OT: Trump/Russians/Robert Mueller

487,417 Views | 3284 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by BearForce2
B.A. Bearacus
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dajo9 said:


I am talking about the one-sided bias in their media, the criminalization of politics going back to Newt Gingrich, the extensive gerrymandering, the voter suppression, the denial of an Obama Supreme Court Justice, the acceptance across the GOP of a President who is not defending us from Russia, and finally, the unprecedented levels of corruption in the Trump Administration.
Just wanted to throw this one into the pot: North Carolina elected a Democratic governor in 2016. Prior to Roy Cooper formally taking office, "the Republican-controlled state legislature introduced a series of bills deliberately meant to cut the powers of the governor's office and the state's election oversight board." [source] The modern GOP is scum.

sycasey
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B.A. Bearacus said:

dajo9 said:


I am talking about the one-sided bias in their media, the criminalization of politics going back to Newt Gingrich, the extensive gerrymandering, the voter suppression, the denial of an Obama Supreme Court Justice, the acceptance across the GOP of a President who is not defending us from Russia, and finally, the unprecedented levels of corruption in the Trump Administration.
Just wanted to throw this one into the pot: North Carolina elected a Democratic governor in 2016. Prior to Roy Cooper formally taking office, "the Republican-controlled state legislature introduced a series of bills deliberately meant to cut the powers of the governor's office and the state's election oversight board." [source] The modern GOP is scum.


The guy he defeated, Pat McCrory, also spent about a month refusing to concede the result of the election and insisting that there needed to be a recount (despite Cooper having won by a wider margin than would legally necessitate a recount). Undemocratic is right.
blungld
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sycasey said:

My opinion on this is that we are seeing the last gasps of Reaganism, taken to its dead-end extreme. The idea Reagan promoted and popularized was that the "government" could not do anything right and that everything should be left to the free market. Decades of policy shift in this direction have left us with a government that literally cannot do anything to help its people, only to cut taxes and services. It has also left us with the first President who has literally no experience in government or public service.

Very well stated. The thing that always has troubled me about this cynical view of government is that it forgets that we ARE the government. This attitude is built on a self-sufficiency mentality of not wanting a nanny state -- but the state is simply we the people choosing how to manage our society, and spreading burden and benefit across all is noble. The government is only as big or as a little a problem as we let it be. Forsaking government and instead putting all faith in for-profit organizations seems not only completely misguided (and stupid) but antithetical to the desire to avoid a so-called nanny state ("oh please rich people trickle down some of your wealth on us"). It's the ultimate dependency and with little or no leverage or control to safe guard against it not working. At least with a government we have an election and a say.

Not only do we need a government...but the only walls we need to build are between Church and State, and Lobbyists and State.
Unit2Sucks
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blungld said:



Not only do we need a government...but the only walls we need to build are between Church and State, and Lobbyists and State.
I would go ahead and leave in place a wall between politican's private businesses and state as well. We take ethics for granted because we aren't as corrupt as a lot of countries, but as we've seen in the past year it's quite difficult to enforce ethics on the executive branch.
Another Bear
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Oh there's still plenty of corruption in the U.S., it just isn't out in the open like other countries. Lobbying for example is simply "institutional or systematized bribery". Something about the Puritanical tradition won't allow it in the open. Rather the U.S. has hidden it, compartmentalized, buried and morphed it like many other societal ills.
BearNIt
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There is a new cooperating witness for Mueller, A PLO business man who was the Emirates advisor who was in the Seychelles, with Erik Prince the former head of Blackwater and brother of Betsy DeVos and a Russian fund manager connected to Putin. They are looking at information on money going to the Trump campaign. Could it be the Middle East and not Russia that brings down Trump. I seem to remember that the Crowned Prince of UAE showed up at Trump Tower during the campaign and he hadn't notified the U.S. government that he was coming to the U.S. which would have been normal protocol.

Lets not forget the news that Gary Cohn is fleeing the dumpster fire we call the Trump Administration. The market is going to love this news.

There's still this tariff thing that everybody with a brain says is a bad idea hanging over the economy.

Can we say, Cluster ****?

blungld
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I'm not sick of winning yet. Are we great now?
BearNIt
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bearister said:

Putin knows how to take care of an entire family. I would be concerned right now if I was a member of tRump's clown troop. They are little more than loose ends.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/06/uk-counter-terror-police-investigate-russian-spy-mystery-sergei-skripal?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Could be the reason that Manafort is holding out. He doesn't want to end up taking tea at a tea room or sitting in the park on a bench.
bearister
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*Frank and Artemis perished in this one
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BearNIt
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I can't keep up with all the Breaking News!

Stormy sues Trump.
Kellyanne guilty of ethics violation.
B.A. Bearacus
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Another Bear
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The 7 most interesting parts of Stormy Daniels's lawsuit against Trump

"David Dennison" and "Peggy Peterson".


bearister
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The 7 most interesting parts of Stormy Daniels. And in other news...

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/us/politics/trump-witnesses-special-counsel-priebus-mcgahn.html?referer=https://www.axios.com/trump-mueller-witnesses-61d9027d-d517-449e-9ef2-13f4da04bbc0.html
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BearNIt
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Today's Headline:

"Trump Is Talking To Witnesses About Their Testimony"

Can you say, OBSTRUCTION!

bearister
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https://m.sfgate.com/news/article/Businessman-with-ties-to-United-Arab-Emirates-is-12734395.php#photo-14660766
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BearNIt
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bearister said:

https://m.sfgate.com/news/article/Businessman-with-ties-to-United-Arab-Emirates-is-12734395.php#photo-14660766
My bet is that Erik Prince has lied to Mueller about the real reason for the Seychelles meeting and George Nader will testify against him getting Mueller ever closer to the Big Cheeto
Another Bear
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DOES STORMY DANIELS HAVE "IMAGES" OF DONALD TRUMP?
bearister
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Another Bear said:

DOES STORMY DANIELS HAVE "IMAGES" OF DONALD TRUMP?

We need to move on from tRump's sex life. The man committed treason and is exposed to lethal injection under
18 U.S. Code 2381 - . We need to focus our attention there.
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FuzzyWuzzy
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bearister said:

Another Bear said:

DOES STORMY DANIELS HAVE "IMAGES" OF DONALD TRUMP?

We need to move on from tRump's sex life. The man committed treason and is exposed to lethal injection under
18 U.S. Code 2381 - . We need to focus our attention there.
Is that death by porn star? That was my prediction, too.
Another Bear
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I agree. If there are photos, he might be done faster than getting the full Mueller treatment. Graphic images have a way of making procedure seem tame and slow. Let's just say, there won't be a lack of clarity with photos. Difficult to use authoritarian rhetoric to shift blame.
mikecohen
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Another Bear said:

I agree. If there are photos, he might be done faster than getting the full Mueller treatment. Graphic images have a way of making procedure seem tame and slow. Let's just say, there won't be a lack of clarity with photos. Difficult to use authoritarian rhetoric to shift blame.
I'm wondering if ANYTHING will disturb Trump's 35% "base", INCLUDING the Evangelical "Moral Majority". The old saying was that politicians were safe unless they got caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy. After everything that's already known about Trump, it's hard to think of anything that could make a difference to those folks.
Another Bear
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I don't think anything can get Trump's 35% base to leave him. It's the other 65%, many who are sitting on the fence who will flip and shift the momentum. I agree with the dead girl or live boy theory...but I'm thinking tipping point here, not a full defenestration or melt down. There's enough weirdness and frankly criminal activity with Trump, that we just need a tipping point moment, something to send him down the pike. Logically that comes when Mueller drops the hammer after his big round of felons, or it could be something tabloid like Stormy Daniels. There's no previous script to compare with Trump...so it's all guess work.
Another Bear
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Trump Lawyers Seek Deal With Mueller to Speed End of Russia Probe


Quote:

Legal team aims to use interview with president as leverage in negotiations

Are Trump's lawyers really this dumb, or is it desperate times/grasping at straws? Why would Mueller make a deal now? Given the incompetence of Trump's lawyers, somehow I think this also blows up in his face.
bearister
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Another Bear said:



Trump Lawyers Seek Deal With Mueller to Speed End of Russia Probe


Quote:

Legal team aims to use interview with president as leverage in negotiations

Are Trump's lawyers really this dumb, or is it desperate times/grasping at straws? Why would Mueller make a deal now? Given the incompetence of Trump's lawyers, somehow I think this also blows up in his face.

They don't need anything from tRump. They have enough from the rats who jumped ship to seek the lethal injection option under the treason statute.
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Another Bear
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Stormy Daniels has successfully navigated the media 'puke funnel'
Anarchistbear
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What's with this 35% base nonsense. Trump won 60% of the states, over 60% of the electoral college and seven of the ten most populous states. He won all over the country except for the two coasts. I'm not saying he has a base of 60% but to assume his only base is a bunch of retrograde guys howling at the moon is incredibly provincial. Given a strong economy and tax cuts clicking in he could be re-elected particularly if the Democrats cooperate again.
bearister
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Watch for some of the Stupid Watergate crew to end up in the marble orchard.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/10/sergei-skripal-russia-murder-spy-cobra-counter-terrorism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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Another Bear
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Looks like Trump is lawyering up...with a specialty firm.

Trump Talks With Clinton Impeachment Lawyer About Aiding in Mueller Response
dajo9
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This reads like you don't understand the meaning of a political base
American Vermin
sycasey
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Anarchistbear said:

What's with this 35% base nonsense. Trump won 60% of the states, over 60% of the electoral college and seven of the ten most populous states. He won all over the country except for the two coasts. I'm not saying he has a base of 60% but to assume his only base is a bunch of retrograde guys howling at the moon is incredibly provincial. Given a strong economy and tax cuts clicking in he could be re-elected particularly if the Democrats cooperate again.


Check his job approval rating.
bearister
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Another Bear said:

Looks like Trump is lawyering up...with a specialty firm.

Trump Talks With Clinton Impeachment Lawyer About Aiding in Mueller Response


That firm better get a lot of money up front because that is the only money they will ever get out of tRump.
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Anarchistbear
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He had a 38% favorability rating among voters when he was elected. He has about a 40% approval rating now. What matters is where his voters are- and of course who his opponent is.
Another Bear
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delete
Anarchistbear
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Exit polls CNN, Presidential election

Favorable Opinion of Trump-38%
Favorable opinion of Clinton-43%

Qualified to be President
Trump-38%, yes
Clinton-52%, yes

Honest and Trusrworthy
Trump-33%, yes
Clinton-38%, yes

How would you feel if candidate wins?
Trump-57% negative
Clinton-53% negative

Point is: he should have never won with those approval ratings but the electorate didn't want either of them which is why I don't think approval ratings and base matter much right now


sycasey
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Anarchistbear said:

He had a 38% favorability rating among voters when he was elected. He has about a 40% approval rating now. What matters is where his voters are- and of course who his opponent is.
Favorability pre-election is not the same as job approval post-inauguration. Trump's approval rating has consistently scored at or nearly the worst among sitting presidents at any given stage in his term.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/?ex_cid=rrpromo

Is it possible that Trump is a magical candidate who can make these numbers meaningless? Anything is theoretically possible. But I suspect he is not. He pulled an unusual electoral college win despite losing the popular vote and will probably not be facing a candidate as unpopular as Hillary Clinton next time.

That said, there is still time left for him to improve his job approval.
 
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