Of course he's also probably upset at the worsening relationship with Putin this move represents, which is why he doesn't dare say anything negative about him in the process.
What I'm curious about is whether he he knows Putin isn't actually his friend, and would gladly throw him under this bus (or do it when Trump becomes too much of an albatross to support) if it meant it'd weaken America further than Trump can accomplish.
I always get the impression Trump feels that there's no relationship in life that isn't transactional and zero-sum at its core, from friendships to marriage to parent-child relationships to international agreements, so I think he probably thinks of Putin the same way. He is cordial and deferential to Putin because Putin has him by the fucking balls.
Supposedly he has problems understanding what friends are, and is very difficult to form connections with.
How are these guys this bad at this? "Hey don't look at this deal because REASONS." MIght as well hand him a map with an X on it where the dirty laundry and dead bodies are buried.
Trump and most of his cronies have never had to be good at it. Wealthy moguls, industrialist, investors, etc. break the law. They do it every day in massive ways. Mostly they get away with it because they have enough money to pay lawyers, accountants, and advisors to be smart enough to hide it - at least well enough that they only get 'caught' by the IRS or the SEC or whomever in ways which they can pay a fine to clear up where said fine is smaller than the amount of money they made breaking the law.
Being a public figure on the scale of the President of the United States, where you're going to have every investigative news organization in the world prying into your life is just an astoundingly bad idea for a guy who has the kind of career Trump has had, even if he's not done anything more illegal than average. Doing that without being extremely careful and listening to the advice of people who know how government works is amazingly stupid and I don't think there was ever a chance Trump wasn't going to end up having his financial records dug into.
But by 2012 Trump was struggling in the U.S. market. His biggest investment, in American casinos, had proved ruinous, and he was now a minority owner of a near-bankrupt business. Trump had defaulted on loans multiple times, and nearly every bank in the U.S. refused to finance deals bearing his name. And so Trump turned to people in other countries who did not share this reluctance to give him money. In 2012 alone, the Trump Organization negotiated or finalized deals in Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Georgia, India, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay.
That's a busy year. You've got 2 legitimate states (Canada and India), the latest collaborator of bullshit with the IOC (Brazil/Rio), 2 former USSR/CCCP republics that are rather beholden to Putin and his oligarchic friends (Azerbaijan and Georgia), possibly the slimiest user of migrant labor or slavery in all but name (UAE), a nation led by someone completely bugfuck insane (Duterte/Philippines), and a fairly ineffectual leftist state (on the international stage at least) that most of the rest of South America forgets is there.
Where'd he find the time?
The Canada deal was with Russia investors. The venture fell apart, local investors/suite buyers sued, Trump got sued, building got repossessed, his name has come off it, lawsuits still pending.
According to the Panama Papers, in 2010, Shnaider sold at least half of Midland Group's ownership in the Zaporizhstal steel mill to buyers financed by Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, who were then themselves acquired by the development bank.[9] Shnaider then used proceeds from the sale to partially meet cost overruns at the Tower.[9] Shnaider's lawyer told The Wall Street Journal that $15 million from the sale to the Russian bank went into the tower, and then recanted.[9] ...
Alexander Yevseyevich "Alex" Shnaider (Russian: Алекса́ндр Евсе́евич "А́лекс" Шнайдер; Hebrew: אלכסנדר (אלכס) שניידר; born 3 August 1968) is a Russian-born Canadian entrepreneur and former commodities trader.
I know it's fun to imagine that Trump's people are all like "DON'T LOOK I THE CLOSET" and then Mueller is all like "HMM MAYBE I SHOULD LOOK IN THIS CLOSET", but I can't imagine that Mueller is getting any useful intel from these stupid Twitter protestations. I'm sure he's had this shit on his to do list for months, because he's a smart cookie who is good at his job.
Not that its not amusing to watch the Trump squad go apoplectic every week or so as they realize all their dirty laundry is being aired.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I know it's fun to imagine that Trump's people are all like "DON'T LOOK I THE CLOSET" and then Mueller is all like "HMM MAYBE I SHOULD LOOK IN THIS CLOSET", but I can't imagine that Mueller is getting any useful intel from these stupid Twitter protestations. I'm sure he's had this shit on his to do list for months, because he's a smart cookie who is good at his job.
Not that its not amusing to watch the Trump squad go apoplectic every week or so as they realize all their dirty laundry is being aired.
It's funny because not only is PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT CONFLICT OF INTEREST BEHIND THE CURTAIN not going to dissuade Mueller from looking, all it does is encourage others to look too.
I know it's fun to imagine that Trump's people are all like "DON'T LOOK I THE CLOSET" and then Mueller is all like "HMM MAYBE I SHOULD LOOK IN THIS CLOSET", but I can't imagine that Mueller is getting any useful intel from these stupid Twitter protestations. I'm sure he's had this shit on his to do list for months, because he's a smart cookie who is good at his job.
Not that its not amusing to watch the Trump squad go apoplectic every week or so as they realize all their dirty laundry is being aired.
It's funny because not only is PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT CONFLICT OF INTEREST BEHIND THE CURTAIN not going to dissuade Mueller from looking, all it does is encourage others to look too.
Specifically the press who are not so well-disposed to Trump as Mueller, and he definitely seems to follow up what they discover (Don Jrs meeting.)
I'm reasonably sure that Maddow did a main segment on the Georgian real estate stuff months ago. It's not like this stuff is unknown to the press in the larger sense.
The way they are calling attention to things that they apparently think are shady themselves is astounding, though.
I FORBID YOU FROM SEEING THAT BOY AGAIN OR EVER INVESTIGATING THE MONEY TRAIL THROUGH GEORGIA
The Donald went down to Georgia,
He was looking for a real estate steal
He was in a bind, his loans were way behind,
He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this oligarch
Laundering money and playing it hot
And the Donald jumped up on a hickory stump and said,
"Boy let me tell you what:
I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a money launderer too,
And if you'd care to take a dare,
I'll make a deal with you...
How are these guys this bad at this? "Hey don't look at this deal because REASONS." MIght as well hand him a map with an X on it where the dirty laundry and dead bodies are buried.
Normally I'd say this was just an attempt at a distraction, by howling wolf they could herd this investigation towards a safe business deal and then when the investigation absolves any wrong doing, go nuts firing people and screaming to the press how innocent they are and how much of a witch hunt this was...blah blah.
But especially after today's events, yeah..the stupid idiot theory sure seems to hold water.
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CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
I FORBID YOU FROM SEEING THAT BOY AGAIN OR EVER INVESTIGATING THE MONEY TRAIL THROUGH GEORGIA
The Donald went down to Georgia,
He was looking for a real estate steal
He was in a bind, his loans were way behind,
He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this oligarch
Laundering money and playing it hot
And the Donald jumped up on a hickory stump and said,
"Boy let me tell you what:
I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a money launderer too,
And if you'd care to take a dare,
I'll make a deal with you...
Classic.
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
I FORBID YOU FROM SEEING THAT BOY AGAIN OR EVER INVESTIGATING THE MONEY TRAIL THROUGH GEORGIA
The Donald went down to Georgia,
He was looking for a real estate steal
He was in a bind, his loans were way behind,
He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this oligarch
Laundering money and playing it hot
And the Donald jumped up on a hickory stump and said,
"Boy let me tell you what:
I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a money launderer too,
And if you'd care to take a dare,
I'll make a deal with you...
I think that "realty steal" scans better than "real estate steal" with the syllable of the original song.
But otherwise, this is incredible.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
do we have any idea what muellers charges will eventually look like? Like is it going to be one major thing or will it be like a long laundry list of charges?
do we have any idea what muellers charges will eventually look like? Like is it going to be one major thing or will it be like a long laundry list of charges?
We don't have a ton of leaks from the Mueller investigation but here's the closest to what we think we know.
The two major avenues seem to be obstruction of justice with regards to the firing of James Comey and financial crimes related to the construction of Trump SoHo and Trump something or other in Toronto which have everything to do with how the Trump family got connected with Russian interests. So that would branch off from/further establish investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
I would imagine any future impeachment proceedings would also include abuse of power charges, especially if one of the charges was the Comey firing.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
We don't have a ton of leaks from the Mueller investigation but here's the closest to what we think we know.
The two major avenues seem to be obstruction of justice with regards to the firing of James Comey and financial crimes related to the construction of Trump SoHo and Trump something or other in Toronto which have everything to do with how the Trump family got connected with Russian interests. So that would branch off from/further establish investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
I would imagine any future impeachment proceedings would also include abuse of power charges, especially if one of the charges was the Comey firing.
There's also the mattet of Flynn's dealings, which has its own grand jury
I thought that he was just digging up evidence, and that it was up to congress or the state court or whoever to actually press the charges?
He has the power to indict. Whether you can indict a sitting President is an open legal question. But the answer is probably yes.
The more damning and awful the list of charges, the more likely SCOTUS is to rule it's okay.
I don't think most judges are very good at not letting feelings (or at least their fears) color their interpretation of the law when it comes to criminal matters, which is how you get them constantly chipping away at the restraints on the police.
So we come to the question of, "Would they press those charges?"
Or is this just down to 2018 elections?
I think it's fairly likely that this will still be going by the time 2018 rolls around, and this will become a major campaign issue. So... both?
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Maddow is having someone on tonight who is investigating Trump real estate dealings and has been told by Sekulow that he'd better stop looking into it, and that if this winds up being approached by Mueller, that he'll hold him responsible and that would be crossing Trumps red line about Muellers investigation and he'd tell the DAG to fire him immediately.
So.... somebody struck a very sensitive nerve all of a sudden.
I wouldn't get my hopes up too far. So far Mueller's been fairly air-tight.
If it were me, I'd tell the authorities first, and only go on-air if it was cleared with them.
There's nothing connecting this reporter to the official investigation. He just happened to be investigating Trump dealings and they got wind of it and he's suddenly getting yelled at and threatened by Sekulow who then goes out of his way to send up a big signal flare that Mueller better not look at this either or that would be it for him.
Which, I mean, when you scream "Don't look at this!" When under investigation it kind has the opposite effect.
Do these guys watch crime movies or tv shows? That never works.
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
+3
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BlackDragon480Bluster KerfuffleMaster of Windy ImportRegistered Userregular
Mueller has charging authority. The question is if he can charge a sitting president.
Considering our Federal jurisprudence is from English Common Law, there is precedent for a lower person or body to directly bring charges against the head of state.
You have Wolsey formally charging Henry VIII with living in sin with Catherine of Aragon at Blackfriars in 1529 (while nominally falling under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, the marriage itself was still considered a civil matter, so the trial at Blackfriars still falls under Common Law) and then the Rump of the House of Commons charging Charles I with tyranny after the 2nd English Civil War in 1649 (their authority and titles descending directly from the king meant the Lords rejected the charge).
It'd be surreal and amazing to see either get cited in a 21st century legal brief. Also, since they derive their legal code from the Code Napoleon, this probably wouldn't fly in Louisiana.
BlackDragon480 on
No matter where you go...there you are. ~ Buckaroo Banzai
In this initial report, the department released only one sample of malware said to be an indicator of Russian state-sponsored hacking, though outside experts said a variety of malicious programs were used in Russian electoral hacking.
The sample pointed to a malware program, called the P.A.S. web shell, a hacking tool advertised on Russian-language Dark Web forums and used by cybercriminals throughout the former Soviet Union. The author, Profexer, is a well-regarded technical expert among hackers, spoken about with awe and respect in Kiev.
After the Department of Homeland Security identified his creation, he quickly shut down his website and posted on a closed forum for hackers, called Exploit, that “I’m not interested in excessive attention to me personally.”
In fact, Serhiy Demediuk, chief of the Ukrainian Cyber Police, said in an interview that Profexer went to the authorities himself. As the cooperation began, Profexer went dark on hacker forums. He last posted online on Jan. 9. Mr. Demediuk said he had made the witness available to the F.B.I., which has posted a full-time cybersecurity expert in Kiev as one of four bureau agents stationed at the United States Embassy there. The F.B.I. declined to comment.
The mirror of the hard drive went to the F.B.I., which had this forensic sample when the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike identified the same malware two years later, on the D.N.C. servers.
“It was the first strike,” Mr. Zhora said of the earlier hack of Ukraine’s electoral computers. Ukraine’s Cyber Police have also provided the F.B.I. with copies of server hard drives showing the possible origins of some phishing emails targeting the Democratic Party during the election.
In 2016, two years after the election hack in Ukraine, hackers using some of the same techniques plundered the email system of the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, which had accused Russian athletes of systematic drug use.
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Well, it sort of depends. I think his racism didn't make an impact because there's enough plausible deniability for people like my parents and siblings to say that he's only being called racist because that's what Democrats call anyone they don't like. The one thing that most surprised me as still being considered acceptable is the pussy-grab tape, but even that wasn't actually a video of him actually physically assaulting someone so it offered plausible deniability as well.
If the evidence is strong enough, money laundering could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
In this initial report, the department released only one sample of malware said to be an indicator of Russian state-sponsored hacking, though outside experts said a variety of malicious programs were used in Russian electoral hacking.
The sample pointed to a malware program, called the P.A.S. web shell, a hacking tool advertised on Russian-language Dark Web forums and used by cybercriminals throughout the former Soviet Union. The author, Profexer, is a well-regarded technical expert among hackers, spoken about with awe and respect in Kiev.
After the Department of Homeland Security identified his creation, he quickly shut down his website and posted on a closed forum for hackers, called Exploit, that “I’m not interested in excessive attention to me personally.”
In fact, Serhiy Demediuk, chief of the Ukrainian Cyber Police, said in an interview that Profexer went to the authorities himself. As the cooperation began, Profexer went dark on hacker forums. He last posted online on Jan. 9. Mr. Demediuk said he had made the witness available to the F.B.I., which has posted a full-time cybersecurity expert in Kiev as one of four bureau agents stationed at the United States Embassy there. The F.B.I. declined to comment.
The mirror of the hard drive went to the F.B.I., which had this forensic sample when the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike identified the same malware two years later, on the D.N.C. servers.
“It was the first strike,” Mr. Zhora said of the earlier hack of Ukraine’s electoral computers. Ukraine’s Cyber Police have also provided the F.B.I. with copies of server hard drives showing the possible origins of some phishing emails targeting the Democratic Party during the election.
In 2016, two years after the election hack in Ukraine, hackers using some of the same techniques plundered the email system of the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, which had accused Russian athletes of systematic drug use.
This seems like a pretty big deal. He could easily inform the FBI of everything he did and if Ruskies were involved.
Eh. Money laundering is hard to understand and has deniability practically baked in to every defense. It's too technical and the out IS the main defense. I can't see even concrete proof of it swinging too many minds.
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Well, it sort of depends. I think his racism didn't make an impact because there's enough plausible deniability for people like my parents and siblings to say that he's only being called racist because that's what Democrats call anyone they don't like. The one thing that most surprised me as still being considered acceptable is the pussy-grab tape, but even that wasn't actually a video of him actually physically assaulting someone so it offered plausible deniability as well.
If the evidence is strong enough, money laundering could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Well, it sort of depends. I think his racism didn't make an impact because there's enough plausible deniability for people like my parents and siblings to say that he's only being called racist because that's what Democrats call anyone they don't like. The one thing that most surprised me as still being considered acceptable is the pussy-grab tape, but even that wasn't actually a video of him actually physically assaulting someone so it offered plausible deniability as well.
If the evidence is strong enough, money laundering could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
This straw does not exist.
Might not break the base, it'll shatter Trump's psych.
Harry Dresden on
+3
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
The pile is so vast, and has existed so long, no one knows what a camel is anymore. In truth, there may never have been a camel, only the mountain of straw and a metaphor for our own inadequacy.
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Well, it sort of depends. I think his racism didn't make an impact because there's enough plausible deniability for people like my parents and siblings to say that he's only being called racist because that's what Democrats call anyone they don't like. The one thing that most surprised me as still being considered acceptable is the pussy-grab tape, but even that wasn't actually a video of him actually physically assaulting someone so it offered plausible deniability as well.
If the evidence is strong enough, money laundering could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
there's old uncle racist that uses the 'n' word occasionally and there's nazis.
the gop didn't condemn him for that, they won't impeach him for anything. there is no farther down he can go at this point. calling nazis 'fine people' is the bottom.
Like if in the course of Mueller's investigation he discovered that Trump was also in hock to Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and China, would they say that doesn't count because it's not ultra super-duper directly related to Russia?
Compromised is compromised!
that New Yorker article is fascinating because it not only indicates Trump might be compromised, it also indicates that he negligently went along with, or even willingly went along with, a money laundering scheme.
It would be shocking to me if any multinational real-estate billionaire hadn't willingly gone along with a money laundering scheme or 10, much less a self-obsessed blowhard like Trump who very clearly believes the most important question in any moral quandry is, "Which course of action makes me the most money?"
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Well, it sort of depends. I think his racism didn't make an impact because there's enough plausible deniability for people like my parents and siblings to say that he's only being called racist because that's what Democrats call anyone they don't like. The one thing that most surprised me as still being considered acceptable is the pussy-grab tape, but even that wasn't actually a video of him actually physically assaulting someone so it offered plausible deniability as well.
If the evidence is strong enough, money laundering could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
there's old uncle racist that uses the 'n' word occasionally and there's nazis.
the gop didn't condemn him for that, they won't impeach him for anything. there is no farther down he can go at this point. calling nazis 'fine people' is the bottom.
I mean yes from our perspective how can you not see the Nazis, come on guys. But from my parents' perspective it's like, "well, what about those horrible PETA people or those feminazis who burn their bras and want all men to die? They're just as bad as Nazis, but you don't blame every Democrat for their existence! Just because Nazis happen to support Trump doesn't mean Trump is a Nazi!" etc.
Though granted I'm not sure people like that would even be convinced if he donned an SS uniform and started doing the seig heil every time he had a press conference.
It also doesn't help that for this style of conservative, the thing they feared from the USSR was communism. They think, to a degree, that the current distrust and dislike of Putin is based on some flavor of racism (since Democrats are the true racists), and the actual thing to fear is universal healthcare because that's obviously the same thing as communism.
I dunno, it's a warped, strange viewpoint and I don't know that even obvious espionage with the Russians is enough to break it. But I still have hope that it might be.
Cambiata on
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
If you want to convince people that Trump/Nazis are terrible but they won't listen to your arguments, offer them a climbdown.
A huge portion of the time, when someone is defending something that is obviously horrible they're doing it because their view of themselves is tied up in having supported that thing in some way.
Give them a positive chance to detach and they stand a better chance of coming around.
Posts
It's almost as if Trump has a pathological disorder relating to his interactions with society. Too bad there's no name for such a condition.
Trump and most of his cronies have never had to be good at it. Wealthy moguls, industrialist, investors, etc. break the law. They do it every day in massive ways. Mostly they get away with it because they have enough money to pay lawyers, accountants, and advisors to be smart enough to hide it - at least well enough that they only get 'caught' by the IRS or the SEC or whomever in ways which they can pay a fine to clear up where said fine is smaller than the amount of money they made breaking the law.
Being a public figure on the scale of the President of the United States, where you're going to have every investigative news organization in the world prying into your life is just an astoundingly bad idea for a guy who has the kind of career Trump has had, even if he's not done anything more illegal than average. Doing that without being extremely careful and listening to the advice of people who know how government works is amazingly stupid and I don't think there was ever a chance Trump wasn't going to end up having his financial records dug into.
The Canada deal was with Russia investors. The venture fell apart, local investors/suite buyers sued, Trump got sued, building got repossessed, his name has come off it, lawsuits still pending.
Soooo not that legitimate.
Edit: I am underdescribing the shadiness of the endeavour. Read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adelaide_Hotel_Toronto
Not that its not amusing to watch the Trump squad go apoplectic every week or so as they realize all their dirty laundry is being aired.
It's funny because not only is PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT CONFLICT OF INTEREST BEHIND THE CURTAIN not going to dissuade Mueller from looking, all it does is encourage others to look too.
Specifically the press who are not so well-disposed to Trump as Mueller, and he definitely seems to follow up what they discover (Don Jrs meeting.)
The way they are calling attention to things that they apparently think are shady themselves is astounding, though.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
The Donald went down to Georgia,
He was looking for a real estate steal
He was in a bind, his loans were way behind,
He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this oligarch
Laundering money and playing it hot
And the Donald jumped up on a hickory stump and said,
"Boy let me tell you what:
I guess you didn't know it, but I'm a money launderer too,
And if you'd care to take a dare,
I'll make a deal with you...
Also, they provide timelines of claims.
Normally I'd say this was just an attempt at a distraction, by howling wolf they could herd this investigation towards a safe business deal and then when the investigation absolves any wrong doing, go nuts firing people and screaming to the press how innocent they are and how much of a witch hunt this was...blah blah.
But especially after today's events, yeah..the stupid idiot theory sure seems to hold water.
Classic.
I think that "realty steal" scans better than "real estate steal" with the syllable of the original song.
But otherwise, this is incredible.
We don't.
The two major avenues seem to be obstruction of justice with regards to the firing of James Comey and financial crimes related to the construction of Trump SoHo and Trump something or other in Toronto which have everything to do with how the Trump family got connected with Russian interests. So that would branch off from/further establish investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
I would imagine any future impeachment proceedings would also include abuse of power charges, especially if one of the charges was the Comey firing.
Or is this just down to 2018 elections?
He has the power to indict. Whether you can indict a sitting President is an open legal question. But the answer is probably yes.
There's also the mattet of Flynn's dealings, which has its own grand jury
The more damning and awful the list of charges, the more likely SCOTUS is to rule it's okay.
I don't think most judges are very good at not letting feelings (or at least their fears) color their interpretation of the law when it comes to criminal matters, which is how you get them constantly chipping away at the restraints on the police.
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I think it's fairly likely that this will still be going by the time 2018 rolls around, and this will become a major campaign issue. So... both?
Do these guys watch crime movies or tv shows? That never works.
I have a dream scenario where treason is the October surprise for the midterms.
The ratings will be bigly.
I'd share that dream if I could believe it would make a difference in the election results.
It will be kind of fascinating to see play out
If the top really gets blown off the Russian money laundering in NY real estate it could be huge
Considering our Federal jurisprudence is from English Common Law, there is precedent for a lower person or body to directly bring charges against the head of state.
You have Wolsey formally charging Henry VIII with living in sin with Catherine of Aragon at Blackfriars in 1529 (while nominally falling under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, the marriage itself was still considered a civil matter, so the trial at Blackfriars still falls under Common Law) and then the Rump of the House of Commons charging Charles I with tyranny after the 2nd English Civil War in 1649 (their authority and titles descending directly from the king meant the Lords rejected the charge).
It'd be surreal and amazing to see either get cited in a 21st century legal brief. Also, since they derive their legal code from the Code Napoleon, this probably wouldn't fly in Louisiana.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
I don't think it will be. We found out that the president supports nazis and the gop is largely fine with it. You think they'll impeach over real estate?
Well, it sort of depends. I think his racism didn't make an impact because there's enough plausible deniability for people like my parents and siblings to say that he's only being called racist because that's what Democrats call anyone they don't like. The one thing that most surprised me as still being considered acceptable is the pussy-grab tape, but even that wasn't actually a video of him actually physically assaulting someone so it offered plausible deniability as well.
If the evidence is strong enough, money laundering could be the straw that breaks the camel's back.
This seems like a pretty big deal. He could easily inform the FBI of everything he did and if Ruskies were involved.
This straw does not exist.
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Might not break the base, it'll shatter Trump's psych.
there's old uncle racist that uses the 'n' word occasionally and there's nazis.
the gop didn't condemn him for that, they won't impeach him for anything. there is no farther down he can go at this point. calling nazis 'fine people' is the bottom.
I mean yes from our perspective how can you not see the Nazis, come on guys. But from my parents' perspective it's like, "well, what about those horrible PETA people or those feminazis who burn their bras and want all men to die? They're just as bad as Nazis, but you don't blame every Democrat for their existence! Just because Nazis happen to support Trump doesn't mean Trump is a Nazi!" etc.
Though granted I'm not sure people like that would even be convinced if he donned an SS uniform and started doing the seig heil every time he had a press conference.
It also doesn't help that for this style of conservative, the thing they feared from the USSR was communism. They think, to a degree, that the current distrust and dislike of Putin is based on some flavor of racism (since Democrats are the true racists), and the actual thing to fear is universal healthcare because that's obviously the same thing as communism.
I dunno, it's a warped, strange viewpoint and I don't know that even obvious espionage with the Russians is enough to break it. But I still have hope that it might be.
A huge portion of the time, when someone is defending something that is obviously horrible they're doing it because their view of themselves is tied up in having supported that thing in some way.
Give them a positive chance to detach and they stand a better chance of coming around.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.