Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Felya]

Not like that matters. I mean, do you remember the Panama papers? And the spectacular load of nothing that happened afterwards?

Seeing as Trump appointed Acosta, who let Epstein slide last time, Democrats are raising a shit storm. It’s as if this sort of shit isn’t what made Acosta a Trump pick in the first place.

[Elegiac]

Mm, so. You know those banner ads you keep seeing everywhere for the GOP's ActBlue knockoff? Here's the survey for Trump's campaign announcement:




This is totally not written by an insane person.

[Redwyrm]

Mm, so. You know those banner ads you keep seeing everywhere for the GOP's ActBlue knockoff? Here's the survey for Trump's campaign announcement:




This is totally not written by an insane person.

I am surprised they had the restraint to not say "Our Glorious and Exalted Leader" for each answer

[Elegiac]

I am surprised they had the restraint to not say "Our Glorious and Exalted Leader" for each answer

Oh, it gets better. This is the submission confirmation:



Don't worry, though. Mr. Sugma Balzac didn't donate any money after he voted for that MS-13 Loving, Corrupt, Radical Socialist, Lying, High Tax, Sleazy, Lyin', Low Energy, Low IQ Democrat.

Man whoever this bitch is sounds like a hoot. :-)

[Paranoid Android]

Mm, so. You know those banner ads you keep seeing everywhere for the GOP's ActBlue knockoff? Here's the survey for Trump's campaign announcement:
<snip>

This is totally not written by an insane person.

It's great they ask for your full name, email and zip. I guess they figure if someone fills this out with legit name and email, they have a true cult member they can milk for money.

Haha! Just read post above asking for a donation l.

[Elegiac]

It's great they ask for your full name, email and zip. I guess they figure if someone fills this out with legit name and email, they have a true cult member they can milk for money.

Considering the average age of your regular GOP voter, I'm more surprised they didn't just ask for their Medicare and Social Security numbers too.

[Captain N]

Considering the average age of your regular GOP voter, I'm more surprised they didn't just ask for their Medicare and Social Security numbers too.

Careful mentioning SSNs -- we got screwballs here who think that dead Boomers become undocumented voters.

[Felya]

Trump is now Acosta letting Epstein go free:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill...scrutiny%3famp

Acosta earlier Tuesday defended the non-prosecution agreement that he helped broker, as top Democrats called for him to resign from his Cabinet post, saying that "with the evidence available more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors insisted that Epstein go to jail, register as a sex offender and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator."

That doesn’t seem like a good defense for letting him go free... I also like Trump trying to distance him self from Epstein. No more commentary from Trump on how much Epstein loves young girls and how fun he is to be around. Sad...

[Zaydin]

A judge has ruled the DoJ can't switch lawyers in the census case this late into its proceedings.

Another blow to the GOPs efforts to rig the census in their favor.

[Cizr]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.131b2da36362



Trump, in 2002.



Trump, in 2019.

This won't matter, but it's damn amusing that the sitting president has a longstanding relationship with a credible pedophile.

You forgot to copy paste some parts. Why? didnt fit your narrative ?

"The relationship, whatever it was, appears to have cooled by 2007. Garten said in an interview Monday that although Epstein was never a member of Mar-a-Lago, Trump prohibited him from visiting the club around that time, as a reaction to criminal charges that had been filed against Epstein.

“He banned him from stepping foot on the property,” Garten said."



"Brad Edwards, an attorney who has represented some of Epstein’s alleged victims, said he sought out Trump in 2009, seeking to interview Epstein’s acquaintances.

Trump was “the only person who picked up the phone and said, ‘Let’s just talk. I’ll give you as much time as you want. I’ll tell you what you need to know,’ ” Edwards said in a 2018 interview on YouTube.

In that interview, Edwards said Trump “was very helpful in the information that he gave and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever.” Edwards said he never took Trump’s deposition."

[Machismo]

You forgot to copy paste some parts. Why? didnt fit your narrative ?

"The relationship, whatever it was, appears to have cooled by 2007. Garten said in an interview Monday that although Epstein was never a member of Mar-a-Lago, Trump prohibited him from visiting the club around that time, as a reaction to criminal charges that had been filed against Epstein.

“He banned him from stepping foot on the property,” Garten said."



"Brad Edwards, an attorney who has represented some of Epstein’s alleged victims, said he sought out Trump in 2009, seeking to interview Epstein’s acquaintances.

Trump was “the only person who picked up the phone and said, ‘Let’s just talk. I’ll give you as much time as you want. I’ll tell you what you need to know,’ ” Edwards said in a 2018 interview on YouTube.

In that interview, Edwards said Trump “was very helpful in the information that he gave and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever.” Edwards said he never took Trump’s deposition."

And yet, Edwards never deposed Trump... how odd.

[Rasulis]

A judge has ruled the DoJ can't switch lawyers in the census case this late into its proceedings.

Another blow to the GOPs efforts to rig the census in their favor.

That is pretty bad for the administration.

[Paranoid Android]

Careful mentioning SSNs -- we got screwballs here who think that dead Boomers become undocumented voters.

Funny story undocumented voters.

Kris Kobach, the person who pushed voter suppression laws, registered to run for Senate in Kansas. The problem is this moron misspelled(?) his name to Chris.

So first of all I don't even know how this is a misspelling when it's your name. Who does that with a totally different name?

More importantly with link below you will see two forms of Chris Kobach and Kris Kobach with same address, part affiliation, etc. The point here was this was the hammer he was using to purge voter rolls.

https://twitter.com/JTHVerhovek/stat...753918979?s=19

[Najnaj]

Trump has announced his new campaign song for 2020!

[Felya]

Trump has announced his new campaign song for 2020!

Is it just because of the hat being red? There are Nick Cave songs that have more fitting iconography. Although, if we can pick any iconic song... there really isn’t anything more obvious in name, tone and theme. I’m partial to this being the most descriptive of his presidency.

[Elegiac]

So...um...Yeah. You know how the Confederacy was the side of slavery individualism, states rights, etc. which ended up being a huge pain in the ass when trying to band its constituents together for any sort of collective effort? Well, its modern day successor has decided that is an excellent strategy as it proceeds to enter infighting over fundraising.

Little bit of backstory for those in the middle or on the right; way, way back in 2004 the Democratic party launched ActBlue, a technology organization focused on providing tools for liberal and progressive causes to fundraise, which over the years has grown into a sophisticated online network for small dollar donors. Voters can easily do quick, one time donations to any supported candidate or cause, or even set up regular donations on a monthly basis. If that sort of thing sounds like it can rake in a lot of cash, you'd be right; ActBlue brought in more than a billion dollars in the 2018 midterms and has made grassroots funding a competitive factor in elections again - consider how difficult it would be for a Bernie Sanders or an Elizabeth Warren to run a grassroots only campaign back in the early 2000s, for example. As of June of this year, ActBlue has already raised 174 million in online donations.

The GOP have lagged behind in deployment of a similar system owing to being repeatedly gutpunched by the invisible hand of the free market in the form of special interests having undue influence over party policy; by which I mean fundraising vendors having a sweet little gig as an oligarchy. It took a lot of handwringing and strongarming, but the basics of an agreement were ironed out and an anticipated rollout date set for February 2019.

So the first delay it had to clear was, strangely enough, its name. In true Republican fashion the platform was slated to be called the "Patriot Pass", and everything seemed good to go on that front - until Robert Kraft of all people complained to Trump that it sounded too similar to a certain football team. So Trump, ever the creative genius, suggested that the Republican alternative to 'ActBlue' should be 'ActRed'.

*picks teeth with a pinky nail*

Eventually they settled on 'WinRed'. Democrats Act, but Republicans Win. [And if that isn't the fucking crystallized essence of the two parties' approaches to governing I don't know what is.] Moving on, the second delay was in actually convincing GOP officials to actually use the damn thing because...old people...but also because of concerns that it might enable primary challengers in an environment that for reasons had become politically contentious for people who hitched their wagon to the spray tanned horse. But at long last, WinRed finally saw widespread deployment in....*checks calendar*

Two weeks ago. Yikes.

Back to the Confederacy. Well, as it turns out, despite Trump's imperial insistence WinRed hasn't actually managed to entirely oust its competitors. A lot of candidates are still relying on established fundraising vendors, as you'd expect. But what you might not expect is that WinRed actually has a *brand new* challenger in the online fundraising business in the form of Give.GOP that was launched earlier this month by one Paul Dietzel, a Republican digital strategist who calls efforts to centralise fundraising "tantamount to socialism" and lambasts the RNC for stifling innovation in fundraising.

Dietzel is also the founder of Anedot, one of the most widely used payment processors for Republican candidates that stands to be pushed out of the market by WinRed. Oh, and also despite having a link to donate to the RNC and using its logo, apparently the RNC has not received any funds from Give.GOP or actually has any connection to it, and has filed a cease and desist order against Dietzel. Huh.

Oh, also there are still a lot of House members who are uncomfortable with WinRed - to the point that the GOP's campaign arm is giving members credit towards their party dues in return for using the platform, which also stands to cut into revenues during a pretty critical election season.

You know, kids, sometimes crony capitalism doesn't pay.

[Xeones]

A judge has ruled the DoJ can't switch lawyers in the census case this late into its proceedings.

Another blow to the GOPs efforts to rig the census in their favor.

Oh wow. That is really bad.

As I understand it those lawyers basically HAD to step down because if they attempting to continue the case they would be liable for lying in court.

[Rasulis]

WinRed has a looong way to go to catch up to Actblue.

Right now it is just landing page. No directory of candidates, no ability to sign up for an account, no way to create a fundraising page, nothing. Just an animated GIF and a contact form. I checked it out.

Then there is the fee structure. ActBlue charges a flat 3.95% per contribution, WinRed takes a 3.8% cut plus 30 cents per transaction/donation. On a $5 contribution, ActBlue will net 20 cents. WinRed will take 49 cents, which in percentage terms is a giant 9.8%. On multiple campaigns contribution, WinRed will get 30 cents per donation. In other words, if you split $25 across five candidates, that’s a cool $2.45 for WinRed. ActBlue would take 98 cents.

ActBlue also includes merchant account set up (required in some states) at no additional fee and FEC quarterly reporting. No mention about any of those services on WinRed website.

[Kiri]

WinRed has a looong way to go to catch up to Actblue.

Right now it is just landing page. No directory of candidates, no ability to sign up for an account, no way to create a fundraising page, nothing. Just an animated GIF and a contact form. I checked it out.

Then there is the fee structure. ActBlue charges a flat 3.95% per contribution, WinRed takes a 3.8% cut plus 30 cents per transaction/donation. On a $5 contribution, ActBlue will net 20 cents. WinRed will take 49 cents, which in percentage terms is a giant 9.8%. On multiple campaigns contribution, WinRed will get 30 cents per donation. In other words, if you split $25 across five candidates, that’s a cool $2.45 for WinRed. ActBlue would take 98 cents.

ActBlue also includes merchant account set up (required in some states) at no additional fee and FEC quarterly reporting. No mention about any of those services on WinRed website.

And you just know they chose 3.8% because it is lower than 3.95% and their fanboys will defend it all just because of that, ignoring the other part because it is too complicated.

[Breccia]

A judge has ruled the DoJ can't switch lawyers in the census case this late into its proceedings.

Thanks, and also to @cubby for his earlier analysis.

I know the American legal system is complex and designed to give the accused every possible option. However, I'm quite pleased "Your Honor, I'd like a do-over because I didn't like the result" isn't happening.

On topic: Acosta's days might be numbered as GOP pressure mounts on Trump to stop backing a second pedophile.

"Wait, Acosta wasn't -- "

Optics. Acosta was widely publicly known to be involved, problem is, until now that wasn't making Trump look bad. Both friends and allies are suggesting Acosta will be gone, possibly within the month. Guess I'll have to dust off the old "I don't exist" bit.

Of course, whether or not Trump intentionally hired a man who defended a child sex slave ring is one thing. The economy is another. The NY Fed has a recession probability index, and over the last 50 years, every time it passes 30%, we have a recession.

It just hit 32.9%.

Recession probability models have entered warning territory and it may be unavoidable

-- the CEO of Morgan Stanley, July 1, who also cited the weak auto market, the weak housing market, gold and silver prices, US wages and US federal spending. In other words, this is not cherry picking. This is someone whose job it is to know this shit, citing evidence from multiple sources.