we political junkies can mourn this fact, but due to the decades long collusion of media and academia the standard voter is a low information voter (or, more accurately, a misinformed/miseducated voter).
Steven Malynn (4bc33a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:06 am193Trump is a right leaning democrat but he is a democrat. Not a republican!
There are more than two categories you know. And there is a reason Trump is running as a Republican.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:06 am@ Jcurtis (#101), who wrote, puzzlingly:
I’ve listened to Dave Ramsey on the radio. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard him advise anyone to run up $35,000 in credit card debt to attend one of his seminars.
Have you?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:06 amAphrael – is a bully as awful as what we have now?
JD (33ee80) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:07 am193.I’m sure liberals are freaked out by rabid skunks, too. Hey, all the more reason to like rabid skunks.
“The enemy of your enemy is your friend.” Not always true but many people think that way.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:11 amDave Ramsey says eat more beans
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:11 am@ Kevin M: papertiger regurgitates here the misleading BS he reads on Trumpite websites, and it gets even further garbled. He is merely an infection vector for misinformation about Trump, but there may be mutations along the route of transmission.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:12 amKevin M,
I think Trump lies so I won’t defend him, but I don’t think papertiger was lying.
It can be confusing to differentiate civil and criminal cases because media reports are often unclear abut the details and reporters often don’t use accurate legal terminology. Also, the licensing violation Trump lost might have been an administrative violation. Administrative violations are confusing to laymen and lawyers because they are civil claims in the sense that violators won’t go to jail, but they seem like criminal cases because the government prosecutes them.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:18 amWhat is the outlook for Cruz in OK and AR?
I wish Tom Cotton would come out for him.
I think something will shake out after Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich have their home state primaries, if not before,
MD not exactly in Philly (deca84) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:21 amThen it is see what scandals plague candidates, then see upheavals at conventions,
If you can force this man on me and my family, our political system and our society has failed. It is time to start over.
So far it is just the Republican party that is failing.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:24 amwhen cruz did the butt snuffles
off dropped the mask
it’s santorum! cried the people, feeling deceived
advantage: Mr. The Donald
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:28 amDRJ, I didn’t say papertiger was lying. I’ll accept, on this stuff about Trump University, that he’s just badly misinformed; he’s probably not the originator of the misinformation or confusion, although he did vouch for it by re-publishing it here.
He did lie when he claimed, repeatedly, that Trump self-funds his campaign. I’m not taking back that designation on that misstatement, because he couldn’t have possibly been confused: papertiger sent Trump money that Trump didn’t send back.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:30 am198.193Trump is a right leaning democrat but he is a democrat. Not a republican!
There are more than two categories you know. And there is a reason Trump is running as a Republican.
………………………………………………………………
yes, but he picked the republican package to cover himself with…
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:30 am@ MD [in] Philly (#205): I faxed letters to both Sen. Cotton and Sen. Sessions urging them to endorse Cruz, but I don’t think that’s happened, nor at this point is it very likely to. Alas.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:32 am@ DRJ: Looking at your links, my reaction is that Trump’s lawyers have pretty much run out of ways to stall a trial on the merits.
Trump’s going to have to pay through (as trial lawyers are wont to say, crudely) the ying-yang to get that case settled. He’s going to end up giving those people back all of their money and interest and legal fees and more.
I heard someone say on the radio that Trump University (and its renamed successor) had taken in something like $45 million. Is that right, d’ya know? That would be the baseline for settlement negotiations, subject to upward modifications, in assessing reasonable current settlement value. Ouch.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:36 am205.What is the outlook for Cruz in OK and AR?
I wish Tom Cotton would come out for him.
I think something will shake out after Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich have their home state primaries, if not before,
Then it is see what scandals plague candidates, then see upheavals at conventions,
Cruz has support. By the end of Tuesday, we will have only two candidates standing. Cruz and The Trumpeter….. Cruz will continue to Fight the establishment and Trump will continue to pay them off..
Last night at the end of Hannity’s hour long Fox frenzy interview that Cruz had to dance to get a word in edgewise from Sean the Fox kissing puppet….. Cruz made the point that is pivotal
Trump CANT go after Hillary in a head to head because he has funded her Clinton foundation scam, Agrees with government funded healthcare that Hillary was the pioneer of and Hillary has many tricks of blackmail that she will use so that Trump wont be able to expose her. Cruz will take her apart. expose her to this nation and do it with a smile without breaking a sweat or getting red faced and bloody eyed…. as Trump would say….
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:38 amhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dejx3R4ieQ0
Cruz last night
Tennessee Loves him!
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:40 amBeldar,
I’m not reading as carefully as I should because I was up late last night with a sick family member at the hospital, and I’m really tired today. (Getting old is great in many ways but not for pulling all-nighters.) But I thought it was Kevin M who was most concerned with the civil/criminal issues raised by papertiger, so my comments were to him — with some asides to you.
I also agree with you about the status of the New York case against Trump. His choices are go to trial, delay (if possible, and that will be hard to do), and settle. I’m betting he will settle and pay a premium to make sure it’s confidential, what are the odds it stays confidential? I’d say slim to none.
As I said earlier, my reading comprehension is off today but I didn’t realize there are two class action lawsuits — the NY Cohen case and the California Makeoff case. I think the New York AG’s case is a separate case. Is that correct?
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:47 amAlso, we say “pay through the nose,” but we West Texas lawyers are so much more refined than you Houston lawyers.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:49 am7 Patterico — 2/26/2016 @ 6:43 pm “Because the commenter who said that is a mark. He’s trying to figure out if he can still sign up for the Trump Gold Elite package at Trump U.”
Or maybe he’s a paid Trump stooge.
pst314 (ae6bd1) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:51 amMalcolm Gladwell’s Outliers has a fascinating chapter titled “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes”. It is a departure from the rest of his book in that it deals with catastrophe and not the achievement of excellence. Gladwell’s basic premise is that a number of horrific airplane crashes resulted from a series of improbable events that were amplified due to communications problems within the cockpit crew. These problems were related to the hierarchical social structure of the crew, their ethnicity so to speak, and the problems it creates when the situation requires a less hierarchical exchange of information. As, for example, when the copilot realizes a plane is about to fly into a mountain, but he doesn’t want to disrupt the concentration his Captain.
The catastrophe that is unfolding before our eyes is like this. Bush 43, McCain, and Romney were not bad men, nor was Carl Rove, but they assumed life was governed by some sense of order and propriety, and when faced with the emotional chaos that the Democrats loved to inflict, they were helpless. Bush surrendered the Bully Pulpit in 2006, and failed to defend his presidency. In a rational world, this might work eventually, as events unfolded and the war in Iraq proved successful. But, by failing to advocate for his presidency, Bush surrendered the legitimate high ground and it was seized by frauds who based their candidacies on lies and distortions, “Bush Lied People Died.” Maybe a century from now, historians will wonder how this could have happened. But to Bush and Rove it somehow seemed sensible and responsible, despite the growing unease of the Republican base.
Having surrendered their legitimacy, the next crisis was their undoing. The housing bubble burst, the cause was transparently self evident, but a stimulus was proposed as the answer, and the next silly fellow, John McCain, wrapped his candidacy around this. In the old boys clubs in the Capital, I’m sure this was all the rage, and McCain didn’t have the intellectual foundation to regard this as a fundamental policy problem that needed serious thought. Instead, he simply applied his tried and try formula of sticking his finger in the wind and fell in line, going along to get along. It must have been reassuring to have all his buddies saying comforting words. Alas, this contributed to further blurring what little distinction existed between Republicans and Democrats with regard to economic issues.
This additional demonstration of the accommodating nature of the Republican candidate completed his destruction to voters who sought leadership, ensuring Obama’s election. Then, in the ultimate irony, the architects of the housing bubble, Dodd and Frank, were given the task of revising the banking system, and the Federal Reserve embarked on fools’ errands like Quantitative Easing. But there was little or no opposition to these massive intrusions in the economy. The Republicans appeared to be helpless. Worse, the Democrats surrendered Iraq to Iran and islamic fundamentalists, and thereby eliminated any possibility that the sacrifices our military had made for us in Iraq under Bush would bear fruit.
With the Presidential Election of 2012, we had our another chance, and another nice man, George Romney, was our standard bearer. But he lacked grounding and character, and when a floosy backed Obama’s lies in a critical debate, he backed down, no doubt relying on history to prove him out.
The base was still strong, we controlled the House and Senate by January 2015, but the reins of Congressional power were in the hands of the men like those mentioned above, and they seemed quite content on behaving as though some outside party would step in and ensure their timid efforts would be successful. This proved to be a false hope.
So now we are faced with electing a buffoon. But he’s a buffoon with a good ear, and he knows where the roots of voter dissatisfaction lie. They spring from the half-hearted efforts taken by good people in leadership positions in the Republican Party who rely on mythical beings to set aright that which has been knocked down. So the buffoon rants and rages, and this contrasts nicely to the meek and timid stirrings of the mainline Republican Leadership. And the fact that he lies and is inconsistent, something that would appall Bush or Romney, but perhaps not McCain, is regarded by some as little more than pay back. Getting back to the Gladwell communications thesis, our past leadership has not bothered to communicate with the electorate, and they have failed to communicate with the mythical powers they hoped would make good their fumbling efforts. The pots on the stove have been boiling over for a decade, but none of the nice men we have elected to Republican Leadership positions are willing to spend any time in the kitchen. They prefer to converse nicely with each other in the living room, reaffirming their bone fides, while tending their ever-growing pensions.
BobStewartatHome (e34c16) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:54 amNational Review says the New York Complaint alleges revenue of over $40 million from 2005-2011..
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:55 amelite universities like Harvard University and Trump University are much more in the business of selling networking opportunities than they are about selling curriculum and pedagogy
this is obvious to anyone who is willing to do the analysis
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:02 pm@ DRJ: You’re right about everything — the lawsuits, and the relative niceness of Houston and west Texas lawyers.
I was in Odessa for a week of depositions in May, against an old warhorse lawyer who I’m sure you know of, and probably know directly. He has a really gruff exterior, but he’s old-school and so am I, even though he’s 20 years my senior. At the end of the week, he said, “Well, Bill, it’s been a long week. I hate to think how long a week it would have been if you were from Dallas instead of Lamesa.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:07 pmHope everybody is fine, DRJ.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:10 pmTrump either couldn’t or wouldn’t pay his $40M personal guarantee on the Sears International Hotel project in Chicago. I wonder if he could post a $100M supersedeas bond? Wow, that would pinch. Even if you credit his own net worth projections, he’s very illiquid, and I doubt many bonding companies are going to value the “Trump Brand” as having any collateral value at all. At a minimum, he’d have to scramble.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:12 pmI know you remember Texaco’s bankruptcy when it couldn’t post a supersedeas bond, DRJ. The problem wasn’t that Texaco had less assets than the Pennzoil judgment amount — Texaco’s intrinsic asset value, including reserves, was a multiple of that. But they were encumbered assets that couldn’t be re-pledged as collateral for a $14B supersedeas.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:16 pmjust one Trump, singing in the darkness
all it takes is one Trump
singing so they hear what’s on his mind and when you look around you’ll find
there’s more than one Trump
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:17 pm@ BobStewartatHome (#217): Bravo for a thoughtful and well-constructed comment!
As I finished it, I thought I heard a loud automated voice behind me, shrieking: “ALTITUDE WARNING! Pull UP! Pull UP!”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:19 pmBeldar, I doubt Trump told people to run up 35,000 in debt. I don’t even think his casino tells people to go in debt. People go into debt because they are stupid or irrational.
Jcurtis (9a271b) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:24 pmMr. Feet, do you play contract bridge, or know the game? I bid one no-Trump.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:25 pmyes yes that is a very perspicacious comment Mr. Bob
except for where you belittle Mr. Trump
he may be a buffoon but he’s a quintessentially and eminently recognizable american buffoon
you cannot say this about that disgusting incontinent old woman
you cannot say this about the kim davis butt snuffler
you cannot say this about the poor petulant jan brady bot from florida
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:28 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFpoF9iIbDg
Great video…. Where Trump admits how smart Cruz is…
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:30 pmJcurtis, that’s exactly the allegation made repeatedly in these class-action lawsuits — that Trump U scam artists, as part of their standard drill, told the suckers to “expand their creditworthiness” so they’d be in a position to make a killing in the real estate market, just as soon as they finished the next level at Trump U, which coincidentally cost whatever amount of additional credit space the sucker could free up.
Did you read Patterico’s post above, or anything else about these cases?
Do you know anything about con jobs? Con men don’t say, “I’m stealing your money.” They persuade you to give them your money.
Duh.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:31 pmme and my brother and sister, we used to serve tea and sammiches at my grandma’s bridge parties, when her turn came round to host
i know very little of the game
but i know how lil blue-haired southern ladies get when their relish tray of lamme’s pastel sherbet mints runs empty
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:33 pmYou know why they’re called “con artists,” right?
“Con” is short for “confidence.” It’s exactly like the confidence ropelight or papertiger, and perhaps you and apparently millions of other suckers have, in Donald Trump.
Once the con-man gets your confidence, he uses that to induce you to surrender your rationality and violate your better judgment. So yes, the victim is irrational and stupid — for falling for the con-man’s pitch, as he walks away with the money you gave him.
Yeah the sucker is a sucker. Trump surely thinks all the suckers he’s cheated got what they deserved — even if it was the electrician who’d spent three weeks re-wiring electric sockets at the Trump Taj Mahal casino. Those people got less than a penny on the dollar, but even that is better than what the Trump University people got, unless they were among the lucky few who made loud enough protests to get bought off before the class actions got certified.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:37 pmThe bottom line with Trump is he has figured out how to emulate the ‘Idiocracy’ president in manipulating sufficient numbers of voters thus far to have won 3 state primary/caucus events out of 4.
Is it because a huge majority of Americans are sick and tired of politicians from both parties lying through their purty white teefies every election, then once safely ensconced in D.C. lobbyist-financed luxury, these politicians “mature” in their viewpoint in a manner that coincides with whatever collectivist crap the elite want to force upon the nation?
I am frankly stunned that our culture has deteriorated such that the obvious contradictory hucksterism of Trump has found such explosively fertile ground to grow. Yeah, I like his general tone about securing the border and sending illegals back home. I even like his website proposed general tax reform plans. But when you dig deep for specifics, there aren’t any beyond Trump’s “I’m gonna hire GREAT people to come up with a GREAT plan that is gonna be YUUUGE!” His blustering, adolescent, loud-mouthed-jerk, bullying speaking behaviors certainly seem to motivate folks who normally don’t pay much attention to politics, but there is so much anger and disgust for the self-appointed party elitists in D.C. and their arrogant dismissal of grassroots conservative concerns that Trump is garnered support from those who would otherwise be able to see through his schtick.
Look at all the leftist scum (Reid, Carter, Schumer) who say they prefer Trump because he is more malleable and will make deals with them.
Look at Trump’s past interviews stating he identifies more as a democrat than a republican.
Look at his virulently pro-abortion lawyer sister, and think about potential Trump SCOTUS nominees.
Look at the millions Trump and his current wife have donated to the Clintons and other left-wing groups in the past.
Look at Trump’s past praise for Hillary “She’ll make a great Secretary of State…she was a good Senator for NY”, not to mention his past praise for Hillarycare.
So looking at the scenarios we are facing –
1. Trump wins the nom, and goes on to win the White House. What actual positions does he espouse?
2. Trump wins the nom, and GOPe fund an “independent” squishy moderate. Dems win a plurality of the vote and we have either a corrupt Clinton or a marxist scumbag.
3. Trump loses the nom via brokered GOP convention, and decides to run independent, resulting in the demomarxists retaining the White House.
Honestly, with Trump’s negatives (outside his devotees) I don’t see how he can possibly win the general election, especially once the pro-left media shift their guns in support of the DNC in the general campaign. And we all know it is coming…should Trump become the GOP candidate as it is looking like he will be, the kid-glove/deferential treatment he is getting now will morph into character assassination and destruction not seen since Stalin’s show trials. (and without a hint of hypocrisy over the relative ignoring of Obama/Clinton scandals, but that is to be expected of leftists anyway…)
Leftists don’t care how criminal and unethical their leaders are, as all that matters to them is advancing the totalitarian agenda. The right used to care, but now it seems the undercurrent of anger and desire to poke D.C. in the eye is more important to large numbers of voters than character, substance, and ideology. Those who continue to support Trump, seemingly out of a desire to tell the GOPe to F@#$ themselves, are going to be very surprised, I think, at how quickly his support is likely to fall in a general campaign.
God help us if either the criminal or the scumbag marxist manage to win the White House.
Pete (ceb4bf) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:38 pmThanks, mg, very much.
Beldar, I remember the Texaco bankruptcy very well. I’m not a Jamail fan so I always felt sorry for Texaco in the Pennzoil case that caused the bankruptcy.
Is it my imagination or does Jamail remind you of Trump?
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:42 pmBeldar is right. Trump convinces people to have confidence in him, no matter what he does. He can even brag that nothing he could do would cause them to give up on him.
For them to turn on him means they would be turning on themselves.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:46 pmDRJ, that is how many of the Left feel about the current POTUS. A mirror held up to their narcissistic self regard.
Simon Jester (ba04d3) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:50 pmThe fantastic thing about Trump is that he is the only true leader on the stage. It’s painfully obvious.\From the shrill,shrieking South Beach, Chipndale kid to the preachy , sleazy kinda guy who you just know not to trust.
I’m really surprised if this University bit is the only thing that ended up heading south. Hell, a man like Trump creates, employs. DOES things other than go from committee meeting to committee meeting.
Trump, for all his wealth has still managed to stay down to earth and be successful even with set backs. That’s exactly what the country needs. A leader that will keep moving forward over the speed bumps to achieve his goal which is to help us turn this country around. That would be the country that the other two helped build and/or we’re absolutely irrelevant in preventing as all good globalists do.
Trump 2016!!!!
There really is no substitute.
Drider (340c7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:51 pmCan we all just ignore #236, the comment after Jester’s
MD not exactly in Philly (deca84) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:54 pmthank you Mr. Drider for laying it out for us so we can decide
Mr. Trump is certainly intriguing and I tend to agree that his rivals for the nomination are unimpressive and, indeed, somewhat repellent persons
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:55 pmNo, I know Jamail better than that. He’s got a comparable ego, but that’s about where the comparison stops.
Jamail was actually only one of the three Pennzoil lawyers who won the case, though. He split the trial along with two of my former colleagues at Baker Botts — Irv Terrell, with whom I worked on several tender offer cases for Boone Pickens, and John Jeffers, who was one of my two principal mentors and heroes at the firm. Jeffers was the brains behind the entire strategy from Day 1, and Baker Botts did all the briefing, all the preparation, all the coordination of ancillary lawsuits (including in the injunction cases in Oklahoma and Delaware Chancellery Court to try to block Texaco’s acquisition of Getty before it closed), and most of the appellate work. Jamail is a wonderfully talented trial lawyer whose abilities I respect far more than his values, and in my opinion he got disproportionate fame and wealth for his role because of his close friendship with Pennzoil chairman Hugh Liedtke and his oversize ego. Jeffers (before his tragic & untimely death) and Terrell to this day, haven’t gotten remotely their share of the credit. I would have been one of the junior Indians working for John and Irv, but for the fact that I was starting a jury trial on the Monday after Texaco stole the deal, and by the time it all blew up my own docket was incompatible with the time demands of the case, so I never worked on it directly. I did watch large chunks of the trial, though, and then I saw the case through Texaco’s perspective when I moved to Weil, Gotshal & Manges, while they were Texaco’s lead bankruptcy counsel. (Waivers were sought & given.) I ended up doing quite a bit of legal work for the restructured Texaco both at WG&M and then when I opened the Houston litigation practice for Dallas-based Thompson Knight. So I probably have a genuinely unique perspective on the whole case.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 12:59 pmThe fantastic thing about
TrumpBernie Maidoff is that he is the only true leader on the stage. It’s painfully obvious.\From the shrill,shrieking South Beach, Chipndale kid to the preachy , sleazy kinda guy who you just know not to trust.I’m really surprised if this University bit is the only thing that ended up heading south. Hell, a man like Maidoff creates, employs. DOES things other than go from committee meeting to committee meeting.
Maidoff, for all his wealth has still managed to stay down to earth and be successful even with set backs. That’s exactly what the country needs. A leader that will keep moving forward over the speed bumps to achieve his goal which is to help us turn this country around. That would be the country that the other two helped build and/or we’re absolutely irrelevant in preventing as all good globalists do.
Maidoff 2016!!!!
There really is no substitute.
*ftfy
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:03 pmWow. I am willing to bet you light a candle in front of your shrine to Trump each night.
Folks, I don’t think even Stalin had this sort of hagiography.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:05 pmJamail’s cross of Marty Lipton, for example, was a thing of art and beauty. There’s no way Donald Trump could ever do anything remotely that clever — he doesn’t have the vocabulary for it, much less the subtlety.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:06 pmSkeptical Gal obviously has a weakness for men whose genes include male pattern baldness.
I don’t think any of Trump’s problems are genetic.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:09 pmRobert Redford could play Trump in the not yet written movie “The Bluffer”.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:10 pmYah, the area of Alpine and the surrounding district, although not the Kumeyaay reservation. Great guy. Politically, like father, like son.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:11 pmJust self-inflicted.
Bill H (dcdd7b) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:13 pmhere is the interesting chart about the texas R primary
looks like Mr. Trump’s gonna do just fine there
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:24 pmI was listening to that despicable scab Chris Christie singing Donald Trump’s praises at a rally today, repeating Trump’s lie that all he ever got from his father was “one single loan of a million dollars, that he had to pay back.”
By the time of Trump’s father’s death, he’d cleared out most of the assets in his own name. Guess why? This is what estate planning is all about. Even so, there was still a $20M then-present-value cash inheritance that Trump split with a couple of siblings (after helping his dad re-draft his will to exclude one brother).
But most of Trump’s dad’s financial help came indirectly, or through Trump’s siblings. His dad’s companies (not his dad personally) guaranteed Trump’s initial forays into business, and when he ran them into the ground, propped them up with multi-million dollar loans. How many of them were forgiven, written down, or written off? We don’t know, but we can be sure that tax consequences were exploited and the American taxpayer ended up being screwed somehow.
Just one of those loans from Daddy, the $3.5M undisclosed loan his father gave Trump’s casino by buying chips he never gambled, a crime to which Trump’s daddy had to plead guilty, would’ve been financial help vastly beyond anything most Americans could ever dream of from their families.
Financial publications that have tried to value the assets shifted into Trump’s companies from his dad’s or siblings’ companies and trusts and investments, the loan guarantees, the protected access into no-lose deals in which Trump bore no risk, etc., at over $200M.
He’s a con-man. You can’t believe a single thing he says, about his wealth or anything else.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:34 pmAnd Trump’s such a sweet-heart, such a family man and good Christian:
I guess Trump thought it would be okay if that infant with seizures “died in the streets,” huh?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:42 pm“If you can force this man on me and my family, our political system and our society has failed. It is time to start over.”
You mean like the way Obergfell is forcing SSM on the rest of us? They way Obama and the Democrats are forcingthe rest of us to pay for other people’s abortions?
You’re just NOW noticing the forcing of politics on everyone else?
No, I’m not a Trump supporter. I loathe the creep. But the people voting for Trup have been screwed by the political process for decades.
Protest Manager (5c4dec) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:46 pmhappyfeet, Ted Cruz will win more delegates in Texas than Trump has won in all four contests so far combined.
Trump will win a few in Texas, but fewer than the polls suggest.
Trump will win several other states, though, and we’ll see how many and by how much. He’s still likely to be the delegate leader after Super Tuesday, but by nowhere near the delegate margin he currently has.
What’s likely to change is whether it’s still a three-man race or a two-man race. If Rubio wins nowhere, he’s unlikely to get any “bump” in Florida. If the polls still show, despite whatever progress Rubio makes on Super Tuesday, that he’s still trailing in Florida, he should drop out.
I think that’s the most likely scenario. The second most likely one is that Rubio stays in through Florida hoping for a miracle. Unless he gets it, though, he’s certainly gone after March 15.
Then it’s a two-man race, in winner-take-all states. Even with current polls and all Trump’s seeming invincibility, he loses to Cruz head-on-head everywhere.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:49 pmThis ^^^ has always been Ted Cruz’ path to the nomination, by the way, and would have been even if it were Jeb (for instance) who was the front-runner instead of Trump.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 1:51 pm@ Protest Manager, who wrote (#251):
Trump supporters have been no more or less screwed by the political process than the rest of us.
What’s insane, though, is their belief that he — who brags about buying politicians, who revels in crony capitalism, who couldn’t stay in business without it (and has barely stayed in business even with it) — is capable of, or motivated to, fix anything.
Their thinking should be: I’m angry. I’ve been screwed for decades by the political process. I want to vote for someone who’s stood up against that process, who’s disrupted it, and who actually has the capability and integrity to do, when elected, exactly that which he now promises — in order to fix it.
Instead, their thinking seems to be: I’m angry. I’ve been screwed for decades by the political process. I want to vote for someone who’s gotten rich screwing over the little guy exactly like me, because he’s the guy to fix it, even though there’s no evidence for that besides his promise, and even though he lies and breaks promises daily, and even though his past behavior suggests he’ll do exactly what any fox would do if placed in charge of the henhouse. Why do I believe him? Because he’s loud and vulgar and angry.
Anger can be righteous. Con-jobs are never righteous. Con-men can be self-righteous. But that’s not to be confused with genuine righteousness, and indeed, is a trait associated with the opposite.
But this is the essence of the con-job, the misdirection, the fantasy so vivid and irresistable that you take out your damn wallet and hand the shell-game guy your $20.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:00 pmRubio will stay in for sure she’s got nothing to lose by staying in since she’s already dropped senator club for cheerleading next semester
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:01 pmRubio just referred to The Donald flying around on “Hair Force One.”
DAMN!
Advantage: The Rubio
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:06 pmActually, Rubio might have something to lose besides the nomination, Mr. Feet.
Rubio is ambitious. If it’s still obvious that he can’t win in Florida when they do the initial snap-polling after Super Tuesday, he’d further those ambitions — potentially including one which might land him a heartbeat away from the presidency — by dropping out.
George H.W. Bush didn’t have a job lined up in 1980 when he dropped out either. Worked out pretty well for him, though.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:08 pmYeah, Rubio’s riffs are rolling today, I’ve seen him make that crack in several rallies.
Also: “Trump can’t possibly be a good businessman. How can you bankrupt a casino? The house always wins!”
Also: “Trump tweeted out a picture of me getting make-up put on backstage at the debate. That’s pretty funny, he’s got the worst spray-tan in America, and he’s making fun of me for getting a little make-up?”
Also: “Trump threatens to sue so many people. He should sue whoever did that ridiculous hair-do!”
He’s fun to watch, obviously letting it all hang out and having a good time. It’s getting air time and may do damage to Trump.
I still don’t think it will win him any states on Super Tuesday, nor much reduce his current polling gap in Florida, but we’ll see soon enough. It’s a path, but it’s an awfully tiny one, compared to Cruz’, which I think is still very clear.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:12 pm“Robert Redford could play Trump in the not yet written movie “The Bluffer”.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016
…and comedian Louie Anderson could play Chris Krispy in “Teh Fluffer”…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:23 pmif roobs demonstrably can’t deliver florida she has no value as a veep candidate plus Brad would probably dump her for Stacy and totally make her give him his sweater back
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:26 pmOkay, now I know why Bob Dole doesn’t like Ted Cruz:
Warning, this is from a long article in 2014 by Jeffrey Toobin in the New Yorker. Toobin is a tool and an idiot on legal matters, and he’s a very dull but rabid progressive who finds it necessary every two or three paragraphs to insert some snide aside to make his liberal audience chuckle. Typical of Toobin’s stupidity about our legal system is this confident assurance:
Well, yes, that’s an accurate description of Cruz, but it’s not because he’s an appellate lawyer instead of a trial lawyer. Cases get settled on appeal with spectacular regularity, and no lawyer, whether at trial or appeal, civil or criminal, can be successful in practice unless he’s skilled at negotiating settlements.
But notwithstanding Toobin’s cluelessness about the topic he pretends to be most expert upon (law), this is a pretty good read, and I think he accurately describes Cruz in its title: “The Absolutist.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:55 pmMr. Happyfeet, with the way you react to people challenging the authority of your mutha hero Trump, perhaps you have an Oedipus Complex.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 2:57 pmAlthough, The Donald is an old dinosaur, so maybe you actually have an Oedipus Rex Complex? (LOL)
Also, I adore the photo of Cruz at that link.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:00 pmlol!
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:15 pmI think hereafter I’ll refer to that guy as Jeffrey “Not the Sharpest Tool in the Tool-Bin” Toobin. Yeah, I like that.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:16 pmDid you look at the photo, Mr. Feet? Is that your lol? It’s rich, isn’t it?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:16 pmThose are Cruz’ black ostrich boots, by the way. He talks in his book about how reluctant he was to not wear those in his first U.S. Supreme Court oral argument, even though he thought they might violate the (rather stricter) dress code that’s enforced there.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:20 pm“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”
Luke Stywalker (765d4e) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:24 pm– Friedrich Nietzsche
Mr M wrote:
And we’re now seeing that the charismatically impaired are not doing so well against a virtual demagogue. My preferred candidate would have made the best President of anyone running, but she wasn’t a good enough presidential candidate to take advantage of the surge she got after the second debate.
I’ll be the first to admit that I do not understand Donald Trump’s charisma, but it’s obvious that he has it, in spades.
The Dana who supported Carly Fiorina (1b79fa) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:26 pmno it really is a good photo Mr. Beldar I like that room a lot
and the boots too
but i think Mr. Cruz is too narrow in his appeal and too narrow in his vision to win the nomination
dogma and principles are super-awesome but there’s no x factor at work on Team Cruz, in fact quite the opposite
his color by numbers social con panderings are extraordinarily tedious i think
he went on and on at the debate when hugh hewitt threw that religious liberty in failmerica softball
yawn
that was a good chance for him to focus the spotlight on meaningful stuff but instead he pandered to the neurotic 700 clubbers who think they’re oppressed because cupcakes in portland
i have no patience with that silliness, and you don’t get any of that maundering angsty goofy crap from Mr. The Donald
advantage: Mr. The Donald
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:32 pmGreat Photo, Beldar. I took a few of him in Peterborough N.H. with the American Flag in the background. He was a great speaker and connected with the audience as the article suggested.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:32 pmWe in California will have no say in who the GOP nominates; the state will of course go full Dem-tard in the general.
So I sit here frightened and exhilarated depending on the day, these days mostly frightened. Bernie and Trump have blown up all the boxes. Who knew that the oligarchs were in actuality so weak? So now the destruction will accelerate. I sure hope we have a nation left when it’s over.
Patricia (5fc097) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:35 pmas our politics are more roman or renaissance,
https://reasonandrevelationblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/27/responding-to-my-critics-why-trump-matters/
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:37 pmhappyfeet, you keep forgetting if it was not for Mr. Cruz at the FCC, you would have limited options of buying on the internet. Oh and one more thing, he has a 5-4 record in the S.C. No other candidate comes close to his ability to serve. Besides- Trump is a bluffer with orange jumpsuit colored hair.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:39 pmit has gotten quite silly,
http://www.dailypundit.com/?p=117247
so these denunciations proper to Catiline,
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:40 pmjust because Trump is of poor character does NOT mean he’ll be a bad president, most of which for many moons have been sleazy bushes, sleazy clintons, or sleazy food stamps
before that you had trash like Nixon and LBJ and JFK and Jimmy Carter
Eisenhower and Reagan are the only exceptions really that really come to mind
so the evidence shows that character is flat-out NOT a factor with respect to the office of the failmerican presidency, and it’s really not very honest to pretend like it is
this is obvious to anyone who is willing to do the analysis
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:40 pm272.We in California will have no say in who the GOP nominates; the state will of course go full Dem-tard in the general.
So I sit here frightened and exhilarated depending on the day, these days mostly frightened. Bernie and Trump have blown up all the boxes. Who knew that the oligarchs were in actuality so weak? So now the destruction will accelerate. I sure hope we have a nation left when it’s over.
Patricia
………………………
Pray. God always hears
I’m inspired just knowing that Ted will always be fighting for truth and justice
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:41 pm@Beldar at 253:
From what I can tell, their thinking is; I’ve been screwed, nothing is going to fix it, so I’m going to vote for the guy who will screw all those people who have screwed me.
As I’ve said on Twitter, IMHO Cruz is getting the people who are angry, Trump is getting the people who are despairing.
It’s about revenge, not about making the situation better. IMAO
Protest Manager (5c4dec) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:43 pmTrump is a bluffer with orange jumpsuit colored hair
LOL…. Trump is a large Ump-Lump… and Hillary is a small one
jrt for Cruz (bc7456) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:44 pmyou know it’s a wonder they are still on our side, after 63, 75, 91, 94
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/feature/ac7b0cf6-9ce2-4962-a36e-ad5bb93f7f1b/25-anniversary–the-road-to-independence?platform=hootsuite
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:44 pmMr. mg Ted Cruz can be qualified six ways to sunday but if he can’t get the nomination he really needs to have a good and effective plan b like trying really hard to be an effective senator or what have you
this is not about who is most qualified it’s about who’s going to be the nominee and the magic 8 ball says it’s Mr. The Donald
it is what it is at this point
you got roobs running around in tight pants making no pretense anymore of being remotely presidential
and you got Ted sitting there talking in his same monotonous tone dishing out the same mushy porridge every day
the fat lady has sung
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:47 pmLOL…. Trump is a large Ump-Lump… and Hillary is a small one
wtf does this even mean
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:47 pmYou’re referring to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (and subsequent revisions) which while purportedly about controlling illegal immigration also makes “national origin and citizenship status discrimination” illegal.
http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/nationalorigin.cfm
This is one of my pet peeves. Actually it infuriates me when I hear pols say things like enforce criminal penalties on employers who hire illegals. Because the law requires me as an employer to walk a legal tightrope over a bottomless pit of legal jeopardy. As a private citizen I can’t enforce the law and I sure as h3ll don’t enjoy sovereign immunity. If I make one wrong step I can lose my @$$.
Basically the federal government aids and abets illegal aliens gaining employment in this country. One of the most common crimes committed by illegal aliens is full or partial identity theft. The federal government knows full well who the perpetrators are, in particular the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the IRS. And if you or your child are victims of this felony they will never disclose the identity of the illegal alien who victimized you. They are actively on the side of the criminal.
http://www.cis.org/IdentityTheft
You want better proof than just my word that the feds are on the side of the criminals? I give you Meg Whitman, former candidate for governor of Kali. The media frenzy over her supposed knowingly hiring an illegal alien as a maid focused on a discrepancy letter from the SSA. The name on Nicky Diaz’s SSID didn’t match the SSN. And Whitman didn’t immediately fire her.
The media was playing on the public’s interest. An employer CAN’T fire an employee when they receive such a letter. They have to inform the employee of the discrepancy, so the employee has a chance to clear it up if the discrepancy is due to an honest mistake.
It’s similar to the intricacies of firing a unionized teacher; it takes years, and the entity or person desiring to fire the miscreant is always wrong in the eyes of the law.
Missed in the whole feeding frenzy was the larger issue. Nicky Diaz had committed at least two federal felonies. She had signed the I9 form under penalty of perjury stipulating that she was legally allowed to work in the US. And she had committed document fraud when she presented the fake SSID and other documents to back up her statement.
Both her crimes carried maximum sentences of five years.
Yet she could go on national TV with ambulance chaser Gloria Allred and claim Whitman had “exploited” her (at $23/hr) knowing full well she was illegal. Why? Because she knew damn well the DoJ would never prosecute her for the two felonies she was essentially bragging about committing on national TV. She was perfectly safe.
But employers like me are not perfectly safe. Employers can be and are prosecuted or sued for “overzealous” practices to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Such as requesting additional documentation if I suspect an SSID isn’t kosher. I have to accept the documentation if it appears legit, and I’m not a forgery expert.
This is why, for instance, I’m wary of using E-Verify unless I’m required to by law (and please pass a law requiring me to use E-Verify). Without the legal requirement to use E-Verify, without that cover, I have to worry that La Raza or some such will sue me for national origin discrimination. And they’d probably win, if I make a move one millimeter beyond what the law requires me to do. I don’t have sovereign immunity.
There’s that legal tightrope I have to walk again. Just like Meg Whitman. Every knowledgeable person knew she had done exactly what the law required and what the law permitted an employer to do.
The bottom line is this; pols who talk about enforcing criminal penalties on employers who hire illegal aliens are essentially writing in the sky that they intend to continue to abdicate their responsibility to control the border. They’re passing the buck to me, and at the same time threatening me with all sorts of legal sanctions if I edge a millimeter too far the wrong way.
I’m not the Border Patrol. It’s illegal for me to act like I’m the Border Patrol. I would love to have the freedom under the law to do whatever it reasonably takes to satisfy me that a job applicant really is legally able to work in the US. But I don’t. As long as I don’t those pols who want to criminalize the actions of people like me who are merely following the law are simply playing on the ignorance of people who don’t know how much I can’t do.
Steve57 (b12073) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:48 pmMr Happyfeet,
There’s a delineation between BECOMING President vs being a good President.
If you encountered an employee at 7-Eleven wearing an Orange Toupee who was calling someone a “bimbo,” you’d say they were acting like trash. Have you even seen the interior photos of his Louis XIV Manhattan apartment?
Oh, but The Rubio has a little motor boat that he likes to take fishing! (LOL)
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:52 pmTRUMP: “I’ve been audited every year. Twelve years, or something like that. Every year they audit me, audit me, audit me.
Luke Stywalker (765d4e) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:53 pmNobody gets audited — I have friends that are very wealthy people. They never get audited. I get audited every year. I will absolutely give my return, but I’m being audited now for two or three years, so I can’t do it until the audit is finished, obviously. And I think people would understand that.”
——————-
is very beautiful apartment and I bet it has the precise effect on their guests what they intend Mr. Supporter
wouldn’t wanna to live there though
i like the hooker’s orange dress the best btw i bet a lot of guys request that specially
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 3:58 pmOompa Loompa. Not ump lump.
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:00 pmJamail reminds me of Trump because of his behavior in the Fat Boy deposition.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:01 pmhappyfeet – have you been checked for Trumpinosis?
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:01 pmThat makes sense to me but I’m a Cruz supporter. I’m not sure Trump supporters would agree. It would be interesting to know what they think.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:02 pmThat apartment looks like Saddam’s palace.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:03 pmi’m just eager for the post food stamp era Mr. mg
and I like Mr. The Donald he reminders me of deloreans and patrick nagel and Bret Easton Ellis novels
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:04 pmHe reminds me of Marilyn Chambers.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:06 pm* The media was playing on the public’s
interestignorance.Further to my last, the idea that I’m some evil employer who wants to hire illegal aliens in preference to Americans or legal residents or non-citizens with valid work visas is particularly infuriating to me as I spent 20 years defending one of the nation’s borders. The big wet one, west of Kali, Oregon, and Washington and south of Alaska.
Then I retire and go back into the private sector and find that 1) the pols in D.C. require me to be the front line of defense against illegal immigration and 2) I’m screwed six ways from Sunday if I act like I’m the front line of defense against illegal immigration.
This would be like the Department of Homeland Security insisting it’s really mall security’s job to be the front line of defense against terrorism.
Steve57 (b12073) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:07 pmMe too, happyfeet, but without Ted we loose the 2nd Amend.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:07 pmthat’s just cause he hardly ever wears a bra Mr. nk
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:07 pmi can’t see how the dominoes for sure fall that way Mr. mg
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:10 pmYeah, he’s just like those boring old dead people that wrote that dusty
Luke Stywalker (765d4e) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:15 pmconstitution thing. All that 2nd amendment stuff is so passe.
Are we truly hearing about people being Presidential and lying lying huckster bully orange toupees in the same sentence?
Simon Jester (ad31ea) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:18 pmahab was a little less obsessed, but now for something somewhat the same,
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/271061-ex-cia-chief-armed-forces-would-have-to-disobey-trump
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:26 pmI’m more than a little disappointed that the lying lying huckster with the cat on his head has caused us to lose sight that the alternative is they lying lying huckster with blood on her hands and national defense secrets on her unclas server.
Steve57 (b12073) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:31 pmPresident Trump President Trump now that you’re president what are we gonna do about making economic growth more better?
We’re gonna get rid of these lines around the states, lil pikachu.
Go get em Mr. Trump!
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:36 pmoccasionally she is aware of her surroundings,
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/227774/#respond
the same has happened with farage, or le pen, or wilders,
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:40 pmOne thing you can count on, he WILL make the trains run on time.
————
Ketchup later.
Luke Stywalker (765d4e) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:55 pmwell they are regarded as munafakin, I think that is the right expression,
http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/02/18/kingdom-and-caliphate-duel-of-islamic-states/iu4w
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 4:58 pm251
The bookmakers think otherwise. The one I checked had Rubio at 3/1, Cruz at 40/1 (same as Kaisch). Cruz is a long shot.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:06 pm253
Trump supporters have been no more or less screwed by the political process than the rest of us.
This isn’t true. Society has changed (through the political process and otherwise) in ways that have hurt some people much more than others.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:10 pmTrump supporters are the product of irresponsible screwing, I agree. That of their parents.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:14 pm289 That makes sense to me but I’m a Cruz supporter. I’m not sure Trump supporters would agree. It would be interesting to know what they think.
They don’t think Cruz has anything to offer them. They think the system is rigged in favor of people who went to Harvard and have wives who work at Goldman Sachs.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:18 pm289 307
And they think Cruz and his supporters despise them.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:20 pmof course, doc brown presided over this calamity,
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/03/ig-report-close-to-300000-vets-died-while-waiting-for-health-care-at-va.html
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:22 pm#308 James B. Shearer,
You might have just won the Grand Prize with “They don’t think Cruz has anything to offer them. They think the system is rigged in favor of people who went to Harvard and have wives who work at Goldman Sachs.”
Because a man who claims to be worth $10 billion and whose WEEKEND HOME in Florida has 58 bedrooms is much more relatable to Joe Six Pack than a lawyer whose wife works at Goldman Sachs.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:26 pm(LOL)
And they think Cruz and his supporters despise them.
I don’t know about Cruz and his supporters, but I do. I like Cruz but I despised Trump when Marla Maples was still jailbait. He is the epitome of the Marilyn Chambers “culture”.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:29 pmFWIW, bret baier was getting the ground level view of the Republican primary from a reporter for a Houston paper who was based in Austin…
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:39 pmI kind of thought that was not necessarily reflective of Texas as a whole.
no probably not, austin is that island in the sea of texas red.
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/27/report-mcconnell-preparing-to-have-gop-senators-break-with-trump-in-the-fall-if-necessary-or-something/
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:42 pmI don’t despise Trump or his supporters. I fear what they are doing to our system of government and to our legal system. We know the Democrats want to change how everything works. Now it seems the GOP — if it succumbs to Trump’s vision — does, too.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:45 pmLeftists call Austin an island of sanity in an ocean of crazy.
The saying goes:
Keep Austin Weird.
And it’s appropriate. So, any “on the ground” information straight out of Austin is skewed as far Left as practically anywhere else in the country.
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:45 pmWell, I, for one, despise Donald Trump, who wouldn’t have the first clue as to what is necessary to become a Christian, and doesn’t have an honest bone in his body. As for his idolators (and that is not a hyperbole), every last one of them disgust me.
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:47 pmIt depends on whether it is from the Capitol/UT areas of Austin or the suburbs. The suburbs are more conservative.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:48 pmcategory is rife, on kagan and his interlocutor,
https://pjmedia.com/ronradosh/2016/02/27/why-robert-kagans-decision-to-endorse-hillary-clinton-is-both-premature-and-wrong/
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:49 pmMark IV Productions’ “A Thief In The Night”, coming to a USA near you.
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:51 pmI still credit Trump with changing the debate and making people feel empowered. It’s not enough for me to support him and overlook all his other problems, but that was good.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/27/2016 @ 5:52 pmthere used to be a decent interval.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/271013-ex-cruz-spokesman-joins-msnbc
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:04 pmDRJ, re: Trump and changing the debate:
I have said before that it is not appropriate to equate abortion with the Nazis.
Because of the Nazis, we have Volkswagens and Interstate highways, and Israel got reconstituted.
Abortion has murdered orders of magnitude more people than the Nazis ever could, and nothing good came out of it.
But I’m still going to despise Nazis, despite the good they brought. Because nothing good can compare to their outright evil.
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:07 pmWhen this is all done, and President Trump is appointing Obama to the Supreme Court and sending the Army out to round up the guns, a lot of people will be asking “why didn’t anyone SAY anything?” and looking for someone else to blame.
Just like they did with Barack Obama’s two wins after they stayed home.
I will not vote for Mr Trump. I will not vote at all if my only meaningful choices are Trump or the Democrat. Fkuc ’em. Split the party, put Walker or Romney or Perry on the ballot as a Real Republican Party candidate and I’ll show up. It would be fun to see just how much money Trump can actually throw into the campaign against the usual GOP deep pockets.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:09 pmwell where those volkswagens manufactured and with whose labor, re Israel, had Hitler not been stalled in the Caucasus, he would likely had made it to the Middle East, where his ally the Grand Mufti was ready to finish the job,
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:11 pmThe decent intervals are just shorter now.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:12 pmThe solution is majority rule within a constitutional republic, if you can’t live with that, then you’re part of the problem.
ropelight (4ea934) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:12 pmHillary wins South Carolina in landslide 75-25.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:15 pmAnd exactly what convinces you that Mr Trump gives two wipes of his rear what the constitution says about anything?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:16 pmNobody can live with that, as we have seen. It doesn’t work; it never has anywhere. It certainly was not the case when the Republic was founded. The franchise was limited to relatively young*, relatively prosperous** men. One of the causes of the Civil War may have been the abolition of the property requirement*** which enabled any no-account trash to vote duting the Kansas-Missouri (Missouri compromise) dispute.
*Few men lived long enough to be very old.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:22 pm**Property requirement.
***Andrew Jackson did that?
they never follow through,
http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/02/27/raven-symone-co-host-of-the-view-announces-on-air-she-is-moving-to-canada-if-this-happens/
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:25 pmIt’s nice of Raven to try to cheer us up like that.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:29 pmhaving reached optimum selective audience,
https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/703765037085757440/photo/1
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:31 pmWhen Idolators pick the President in 2008, 2012, and 2016 (and, Ropelight, you’re an Idolator), then I have a problem with that.
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:33 pmTwo cheerful newses in a row. Thank you, narciso.
nk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:34 pmoutlining the situation, rather succinctly,
http://www.steynonline.com/7482/super-du-jour
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:43 pmI am happy to agree that the degree of success Trump has continued to have was not anticipated, and that it is possible he will win the Republican nomination,
but,
over 60% of the electorate does not want him
not that many delegates have been awarded
and if Cruz indeed wins Texas by a good margin inn just a few days
all of a sudden there are two candidates with significant delegates and actual primary victories,
and 3 people of diminishing impact
Rubio and kasich may want to try to stick it out until their respective states (or if polls do not look well, maybe one or both will bail first)
but their positions will be clearly weakened
will everyone hate Cruz to the point of slanting it toward trump??
I never expected Cruz to actually be a contender, but at this point it seems revolting to think the powers that be would conspire to select Trump.
That would either so demoralize rational repubs and conservatives as to kill the party,
or perhaps reawaken the tea party to go for Congress in 2018 and get the incumbents out.
It will be a miracle if this country all of a sudden has a burst of mental and moral clarity and rejects the Clintons and the Sanders and the Trumps.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/27/2016 @ 6:59 pmMaybe this is an “America’s last chance to choose” moment.
MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:03 pmG’ nite.
#334, John Hitchcock, projection much? It’s laughable for a bible thumping fundamentalist bigot to be using a term like Idolator against someone else when that particular shoe is a perfect fit for the name caller. Better think about gettin’ right with the Lord, John, instead of getting mad at me.
Nothing you or I can say or do is going to change the outcome of the GOP nomination process, so why go out of your way to prove to everyone here what an overbearing ass you can make of yourself?
ropelight (4ea934) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:03 pmThe people on the far right have been convinced that the world is indeed on fire and this is the end of the world. So no matter what you dig up Patterico, Trump’s supporters are not going to care. It’s sad, but this is what a lot of misinformation mixed with “the sky is falling” will get you.
Tillman (a95660) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:19 pmi don’t think you’re an idolator at all Mr. ropelight i think you just wanna help make america great again
you know who also shares that goal is Mr. Donald Trump
you have to remember
this wouldn’t be necessary if failmerica didn’t suck so hard, but it is what it is, and there’s no time to waste if we’re gonna begin to put things to rights
starting with immigration plus also the epa we got a big mess with the epa
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:22 pmThe EPA? I know all about that. That’s the Equal Protection Amendment and I will see to it that my sister the judge signs a bill passing it on day one.
nodald krump (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:27 pmhe’s not like that Mr. krump he only wants to do stuff what will help make America great again
you’ll see i promise
happyfeet (831175) — 2/27/2016 @ 7:31 pmIt’s sad, but this is what a lot of misinformation mixed with “the sky is falling” will get you.
Again, you are too kind. It’s more like a mass tantrum.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:01 pmSome asked me today if I don’t like Trump so much would I rather have 4 more years of Obama? I answered 1) that should not be my choice and it’s only though treachery that is has happened, and 2) I don’t know.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:04 pmBy the way, this whole hijacking of the GOP has been done through a ruthless exploitation of the rules, notably the idiotic open primary rules. Why not play that game some more? Come next January after the new administration is sworn in, impeach Trump and his VP for being a clear and present danger to the Republic, and let Ryan be President. It would be awkward for the Dems to own Trump in the end.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:08 pmwell blame priebus for keeping the gates open, subjecting the candidates to mass beatings till morale improves, re ryan I wouldn’t hold out much hope,
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/27/marco-rubio-pushed-for-immigration-reform-with-conservative-media/
narciso (732bc0) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:10 pm@ DRJ (no one else probably cares) re Jamail: A contemporary of mine at Baker Botts, after the Pennzoil trial in which our firm cooperated with Jamail, tried a jury case against Jamail. It was an ATV roll-over case in which Jamail had done a Mary Carter (when those were still legal) with the manufacturer, Honda, so they could both focus their fire on the our client, the family which owned & maintained the ATV; the plaintiff was a guest of theirs who’d been paralyzed, and so there were massive damages. Despite the Mary Carter tag-team, my colleague — a diminutive, shy-looking trial lawyer with the heart of a lion, Mike Goldberg — beat Jamail like the proverbial red-headed stepchild and poured him out — 12/0, no liability. As Mike and his clients were waiting for the elevator outside the courtroom, minding their own business, Jamail came up and made some sort of insulting wisecrack, which Mike studiously ignored. And one thing Jamail could not stand was being ignored by the guy who’d just beat him. So he punched Mike in the face — just hauled off and sucker-punched him in front of maybe 25 witnesses (including members of the jury who’d just been released), on the fourth floor of the old Harris County Civil Courts Building.
Mike got to his feet, dusted himself off, and got on the elevator without saying a word.
By the time he got back to the office, everyone in the firm, from the mailroom clerks to the managing partner, had heard about how Goldberg had made Jamail melt down. Mike’s still telling that story, I’m sure, and he’s gone on to become, among other things, general counsel for the Houston Rockets; if you look on the internet for pictures of Yao Ming being signed in China, Mike’s the guy who’s just about exactly half as tall as Yao Ming.
I could tell you several dozen other stories, most (but not all) of them second-hand, about Jamail. He’s simultaneously a disgrace to, and one of the most innately skilled members of, the profession we share. But Trump’s just a disgrace, period.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:21 pmropelight, we’re both Hank Williams fans, and I see no incongruity at all in being fans of him, Ronald Reagan, and George Washington. Hank Williams is still the king, no matter what that Elvis-Johnny-Come-Lately fellow claimed.
But you’ve perhaps missed my follow-up questions for you at #116 above, no?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:31 pmDangit, I ought to have thought twice and proofread that before hitting “Submit Comment.” I’m sorry Hank, and I’m sorry Bob Wills, I had your nicknames mixed up for just a moment but I love you both. That’s inexcusable for me: I was a DJ in high school at a country western radio station, KPET-AM in Lamesa, where I regularly played old 45-RPM singles from them both.
I believe Hank Williams even wrote a song about Donald Trump, in fact: Your Cheatin’ Heart, right?
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:36 pmI like the way Waylon does Bob Wills is still the king.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 10:46 pm346.By the way, this whole hijacking of the GOP has been done through a ruthless exploitation of the rules, notably the idiotic open primary rules. …
In New Hampshire exit polling showed Trump got 36% of the republicans and 36% of the independents.
In South Carolina exit polling showed Trump got 32% of the republicans and 33% of the independents.
So open primaries had little to do with Trump’s wins, he would have won among republican voters only.
Trump is winning elections by getting more votes than his opponents, I suppose you could call that a ruthless exploitation of the rules.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:04 pmHeidi Cruz is the daughter of a dentist and dental hygienist who did extensive missionary work in Africa, on which their children accompanied them. After compiling a sparkling college and grad school record, she worked in the Bush Administration as Condi Rice’s Director for the Western Hemisphere for the National Security Council. At Goldman Sachs, she’s used her Harvard MBA skills in giving investment advice and management services to that firm’s private clients, meaning she’s built family (not corporate) wealth; she’s not doing leveraged buyouts or hostile takeovers or international credit swaps or anything particularly exotic, but yes, her skills are in sufficient demand that she can work for wealthy people with lots of money to invest. Her compensation is a matter of public record, since it’s community property that must be disclosed, by law, as part of her husband’s financial disclosures as both a U.S. senator and a presidential candidate; if there were any ugly details waiting to jump out based on her work for Goldman, you can be sure that some opposition researcher (for David Dewhurst in 2012, or for any and all of Cruz’ competitors in this race) would have found & exploited them. She’s well compensated, but although she has a reputation for being first in and last to leave their Houston office (for which she’s been made the regional manager), she’s not exactly being paid at the per-hour rates that Goldman Sachs pays for a Hillary Clinton speech. Even with their combined incomes, they weren’t able to retire student loan debts until Cruz went into private practice.
The Dems, by contrast, are either going to nominate someone who’s a rape-enabler, but whom we never would have heard of at all but for the facts that (i) she was married to said rapist, and (ii) he became governor of Arkansas and then POTUS, or (ii) a socialist who’s lived for portions of his life in a VW van and couldn’t hold a steady job or keep his utilities turn on regularly until he got into politics.
It’s entirely possible to be “in but not of.” That may be a distinction too subtle for some Trump fans, but others of them might recognize that phrase as the title of a book by Hugh Hewitt a few years ago — a book not about politics, but about business people. The subtitle is “A Guide to Christian Ambition,” and it’s one-line tout from the publisher is: “In, But Not Of provides readers with valuable insights, wisdom, personal experiences, and advice on how to rise in the world and achieve the kind of radical success that honors God.”
Have you heard her speak? If not, make the effort. Although she’s certainly a match for Cruz intellectually and in terms of her professional achievements, she also has some deeply Texan horse sense that I associate with spouses like Barbara Bush, Laura Bush, and, going farther back, Lady Bird Johnson. Texas has produced controversial presidents, but some of the very best First Ladies ever, by near universal acclamation. Heidi Cruz would be another.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:06 pmThere’s a great story about Heidi Cruz in Ted’s book, talking about the work she, a non-lawyer, was doing to try to help the Bush v. Gore legal team on which Ted was serving. I’m not going to spoil it by telling it here, but it’s wonderfully revealing, and it confirms that she has the heart of a servant.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:13 pmTrump’s been energizing and turning out independent and new voters, Mr. Shearer, that is undoubtedly true. Some of them turn out for him; some of them turn out against him. But yes, you’re right that so far, he’s been winning across multiple demographics, including both self-identified Republicans and others. That surprised me as much as anyone, but it’s undeniable.
But that’s after a multi-year head start as a reality TV star, with universal name recognition, and no one more formidable than low-energy and gentlemanly Jeb Bush shooting at him until after the Iowa caucus.
Whether he has a glass jaw hasn’t really been tested yet by either his competitors or the media, but it’s being tested now, so we’ll see what we shall see.
He’s not going to win across every demographic in Texas, I assure you. He’s not going to win in Texas, period. I think he’s likely to place a distant second at best, and Cruz will walk away with more delegates from Texas alone than Trump has won in the four previous contests. Whether it’s after Super Tuesday or whether it’s after the March 15th primaries (including Florida), we’re soon going to see a two-candidate race and, if only by virtue of that narrowing, an entirely new dynamic for the rest of the primaries up through the convention.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:24 pmSounds as if the rino herd is going to run mittens to try and stop Trump. Trump, unfortunately will beat him to a pulp. Heck, I’d vote for Candy before mitty boy.
mg (31009b) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:31 pmI attended a dear friend and colleague’s 50th birthday dinner tonight. After dinner, I got to talking politics with the wife of another former colleague of ours; we don’t see that couple as much as we used to because they moved, for lifestyle reasons, to a much smaller town in the Texas Hill Country a few years ago. All of these folks are committed liberal Democrats, but we’ve got the good manners that come from years of civil political discussions conducted in utter good faith. I cherish friends like that; they’re hard to find, and it’s boring to only argue politics with other conservatives all the time.
My former colleague’s spouse told me that last year, their daughter had earned one of two slots from Texas to attend Girl’s State in Washington. Girl’s State and Boy’s State are, as Google will tell you,
Among the perks that come with the Washington trip are all kinds of wonderful sponsored tours, the opportunity to do mock debates in the actual Capitol Building’s legislative chambers, and personal introductions to your home state’s senators and to the POTUS. So their daughter — who, like them, is a rabid Democrat (and amazingly for a millennial, a CLintonista!) — was part of a group of people brought in to meet with Ted Cruz.
Cruz had shaken most of the hands and spoken to most of the students, but somehow the non-Texan Cruz fans had swamped the opportunities, and when it looked as though Cruz was leaving, literally on his way out the door, my friends’ daughter piped up with, “But hey! I’m from Texas, and I didn’t get to meet you yet!”
Ted Cruz pivoted in his heel, strode across the room, sat down in the chair next to her, and talked to her one on one for a quarter hour. They didn’t agree on much, but they had a substantive, respectful discussion.
“We don’t agree with him on much of anything,” my friends told me, “but when a man like that takes that much effort to be so damned decent to your daughter, you can’t help but like him at least just a little bit!”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:49 pmRe-posting, in hopes of avoiding moderation:
—
I attended a dear friend and colleague’s 50th birthday dinner tonight. After dinner, I got to talking politics with the wife of another former colleague of ours; we don’t see that couple as much as we used to because they moved, for lifestyle reasons, to a much smaller town in the Texas Hill Country a few years ago. All of these folks are committed liberal Democrats, but we’ve got the good manners that come from years of civil political discussions conducted in utter good faith. I cherish friends like that; they’re hard to find, and it’s boring to only argue politics with other conservatives all the time.
My former colleague’s spouse told me that last year, their daughter had earned one of two slots from Texas to attend Girl’s State in Washington. Girl’s State and Boy’s State are, as Google will tell you,
summer leadership and citizenship programs sponsored by The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary for high school juniors. Boys and Girls are usually nominated by their high school during their junior year.
Among the perks that come with the Washington trip are all kinds of wonderful sponsored tours, the opportunity to do mock debates in the actual Capitol Building’s legislative chambers, and personal introductions to your home state’s senators and to the POTUS. So their daughter — who, like them, is a rabid Democrat (and amazingly for a millennial, a CLintonista!) — was part of a group of people brought in to meet with Ted Cruz.
Cruz had shaken most of the hands and spoken to most of the students, but somehow the non-Texan Cruz fans had swamped the opportunities, and when it looked as though Cruz was leaving, literally on his way out the door, my friends’ daughter piped up with, “But hey! I’m from Texas, and I didn’t get to meet you yet!”
Ted Cruz pivoted in his heel, strode across the room, sat down in the chair next to her, and talked to her one on one for a quarter hour. They didn’t agree on much, but they had a substantive, respectful discussion.
“We don’t agree with him on much of anything,” my friends told me, “but when a man like that takes that much effort to be so d@mned decent to your daughter, you can’t help but like him at least just a little bit!”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:51 pmOkay, no idea why, but I can’t seem to get my last comment through moderation even with an @ inserted in the single very mild profanity.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/27/2016 @ 11:53 pmnarciso, Speaker Ryan was on Megyn Kelly’s show a few nights ago — it was a really good interview, by the way — and she asked him very bluntly about the possibility that a “brokered GOP convention” might turn to him. He instantly and firmly rejected that notion and expressed confidence that we’ll have a nominee decided well before the convention.
She went on to note, though, that if one or more third-party candidates jumped into the race, and if as a result no one gets the required number of electoral votes, Ryan would then be constitutionally obliged as Speaker to preside over the election of the next POTUS in the House, which has happened exactly once before in American history, in 1876. That year, when neither major party’s candidate got the required number of electoral votes and the election was thrown to the House, Rutherford B. Hayes (R-OH) beat Samuel Tilden (D-NY) in that forum, despite the fact that Tilden had clearly won the national popular vote. From Wikipedia, re how that played out in the “Compromise of 1877”:
Some historians believe that it was the Compromise of 1877 that actually marked the end of the Civil War, not Appomattox Courthouse — and that the South effectively won it at the very reasonable price of letting the GOP have the White House for that cycle. That’s a bit cynical for my tastes, but nevertheless, you’ve got to blink hard to contemplate deals of that consequence and magnitude being made today.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:06 amKelly also asked Speaker Ryan why he’d shaved the full beard which he’d been sporting in Washington in December. Ryan answered that it was deer season, that he’s a bow hunter, and that he grows that same beard every deer season, not out of vanity or for any reason other than that it keeps his face warm in the Wisconsin winter. He said, “Nobody ever noticed my beard before I became Speaker.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:10 amMeasure twice, profane once. I learned that rule from my dad the Senior Chief.
Steve57 (5891a6) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:20 am> Ryan would then be constitutionally obliged as Speaker to preside over the election of the next POTUS in the House, which has happened exactly once before in American history, in 1876.
This is wrong, I think, on two counts.
[a] The House determined the outcome of the election of 1824. Jackson had the most electoral votes but not a majority; the House elected Quincy Adams, who appointed Clay (the third place finisher) as Secretary of State. This was widely regarded as an indicum of corruption, and Jackson spent the next four years campaigning to unseat them (which was successful; he won in 1828).
[b] The actual dispute in 1876 was that several states had submitted *two sets of electoral votes*, and the dispute was over which set to accept. Which is to say, the house wasn’t operating to elect a president when three candidates split the vote and prevented a majority; the house was instead determining which sets of electors were the legitimate electors from the states.
aphrael (3f0569) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:35 amOh — I just remembered one detail that my former colleague’s wife told me tonight. (This will make no sense until you’ve read my comment(s) now in moderation, which contains a long story about this.)
“We have tons of photos of our daughter now, sitting with Ted Cruz,” she said. Okay, I just remembered — and now I feel stupid, because I think this was a deliberate allusion that I missed — that the very famous photo of Bill Clinton shaking hands with John F. Kennedy was taken while Bill Clinton was one of the Arkansas representatives at Boy’s State.
How sly! What a subtle but interesting compliment, coming from a Democrat. Heh.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:37 amOff-topic mostly, but since I’ve been way off-topic on this post’s comments already in talking about Texas lawyers and such:
I’m curious whether Patterico, DRJ, and/or others who comment here have come across any of the recent online articles in places like National Review Online and The Federalist from a fellow named Mark Pulliam. If not, I commend him to you as someone who’s wicked smart: We were both on the editorial board for Volume 57 of the TLR back in 1978-1980, and he went on to a prestigious clerkship and then a superstar practice at Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles, from whose partnership he retired in 2010. He’s now living in Austin again, reveling in his return to Texas and cutting some fine waterskiing wakes while slaloming on hill country lakes. He been writing on an eclectic mix of political and legal topics, usually from a conservative slant, and I think his writing is worth keeping an eye peeled for.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:07 am@ aphrael: I stand corrected, with thanks for same.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:11 am@ Steve57: Senior Chiefs know pretty much everything worth knowing, or so I’m told by people whose judgment I respect.
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:12 am(My dad, a junior officer, told me they “run the d*mn Navy, and thank God for that,” to be precise.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:13 amBeldar, I enjoyed your story (#357, above) about Cruz speaking to your friends’ daughter. I’ve been very impressed by Cruz’s people skills as evidenced by the youtube videos and recollections like yours. He seems to be a decent person who can connect with ordinary mortals, and he has the courage to deal with controversy in a polite and patient way. I certainly hope your projection for the Texas primary is accurate. If so, he will have another chance to redirect his campaign and correct some of the embarrassing practices that have characterized his attempt at waging a campaign to date.
I think a lot of the animosity that he has engendered with the GOPe is based on nothing more than envy and fear. The Old Boys Club has been protecting incompetents for decades, even propelling two of their most senior members into Presidential campaigns, and it must be terrifying for these pensioners to have their shortcomings unmasked and displayed so clearly. The children’s story about the King’s new clothes has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, and it is at the core of the Cartel’s dilemma. But the children’s story didn’t pursue the tale far enough. It didn’t get to the part where the courtiers decided to kill the messenger. Cruz needs to learn how to manage his campaign so that his public persona contradicts the Cartel’s rumor-mongering versus confirming their lies. But this is reasonable test of fitness for some one who seeks the Presidency, and he needs to overcome the deficiencies in his management style that appear to be hindering him at present.
BobStewartatHome (e34c16) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:39 amTed Cruz spoke with everyone that wanted to speak to him in Northborough N.H. Heck I even was on c-span talking to him and shaking his hand. The man is genuine.
mg (31009b) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:50 amAnd he was wearing some darn nice cowboy boots.
mg (31009b) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:51 amThe one thing about “Trump University”
It was obvious, or should have been obvious, from the very name, or a basic description, that it had to be a scam – because there’s no such thing as educating people as to how to make money from real estate. And if there were, why aren’t there other people doing it? Why hasn’t this been going on for a long time? Trump University was an implausible proposition – on its face.
It also should have been obvious that it wasn’t a standard university – if there were a university, it wouldn’t be called “Trump University” and it wouldn’t be limited to one subject, and it would hand out B.A. or B.S. or A.S something like that degrees that would be generally recognized. If it handed out certificates, it should not be called university.
But some people might not have such a great sense of the world so as to realize this. Or that Donald Trump was not doing any of the things that the promotional material said it would – and that you were entitled to see some verification of that before you handed over the money.
It was not giving anybody any inside contacts; it did not suppport its apprentices; the teachers and the curriculum had nothing to do with Donald Trump – and did not teach any special little known insights or reveal any kind of little known information; there was never the slightest possibility of meeting and talking to Donald Trump himself.
It also turns out that people were being upsold, and that there were instructions to avoid reporters and district attorneys. And everybody had to pay in advance.
A lot of people paid the money because they thought hey were going to gte inside information, and special help. But, even for money, Donald Trump, or the people he collaborated with, didn’t do this. You really can’t buy special privileges against everybody else. It’s the old story about it being difficult to cheat an honest person – at least in certain kinds of ways.
Sammy Finkelman (7c7fb2) — 2/28/2016 @ 1:59 amCruz’s campaign manager, Jeff Roe, appears to be the problem. The malignant vapors that exude from the campaign ought to be evident to Roe, and if he isn’t responsible for them, he should be busy eliminating their source. And if Roe can’t or won’t do it, Cruz must dump him before the damage is terminal.
BobStewartatHome (e34c16) — 2/28/2016 @ 2:06 amKevin @50.
Did you know that it wasn’t until about 1990 that anyone had access to employee 401(k) plans? It wasn’t until 1981 that IRA plans let folks set aside $2000 for retirement? There are a lot of people now retired who never had any good way to save except for Social Security, or a house if they were affluent. Today, 25-year-olds have stock portfolios in retirement plans at Schwab. And they seem to think it was that way for everyone, always. Not so,
And there’s a 44 year old (Marco Rubio) who seems to think it was always illegal for an employer to employ illegal aliens. Not so. As Donald Trump managed to say, it was a different world then. This was befoe simpson-Mazzoli. Donald Trump got into trouble, not for hiring them, directly or indirectly, but for cheating them on wages and benefits and violating a union contract. The fact that they were present illegally made them very reluctant to complain, not realizing actually that they could.
Sammy Finkelman (7c7fb2) — 2/28/2016 @ 2:26 am“Suckers are like sheep – they need to be fleeced regularly, it keeps them happy and productive.”
Boo hoo.
mojo (a3d457) — 2/28/2016 @ 3:26 amHow can Cruz control the daily news?
mg (31009b) — 2/28/2016 @ 3:49 amif it’s a newspaper he can make a hat he can make a broach he can make a pterodactyl!
happyfeet (831175) — 2/28/2016 @ 6:05 am#374 Mr Happyfeet, I bet you’re the cool Uncle who knows how to turn little balloons into animals at children’s birthday parties. I never could do that—the screeching sound causes me to have to leave the room!
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/28/2016 @ 7:21 ami don’t know how to make this balloon menagerie of which you speak but i bet there’s a youtube
happyfeet (831175) — 2/28/2016 @ 7:29 amMr Happyfeet, I bet the Mr Donald thinks that balloon animals for his children’s birthday parties is small potatoes. He probably has the kids go on hot air balloon rides. Which is a good choice, since he already has lots of hot air to spare!
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 2/28/2016 @ 7:41 amhe’s such a swell guy Mr. Supporter
he’s like a cross between santa and jay gatsby and tony manero and more santa
happyfeet (831175) — 2/28/2016 @ 8:00 amSo according to this Happy Gilmore didn’t have to win the tournament.
All he had to do was sue Chubbs, the golf instructor, to pay off the note on grandma’s house.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/28/2016 @ 8:26 amHillary has been giving seminars to Wall Street speculators. Clinton made $3.15 million in 2013 alone from speaking to firms like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and UBS, according to the list her campaign released of her speaking fees.
Where are her farking credentials?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/28/2016 @ 8:33 amYou think Schniedermann will bring charges against Clinton for schooling those bankers without a teacher’s license?
Will Clinton provide a list of fat cats who attended her class?
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/28/2016 @ 8:38 am380 381
In New York State you can’t call yourself an university unless you are accredited.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/28/2016 @ 8:54 amInteresting link, narciso 336. Mark Steyn agrees with Leviticus.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/28/2016 @ 9:03 amnk (dbc370) — 2/27/2016 @ 9:43 am
1968, not 1967! But Nixon wasn’t presdident then either. I think John Kerry only started claiming that when the movie “Apocalypse Now” came out in 1978 or 1979. He wanted people to think that was his story. This was not among his lies circa 1971.
Sammy Finkelman (7c7fb2) — 2/28/2016 @ 9:09 am282 The bottom line is this; pols who talk about enforcing criminal penalties on employers who hire illegal aliens are essentially writing in the sky that they intend to continue to abdicate their responsibility to control the border. …
This is correct. However controlling the border is not the whole solution either. In some ways a border wall is like the Maginot Line, impressive looking but possible to bypass. What is also needed is a series of legal changes that would make living in the United States illegally unattractive. So in a way Trump isn’t being serious either but of course his rivals aren’t going to point that out as they are even less interested than Trump is in doing something effective to reduce immigration.
James B. Shearer (0f56fb) — 2/28/2016 @ 9:15 am382 By Governor Cuomo’s proclamation.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/28/2016 @ 9:15 amI think Roe is a problem, too, BobStewart@Home. He is from Missouri and brought in the now-fired Cruz spokesman, Tyler (also from Missouri), who was such a disaster. But I wonder how many choices Cruz had. The experienced national campaign folks aren’t people who would be loyal to Cruz or his message. Cruz had to avoid what happened to Palin where McCain’s people turned on her during the election in order to bolster their image with Beltway politicos.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/28/2016 @ 9:20 amGreat stories, Beldar. I still don’t care for Jamail. I accept that he has skills but so does Trump.
DRJ (15874d) — 2/28/2016 @ 9:23 amApparently, Mr Trump has had trouble disavowing supportr5 from David Duke, and is either unaware of Duke’s beliefs, or perhaps “white supremacy” in general.
From USA Today:
From the NY Times(paywall):
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/02/28/donald-trump-declines-to-disavow-david-duke/
But heck, it’s not important that a President understand anything, is it? I used to thing that Trump was Dilbert’s idiot boss, but now I realize that he’s probably well down the road to Alzheimer’s. It might be good for someone beyond his revenge (e.g. W) to suggest the need for a cognitive function test for older candidates. After all, even Reagan began slipping in his second term.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/28/2016 @ 11:27 amUSA Today link above:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/02/28/donald-trump-david-duke-ku-klux-klan-cnn-state-of-the-union/81073572
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/28/2016 @ 11:29 amgood find Mr. M the propaganda sluts are doing on Mr. Trump just like they did on nazi sympathizer marco rubio
in this case it’s odious cnn propaganda slut jake tapper
but we see right through em don’t we yes yes we do
and what do we NOT do with propaganda sluts?
we don’t share our pudding no sir
happyfeet (831175) — 2/28/2016 @ 11:40 amI remember David Duke running for office somewhere sometime long ago.
They had Republicans campaigning for a Democrat running against him.
But now it seems like Duke is on a permanent retainer with CNN so they can trot him out of the old folks home on a slow news day to bash whomever isn’t a Democrat in the current election cycle.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/28/2016 @ 11:48 amI remember when the Soviet Union shot down KAL Flight 007. We had a buy in our office as Red (old meaning) as Bernie. So I told him about the shoot-down and his almost immediate response was: “They were probably spying. It’s terrible Reagan would put all those people at risk!”
You Trumpkins are just as resilient.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:03 pm*guy not buy.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:03 pmWhere is my comment-edit feature? I’ve been asking so nicely.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:05 pmKevin, See what happens. It’s the snark. The snark will bite you on the way out everytime.
papertiger (c2d6da) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:13 pmHackers, the remake
Donald Trump as The Plague
John Hitchcock (cd7252) — 2/28/2016 @ 12:35 pmHillary Clinton as his girlfriend
Ted Cruz as Zero Cool/Crash Override
Marco Rubio as Cereal Killer
John Kasich as Joey
Ropelight as Agent Dick Gill