Donald Trump presidency discussion thread V

Drumpot

Ultros wrote: »

Jordan doing a good job discrediting him

Birds of a feather flock together keeps going through my mind listening to the ironic tactics being used by republicans . . . .

Muahahaha

circadian wrote: »

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.

oh right, I knew the average American has a complete fear of the IRS but didn't know about what the postal service could do to you!

On procedure here- do all commitee members get a chance to speak? Are we going to see AOC?

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Ultros wrote: »

Jordan doing a good job discrediting him

He's really not. I haven't heard a coherent statement from him yet. He seems to be blaming the Clinton Foundation somehow?

Drumpot

Bit of a circus . . God American politics is ugly . .

Professor Moriarty

Just one recording, one signed cheque, one video, one picture. Fingers and toes crossed that Cohen produces a rabbit out of the hat.

Ultros

"There was no fraud."

Seconds later...

"I pled guilty!"

Quin_Dub

Manic Moran wrote: »

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. 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).

Given that it was me that brought up this side-bar I guess I'll clarify.

I'm not so much talking about having a Cowboys or Spurs sticker on the car (for Texans - where I've spent most of my time in the US as an aside) - Like you say , plenty of Sports team stickers on cars here too.

It's all the other stuff - "Parent of an Honor Student" or as you say above a sticker or licence plate holder highlighting the college they went to etc.

As I see it it's a desire to tell the world who/what you are -

I'm a Parent , My Kids are smart , I went to Good College , I'm a Republican/Democrat etc. etc.

Of course there are people here that might do similar things , but they are a very very small minority , whereas the kind of thing I'm talking about above is fairly pervasive in the US.

And I really don't get attending Political rallies of any hue - what does someone get from that? , do you learn something new about the candidate?? or is it more about making a public statement that says "I support this person/party and I want everyone to know" ?

That level of public "This is who I am , in detail " is definitely not a typical behaviour outside of the US.

Hande hoche!

Glad someone mentioned the possibility of a book deal.

everlast75

Drumpot wrote: »

Bit of a circus . . God American politics is ugly . .

It flows from the top..

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Oh no - I just had to take a call. What's going on with Meadows and his referral for criminal complaint?

everlast75

A nice exchange...

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1100798516916568065

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Ultros wrote: »

"There was no fraud."

Seconds later...

"I pled guilty!"

That's not an accurate portrayal of the exchange though is it?

Gbear

As the chair pointed out, this is the start of the process.

Ultimately, as credible as Cohen's points are, they will need to be taken as part of all the upcoming series of testimonies that will no doubt follow over the next few months.

The republican's bleating will become progressively less compelling as the testimonies stack up.

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Criminal lawyers on twitter all making the point that charged criminals giving evidence against someone for whom they worked are always tainted but that doesn't make them a less credible witness - otherwise there would be no point in flipping. Surely, Republican members of the Committee are aware of this and their protestation is simply to distract and discredit.

Drumpot

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta wrote: »

Criminal lawyers on twitter all making the point that charged criminals giving evidence against someone for whom they worked are always tainted but that doesn't make them a less credible witness - otherwise there would be no point in flipping. Surely, Republican members of the Committee are aware of this and their protestation is simply to distract and discredit.

Of course they know it. . This all grandstanding for their supporters . .

RIGOLO

Cohen is a disaster
"the lies that I told to Congress "
The Committee Chairman is out of his depth, hes no Grassley
The DNC reps are trying to have their Lindsay Graham moment .

Is this the best the DNC have , it would seem so, the thread is awfully quite, where are all the fireworks we were promised.

Gbear

Drumpot wrote: »

Of course they know it. . This all grandstanding for their supporters . .

Who will largely continue to be rubes for the oligarchy they have voted into office.

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta

Mr Gosar is not coming across as a very stable human being!

Midlife

RIGOLO wrote: »

Cohen is a disaster
"the lies that I told to Congress "
The Committee Chairman is out of his depth, hes no Grassley
The DNC reps are trying to have their Lindsay Graham moment .

Is this the best the DNC have , it would seem so, the thread is awfully quite, where are all the fireworks we were promised.

And yet, all the voters he needs to get elected have turned away from him and are turning away from the republician party.

Seems the best the DNC has is good enough.

Ultros

Schnitzler Hiyori Geta wrote: »

That's not an accurate portrayal of the exchange though is it?

There's been plenty of exchanges, take your pick. I went into this with an open mind expecting bombshells but he lost all his credibility after the first hour or so. Republicans did a good job showcasing his past fraud/lies which I had no idea about. He was with Trump for a decade and has produced very little in terms of damaging him.

As an example of an exchange, not verbatim but pretty much what was said.

"Do you have proof of Racism?"

"Yes."

"What's your proof?"

"Look at the executive board at Trump org." ( Assuming the board is all/majority white )

What it tells me is the allegations of a huge conspiracy between Russian is very unlikely and that the Steele Dossier is made up of pure garbage. The number one person close to Trump world has to resort to describing how Trump JR leaned over a desk to speculate on Russia. It doesn't bode well for Trump that he kept a guy like Cohen around for 10 years but what's been disclosed today will not get anywhere near him in terms of being pushed out of office. It makes Trump look cleaner than he did before the hearing. I'll wait and see Mueller produces.

RIGOLO

Midlife wrote: »

And yet, all the voters he needs to get elected have turned away from him and are turning away from the republician party.

Seems the best the DNC has is good enough.

Whos the DNC candidate ?

enfant terrible

CNN saying they are pretty certain Cohen has lied under oath again.

They say they know for a fact he wanted a job in the white house.

Drumpot

enfant terrible wrote: »

CNN saying they are pretty certain Cohen has lied under oath again.

They say they know for a fact he wanted a job in the white house.

And yet they didn't quote the source that proves this fact ?

Hazys

Kinda hard to take at face value the argument from the Republican's that why would anybody listen to this pathological liar when up until recently he'd been the president's personal lawyer of 10 years. Either he's a total liar but he was able earned the trust of the president for 10 years and the president is a complete moron for trusting him for so long or he's telling the truth.

Also, its very telling that not one republican has actually tried to defend the president against the accusations, they just keep calling Cohen a liar.

Penn

Drumpot wrote: »

And yet they didn't quote the source that proves this fact ?

In fairness they may not be able to pull up the evidence that quickly, but know it exists.

Either way, one of the most telling aspects in terms of the Republicans questioning is that it's all about attacking Cohen, not defending or questioning any of his claims. It's purely attacking his credibility.

Regardless of Cohen's credibility though, given that Mueller raided his office and likely has gathered lots of corroborating evidence for most of what Cohen has likely given him, this is purely for optics from the Reps. Trying to discredit him as a whole. Not to be unexpected, but still hard to watch regardless. The gulf between the Dems questioning and Reps questioning is insane to watch.

Drumpot

Hazys wrote: »

Kinda hard to take at face value the argument from the Republican's that why would anybody listen to this pathological liar when up until recently he'd been the president's personal lawyer of 10 years. Either he's a total liar but he was able earned the trust of the president for 10 years and the president is a complete moron for trusting him for so long or he's telling the truth.

Also, its very telling that not one republican has actually tried to defend the president against the accusations, they just keep calling Cohen a liar.

I also thought the Democrat that was listing off the amount of former Trump employees who pleaded guilty, missed a trick . . Either Trump is a complete moron and/or he has affiliated himself with a lot of shady characters . .

I would of invoked the "Birds of a feather" rule . :pac:

mcmoustache

RIGOLO wrote: »

Whos the DNC candidate ?

His name is Mister Generic Democrat.

Just 36 percent of voters say they would vote for Trump over a generic Democratic candidate in 2020, compared with 44 percent who would pick the Democrat, the poll shows. One in five voters, 20 percent, are undecided.

Ultros

Daily Beast on Cohen wanting a white house job. IIRC it widely reported he wanted to be chief of staff

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/1100793681253146624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

everlast75

A good point by.. *gulp* Chris Christie!!!!

https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1100807228603359233?s=19

Itssoeasy

So this hearing seems to be going how these all seem to go. One side will be hostile to the person appearing before them and the other will be not as hostile/ on that person's side appearing before them. It's just so predictable. Anything of note outside of his written statement that was released earlier ? I've no intention of trying to go back if it's mostly what I described above.