Donald Trump presidency discussion thread V

duploelabs

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta wrote: »

There's very little doubt in my mind that Cohen is a liar, but that he lied at the behest of and under the thumb of Trump.

I wonder if he's proof that he's instructed to lie to Congress by Trump's personal lawyers, and if they'll be on the hook too

duploelabs

Ultros wrote: »

Listening to Cohen lecture about morality is like listening to Joseph Fritzl lecture about childcare

Only if Fritzle was exposing a wider paedophile ring

everlast75

3 years of his financial statements - 1 a- 1c. Wow!

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

duploelabs wrote: »

I wonder if he's proof that he's instructed to lie to Congress by Trump's personal lawyers, and if they'll be on the hook too

That's what I'm wondering too.

everlast75

Ultros wrote: »

Listening to Cohen lecture about morality is like listening to Joseph Fritzl lecture about childcare

what about listening to the testimony under oath, or considering his documents?

Leroy42

Ultros wrote: »

Listening to Cohen lecture about morality is like listening to Joseph Fritzl lecture about childcare

He is not lecturing, he is admitting that he failed, that he regrets what he did and is here today to try to to start making some sort of amends whilst agreeing that he must pay a price.

But again, it is irrelevant what you or anybody else 'thinks'. What matters is whether or not the allegations are backed up with any serious evidence and whether they are worthy of investigation.

That is the root of the problem. Peoples opinions really don't matter at all but many seem to think they do.

Stallingrad

Fascinating, riveting and horrific that this is where we are.

Drumpot

Stallingrad wrote: »

Fascinating, riveting and horrific that this is where we are.

I know right ?

The weirdest part is that None of this is surprising at all . . :pac:

Ultros

Leroy42 wrote: »

He is not lecturing, he is admitting that he failed, that he regrets what he did and is here today

Oh Gawd.

Look it's good he's provided documents etc that obviously they can't be ignored and there will be huge damage to Trump as a result of this hearing, but don't expect me to believe someone like Cohen has some sort of moral compass or that he regrets the lifestyle he's lived.. he's already lied multiple times to congress.

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

So, Don Jr. was also involved in the repayment of the hush money. This seems to have come from Trump's personal account. How does that link back to the campaign finance?

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Ultros wrote: »

Oh Gawd.

Look it's good he's provided documents etc that obviously they can't be ignored and there will be huge damage to Trump as a result of this hearing, but don't expect me to believe someone like Cohen has some sort of moral compass or that he regrets the lifestyle he's lived.. he's already lied multiple times to congress.

As he claims - on behalf of and at the behest of Trump. Which he admits was a mistake and he will now go to prison for.

duploelabs

Ultros wrote: »

Oh Gawd.

Look it's good he's provided documents etc that obviously they can't be ignored and there will be huge damage to Trump as a result of this hearing, but don't expect me to believe someone like Cohen has some sort of moral compass or that he regrets the lifestyle he's lived.. he's already lied multiple times to congress.

Under instruction by Trump's personal lawyers

Drumpot

Hope the IRS "idiots" are watching . . Even Trump doesn't want that bunch on his case!!!

pixelburp

Ultros wrote: »

Oh Gawd.

Look it's good he's provided documents etc that obviously they can't be ignored and there will be huge damage to Trump as a result of this hearing, but don't expect me to believe someone like Cohen has some sort of moral compass or that he regrets the lifestyle he's lived.. he's already lied multiple times to congress.

Cohen is behaving like every underling ever caught in a sting; throwing his boss under the bus and putting on a show of Mea Culpa. Sure it's phoney as hell & only caused by being arrested & the threat of jail, but that's scarcely the point. And on the off chance it IS legitimate remorse, then in fairness we should at least be open to that possibility (he is a lawyer, so :shrug: on that one...)

Muahahaha

Trump just tweeted 11 minutes ago that he is out of the meeting with Kim, twitter attack on Cohen incoming..

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Oh man serious shade on Don Jr there

everlast75

Ultros wrote: »

Oh Gawd.

Look it's good he's provided documents etc that obviously they can't be ignored and there will be huge damage to Trump as a result of this hearing, but don't expect me to believe someone like Cohen has some sort of moral compass or that he regrets the lifestyle he's lived.. he's already lied multiple times to congress.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/987679850545778689

Igotadose

gag. Reminiscent of John Dean (a much smarter guy and a way better speaker.) Always, GOP'ers caught red-handed testifying to Congress and incriminating their boss, the GOP president. 40 years later, same old story. Really can't be cynical enough.

Cohen's law degree is from one of the worst law schools in the US, usually used as a punchline to bad lawyer jokes - "He's a Cooley grad!"

circadian

Drumpot wrote: »

Hope the IRS "idiots" are watching . . Even Trump doesn't want that bunch on his case!!!

The IRS and Federal Postal Service are the two government bodies you don't want to cross. I'd imagine the IRS are already looking into his finances.

seamus

Stallingrad wrote: »

I think there is no doubt that Trump has achieved things with regard to NK that HC would not have. She is too much of a hawk and conventional politician.

Dialogue is the way forward and bringing NK into the real world would be of great benefit to its citizens. I would like to give Trump credit for that but his intemperate language (friend, really?) and his delight in sucking up to dictators is sickening to see from a US President.

While the methodology is grotesque and motivation questionable, history may see things differently.

Trump actually hasn't done anything on NK. He's met Kim a couple of times. He's got "agreement" on nuclear disarming that have yielded no actual changes.

It would be hard to claim that another President wouldn't also have met Kim a couple of times and gotten limp-wristed agreements on disarming.

The hard work of getting NK to open international relations was done by South Korea. Trump just happened to be sitting in the White House at the time.

At best we can applaud him for not ruining the fledgling relationship.

Ultros

duploelabs wrote: »

Under instruction by Trump's personal lawyers

He clearly stated Trump didn't direct him to lie to congress nor mention anything about his lawyers. Where are you getting that from? He doesn't have any evidence of "collusion" either.

Laois_Man

He almost sounded credible - until he said he would never seek or accept a pardon from President Trump!

As if! :rolleyes:

Muahahaha

circadian wrote: »

The IRS and Federal Postal Service are the two government bodies you don't want to cross. I'd imagine the IRS are already looking into his finances.

what powers do the postal service have?

B0jangles

Cohen is obviously not doing this because he's suddenly grown a conscience.

He's doing this because he knows that his only chance of not spending the rest of his life in prison is to flip on Trump. Cohen clearly understands that at this point, Trump doesn't actually have the power to keep him out of prison.

Which is far more interesting to me - it would obviously have been in Trump's own interest to keep Cohen onside and quiet, not sharing his intimate knowledge of ten years of extremely shady activities. Trump will bluster and shout, he'll tweet and he'll rage but when it came down to the line, Cohen decided that his chances were better as a Trump informant than as Trump's lawyer.

mcmoustache

Ultros wrote: »

He clearly stated Trump didn't direct him to lie to congress nor mention anything about his lawyers. Where are you getting that from? He doesn't have any evidence of "collusion" either.

Who said anything about Cohen proving collusion?

Anyway, regarding being directed to lie and Trump's lawyers...

In conversations we had during the campaign, at the same time I was
actively negotiating in Russia for him, he would look me in the eye and tell
me there’s no business in Russia and then go out and lie to the American
people by saying the same thing. In his way, he was telling me to lie.

There were at least a half-dozen times between the Iowa Caucus in
January 2016 and the end of June when he would ask me “How’s it going
in Russia?” – referring to the Moscow Tower project.

You need to know that Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers reviewed and edited
my statement to Congress about the timing of the Moscow Tower
negotiations before I gave it.

Quin_Dub

Muahahaha wrote: »

what powers do the postal service have?

Quite a bit actually - They actually have their own mini FBI that investigate crimes relating to the mail service

The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is the law enforcement arm of the United States Postal Service. Its jurisdiction is defined as "crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system or postal employees." The mission of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service is to support and protect the U.S. Postal Service, its employees, infrastructure, and customers by enforcing the laws that defend the nation's mail system from illegal or dangerous use.

In fiscal year 2014, USPIS had 2,376 field employees, a decline of 44.7% from fiscal year 1995. (This figure excludes headquarters staff.
In 2008, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service had 2,288 full-time personnel with the authority to make arrests and carry firearms on duty. This represented a 23.1% drop over the previous five years.

Plus - There's a reason for the term "Going Postal" :-)

Ultros

Jordan doing a good job discrediting him

circadian

Muahahaha wrote: »

what powers do the postal service have?

Misuse, theft, tampering mail is a federal offence. I'm not saying Trump is involved in any of this but along with the IRS the postal inspection service generally comes down on offenders hard. Like I said, as a government body like the IRS they're pretty thorough and relentless in prosecution.

Hande hoche!

Ultros wrote: »

Jordan doing a good job discrediting him

He is doing a hatchet job on him.

Manic Moran

spacecoyote wrote: »

It has to be a full cultural thing alright. You see it across the board. Even look at fashion brands. The likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, etc... generally have a fairly big obvious piece of branding across their clothing, just so there is no doubt about what you're wearing.

It all fits in with the air of wealth some in the US see in Trump. Its about big ostentatious branding & making sure that you look as rich & flashy as possible. Its why so many seem to buy in to the Trump brand of the American dream. It doesn't matter how bad you are at something, as long as you can sell the perception that you're good at it, people will lap it up.

You go and take a valid cultural observation, and somehow turn it into a Trump/Ostentatiousness thing. Yet the two most common types of sticker you're going to see on a car are the stick families (Or piss-takes on them), and Coexist stickers. Then you have brand loyalty stickers: Raiders or Spurs logos are common, or for consumer goods: Harley Davidson and Browning are popular, Star Wars or Umbrella Corp are also not infrequent. License plate frames more often than not have the university that the driver graduated from or some humorous jest. Personally, I've got meritorious service plates.. And, yes, you see both Beto stickers and Trump stickers around here (Interestingly, I don't recall ever seeing any Cruz stickers).

It's proclaiming who you are as an individual, what's important to you, and what you've achieved. That is a rather American trait, yes. You might see nothing more than a Man United sticker on a car in the UK. But ostentatiousness as a purely American trait? Look at the amount of 'base model' cars that companies like BMW and Mercedes sell in the British Isles. There was a time where the 318 was more common than the Ford Mondeo. I don't know what the current Irish range is. Much of this is because people want the BMW badge to show they've got the car, not because the base Beemer is actually a better car than a tooled up Honda for the same price. (Not knocking all BMW owners, I am one).