Patterico's Pontifications

12/15/2018

Virtually All Trump-Led Organizations Under Investigation

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 4:16 pm



Washington Post:

Two years after Donald Trump won the presidency, nearly every organization he has led in the past decade is under investigation.

Trump’s private company is contending with civil suits digging into its business with foreign governments and with looming state inquiries into its tax practices.

Trump’s 2016 campaign is under scrutiny by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, whose investigation into Russian interference has already led to guilty pleas by his campaign chairman and four advisers.

Trump’s inaugural committee has been probed by Mueller for illegal foreign donations, a topic that the incoming House Intelligence Committee chairman plans to further investigate next year.

Trump’s charity is locked in an ongoing suit with New York state, which has accused the foundation of “persistently illegal conduct.”

The mounting inquiries are building into a cascade of legal challenges that threaten to dominate Trump’s third year in the White House. In a few weeks, Democrats will take over in the House and pursue their own investigations into all of the above — and more.

How you perceive this is almost certainly driven by your view of the man. Do you think he’s a con artist and a clown? Then you’re likely to react to this by saying: “Good.” Do you think he’s a Hero of the People who has been unfairly targeted by the Deep State? Then you probably see this as a very bad thing — perhaps close to treason.

Either way, lots of good drama headed your way with the Reality Show Presidency. Season Three is going to be a blockbuster. Too bad we can’t binge watch it all now.

Ah, even watching it day to day will feel like binge-watching anyway.

102 Responses to “Virtually All Trump-Led Organizations Under Investigation”

  1. and yet not a single Clinton or Obama affiliated enterprise is under legal scrutiny, are they all squeaky clean, rhetorical,

    narciso (d1f714)

  2. yup you can tell the sleazy slimy coward-ass men and women of the butt-lick chris wray fbi are in a state of high agitation

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. “Do you think he’s a con artist and a clown? Then you’re likely to react to this by saying: “Good.” Do you think he’s a Hero of the People who has been unfairly targeted by the Deep State?”

    I think he’s a delusional salesman/con artist who is being targeted by the Deep State.

    The most important thing about this is that Democrats who have done far worse have skated.

    Yuk it up while they take Trump down, what follows will almost certainly be worse.

    harkin (1161c2)

  4. yup you can tell the sleazy slimy coward-ass men and women of the butt-lick chris wray fbi are in a state of high agitation

    Why do talk so badly about yourself? Do all the folks who work at the farm with you talk like that? Making trolls must be hard.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (abc493)

  5. Chimpy Bushitler Blood-For-Oil MacHalliburton.

    nk (dbc370)

  6. Chimpy Bush!tler Blood-For-Oil MacHalliburton.

    nk (dbc370)

  7. The law is utterly impartial and enforced by people with no political axe to grind, so the answer must be that Trump is bad. Or something.

    bates (dddb3b)

  8. the dirty fbi’s a banana republic kgb-style gangster operation

    ohnoes somebody lied to the fbi

    that’s kinda like lying to a diseased hooker, albeit an uncommonly unattractive one (think Lisa Page)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  9. This is the Washington Post, the house organ of the Democratic National Committee, making a rousing speech to the troops, that’s all it is.

    We will fight Trump on his private businesses.
    We will fight Trump on his inauguration.
    We will fight Trump on Russia.
    We will fight Trump on his charities.
    We will fight him in the courts.
    We will fight him in the Special Counsel investigations.
    We will fight him in the Democratic House.
    We will fight him in the hedgerows.
    We will never give up.
    We will never surrender.

    nk (dbc370)

  10. Even his harem is under investigation…this is an outrage!

    Dave (1bb933)

  11. Do you think he’s a con artist and a clown? Then you’re likely to react to this by saying: “Good.” Do you think he’s a Hero of the People who has been unfairly targeted by the Deep State? Then you probably see this as a very bad thing — perhaps close to treason.

    Oddly, I think both things. He is a con artist and a clown. I am embarassed that he was elected President.

    At the same time, he is the duly elected president. And it is an embrassment that, instead of opposing him on policy, it seems that both the opposition and the unelected bureacracy have determined to trample the Constitution and rule of law in an attempt to bring down a duly elected President.

    Maybe I am schizoprenic. Or, maybe, I love the Constitution of the United States, and our democratic traditions, more than I despise Donald Trump.

    Bored Lawyer (8ea02a)

  12. @ harkin, who wrote (#3):

    The most important thing about this is that Democrats who have done far worse have skated.

    That’s a slightly more extended version of the whataboutism of our friend narciso in #1 above. It makes no sense to me. Why is what someone else is did, and the Trump Administration’s failure to do anything about it, more important than whether Trump is fit to be POTUS?

    I’m not making the normal pat answer — “If they’re still getting away with it, blame Trump, it’s his DoJ” — for present purposes, because it doubtless will lead to some blather about how Sessions is failing in his duties and the Deep State is preventing Trump from the program of righteous disinfection he promised. (Implied therein is a concession that, if the swamp is fighting back, it’s winning; my theory instead, as you know, is that Trump is the swamp.) Let’s assume for purposes of argument your entire premise without questioning it.

    Even then, I don’t see how anything anyone else has done or is doing somehow dignifies, justifies, authorizes, or legitimizes Trump’s fundamental dishonesty and lack of character. So tell me: How does the nonprosecution of the people and entities connected to the Clintons or Obama become “more important” than the honestly and fitness of the current POTUS? That strikes me as self-evidently untrue, because the honesty and fitness of the current POTUS is always of paramount importance.

    And before you start: Yes, I thought that when Clinton was POTUS, which is why I called for his impeachment; and I thought that when Obama was POTUS, and I agree that he also deliberately violated his oath of office and actively subverted the Constitution and laws he was sworn to preserve, protect, and defend. But they’re not in office anymore. Instead of presiding over the entire federal executive branch of government, they preside over a staff of a few secretaries, clerks, Secret Service agents, and presidential librarians. They were as important as Trump, but they’re not now. So how can what happens to them be more important now than the honesty and fitness of the current POTUS?

    Thanks in advance for what I hope and trust will be a civil response.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  13. @ Bored Lawyer (#10): When Trump decided to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels through a fraudulent scheme in which the payoff money was fraudulently labeled as a retainer for his lawyer, and lied to the American public about knowing of the payoff, and hid the payments from the FEC, exactly what part of the Constitution, or of our “democratic traditions,” justified what he did?

    Let me throw out another hypothesis: Perhaps he’s a con-artist, clown, and embarrassment, and that he’s reflexively and hyperbolically attacked by his political enemies, and that he’s an active law-breaker. I don’t see any logical inconsistency in all three of those propositions being true. Do you?

    Beldar (fa637a)

  14. The important thing is that President Trump’s on record telling the truth about all of the different aspects.

    So in the end the only thing he’s guilty of is being honest.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  15. Obama had his share of lawsuits and investigations. Cronies who bought him a mansion and an acre of land for his backyard who went to prison. An AG who sold guns to El Chapo (really) in order to embarrass the NRA!!! Lois Lerner. And what was that FOIA thing that a judge just ruled on? But he also had the #FakeNewsMedia on his side who soft-pedaled and misdirected when they couldn’t cover up the scandals outright.

    nk (dbc370)

  16. Also @ harkin, who wrote as part of #3:

    Yuk it up while they take Trump down, what follows will almost certainly be worse.

    Why would Mike Pence be worse?

    Beldar (fa637a)

  17. You think they will stop after trump, they hate him even more.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  18. “and yet not a single Clinton or Obama affiliated enterprise is under legal scrutiny, are they all squeaky clean, rhetorical,”

    Two-tiered justice system… sad but true.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  19. @Beldar

    I did not say that the Constitution or our democratic traditions justified anything he did. He is a sleaze bag, and that has been clear for a long time. But he was elected President nevertheless. The notion that he should be removed from office for these low-level acts (which are barely crimes, at worst) offends democratic traditions. The notion that a Special Prosecutor (or whatever name they are calling him now) should be used to hound the elected president out of office (which is what the whole thing was designed for) offends the Constitution.

    You want to oppose him? Show everyone that he is a sleaze bag and beat him in the next election. THAT is consistent with the Constitution and our democratic traditions.

    Bored Lawyer (8ea02a)

  20. An AG who sold guns to El Chapo (really) in order to embarrass the NRA!!!

    This is blatantly untrue.

    Dave (1bb933)

  21. 18… well said!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  22. the DOJ is a filth-dirty corrupt Rosenstein organization what makes Saudi Arabia look like mama teresa’s missionaries of charity

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  23. To enable a gun registration scheme, yes pat Fitzgerald somehow steered around Daley’s crew and Obama netting some minor fry using rezkos testimony.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  24. @Bored Lawyer

    It’s arguable that Trump is only “duly elected” because of his felonious and fraudulent subterfuges in violation of the law.

    Change one vote out of a hundred in three states, and the election outcome is different.

    Dave (1bb933)

  25. 11 – if one side is going to be opposed by the govt. it is elected to run and the other side is aided and abetted by same, then there is no democratic republic.

    It’s not whataboutism, it’s the crime of the double standard which is no standard. And the crime is magnified by a compliant media cheering on the state.

    harkin (1161c2)

  26. “Change one vote out of a hundred in three states, and the election outcome is different”

    Teh Flying Monkeys Out of an Arse Circus Act rides again…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  27. But he also had the #FakeNewsMedia on his side who soft-pedaled and misdirected when they couldn’t cover up the scandals outright.

    a LOT of people work for the filth-dirty US government and are deeply invested in pretending it’s not a coward-ass gangster trash-state (think of all our hapless tatters)

    it’s not just the dirty CNN Jake Tapper fake newsers doing the covering up

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  28. @ narciso, who wrote (#16):

    You think they will stop after trump, they hate him even more.

    Yes, they hate Trump more than they hate Pence. They hate Trump even more than they hated Dubya.

    They’d probably hate Pence about as much as they hated Dubya, and every effort the left made to impeach Dubya went exactly nowhere. That’s because Mike Pence and Dubya aren’t compulsive liars and lawbreakers like Trump. When Trump is gone, the worst thing they’ll be able to say about Mike Pence is, “He defended Trump for too long.” And that’s no high crime or misdemeanor.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  29. @ Bored Lawyer: What’s the difference between your comment at #18, and an assertion that once elected, the POTUS is above the law?

    ‘Cause I don’t see any.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  30. Is the POTUS only just above the “little” laws?

    Beldar (fa637a)

  31. there’s no actual rule of law law in a corrupt diseased vaginal yeast state like America

    it’s just an illusion (increasingly cheap and threadbare illusion)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  32. 24… you’ve boiled it down well, harkin. Well said.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  33. In so far as trump has imperfectly thwarted the progressive project and strengthened what they consider reactionary elements they hate him.

    An avowed Christian in public service that hate even more and they will not hesitate to destroy him we’ve already seen examples

    Narciso (d1f714)

  34. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/15/2018 @ 5:27 pm

    The smartest man in the world who’s ever lived was sufficiently worried about the scenario I described to throw huge sums of money at his concubines in order to prevent it.

    But I guess you know better than him.

    Dave (1bb933)

  35. Jeebus, but what mad impulse leads you to quote from the WaPo? Every day their front page has no fewer than 10 anti-Trump pieces. ONLY people who are blinded by their hatred of Trump condsider it an actual newspaper. When it comes to Trump it is no more credible than the Weekly World News.

    Kevin M (6fea79)

  36. The WaPo is to Trump as the KKK is to black folks.

    Kevin M (6fea79)

  37. How did we get here, it seems every safeguard against malicious prosecution was circumvented through the dossier through the half disguised ringers like halper and mifsud who serve a multiplicity of parties

    Narciso (d1f714)

  38. An AG who sold guns to El Chapo (really) in order to embarrass the NRA!!!

    This is blatantly untrue.

    Which part? El Chapo had a Fast and Furious .50 Barrett when he was arrested. Fast and Furious was a propaganda exercise to show the “easy availability” of so-called “assault weapons” and to further restrict their sale and possession, which failed because it was all in the gun-grabbers’ heads. What they proved was the only way for Mexican drug dealers to get assault rifles was to buy them from corrupt ATF agents. Not from gun dealers.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. “Change one vote out of a hundred in three states, and the election outcome is different”

    You know, you can still make Bernie Sanders President. Impeach Mike Pence or force him to resign, then have the House appoint Bernie Vice-President. Then impeach Trump or force him to resign.

    nk (dbc370)

  40. It’s like ground hog day, we have to keep reminding of the perfidy of the press the cooptation of law enforcement and intelligence.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  41. Dave was relying on the fact there were no photos that showed actual hand-to-hand sales between Holder and teh El Chapo chap, nk.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  42. Fast and Furious was a propaganda exercise to show the “easy availability” of so-called “assault weapons”

    This part is untrue.

    Also, asserting that it was the AG who “sold guns to El Chapo” is untrue. Holder learned about the program years after it began. He had nothing to do with its inception or execution.

    F&F was the brain child of an agent in the Phoenix ATF office, and its purpose was to catch higher-ups in the gun-running infrastructure rather than the easily-replaceable buyers. This is all documented.

    Dave (1bb933)

  43. 38… You’ve nailed it.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  44. Like the rogue irs cell in cincinatti.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  45. “F&F was the brain child of an agent in the Phoenix ATF office, and its purpose was to catch higher-ups in the gun-running infrastructure rather than the easily-replaceable buyers. This is all documented.”

    Holder turbo-charged an innocuous program and turned it into what it became on HIS watch. This is all documented.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  46. Disingenuous weezul…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  47. What they proved was the only way for Mexican drug dealers to get assault rifles was to buy them from corrupt ATF agents. Not from gun dealers.

    The guns in F&F were sold by gun dealers.

    F&F was a dumb plan, and I’m not defending it. But it was not some nefarious conspiracy – it had a legitimate law enforcement purpose, but was too ambitious, lacked adequate resources and was incompetently managed by the Phoenix ATF.

    Dave (1bb933)

  48. This is all documented.

    Heh! So well documented that Holder was held in contempt of Congress by the Oversight Committee for documenting it so well with the best documentation.

    nk (dbc370)

  49. Holder turbo-charged an innocuous program and turned it into what it became on HIS watch. This is all documented.

    Holder turbo-charged nothing. It was a locally designed and run operation until the death of Brian Terry and ensuing outcry made it a national scandal.

    Investigation finds no evidence AG Eric Holder knew of ‘Fast and Furious’ gun-running sting

    Dave (1bb933)

  50. What’s the difference between your comment at #18, and an assertion that once elected, the POTUS is above the law?
    ‘Cause I don’t see any.

    Is the POTUS only just above the “little” laws?

    Who said anything about being above the law? If the FEC were to investigate and assess a fine, then I would have no objection. But prosecuting him, let alone removing him from office, would be gross overkill, especially in light of the fact that the Obama campaign also violated campaign laws and only got a fine. (The consensus of the discussion on the other thread is that had he reported what he did to the FEC, it would be perfectly legal. Failure to report is not a basis for criminal prosecution, IMO.)

    As for little laws, yes, there are some things too trivial to raise with the president. LBJ used to regularly speed in his car when he was president, something on the order of 90 mph. Should he have been impeached?

    And one also must take notice about what seems to be a double standard. Hillary Clinton got a pass on any prosecution for keeping confidential government information on a private server. The potential for damage there was far greater, IMO, than Trump paying off a floozy (err, artist) and not reporting it.

    The point is, there seems to be a concerted effort to use the machinery of government, and the DOJ, to undo an election. That is something that should make anyone who values the Constitution shudder, no matter how much they despise Trump as a person.

    Bored Lawyer (8ea02a)

  51. — What did the Attorney General know and when did he know it?
    — Who knows? His (yes, I said “his”) Inspector General cleared him and he took a contempt citation rather than provide the information requested by the Oversight Committee.

    Why is Obama-appointee Horowitz still there, BTW? A lot of Trump’s troubles stem from Obama holdovers and it’s almost two years now.

    nk (dbc370)

  52. Here’s an Obama administration-friendly story gallery to disabuse you of your fake news… https://www.latimes.com/nation/atf-fast-furious-sg-storygallery.html

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  53. Here’s an Obama administration-friendly story gallery to disabuse you of your fake news…

    Nothing there contradicts anything I wrote.

    Dave (1bb933)

  54. And, BTW, the real harm that Trump is doing is to the Republican party. He is turning it from a party of ideas to a party of personality.

    Thought experiment. Suppose Trump had been the one that had proposed Obamacare, and called it TrumpCare (DonaldCare?). How many Republicans today would support it and how many would oppose it.

    The likely answer is what is really depressing. Most, IMO, would support it, because Trump’s name is on it. That it is a giant step to socialized medicine would not bother them a whit.

    THAT is the real damage.

    Bored Lawyer (8ea02a)

  55. THAT is the real damage.

    Agreed, 100%

    Dave (1bb933)

  56. Mitt Romney’s obscenely slicked-up baby-boy Paul Ryan turned the GOP from the party of fiscal responsibility into a piggy trough for senile coward-poop John McCain’s dirty-butt pentagon piggy pals

    and that was their biggest idea what they had in the idea cabinet

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  57. In other news, this is what the New York Times thinks is newsworthy. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/15/arts/television/pete-davidson-instagram-post.html

    What up, Pete? Did you think that Ariana would never find out that ten centimeters is not the same as ten inches?

    nk (dbc370)

  58. Carlos slims is not a newsworthy enterprise, it’s a figment of someone’s imagination

    Narciso (d1f714)

  59. And, BTW, the real harm that Trump is doing is to the Republican party. He is turning it from a party of ideas to a party of personality.

    Thought experiment. Suppose Trump had been the one that had proposed Obamacare, and called it TrumpCare (DonaldCare?). How many Republicans today would support it and how many would oppose it.

    The likely answer is what is really depressing. Most, IMO, would support it, because Trump’s name is on it. That it is a giant step to socialized medicine would not bother them a whit.

    THAT is the real damage.

    Yup.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  60. Look at the crimes the people in the Trump organization, campaign and administration have pleaded guilty to or been convicted of. They include lying to federal investigators, failing to register as a foreign agent, tax evasion, bank fraud, and money laundering.

    The US District Attorneys in Manhattan are investigating the Trump organization and charity; the US District Attorneys in Brooklyn are investigating the Kushner organization. The incoming Attorney General for New York has pledged to further both investigations, and the Democrats in the House, as chairmen of important committees, will have subpoena authority over it all. Mueller is the least of Trump’s worries.

    So, yeah, I’d say Season 3 of this Reality TV Presidency is going to be binge-worthy, but it won’t be entertaining, unless you enjoy tragedies.

    Trump is a total fraud, and he’s going down hard.

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  61. They include lying to federal investigators

    our federal investigators are trashier and more corrupt than the people they investigate

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  62. It’s a wonder you sit in a state you they have wiped out practically any presence of Republican officeholders like the snap, maybe that’s what you wanted because gavin Newsom’s burning dumpster fire beckons one has Nunes in the central valley and lawfared Duncan hunter as the outliers

    Narciso (d1f714)

  63. Harkin wrote above, “[I]t’s the crime of the double standard which is no standard.”

    To which I reply: Nonsense. I have standards. America as a whole used to, and still sometimes might. I remember a time in my very own lifetime when a sitting Vice President was caught having broken the tax laws, and he immediately resigned in disgrace, without dissent from his own partisans, without having to be impeached by the House or convicted in the Senate.

    Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also fell below my minimum standards. But that doesn’t somehow magically make Trump sufficient to meet them.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  64. I suppose that, technically, Comey, McCabe, Strzok and Page were part of the Trump Administration, along with Flynn. Anybody else?

    nk (dbc370)

  65. Anybody else?

    that feckless chick in charge of homeland security’s technically part of the administration too

    Gidget somebody

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  66. No they were the permanent bureaucracy, they prospered under the last administration, they have tried to nullify every party who has tried to bring them to account, they succeeded mightily on Nov 6th,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  67. He’s run a pretty clean administration. This other (makes rude gesture) stuff is from before he became President. Even Flynn. His crime was lying on the job about things he had done before he got it.

    nk (dbc370)

  68. Anyone remember the Reagan administration, hoe many flying monkeys pestered his ministers for little discrepancies as well as big crimes (Gorsuch the former, Sam pierce the latter)

    Narciso (d1f714)

  69. Gorsuch remembers what they did to his mother, and how the party threw her to the wolves, mark levin remembers what they did to ed meese, for the crime of being a conservative.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  70. Fiscal year is the explanation for the timing, I’m pretty sure. I don’t know exactly how it works. It’s something the IRS and accountants came up with just to mess with people. Like Daylight Savings Time and tire pressure warning dash lights.

    nk (dbc370)

  71. Yes evil spiro, the tale they tell liberal kids right up there with the wraith Cheney, in the latest horror tale.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  72. My last comment should have been on the Weekly Standard thread.

    nk (dbc370)

  73. Now instead of making vice, she should have adapted David Rollins death trust, the Cheney manque is called cutter.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  74. @happyfeet Have you ever been interrogated by federal investigators? The FBI, the DEA, US Marshals, how about state investigators like the Texas Rangers?

    I have, by all four. It was about ten years ago. I got an assignment on a repossessed home in a gated community. This house was relatively easy to find as far as repossessed homes go–all I get is a borrower’s name and a street address; some are more difficult than others, because the borrower’s name may not be the owner’s name in the county records and cities change street names and numbers all the time, but in this case both matched. So I showed up, met the locksmith, secured the house and began a walk through inspection, taking pictures and notes. The A/C repairman arrived, and as he was inspecting the duct work on the second floor he found a cigar box. Inside this cigar box were (forged?) passports for several evil-looking men.

    Okay, contact the authorities. That resulted in two days of interviews with FBI, DEA, ATF agents, and Texas Rangers. But what could I tell them? I never met the borrower, didn’t sell him the house, didn’t know anything about him. All I did was show up, change the locks, and the A/C guy found this box of passports in a duct.

    Every one of those agents were polite and professional. But I knew better than to lie to them, especially since I had committed no crime.

    Why lie? I told them what happened. This is what occurred, and this is what I know.

    It goes back to an incident thirty years earlier when I was 16. My mother called and wanted me to drive her around to various properties and put up signs. So I drove down to the office, like a good son, and as I got out of the car these guys–men in black, no seriously, men in black suits with black ties–got out of their car across the street. They were walking toward me, and I was asking myself “which judge’s daughter did I really piss off?” because I was dating three of them at the same time.

    They walked right past me and arrested Barbara, one of the realtors. Yep, they just threw her over the hood of her car, handcuffed her, dragged her across the street, and drove away. Total freak out. Then my mother came out with her signs, and I said, “You won’t believe what just happened.” And she laughed.

    Turns out that Barbara was being audited by the IRS. An agent had called her before, said he needed certain documents and that he would sent an agent to her house to pick them up. She said, “If you send an agent to my house, I’ll shoot him.” That’s it, that’s all it took–threatening an IRS agent over the phone is a felony. There were FBI agents waiting to arrest her when she showed up for work the next morning. And I just stood in amazement of it all, thinking I was in danger.

    You do not mess with the IRS. They are very powerful. They will seize your bank accounts or arrest you on the streets. But that only applies to common people, not politicians, right?

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1)

  75. Well that’s what the IRS osha’s and the DOJ to the head of true the vote, were they ever held accountable the answer is no!

    Narciso (d1f714)

  76. you should always fly under the radar that’s the number one rule

    if you’re approached by an federal investigate the best thing to do is to act like you don’t see them and move away as quickly as possible

    sometimes you have to swim laterally parallel to the shore to break free before making your way to safety

    the important thing is not to panic and remember they’re just as scared and confused as you are, just more evil

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  77. The most important thing is not to be elected President as a Republican, or Governor of Illinois from any party.

    nk (dbc370)

  78. That reminds me what happened to roland burriss?

    Narciso (d1f714)

  79. I dunno, but it’s not like Mark Kirk was very many iotas different, then he became Rauner beta test against the bad chopper pilot.

    urbanleftbehind (3d4138)

  80. Yes but he had that tragic condition, Rauner is really a piece of work I think I have to move him into wrong lizard territory

    Narciso (d1f714)

  81. The reason I ask is he won the auction for Obama’s seat,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  82. Heh! I knew what the Washington Post article reminded me of, and it is definitely not Churchill.

    nk (dbc370)

  83. I was going to use the classic indigo montoya reference from princess bride,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  84. No, Roland Burris did not win the auction. He was the default, after Blagojevich was caught. A Hail Mary to maybe save him, by seeming to finally do the right thing.

    At that time, Burris was one of only four black people to have won a statewide election in Illinois. The others were 1) Obama and now he was President, 2) Jesse White and he was not going to give up being Secretary of State, and 3) Carol Moseley Braun who had held that same Senate seat previously but had lost it to Peter Fitzgerald.

    nk (dbc370)

  85. Well I stand corrected he looked kind of a senatorial fwiw, but he was just the combined cigar store indian.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  86. 52… they’re headlines of individual stories. You’ll have to read the stories for the obvious refutation of the words you wrote. Don’t be lazy now, google’s yer friend.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  87. Btw Mueller lied about general Flynn’s representations re fara, actually hes a Lillian hellman on the subject.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  88. “Thought experiment. Suppose Trump had been the one that had proposed Obamacare, and called it TrumpCare (DonaldCare?). How many Republicans today would support it and how many would oppose it.”
    Bored Lawyer (8ea02a) — 12/15/2018 @ 6:24 pm

    Here’s a thought experiment: What if there was something called Romneycare…?

    Munroe (6d2e49)

  89. Thought experiments need some basis in fact, like my conjecture about that alt history of poland.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  90. @53. A ‘Trump’ was inevitable; Nixon’s five simple sock-it-to-me-seconds on Laugh-In in ’68 snowballed and accelerated w/t Hollywood spinning from thespians Ron and Nancy. This long spiral down from ‘ideas to personalities’ has been a half-century in the making. The Donald is just the bottom feeder who thrived in it, understood how to manipulate it and made the most of it in an era we’ve all allowed to grow. And as long as busy, tired Americans don’t want to be governed and wish to be entertained on their 50 inch Chinese made, Walmart sold TeeVees, it’s not going to change quickly.

    So my $5 remains on Oprah. If/when she decides at a time of her choosing to run- to give back to the country that has been so good to her- on her terms, with her financing, genuine business successes; an affable, upbeat persona; natural ‘kitchen table’ communication skills; a pre-sold base in media markets w/black, brown and white female/male voters nationwide… and w/positive messaging, she can beat Trump at his own game. Nearly everybody likes her–and most terrifying to Trump: she gets better ratings on TeeVee– and she reads. In an age of image over substance, none of the current crop of aging pols on all points of the compass come close.

    That’s America today.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  91. The Associated Press takes note of the same tsunami of sleaze:

    Investigations look at Trump’s life from all angles

    Investigations now entangle Donald Trump’s White House, campaign, transition, inauguration, charity and business. For Trump, the political, the personal and the deeply personal are all under examination.

    Less than two years into Trump’s presidency, his business associates, political advisers and family members are being probed, along with the practices of his late father. On Saturday, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke became the fourth Cabinet member to leave under an ethical cloud, having sparked 17 investigations into his actions on the job, by one watchdog’s count.

    All of this with the first special counsel investigation against a president in 20 years hanging over Trump’s head, spinning out charges and strong-arming guilty pleas from underlings while keeping in suspense whether the president — “Individual 1” in prosecutor Robert Mueller’s coded legalese — will end up accused of criminal behavior himself.

    Dave (1bb933)

  92. ‘They’d probably hate Pence about as much as they hated Dubya, and every effort the left made to impeach Dubya went exactly nowhere. That’s because Mike Pence and Dubya aren’t compulsive liars and lawbreakers like Trump. When Trump is gone, the worst thing they’ll be able to say about Mike Pence is, “He defended Trump for too long.” And that’s no high crime or misdemeanor.’
    Beldar (fa637a) — 12/15/2018 @ 5:28 pm

    LOL. Barring an all out SC investigation to find something, anything — which only Trump has been subjected to — you can’t possibly know that. Funny how that works.

    How much Trump “lawbreaking” were you aware of before the SC? Zilch.

    Munroe (b2f076)

  93. How much Trump “lawbreaking” were you aware of before the SC? Zilch.

    Aware of, not definitively, but his business practices have always been highly suspect. He’s paid hundreds of millions in settlements with both state and federal prosecutors, as well as personal civil suits. His personal conduct was a well-known dumpster fire, not even talking about his ex-wife’s rape accusations. He’s been on Howard Stern bragging about his scumbaggery. So I’ve always believed him to probably be a criminal, but he wasn’t of enough personal interest to care more.

    Donald Trump was/is/and will probably always be a genuinely horrible human being, that was baked in before the election, that he conned 26% of eligible voters to vote for him just shows how good of a con-man he is, and how lazy people are about actually knowing things. Why take 5 minutes to learn something, when you can let a conman tell you “believe me”, if they’re saying that you better check your wallet.

    Donald Trump is President, Donald Trump is a terrible human being. His chief of staff said that.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (c3147f)

  94. Trump Org is a small business, not publicly traded, so they were never going to be a high priority for investigation so that it was never a target until he became president. The worst decision Trump has ever made was to run for president, it opened him up to be investigated for 40 years of skullduggery. He knew what he did, but his ego, or idiocy, didn’t allow for the possibility of actually being investigated.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (f2944a)

  95. Speaking of corrupt presidents, here’s a good rundown on Putin’s breaches of international law, starting with his invasion and partial taking of Georgia.

    Paul Montagu (8d207c)

  96. The worst decision Trump has ever made was to run for president, it opened him up to be investigated…

    He’d always skirted the law by payoffs and other low-life means, and he thought that this would work out fine too. I suppose that he was also thinking that, to an extent, the President can make up their own rules on a whim anyway.
    But, the judicial system is not the pushover that he thought that it was going to be. No, this is not working for him at all. So he’s finding out that he was dead wrong. Finally.

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  97. “The worst decision Trump has ever made was to run for president, it opened him up to be investigated for 40 years of skullduggery.”
    Colonel Klink (Ret) (f2944a) — 12/16/2018 @ 9:55 am

    Yep, when a Democrat decides to run for president it opens him/her up for investigation. LOL

    Munroe (c0e308)

  98. Yep, when a Democrat decides to run for president it opens him/her up for investigation. LOL

    So then, all of the folks here, and the (R)’s that are his followers are actually Democrats. Or are the followers just rubes for getting conned by the Democrat Donald Trump? That is one kind of justification for mindlessly following him, I guess. If they’re embarrassed that the Democrat conned them, but can’t personally reconcile their support for a (D), then just deny the reality of themselves being conned, and back him even more strenuously.

    So sure Munroe, I agree, Donald Trump is a Democrat, he sure isn’t conservative. That’s why so many of his followers were originally Bernie backers.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (f2944a)

  99. For those of you scoring at home, there are seventeen known investigations involving Trump and his people or Putin and his people. Thought it might helpful to summarize the corruption:
    1. The Russian government’s election attack, and we’re still learning the breadth of Putin’s disinformation campaign.
    2. Wikileaks, involving Stone and Corsi
    3. Middle Eastern influence, involving Kushner mostly
    4. Manafort
    5. Trump Tower Moscow
    6. Fourteen Trump people in contact with Putineers during the campaign and transition
    7. Obstruction of justice by Trump
    8. SDNY investigations, involving Cohen, Pecker and Weisselberg
    9. Inauguration funding
    10. Funny business with Trump’s SuperPAC
    11. Unreported foreign lobbying by Podesta, Weber, Craig, Gates, etc.
    12. Butina and the NRA
    13. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, alleged chief accountant for Internet Research Agency
    14. Turkish influence. In today’s news, a couple of Flynn’s business associates were indicted.
    15. Trump Organization tax fraud
    16. Trump Foundation fraud
    17. The emoluments case which, to me, is the weakest of them all.

    Paul Montagu (262c5b)

  100. 100. WIRED magazine somehow left off the thing we’ve been talking about: the supposed campaiugn finance violations consisting of payoffs to two women routed through his lawyer, Michael Cohen, and the National Enquirer..

    I guess it came after the deadline – but this claim was not unknown.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  101. 94. He said (in 2016) that, considering the alternative, who was also a horrible human being, (so it cancelled out I think he meant) he was enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s election.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)


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