Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Polyxo]

Not sure who lost bigger today:

1) Michael Flynn's lawsuit to stop the Jan 6th committee from seeing his phone records was blocked in...record time? Eh? Eh?

or

2) Danny Rodriguez no not that Danny Rodriguez tried to have his confession to being part of the murderous insurrection tossed, it was not.


-- Rodriguez, in public

"Did he...did he admit to using a tazer on a cop?"

Yes.

"Wow, it must have been difficult for the FBI to take him in peacefully or get a confession out of someone so clearly PATRIOT 45."

He started bawling like a newborn within minutes of being picked up at his mother's house. His lawyer -- why yes, it was a public defender -- tried to argue he wasn't properly Mirandized when he started telling every sentient life form and the coffee pot everything he'd done since he was seven. The judge even held up the tear-stained rights form Rodriguez personally signed.

Or!

3) Matthew Greene no relation Proud Boy pleads guilty, the first Proud Boy to do so.

Or!

4) The fans of Texas A&M whose football team had so many members with COVID, they couldn't even go to Florida. No, really.

OR!

5) As already mentioned, Jim Jordan, who has no reasonable legal defense.

ORRR!

6) Florida, who got a record number of new cases, adding to @PhaelixWW 's numbers.

ORRRRR!

7) It's time to play Guess the Speaker!



That is, of course, NFL player Cole Beasley explaining why he, because he is "pro-choice" on vaccines, was kicked out for ten days.

"That name sounds familiar."

It might, if you are looking for NFL players who are against the rules attempting to keep NFL players safe. He's known within the NFL as one of the most outspoken critics. In the post above, you might have seen that he was irate that his vaccinated colleagues didn't need to get tested daily, but he was.

"He...didn't understand he was being tested daily because he was not vaccinated?"

I'm sure he did. He wants to be the victim here. The Bills are 8-6 between the 9-5 Patriots and 7-7 Dolphins. Every player the Bills intentionally, voluntarily lose increases the chance they miss the playoffs.

Upon his announcement that it was the rules to blame for him failing to follow the rules, or common health practices too, Beasley did what any mature adult would do: posted what I quoted above, then immediately deleted his Twitter account.

*ahem*

Too bad the internet never forgets. Here are some top-tier replies:

*Me smashing tables, but in a sad and not bills mafia-ey way*

[Twdft]

7) It's time to play Guess the Speaker!



That is, of course, NFL player Cole Beasley explaining why he, because he is "pro-choice" on vaccines, was kicked out for ten days.

"That name sounds familiar."

It might, if you are looking for NFL players who are against the rules attempting to keep NFL players safe. He's known within the NFL as one of the most outspoken critics. In the post above, you might have seen that he was irate that his vaccinated colleagues didn't need to get tested daily, but he was.

"He...didn't understand he was being tested daily because he was not vaccinated?"

I mean, he kinda does have a point. From the article:

The league issued new guidelines last week that allow vaccinated players to return as early as the next day after a positive test provided a player is asymptomatic for 24 hours.

This is a pretty stupid rule.

On the other hand, a professional athlete, who is under medical supervision their whole career, who earns money with running fast, would not get vaccinated and risk any kind of lasting lung damage, is pretty stupid too.

[Breccia]

it’s actually spelled TASER

Articles list it as "stun gun" I'm not even sure if Taser is a brand name or not.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean, he kinda does have a point.

I appreciate your use of "kinda". His issue about the new rules being apparently unfair is something he can raise -- with his boss, with the player's league/union, and on Twitter nevermind, he left Twitter -- over his ten days sitting at home.

[Kaleredar]

At least a few were saying fuck Trump, so there is that at least.

Unfortunately all trump needs to do is say one paranoid conspiracy or dog whistle something racist and they’ll likely be back in the trump train like nothing happened.

[Kaleredar]

Idk, he was sitting with Candace Owens and did a live fact check about the vaccines, explaining that they’re safe. He’s leaning into this hard because the GQP is losing voters fast.

I’d like to believe that the craziest sects of the GOP are spinning off into powerless obscurity and costing the GOP their place in politics, I really would.

But they’ve proven thus far that for the most part they’re more than willing to hold their nose and vote for whomever the GOP puts forth. That certainly proved the case for trump.

[Poopymonster]

Idk, he was sitting with Candace Owens and did a live fact check about the vaccines, explaining that they’re safe. He’s leaning into this hard because the GQP is losing voters fast.

I'm in love with this video. It's the perfect response.



And the look on Hangman Page's face at the end is priceless.

[Kaleredar]

That was before he tried to poison them with unsafe vaccines. These geniuses don’t even believe it’s possible they could catch covid. They find it far more likely they were poisoned with anthrax… so, yeah.

And again, I just don’t think that will matter.

Sure they’re angry about it now. But I’m sure they were angry about it when trump said to get vaccinated the first time, and swiftly forgot about that when someone told them Biden was making there be a hamburger shortage or whatever.

There isn’t logic with these people. They just want to be angry. And the question is whether they’re gonna be more angry with trump, or with the democrats.

[Rasulis]

Will be interesting to see the hospitalization/death rates in the states you mentioned with higher vaccination rates.

I think we need to start seeing cases vs hospitalizations. That'll give a clearer picture of how severe things are.

Example - here in my city in Alabama, the # of cases is relatively low compared to other spots up north, but our hospitalizations are spiking fast. I wonder why that is? (No I don't, I know exactly why )

I can show you San Francisco.







The dates on the three graphs should line up close enough to see the correlation (or disassociation) between cases - hospitalizations - mortality. The rate of increase for Omicron is insane. San Francisco now has the highest Reff of all California counties. For reference, San Francisco has around 2,800 hospital beds. Majority of hospitalized Covid patients are unvaccinated, between 18 - 35, and reinfection cases.

[PhaelixWW]

Articles list it as "stun gun" I'm not even sure if Taser is a brand name or not.

Stun guns and tasers are actually completely different things. Despite the name, stun guns are physical contact only, they don't shoot the electrodes out. That's what tasers do. But yes, TASER was originally just a brand name, but has become synonymous with its main claim-to-fame, like xerox, dumpster, kleenex, band-aid, etc.

[Blur4stuff]

Republicans do go vote regardless of who is running, but I think Trump got some people to vote that don't otherwise. Without someone with that special combination of incompetence and corruption, I think the GOP will lose votes next time around.

[Breccia]

Trump tried to take credit for the vaccines again and also point out how nice and bigly and yuge they were...directly to Candace Owens who was trying to claim the opposite.

Owens then said to Trump that more people died from the virus in 2021 than in 2020 even with the vaccine being administered to the public, taking a shot at President Biden.

“Yet more people have died under COVID this year,” Owens told Trump. “By the way, under Joe Biden, than under you and more people took the vaccine this year. So people are questioning how—”

“Oh no, the vaccines work, but some people aren’t the ones. The ones who get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don’t take the vaccine. But it’s still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you’re protected,” Trump told Owens.

“Look, the results of the vaccine are very good, and if you do get it, it’s a very minor form,” Trump continued. “People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”

I particularly like Owens' attempt to say 2021 was more lethal while handwaving
1) The relatively low impact until around April 2020, and
2) The dramatically disproportionate nature of vaccinated/nonvaccinated deaths.
It's facts like that which get in the way of what would otherwise be a perfectly good pushed narrative.

While Trump twists in the interview chair, he should look ahead to the witness stand. It won't be any better.

Trump has tried on prior occasions to stop James, by filing motions to block the release of documents that her office subpoenaed, and he has lost each time. Instead of simply filing a motion for a protective order to prevent his deposition from moving forward (which one of his other lawyers has said he will do), Trump aggressively filed a lawsuit that most legal experts believe is baseless and frivolous and ultimately will be unsuccessful.

Trump’s real danger and exposure will arise once he is forced to sit for his deposition in James’ investigation. There is a parallel criminal investigation being conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance into whether the Trump Organization fraudulently submitted false property valuations for purposes of lending and tax breaks. James’ office is working with Vance’s office, and there is distinct and clear overlap in terms of focuses of the investigations, the evidence gathering, etc.

Vance also intends to depose Trump on Jan. 7. However, Trump, whether through advice of counsel or of his own survival instincts, would likely have to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the deposition by Vance. To properly assert his Fifth Amendment right, he would have to respond in the same manner to individual questions as they are posed to him; he could not make a blanket assertion that he is refusing to answer any questions based upon that constitutional right. If Trump is criminally charged — he has not been accused of wrongdoing so far — then the prosecution could not use his invocation of his constitutional right against him.

"Wow, sounds like Trump can just plead the Fifth, like the mob boss he is, and get away with everything?"

No. It turns out, corporations aren't people.

To be clear, the Fifth Amendment right is one that is personal to the individual; a corporation or its records are not protected by the Fifth Amendment. So the Trump Organization finds itself in an even more precarious situation.

For James’ deposition questioning, Trump could choose to answer her questions under oath. But, if he elects not to do so and he asserts his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, then a jury would receive an instruction that Trump refused to answer questions, and an adverse inference would be imposed against him regarding his silence in the face of probative evidence. In a civil case, if a party elects to invoke their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, then a jury instruction is read to the jury by the judge allowing the jury to infer that the reason why that party isn’t speaking is because there is something negative that they are trying to hide. It is a powerful tool to be used by the opposing party because jurors usually look to the judge with deference. Were the judge to provide this jury instruction, jurors would be allowed to consider the “why” behind Trump’s silence. The end result wouldn't be pretty for Trump.

[PhaelixWW]

Another bad day today. New case count in the US has finished at 267k, which is the third highest daily total, and an increase of... <sigh>... 122k over the total reported last Thursday.

That's an 84% increase in one week.

New daily records in: New York, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Missouri, & Maryland. DC had what is basically their record highest day once you realize that this Monday's count was actually their 3-day total covering the weekend.

Florida, Rhode Island, Delaware, & Hawaii hit their second highest days and Washington hit their third highest.

Also, the worldwide total hit 973k today, a new record by almost 70k, on a similar steep climb. I think the only way the world doesn't hit 1 million new cases tomorrow would be due to it being Christmas Eve.

[DarkTZeratul]

Trump tried to take credit for the vaccines again and also point out how nice and bigly and yuge they were...directly to Candace Owens who was trying to claim the opposite.

Part of me wonders if this is at all related to Biden publicly praising Trump for telling people to get vaccinated, because more than anything else he still craves validation from those in power.

[Warning]

At this point it wouldn't surprise me if Trump did the world one more massive disfavor by randomly dying right after announcing he's been vaxxed + boosted.

[Breccia]

Part of me wonders if this is at all related to Biden publicly praising Trump for telling people to get vaccinated

Stop wondering. Trump's own Surgeon General flat-out told CNN that was the case. So you aren't just correct, you're...um...correcter.

Jerome Adams, who served as US surgeon general under Trump, told CNN's "AC360" on Thursday that he was surprised Biden had not praised Trump over the vaccines earlier, and suggested Trump had been waiting to back the vaccines until he got the mention.

"We know the president's love language is words of affirmation. We know Joe Biden is known for his cooperation," Adams said.

"So, to me, what was most shocking, what was most telling, wasn't that Donald Trump came out and supported vaccines — it was that it took Joe Biden 11 months to finally do what he has been known to do for 79 years, and that's to reach out across the aisle."

Yeah calling bullshit on that last part, but including it so you know this isn't some "disgruntled nameless employee".

"Once he gave President Trump those words of affirmation, you heard President Trump come out and say: 'Thank you, I appreciate that.' And he applauded it. And I hope we see more of that."

The CNN host John Berman seemed surprised by Adams' comments on the Thursday show.

He said: "Come on, Dr. Adams. I mean — are you are telling me that Donald Trump didn't praise vaccines or boosters until Joe Biden decided to thank him for the vaccines? That's what he was waiting for?"

Adams responded by saying that he had studied psychiatry and psychology, and said: "People have different words of affirmation, different love languages. That's the truth."

Incidentally the "alternative love" he's talking about apparently involves cheating on your wives with a $130,000 whore and wanting to fuck your daughter.

"That is when you saw Donald Trump change his tune. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying you can't deny that that is when he changed his tune and came out and supported vaccinations.

"And regardless, that's a good thing."

Wanna see the video?

So there you have it. Someone firmly entrenched in Camp Trump, still firing shots at President Biden, flat-out admitting what changed Trump's mind -- people saying nice things about Trump.

This still bugs me. I still don't know why, for all Trump's desire for packed Easter churches, people getting back to their underpaying jobs, or just to slow/stop his plummetting polls, Trump didn't say from Jan 22nd "it's just one person coming over from China, we'll be fine" "I made the vaccine, it's the best, I insist you get it and not make up crazy shit about microchips and horse dewormer". Now, he gets booed by his own fans who call him a traitor.

On topic: WaPo reports that--

"Paywall."

Um...other sources cite WaPo as reporting that there's a reason for the three-hour delay during the murderous insurrection during which Trump said nothing. He was taping and re-taping his video.

"Oh, so it was vanity? His hair wasn't stapled on straight or his gut was hanging out over his pants?"

No...he refused to say "go home".

Rep. Thompson, yes he's on the committee, said this in public after witness interviews and reports. He simply would not give the order to his violent rabid fanbase to stop the murderous insurrection. Or, you know, respond to the lawmakers he'd trapped inside, fearing for their lives. Or respond to his own family, for fat fuck's sake.

It's still a long way from "Trump charged with actual crimes" which might never happen, but it looks closer every day.

[Gorsameth]

Don't we know why Trump did nothing?
Wasn't it Jared Kushners 'covid taskforce' that mentioned it was convenient to not act because at the time Covid was hitting primarily Democratic states?

[No Kings Voter]

Bingo!
Ben Garrison attacking Trump was also on my 2021 bingo card.
Because "eventually attacking friends and family" is on every Fascism Bingo card.

• For a sign of just how severely Trump wrong-footed himself with his base by endorsing boosters, look no further than the editorial cartoonist Ben Garrison. The doodler’s devotion to the 45th president has been slavish, but Garrison’s opposition to the vaccine has also been stalwart. His latest cartoon opus shows Trump riding aboard on the “Big Pharma Vaccine Bandwagon” as he’s booed by the MAGA-hatted masses.
  
• On the social media app Telegram, Ron Watkins — whom many believe role-played “Q” in the QAnon conspiracy that held up Trump as America’s heaven-sent savior in the battle against satanic Democrats — sent out a message on the day of Trump’s comments. Watkins blasted “the insidious global campaign to use poisonous injections to ‘save’ every living man woman, woman [and] child.” Watkins didn’t respond to Trump directly, but later urged the “VF” (or Vaccine Free community) to “stand strong,” “never fear,” and “never comply.” Two days later, Watkins was back to unvarnished anti-vax hysteria blasting jabs and boosters as “Subscription Suicide Shots.”
  
• Lin Wood, the high-profile, right-wing attorney who was a central player in the farcical legal campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election, also took to Telegram after Trump spoke. Wood, who has touted the QAnon worldview and calls himself a “public advocate against” covid jabs, told his followers to hold their fire on Trump for “recommending the ‘vaccine’.” Wood called covid “a planned bioweapon” and cautioned patience: “I believe We The People should wait until ALL the facts are known before passing judgment on the President’s wartime strategy and the tactics designed to achieve victory.” (Wood’s appeal for patience fits a pattern. Anons have long overlooked facts that didn’t fit their worldview with calls to trust a long term “plan,” whose logic cannot always be discerned in the moment.) Later Wood took to Telegram, decrying his trolls: “Looks like I stirred up a hornet’s nest… Hornets must not like the TRUTH!!!” He again defended Trump: “You don’t have to agree with every statement President Trump makes or position he takes…. Judge the entire body of President Trump’s world as president… He loves America, freedom, and We the People.”

[xmirrors]

Trump doesn't have control over his base anymore. I actually appreciate his comments and it is a relief to see him trying to bring a moderate, sane view on vaccines but they are going to fall on deaf ears. The monsters he created no longer need their master.

[Gorsameth]

Trump doesn't have control over his base anymore. I actually appreciate his comments and it is a relief to see him trying to bring a moderate, sane view on vaccines but they are going to fall on deaf ears. The monsters he created no longer need their master.

He never had control. He has often said things they don't agree with but that just gets conveniently ignored. If he steps infront of a mic and says "lock her up" they are back to cheering for him.

[beanman12345]

Uh oh, Trump said vaccines work and now Alex Jones is screaming how he's on team Fauci and Biden. Trumpsters are the dumbest people.