Donald Trump is the President Mark IV (Read Mod Warning in OP)

Itssoeasy

BabyCheeses wrote: »

For a man who gets undying devotion from his followers those who work with him are quick to jump ship.

He's not going to directly affect the lives of his supporters. The people who work for him, his actions directly affect them and Trump has no loyalty to anyone but himself and it's not surprising they aren't backing him now.

Leroy42

BabyCheeses wrote: »

For a man who gets undying devotion from his followers those who work with him are quick to jump ship.

I know what you mean, but they are not quick in jumping ship.

That is the narrative being pushed out by Trump and the WH, but in reality these guys are flipping because the feds/Mueller have such a wealth of evidence against them that they have little option but to turn to try to save themselves.

No way these people, who have been so loyal to Trump, simply jumped ship. This is coming about because Mueller has them to rights. And they have info on someone else/something else that granting them a deal makes worthwhile.

It becoming clear that Manafort is a distraction in all of this, one thread in the ball but not by any means the core point that Mueller is going after. Manafort may well not have flipped simply because he was never offered that option. He is going to court as a last chance saloon. The narrative has been that he is holding out on flipping, but what if he has no option? It was probably the original plan, but once they got the evidence from Cohen raid they probably don't even require Manafort at this point.

It would certainly appear from his recent trial that they are not having too much trouble figuring out exactly what he was up to.

UsedToWait

Tenuously linked, but Trump supporter Congressman Hunter of Florida has 'flipped' ..
on his wife.

Indicted for campaign finance violations, he declared that she manages his finances, so you'll need to ask her.

What a bunch of reprobates.

SimonTemplar

Assuming the worst about Trump is proven in a court, that he had directed his staff to liaise with Russian nationals with the intention of influencing the election, what is the likelihood he will see any jail time once he leave office?

Would the fact that he would be a former president have any bearing on a sentence that would otherwise include incarceration for anyone else?

batgoat

Based on the cfo stuff, I'm inclined to say they've got evidence of money laundering.

pixelburp

So they way they're reporting it, sounds like this Weisselberg could well have the keys to the kingdom, not least tax returns and some evidence of the long rumoured dodgy credit Trump got post 2008. It has been said so often it probably is meaningless at thus stage, but Weisselberg cooperating could be huge, and a real danger to Trump.

Captain Obvious

UsedToWait wrote: »

NYT reporting John McCain's family are gathering at his side - not long now.

Under no circumstances should this lying narcissist be allowed to even comment on his passing, never mind anywhere near the funeral.

His disgusting comments about how he prefers his war-heroes not to be captured are the mark of the man.

Trump supporters on his cancerous subreddit are making some awful comments.

Leroy42

My reading of it, based on only the bits we have so far, is that Weisselberg offers another step in the chain. As another poster said, if there are irregularities, it will drag Eric, Don Jr and probably Ivanka into it. The aim being to ramp up the pressure on Trump himself. Will he want to see his family dragged into court?

It would probably drag Trump himself, but you can bet he feels relatively safe since he is POTUS and the thinking is he can't be indicted. And he is protected by the GOP. But his family isn't.

Eric has talked before about the money coming into Trump from Russia, so he obviously knows about the going on so will be implicated. Trump Jr the same. Not sure about Ivanka, though you can be pretty sure that her brand was helped out by connections to Trump.

The walls are really closing in you can be sure that the cries that it doesn't show Russian collusion will increase. As if that is the only thing that is a criminal offence!

SimonTemplar

The moment Eric or Don starts to feel the same pressure that Cohen or Manafort felt, Trump will elevate things considerably, whatever form that takes. I reckon things will move very quickly when that happens.

pixelburp

What's remarkable, or not depending your resting cycnicism, is how aggressive his cohorts on Fox et al are maintaining the defence of Trump. This week has (finally) presented some demonstrable, damaging evidence over Trumps circle yet Carlson, Hannity etc - and of course the GOP - continue to stick with it. Sunk Cost Fallacy I guess, but you'd think it'd slowly begin to dwell on these folk that maybe this ship - while not yet sinking - ain't the invincible behemoth they once thought. To just row back some of the narrative.

On that: was anymore made of Hannitys own link to Cohen? For a while it delighted many to think he's be swept up with the lawyers flipping, but since then it has been quiet.

Unless the Democrats fail in November of course, in which case that's it: the America as a functioning democracy is toast cos it'll validate every lobsided, questionable decision.

20Cent

SimonTemplar wrote: »

The moment Eric or Don starts to feel the same pressure that Cohen or Manafort felt, Trump will elevate things considerably, whatever form that takes. I reckon things will move very quickly when that happens.

Going to be dangerous could see him lashing out even starting a war to deflect.

jobbridge4life

SimonTemplar wrote: »

The moment Eric or Don starts to feel the same pressure that Cohen or Manafort felt, Trump will elevate things considerably, whatever form that takes. I reckon things will move very quickly when that happens.

I can honestly see him disowning them too. The man is without principle.

Christy42

SimonTemplar wrote: »

The moment Eric or Don starts to feel the same pressure that Cohen or Manafort felt, Trump will elevate things considerably, whatever form that takes. I reckon things will move very quickly when that happens.

Indeed. I reckon that is why Trump jnr is still a free man in spite of the Trump tower meeting. They are well protected, Mueller had to show that his investigation was getting results and he needs to have absolutely everything ready before moving on them.

Otherwise his investigation would have been taken down months ago had he attempted to take down the big guns first.

SimonTemplar

jobbridge4life wrote: »

I can honestly see him disowning them too. The man is without principle.

There is a LOT wrong about Trump, but he does seem to care about his family. If/when Don or Eric are in genuine danger from the investigation, I expect Trump to react like a wounded animal.

borderlinemeath

AW immunity is a massive step forward. And not just for Donnie, but those smirking leech children of his as well. I assumed that Don Jr would be convicted of something and that Kushner was going down too, but it never even occured to me Ivanka might be implicated.



This has been a good week so far.

Itssoeasy

The Secretary of State will not be travelling to North Korea as expected because Trump claims there is "not enough progress." If only this could have been predicted.

Cheerful Spring

Itssoeasy wrote: »

The Secretary of State will not be travelling to North Korea as expected because Trump claims there is "not enough progress." If only this could have been predicted.

Trump blaming China for it but he also send Kim his warmest regards in a tweet.

John Bolton touring the Middle East, is currently in Israel. With John Bolton visiting Isreal looks like the White House could be planning some kind of military action against Iran in Syria or Iran itself, in the near future?

Itssoeasy

I subscribe to chris cuomos podcast of his show and it's there at a lovely time every morning along with the last word with Lawrence O Donnell and the cbs evening news. Anyway I saw Kelly ann conway as his big guest and for some stupid reason I listened to it. Why do I do it ? I should know better. It was twenty minutes of her not answering any questions and cuomo not being able to ask other questions. It's painful and I don't know why CNN book her to come on as she never answers questions. Also CNN interfered in the campaign apparently. Jokeshop.

Captain Obvious

Trump's biggest enemy is definitely his Twitter.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1006837823469735936

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1033045273361178624

DrumSteve

I genuinely can’t wait until this is all over.

He is a truly terrible human being on a fundamental level. Imagine dragging your wife and kid through this; he’s openly talking on fox about ripping her off like it’s no big deal.

26000 Elephants

SimonTemplar wrote: »

Assuming the worst about Trump is proven in a court, that he had directed his staff to liaise with Russian nationals with the intention of influencing the election, what is the likelihood he will see any jail time once he leave office?

Would the fact that he would be a former president have any bearing on a sentence that would otherwise include incarceration for anyone else?

The 'collusion' issues will most likely be secondary to serious fraud and tax evasion charges. The collusion thing will be seen as what "brought him down", but he will be in jail for financial crimes.

Itssoeasy

DrumSteve wrote: »

I genuinely can’t wait until this is all over.

He is a truly terrible human being on a fundamental level. Imagine dragging your wife and kid through this; he’s openly talking on fox about ripping her off like it’s no big deal.

When did he say that on Fox ? I've read 36 quotes CNN put together of his latest one and I didn't see the First Lady mentioned. But Donald trump is a product of a lifetime of wealth and never having consequences for what you say. He's never been told no and going on his answers to Fox News he lives in an utter fairytale universe.

jobbridge4life

SimonTemplar wrote: »

There is a LOT wrong about Trump, but he does seem to care about his family. If/when Don or Eric are in genuine danger from the investigation, I expect Trump to react like a wounded animal.

Really? What about Tiffany?

Igotadose

UsedToWait wrote: »

Tenuously linked, but Trump supporter Congressman Hunter of Florida has 'flipped' ..
on his wife.

Indicted for campaign finance violations, he declared that she manages his finances, so you'll need to ask her.

What a bunch of reprobates.

California but otherwise correct. A long time solid tGOP seat that now might flip democratic in the midterms

Igotadose

UsedToWait wrote: »

Tenuously linked, but Trump supporter Congressman Hunter of Florida has 'flipped' ..
on his wife.

Indicted for campaign finance violations, he declared that she manages his finances, so you'll need to ask her.

What a bunch of reprobates.

California but otherwise correct. A long time solid tGOP seat that now might flip democratic in the midterms

BonnieSituation

Watching the Trump episode of Dirty Money on Netflix.

Great series but DJTs is a special one.

Oafley Jones

SimonTemplar wrote: »

There is a LOT wrong about Trump, but he does seem to care about his family. If/when Don or Eric are in genuine danger from the investigation, I expect Trump to react like a wounded animal.

With the exception of Ivanka, I doubt it. He’s already thrown Don under the bus recently. Remember this is a man who argued against giving him by his name “in case he was a **** up”.

Bobeagleburger

Captain Obvious wrote: »

Trump's biggest enemy is definitely his level of intelligence.

fyp

DrumSteve

DrumSteve wrote: »

I genuinely can’t wait until this is all over.

He is a truly terrible human being on a fundamental level. Imagine dragging your wife and kid through this; he’s openly talking on fox about ripping her off like it’s no big deal.

What's this?

aloyisious

An indicator that Don is close to the end will be the day he tweets about his VP in a bad way. So far there's been no open hint of disfavour between them but I'm wondering what MP might do if Don decides to or does fire Jeff Sessions. Will MP stand by Don or will he side with the GOP if it say's that the firing is a step too far.

One other thing that's popped into my head is whether Rob Mueller could go to a federal judge and ask him/her to provide the protection of the court [by an order] for any and all evidence, documentation. tapes, discs, recording etc the investigation has uncovered to date: like a form of sequester putting the evidence beyond the reach of anyone who was minded to shut down the investigation, remove the evidence and have it disappear? I admit to liking the notion as it would mean the USSC could end up having to back the lower court against anything Don and his cronies have in mind [regardless of whomever Don might appoint to the USSC] in order to ensure the continuation of the separation of powers. I've no doubt that Don would appeal such a protection order and/or ask his AG to go to the USSC and ask it to "decide" to take an interest in the matter.


Re Alan Weisselberg being given immunity, according to CNN, he's is the man who did Don's tax returns. I'm wondering if Alan was also aware/involved with the Trump charity books.